You Can’t Spell Inclusion Without a D

Ep. 13: A Spotlight on Assistive Technology

What do you think of when you hear the words, “assistive technology,” or AT, as it’s known for short? And what’s the difference between assistive technology and accessible technology? 

From smartphones, to podcast apps, to earbuds, to eyeglasses, to canes, they’re all AT. The World Health Organization (WHO) notes, assistive technology is “an umbrella term.” 

There are many things like texting, that have become ubiquitous — that we take for granted, that were developed originally as an aid for people who have a disability. 

Globally, according to figures from the WHO, right now there are 2.5 billion people who need one or more AT products to help them navigate their daily lives. With the population aging, that number’s expected to rise. 

We use AT every day in business, at work and at home, without necessarily thinking of what we’re using, as assistive technology. 

This episode, we get you thinking more consciously about AT. The WHO has its definition of AT; we find out how our three guests define it. And how important is your mindset about assistive technology? We explore that question, too. And we get some insights on the state of AT in 2023, and what exciting things are ahead. 

 

Show Notes: 

Learn about the many accessibility features of mobile devices: https://www.gari.info/index.cfm 

Ep. 12: Why Businesses are Lagging Behind on Web Accessibility — and What Needs to Be Done About It

In the beginning, the Web was pretty much accessible for everyone....because it was originally text based. In 2023, web-page technology and design has advanced light years beyond the original hypertext markup language (HTML) used to build the world’s first websites.  

But is accessibility....that universal power of the Web referred to by its inventor, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, keeping pace with modern web technology and design?  

More often than not today, websites are the first point of customer contact for any organization. Anyone looking for information is going to go to your website first. 

But here’s the thing: The WebAim Million 2023 Report on the Accessibility of the Top One Million Web Pages found that 96.3% of home pages have WCAG 2.0 failures. And that’s down only slightly from 96.8% in 2022. 

This episode, we explore why businesses are still lagging behind on making their websites accessible, and what needs to happen to get the Web back to that universality regardless of disability that Tim Berners-Lee envisioned.  

We get our three guests’ different web accessibility perspectives on what needs to happen and how to get there; and what we might expect with web accessibility in the years ahead. Listen to this engaging conversation with Ran Ronen, David Berman and Sabine Lobnig.  

 

Read the WebAim Million 2023 report: https://webaim.org/projects/million/ 

Ep. 11: Findings of the Hidden Mobility Disabilities Project — a Follow-up Conversation with Dr. Dorothy Riddle

This episode is a check-in...a check-in on hidden mobility disabilities in Canada, and The Hidden Mobility Disabilities Project, or The HMD Project for short. 

What are hidden mobility disabilities? Generally, they’re the inability to walk any great distance or stand for a long time.  

And The HMD Project has been investigating accessibility as it relates to hidden mobility disabilities.  

For the past year, The HMD Project has been exploring possible changes to federal accessibility standards needed to address HMDs. The project’s spearheaded by the Hidden Mobility Disabilities Alliance (HMDA), and funded by Accessibility Standards Canada. 

The Ontario Disability Employment Network has been the HMDA’s primary partner on The HMD Project. We’ve been co-ordinating and promoting project participation by individuals and organizations, in a national survey and focus groups.  

It’s been just over a year since You Can’t Spell Inclusion Without a D talked with the Chief Facilitator of The HMD Project, Dr. Dorothy Riddle. We wanted to find out what Dr. Riddle has been finding out from that national survey and focus groups since our original conversation in June 2022.  

In this follow-up conversation, we talk to Dorothy Riddle, along with Ingrid Muschta. Ingrid is ODEN’s Director of Special Projects and Innovation. She has been co-ordinating the national survey and focus group participation. 

So what are some of the key findings coming out of the project research? Have a listen to this engaging conversation and find out. You may be surprised to learn — just as the researchers were — that there are many more Canadians with limited mobility issues and disabilities, than you might think. What are the implications of that? Listen and find out.  

 

Learn more about The HMD Project: http://hmdproject.org/ 

Learn about the Hidden Mobility Disabilities Alliance: https://hiddenmobilitydisabilities.com/ 

Ep. 10: Building an Equitable Future of Employment for Youth Who Have a Disability

Worldwide, there are an estimated 180 million to 220 million youth who have a disability.  

In Canada, there are over 540,000 between the ages of 15 and 24. 

Over 100,000 of these youth are not in education, employment or training (NEET). Seventy-seven per cent of this group — over 83,000 young people who have a disability — are potential new employees. 

A lot of young, fresh talent is being overlooked for a talent pipeline that can help businesses stay successful in the future. For youth who have a disability, the unemployment rate is significantly higher than it is for young people without disabilities. 

In this episode, we look at why there’s an imbalance of opportunities, and how we can build an equitable future for disability talent.  

Listen to this conversation with Dr. Jennifer Crowson, PhD, and Carolyn McDougall.

Jennifer leads ODEN’s Canadian Youth Success Strategy initiative. Carolyn is an Occupational Therapist at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto. She’s also the Lead for the Hospital’s Transition Strategy — Employment Pathways, and co-ordinates employment programming for over 80 youth who have a disability, annually.  

 

Here are some Holland Bloorview resources: 

• For youth & families: https://hollandbloorview.ca/services/programs-services/youth-employment-participation-programs (contact Holland Bloorview if you want help connecting with programming or supports in communities outside Toronto) 
   
• For employers: Visit the Employer Resource Hub: https://hollandbloorview.ca/employer-resource-hub 
   
• For educators: Module 5 of our Project Inclusion series  https://deareverybody.hollandbloorview.ca/project-inclusion/ 

 

Canadian Youth Success Strategy: 

• For more information about the Canadian Youth Success Strategy, contact Dr. Jennifer Crowson by email at jcrowson@odenetwork.com. 

Ep. 9: A World First — Making Research Accessible and Disability Inclusive at the Multisensory Studio, University of Calgary

When you hear the words, “disability inclusion,” what’s the first thing that comes to mind for you? There’s a lot being written these days about accessibility, and disability inclusion in business and employment. But what about something like disability inclusion and accessibility in research? That's not something many of us have thought about.

In this second part of our two-part series on new disability research in Canada, we find out about something innovative being done at the University of Calgary. Multisensory storytelling research — research that’s accessible and inclusive of people who have a disability. If this sounds innovative, it is. It’s a Canadian first. In fact, it’s the first initiative of its kind in the world. It’s adding a whole new dimension to how social research is done.

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Kathleen Sitter, PhD. She runs the Multisensory Studio at the University of Calgary. She’s also Associate Professor in the Faculty of Social Work, and the Canada Research Chair in Multisensory Storytelling in Research and Knowledge Translation.

Listen to this conversation that will rouse all your senses, and get you thinking differently about accessibility and disability inclusion in research. 

Ep. 8: IDEA — The New Six-Year Initiative That’s Reimagining Canadian Workplaces for Disability Inclusion

It’s called the Inclusive Design for Employment Access (IDEA) initiative. This new, six-year research initiative — being done with $9 million in federal funding — is taking a new, different approach to disability and employment research. One that has the potential to change the conversation about disability inclusion in business and employment.

We talk with the two experts leading IDEA who are reimagining how Canadian workplaces can be more inclusive for people who have a disability. Their main message — employers aren’t the disability inclusion problem; they’re the solution.

Listen to this compelling conversation with Dr. Emile Tompa and Dr. Rebecca Gewurtz. This is part one in a two-part series about new disability research initiatives in Canada.  

Ep.7 : The Global State of Disability Inclusion in Business: A Conversation with the Leaders of The Valuable 500

Business leaders can no longer make excuses for not fostering disability inclusion, the leaders of The Valuable 500 declare, in this episode.

Caroline Casey, founder and creator of The Valuable 500, affirms that they must “be curious and intentional about making change,” and urges leaders to “Go into your people, ask your people in business who are connected to disability, how you can do it better. Ask, admit you don’t know.” 

“But don’t think you can walk away from this issue anymore, because it’s your issue. It’s the most important thing a business leader can do.” 

Casey, and Paul Polman, Chair of The Valuable 500, provide unique, candid insights on progress that’s been made, and on what still needs to be done when in 2022, people with disabilities are changing the future of work and business more than ever before. 

Listen to the full, compelling conversation with Caroline Casey and Paul Polman, now. 

Ep. 6: The HMD Project

Have you heard the term, Hidden Mobility Disabilities, or HMD, before?

There are actually over 500,000 Canadians who live with HMD. It’s an aspect of disability that’s not obvious, and often overlooked. And it’s one that creates some significant obstacles to inclusion and accessibility. 

In this episode of You Can't Spell Inclusion Without a D, co-hosts Jeannette Campbell and Dean Askin explore HMD and The HMD Project in an insightful conversation with Dr. Dorothy Riddle and Dr. Haley Giennow-McConnell.

Dorothy is the chief facilitator of The HMD Project, and Haley is one of ODEN's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Specialists. She's the ODEN lead on The HMD Project.

Listen to find out about HMD.

And, if you're listening from Canada, in this conversation, you'll learn how you can — and why you should — participate in The HMD Project.

Learn more on The HMD Project website, and take the survey: http://hmdproject.org/

Ep. 5: Voices of Tomorrow

In this episode, we’re bringing some young voices into the show — Voices of Tomorrow. That’s both the name of a new report that’s the subject of this episode, and it describes our two guests. Sarah Julius is a first-year university student at The University of Windsor, Ontario. Natalia Ayala Giraldo is a Grade 12 student in Windsor. Both of them are on the 2021-2022 Youth Advisory Committee of Re:Action4Inclusion. It’s an Ontario-wide movement, around since 2008, that “seeks to empower youth to take action individually and collectively to make our schools and communities more inclusive spaces.” Voices of Tomorrow is a project by Re:Action4Inclusion, and it’s the title of the Youth Advisory Committee’s survey report that looked into the state of school, education, employment and community youth inclusion — for youth of all abilities — in Windsor-Essex County, Ontario. This is a landmark report about inclusive youth employment, by young adults. Listen to the great, deeply insightful conversation with Sarah Julius and Natalia Ayala Giraldo, and be sure to read the Voices of Tomorrow report. You can find it here: FINAL-VOICES-OF-TOMORROW-0629.pdf (reaction4inclusion.com)

Ep. 4: John Robinson on the Why‘s Whats and Wherefores of Jobs Ability

If you’re at any point on a disability-inclusion journey in your business, be sure to catch the new episode that’s out today. 

What a great conversation with John Robinson, the founder of Our Ability and Jobs Ability U.S. 

Thanks to John for sharing so many business and personal insights about his journey creating Our Ability and the Jobs Ability AI-based job search platform that makes it easy for companies in hiring mode to connect with job seekers, with disabilities.

Grab a big mug of coffee hand have a listen.