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Graphic for Disability Justice and Local Government webinar features logos for Women Transforming Cities and Untapped Accessibility

Webinar recap: Disability justice and local government session with Women Transforming Cities

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Practical advice and tips to influence disability justice Untapped Accessibility and Women Transforming Cities co-hosted Disability justice and local government: Tools for justice webinar on September 25. WTC’s Florence Li gave practical tips to engage with local governments to influence disability policy. Sarah Molder of Untapped Accessibility gave an overview… Read More

screen capture of the course cover image for the SRD Accessibility Foundations course

Case study: Creating accessible eLearning for the Strathcona Regional District

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The client Strathcona Regional District (SRD) is the government body that serves over 48,000 residents within north central Vancouver Island, Discovery Islands and mainland area inlets, representing four electoral areas, a treaty First Nation, and five member municipalities. Services include: The challenge The SRD took a leading role in supporting… Read More

Area of refuge sign in apartment building safe zone with intercom phone and instructions written and in Braille.

Emergency preparedness is an accessibility issue – and we’re getting it wrong

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After more than ten years working in accessibility, I’ve learned that it’s not just what’s written in an emergency plan that matters – it’s whether the plan actually works for everyone. As a Certified Accessibility Professional under the Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification Program (RHFAC), I’ve led built environment audits… Read More

Three masked disabled people of color chat while strolling through an outdoor courtyard. On the left, an Indigenous woman wears glasses, wrist support braces, and waist trainers paired with a off-shoulder top and wide leg pants. In the middle, a Black non-binary woman walks with a rollator and wears waist trainers with ice pack inserts over their rainbow striped dress. On the right, a Latinx non-binary person walks while using a teal functional grip cane.

Why do we need anti-racism in accessibility work?

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“Do I put my race before my disability or my disability before my race?” I often battle with this question in spaces I enter. As a visibly disabled Filipinx Canadian living with cerebral palsy, I recognize that I don’t have the privilege to choose because both identities are highly visible…. Read More

Asian woman With Down Syndrome waitress taking order from customer at cafe using digital tablet

How do we define accessibility?

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Our consulting experience has taught us an important lesson. People have the desire and drive to build accessibility, but they don’t know what it looks like in practice. This makes sense because we don’t have a clear definition of accessibility that tells us how to “do it”. What does accessibility… Read More

Three people sitting around a table studying in a university library. One student has a prosthetic leg.

Building accessibility into service delivery at Kwantlen Polytechnic University

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Accessibility in a post-secondary environment reaches beyond the classroom. Students need equitable access to events, career development, counselling services, and all the other crucial services that support their academic and personal success. Recently, the Untapped team finished a project with Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) on just that: expanding the accessibility… Read More

Photo of diverse team looks happy in conversation. They are sitting and standing around with laptops in front of them.

BC’s draft accessible employment standards: What they’ll mean for employers

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In 2024, the BC Government released the first two draft accessibility standards for the province. The proposed accessible service delivery and employment standards were available for public comment from May 31 to July 31, 2024. The team at Untapped Accessibility did a deep dive into the draft standards to ask… Read More

Bartender with Down Syndrome presents a payment terminal to a customer at his table

BC’s draft accessible service delivery standards: What they’ll mean for your organization

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In 2024, the BC Government released the first two draft accessibility standards. The proposed standards for accessible service delivery and employment were available for public comment between May and July of 2024. The team at Untapped Accessibility did a deep dive into the draft standards to ask the question what… Read More

A woman of colour and a white man using a white cane walking through the hallway of an urban subway system. He is holding her arm for guidance.

Meaningful, accessible wayfinding signage

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Wayfinding signage is only truly effective when it is meaningfully accessible. Good signage empowers people to navigate spaces independently and confidently. Poorly designed signage, however, can create barriers, confusion, and frustration, especially for people with disabilities. Meaningful, accessible wayfinding signage is not about simply meeting minimum standards. It is about… Read More

Office worker using a motorized wheelchair is using assistive technology to access the internet.

Canada’s digital accessibility plan: what you need to know

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The Accessible Canada Act is a law passed in 2019 that hopes to remove barriers for people with disabilities by 2040.
The federal government is changing the accessibility rules for digital accessibility.