Ep. 25: Making the Journey: Marnie Cuthbert

There are over 1.2 million employer businesses in Canada. And almost 98% of them are small businesses, which employ about 5.7 million people.

But surveys have shown that over half the small businesses in Canada have never hired someone who has a disability. They’ve never made the disability-inclusive hiring journey.

In Episode 25 — the second instalment of our occasional Making the Journey series — we talk with a small-business owner who is doing that.

Not only is Marnie Cuthbert just starting out on her disability-inclusive hiring journey, she’s doing it as a first-time small business owner. She left behind a 15-year career in health care administration to do something entirely different.

She recently opened the Crafty Corner Tea Room in Woodstock, ON. And her first two hires were people who have a disability.

In this new instalment of Making the Journey, Marnie talks about why:

• She’s so personally driven to be a disability-inclusive employer
• She believes other small business owners should make the journey
• She’s fervently encouraging all businesses in Woodstock to participate in Light It Up! For NDEAM, a national awareness lighting event that happens every October during National Disability Employment Awareness Month

SHOW NOTES

• Visit the Craft Corner Tea Room website
• Learn more about the national Light It Up! For NDEAM event that Marnie Cuthbert talks about participating in
• Visit the Ontario Corporate Training Centre website
• Episode 25 transcript (PDF)
• Research reports:
• • Making Your Business Accessible for People with Disabilities: Guide for Small Businesses (Conference Board of Canada, 2022)
  • Workplace Accommodations: Low Cost, High Impact
    (Job Accommodation Network/Office of Disability Employment Policy, updated May 4, 2023)
  • Getting To Equal: The Disability Inclusion Advantage
    (Accenture, October 2018)