Summary of “Operationalizing the Accessible BC Act: Stories from accessibility leaders” webinar
On October 29, 2024, Untapped Accessibility hosted a webinar focused on the practical implementation of the Accessible BC Act. The session was moderated by Yat Li (Accessible Employers).
The discussion highlighted actionable insights and stories from accessible leaders across sectors, including Colin Reid (BC CAISE), Keely Kidner (District of Squamish), and Therese Boullard (WorkSafeBC). The panelists shared their experiences in advancing accessibility within their organizations.
Watch the captioned recording
The captioned recording is available on YouTube.
Overview of draft standards
Trish Kelly and Sarah Molder of Untapped’s staff team opened the webinar. They briefly overviewed the draft Employment and Service Delivery standards. These draft standards are the next phase of requirements under the Accessible BC Act.
The review highlighted some of the key themes in the draft standards that will impact how organizations employ and provide service to people with disabilities. Overall, the draft standards move away from reactive accommodation, and towards proactive accessibility. Trish noted that this is “quite a big shift in terms of how many organizations are used to thinking about disability and we’re excited that it aligns with a social model of disability.”
Attendees can find more information on the draft standards in the Key Takeaways documents linked below:
Key Takeaways
Meet the panelists
- Colin Reid shared insights from the BC Council of Administrators of Inclusive Support in Education (CAISE). He highlighted innovative approaches to improve accessibility for students and staff in schools.
- Keely Kidner discussed their role as the Equity and Inclusion Advisor at the District of Squamish. They illustrated how community engagement and relationship building can lead to meaningful change.
- Therese Boullard offered perspectives from WorkSafeBC. She focused on the critical need for accessible employment practices that benefit both employees and employers.
Discussion – integrating accessibility into leadership
The major focus of the panel was on how organizations can effectively integrate the principles of the Accessible BC Act into leadership practices. Panelists emphasized the importance of showing up as oneself, and using that authenticity to build meaningful relationships and networks across communities and organizations.
Centering lived experience
The panel highlighted the idea of centering lived experience and expertise as one actionable step organizations can take to promote accessible leadership. Therese Boullard spoke to how to do this as a leader when you don’t identify as a person with a disability:
“I just cede the floor to those who do so through our employee resource group, through our accessibility committee […] and so it’s at every opportunity, I’m promoting the access to our employee resource group, our accessibility committee and members of my team who have disabilities as well.”
For Keely Kidner too, involving people with lived experience in the work from the very beginning was the key to success for the District of Squamish. This involved inviting lived experience in from the beginning and paying people for their labour and expertise.
“I always tell people, watch, there’s magic in the room when disabled people come together!
Leading by example
Lived experience was also emphasized in leadership itself. For Colin Reid, identifying as a leader with a disability and sharing information about his access needs was a way to model leadership. This included inviting in conversations about disability, and a sign about his own access needs that he has on his office door.
“I hope to be able to break down some of those attitudinal barriers and provide opportunities for students and other staff members to see people in leadership roles with disabilities and see what’s possible and model that acceptance from the teams and the departments that I work with.”
Colin added that this proactive approach to an inclusive workplace led to new conversations and relationships built on a shared approach to accessibility.
“I think it was really important for folks to not feel like they were doing this work alone and to understand that within every school district and within every organization, there were other folks experiencing the same thing.“
Building relationships through leadership
The idea of not doing the work alone and embracing collaboration was echoed by all panelists. Keely Kidner spoke about some of the initiatives in the District of Squamish to build community, including ‘rollabouts’, community meals, and stock photo parties.
They emphasized that making the work relationship based “does a huge amount in easing some of those attitudinal barriers, helping people lose that fear.”
For all panelists, not only was building individual relationships important, but working together within and across organizations to build networks was a key success strategy. Crucially, panelists said these networks didn’t need to be with people already involved in the work. Instead, they highlighted the importance of inviting people in the organization who had a desire to learn to get involved conversations around accessibility.
Colin explained that BC CAISE’s success was due to setting up “a network of folks who could champion this work” with each individual school district an organization needing to “involve those folks with disabilities in their organizations.”
Therese echoed this, saying that creating an Accessibility Leaders Working Group and working to “facilitate connection between the working group, the accessibility committee, and [the] ERG (Employee Resource Group)” was a way to tap into wisdom in the organization.
For Keely, the Municipal Accessibility Network (MAN) and broader network building was also important to doing the work together.
Ultimately, Keely summed up the importance and joy of relationship building in accessibility work saying: “be ready to make friends!”
Concrete actions for implementation
The discussion concluded with panelists emphasizing the importance of starting where you are and taking concrete steps each day to do the work. Whether that is building accessibility steps into work plans, scheduling accessibility training, making accessible slide decks, or having hard conversations, the best step forward is the next step.
As the standards move forward, the insights shared during this webinar helped to equip organizations with the knowledge and strategies necessary to operationalize the Accessible BC Act and move towards accessible leadership. Untapped Accessibility remains committed to supporting organizations in their leadership next steps.
At Untapped, we’re excited to help you implement accessibility in your organization and leadership. Reach out to learn how we can get you there.