Mark Smeets
Co-chair
Mark’s journey began 10 years ago when his son was born. He and his wife knew nothing about ADHD, Autism or any other disability.
Their family languished in the system, being forced to wait an additional 5 years because of the long waitlist at Sunnyhill for their son’s autism diagnosis (finally confirmed in 2023), unable to afford a private option.
Mark received his ADHD diagnosis at age 46, his wife received hers at 43.
Mark has been a strong advocacy voice in the ADHD Community. He is soberly aware of the barriers that children, adults, and families face in accessing public and private services, resources, and treatments, in a timely and cost-effective manner.
The road to advocacy may have started with their son however it has continued with his passionate pursuit of removing barriers for others by creating:
The sensory friendly swim program in Surrey, BC (launched December 2023)
A podcast called “We are the ADHD Family”, which is his family’s journey through all of this.
The group “Accessibility in Surrey”.
He has also been able to achieve:
Written articles like “How to get Your Child into Indoor Bike Training” which was published by various cycling outlets. The goal was to make indoor trainers more accessible to children.
Worked with the Canucks Autism Network as a learning facilitator, swim coach and support worker.
Appearing on podcasts and as a speaker for ADHD and Autism advocates.
In true ADHD style, Mark has a wide range of deep buckets of professional and personal experience ranging from web design, computer programming, and logistics/transportation to triathlon training, musician, baking and building Lego.
He enjoys sharing these passions with his family which has led to achieving some amazing milestones. Both Mark and his son completed a triathlon, and another time climbed the Sheraton Wall Center Tower (54 flights of stairs) in about 12 minutes in 2019 when his son was 5 years old.
He is a creative force that is never short of ideas, has a strengths-based approach to solutions, and the drive to bridge gaps to solve problems and looks for ways to use your strengths in the neurodivergent field to achieve goals.
Mark joined the society in February 2023. Since then, the society has presented to the BC Government and met with individual ministries to advocate for change in education, social development and poverty reduction and Healthcare.
