Accessibility Conference - Sessions

The Responsibility and Opportunity in Creating Inclusive Environments

Jason Brommet | Modern Work

We all play a critical role in creating a world in which everyone can participate. Increasingly, legislation is making it a responsibility—of educators, employers, and the like—but the real question is, how do we embrace it as an opportunity by becoming innovators in accessibility?

Today, but as we look to tomorrow, there is also a reality, that technology is woven through every element of our life. It can be the greatest of enablers, creating experiences and opportunities for everyone to be more inclusive. It's a moment for us all to create and support a culture of accessibility and inclusion in workplace and business practices.

As the Lead of the Modern Work and Surface business for North America, Jason (Jay) leads the team that is responsible for enabling organizations to amplify the ingenuity of their people, while protecting their data and assets. Within the Modern Work portfolio, Jay oversees productivity platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Employee Experience Platforms including Microsoft Viva, as well as Microsoft’s innovative 1st party Surface hardware business.

Jay’s work frequently involves detailing the future of the workplace, including culture development, prioritization of people, employee wellbeing and the innovative use of technology. Jay is also an advocate for technology enabling inclusivity and accessibility and leads Microsoft Canada’s Commercial Accessibility Initiative.

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Session 1: Why is life so hard? Barriers to Participating in Society Experienced by Blind, Deafblind and Partially Sighted Canadians (and What We Do About Them)

Akriti Pandey & Mahadeo Sukhai | CNIB

Theme: Looking Forward

This session is for individuals and policy-makers.

How we think about the impact of systemic barriers experienced by persons with disabilities is crucial to defining our approaches to removing and preventing those barriers.

This presentation uses as a case study CNIB Research’s approach to understanding the impact of barriers experienced by persons with sight loss, to facilitate a discussion about best practices and approaches to identifying, defining and understanding systemic barriers to participation in society.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Understand the breadth of barriers and settings experienced by persons with sight loss in participating in society
• Appreciate that barriers to education and employment are not restricted to classroom and job recruitment settings
• Recognize that self-advocacy can be viewed as a barrier to participation in society
  

Akriti Pandey completed an honours bachelor degree in health sciences at the University of Waterloo. She also pursued a Master of Public Health at Queen’s University. She joined CNIB as a practicum student, and then went on to take on the role of lead in strategic planning.

Akriti currently works at the CNIB as lead, research strategy for an accessible and explainable Artificial Intelligence project. She believes that intersectional identities play a huge role in the opportunities we get, what we make of those opportunities, and the outcomes. Her beliefs were reflected in the strategic planning work, and she hopes to be a part of projects that focus on the intersectional aspect.

Dr. Mahadeo Sukhai (he/him) is the world’s first congenitally blind geneticist. Mahadeo is vice-president Research & International Affairs and chief accessibility officer for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB), having previously served as a researcher at the University Health Network in Toronto.

Dr. Sukhai is a leading expert on accessibility of graduate and postdoctoral research training in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and health-care disciplines. Dr. Sukhai also holds adjunct faculty appointments at Queens University (Kingston, ON), OCAD University (Toronto), and Ontario Tech University (Oshawa, ON). He is the chair of the Employment Technical Committee for Accessibility Standards Canada, as well as the external co-chair of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Expert Advisory Committee on Accessibility and Systemic Ableism.

In his role at CNIB, Mahadeo leads a significant research program focused on social determinants of health and inclusion for people living with sight loss in Canada. As chief accessibility officer, Mahadeo also leads organizational culture change initiatives on accessibility and inclusion for CNIB. Dr. Sukhai served the National Postdoctoral Association in a variety of capacities over the years, including as Meetings Committee chair (2010-2011), board member (2011-2014 and 2016) and board vice-chair (2012-2014). Dr. Sukhai also co-founded the International Network of Visually Impaired Researchers and their Allies, and is serving as its inaugural secretary.

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Session 2: Bringing Accessibility to Your Learning and Development Team

Cheryl Bauman | Home Hardware

Theme: Document & Media Accessibility (DMA)

This session is for learning and development professionals, instructional designers, eLearning developers, non-technical developers who design using rapid authoring tools and Microsoft Office programs to develop content, and anyone new to creating accessible content.

As diversity and inclusion become essential for organizations, business teams can no longer postpone creating an accessible user experience for their online training materials.

But how do teams with non-technical skills begin?

This session provides practical steps to help teams get started designing accessible content. This session focuses on developing eLearning courses and job aides for individuals with visual, auditory, and mobility disabilities.

Topics covered include headings, color and contrast, alt text for images, text and typography, multimedia, and online design considerations by disability type.

After this session, you will be able to:

• State how learners with visual, auditory, and mobility disabilities navigate digital content and why it is important to design accessible digital materials
• Identify the how learners interact with online content and how changing specific elements during the development process improves online accessibility
• Describe WCAG 2.1 guidelines for text alternatives, time-based media, distinguishable, keyboard accessible, navigable, and predictable
• Apply best practices for creating accessible online content
  

Cheryl Bauman holds a bachelor of adult education, and a BA, communication and media studies.

She currently works as a learning design and development specialist for Home Hardware’s Human Resources team where she is implementing accessible best practices for the company’s employee training initiatives.

Cheryl spent six years as Conestoga College’s quality assurance and accessibility specialist ensuring that the college’s online courses met WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards. She also developed the Online Accessibility Guidelines document for the District A-15 Lions Clubs. Cheryl volunteers for the Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides as a foster who provides the first home for future dog guide puppies from seven weeks to approximately 12 months.

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Session 3: Learning to Bounce: Helping Students Manage the Emotional Demands of Academic Work

Melissa Beacom & Tara Embrey | University of Guelph

Theme: Accessible Teaching & Learning (ATL)

This session is for accessibility advisors, faculty, teaching and learning professionals, and learning and writing specialists.

Learning to Bounce is a pilot program for undergraduate and graduate students whose mental health interferes with school. This practical 6-week group program, designed by two occupational therapists and SAS advisors, helps students develop the inner resources and support systems to manage debilitating perfectionism and procrastination.

This session shares details about the program and the exciting results after two semesters of running and researching the program.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Appreciate and understand the Learning to Bounce program and its impact
• Consider some of the underlying emotional demands of academic work and what has been helping participants in the program get unstuck
• Consider the impact of shame and the healing power of community for students with mental health concerns
• Think about motivation and avoidance from a new lens
• Recognize some of the root causes of perfectionism and procrastination in order to help students more effectively

Tara Embrey and Melissa Beacom are both occupational therapists who have a combined 25 years' experience as accessibility advisors, with backgrounds in mental health, at the University of Guelph.

Tara and Melissa see many students registered with Student Accessibility Services (SAS) struggling with perfectionism, shame and procrastination that accommodations aren’t able to address. In response to this gap, they used their occupational therapy lens to create, implement, and research a pilot program that helps students who are experiencing mental health symptoms to develop academic resilience.

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Session 4: Developments in Accessibility Metadata in Library Catalogues

Christopher Carr & Faline Bobier | Centre for Equitable Library Access

Theme: Web Accessibility (WA)

This session is for librarians, library users, publishers, and library vendors.

Searching for Accessible materials in library catalogues has been a challenge, due in part to the lack of granular metadata in library bibliographic records.

This presentation describes new MARC fields and how they improve access to accessible library resources.

We also discuss the Public Library Accessibility Resource Centre (PLARC) project and how publishers and libraries are working together to implement accessibility metadata.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Identify and understand the issues behind providing and using library metadata describing accessible resources
• Understand publishing/library metadata ecosystem
• Understand current projects working to improve accessibility metadata, including PLARC
• Advocate for better accessibility metadata from libraries, retailers and publishers

Christopher Carr is special materials cataloguing librarian at Concordia University. He is chair of the CFLA-FCAB Cataloguing and Metadata Standards Committee, a member of the Canadian Committee on Metadata Exchange, as well as the W3C Publishers Community Group Accessibility Task Force.

Faline Bobier, training and outreach coordinator, has a masters in French from the University of Saskatchewan and an MLIS from the University of Western Ontario. She has been working in accessible library service for several years and enjoys the training and travelling aspects of her job, since they allow her to meet public library staff from across the country.

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Session 5: Embracing Multiple Modalities for Accessible Navigation

Mary Ann Bent | CNIB

Theme: Access Technology (AT)

This session is for inclusive design and user experience professionals and accessibility specialists.

This session explores best practices of navigational tools as a complement to strong, inclusive design. We will examine how we can solve navigational barriers for multiple exceptionalities by embracing technology along with built environment clues to fill in common wayfinding gaps and increase the confidence of the individual traveller.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Identity common wayfinding barriers
• Understand how built environment clues can be utilized for navigation
• Relate to the anxiety caused by confusing environments and how it can deter individuals from exploring new places
• Understand some of the benefits of wayfinding technology as well as the limitations
• Identify examples where more navigational options can relieve staff burden

Mary Ann Bent is a pioneer in the world of navigation and wayfinding for people who are blind or partially sighted, with a practiced art for designing and installing workable solutions. She leads the CNIB Frontier Accessibility Navigation and Wayfinding effort, and its goal to make the built environment accessible for all.

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Session 1: Accessibility in Action: Indigenous Communities

Meggan Van Harten | Design de Plume

Theme: Looking Forward (conference theme)

This session is for anyone who is interested in accessibility policy, accessibility design thinking, and working with Indigenous communities (or the public). It will broaden their understanding of the issues that Indigenous people with disabilities face and how to use accessibility to best reach them.

We know accessibility is good for all but what happens when accessibility standards don’t work for all Indigenous communities?

In this talk, I explore how cultural considerations and Indigenous perspectives encourage increased uptake of accessibility principles and how you can apply accessibility standards in a meaningful way for an Indigenous audience. I share my agency experience and how Design de Plume has created accessible Indigenous projects that are engaging and relatable for Indigenous audiences.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Strengthen your knowledge of Indigenous communities and accessibility needs
• Recognize how accessibility is a core component of Indigenous culture
• Understand how legislation and compliance standards alone can be harmful to Indigenous communities and how to meaningfully apply accessibility to reach this audience
• Engage the community to lead to better alt text descriptions and imagery usage

Meggan Van Harten is a partner and the strategic leader for Design de Plume, a women-led, Indigenously-owned design circle focused on inclusive and accessible design solutions for social good. She brings equity and accessibility to the heart of the business. Bringing a decade of experience in design to her leadership role, Meggan sets the vision for projects, establishes standards, and builds both business and client strategies that lead to greater impact.

She recognizes the value that accessibility work creates for people, and projects, with proven results. She provides insight and implementation guidance for content writers, designers, and organizations looking to adopt accessibility into their core and ensuring that compliance standards and real-world experience align in unique and innovative ways.

Meggan is a registered graphic designer with an advanced graphic design diploma. Courses include eAccessibility with David Berman, IAAP Preparation Course, and AODA Customer Service Standards.

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Session 2: Let's Get Accurate: Auto-Generated Closed Caption Editing Pilot Service

Aneta Kwak | University of Toronto

Theme: Document & Media Accessibility (DMA)

This session is for individuals or organizations that use MS Stream or YouTube to auto-generate captions for videos, and individuals at institutions who are interested in ensuring videos have accurate captions.

This presentation outlines the development and implementation of a pilot called the 'Closed Caption Editing Service', which relied on a team of hired work-study students to review and edit autogenerated closed captions of course lecture recordings. The presentation shares the success and challenges of the two years running the services, feedback from participating instructors and students, as well as reflections for directions.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Summarize Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG) requirements related to closed captioning
• Explain the value of accurate closed captioning for the student and instructor experience in an online learning environment beyond meeting Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG) requirements
• Understand strategies for developing a program to edit closed captions
• Reflect on the successes and challenges in developing programs to proactively improve the accessibility of educational resources

Aneta Kwak is the information services and instruction librarian at DG Ivey Library, New College, University of Toronto. Her research and program development interests focus on ideas of social responsibility and equity, with a focus on accessibility in libraries and library services.

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Session 3: A Review of the Proposed Post-Secondary Education Standard (AODA)

Jennifer Curry Jahnke, M.Ed., IAAP CPACC | Mohawk College

Sambhavi Chandrashekar, PhD, IAAP CPACC | D2L

Theme: Accessible Teaching & Learning (ATL)

This session is for anyone who works in or attends a post-secondary environment.

The Ontario post-secondary education standards development committee (PSE SDC) has proposed 185 recommendations.

This session gives context around the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion that underlie all aspects of the committee's work and recommendations. We explore the recommendations and how they came to be and discuss how post-secondary institutions can shift their policies and services to create accessible learning and teaching environments.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Understand the process the PSE SDC committee went through to create this comprehensive series of standards
• Navigate through the recommendations as they apply to your post-secondary environment
• Recognize the critical aspect disability plays in aspects of diversity and intersectionality
• Identify your shared responsibility for accessibility across your institution

As a digital accessibility expert, Jennifer Curry Jahnke is an active member of Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act’s (AODA) Education Standard Development & K-12/PSE Technical Committee, Accessible Canada Act’s Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Standard Development Committee, and the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP).

Jennifer is an award-winning post-secondary educator and academic researcher. She is the creator of Mohawk College’s former Accessible Media Production graduate certificate program and micro-credentials. She is the founder of a11yHAM and Principal Educator with AccessibilityConsulting.ca. Her ability to build industry and academic relationships makes her a sought-after accessibility researcher and grant lead.

Sambhavi Chandrashekar is the global accessibility lead at D2L Corporation, a learning innovation company. She is a member of the AODA Postsecondary Education Standards Development Committee, the Global Leadership Council of the International Association for Accessibility Professional (IAAP), the Advisory Council of the Canadian Accessibility Network, and the W3C Silver Community. She holds adjunct professor/research supervisor positions at OCAD University, York University, and the University of Calgary.

Sam is a recognized accessibility champion and an award-winning inclusive educator/researcher with over 15 years of strategic and direct operational experience in implementing technology-based accessibility projects successfully in academia, non-profit sector and industry. She is passionately focused on humanizing online education and building an inclusive education ecosystem.

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Session 4: Beyond Compliance: Just Because it Passes, Doesn’t Mean it’s Good

Sandi Gauder | CMS Web Solutions

Theme: Web Accessibility (WA)

This session is for accessibility coordinators, content creators, web designers/developers, and QA/testers.

In this session, we talk about how meeting WCAG is a starting point. How can we go beyond WCAG to create a great experience for our users? Should we be using tools that go beyond automated testing to measure our success?

WCAG is a great tool but let's go beyond WCAG to make our websites accessible and usable.

After this session, you will be able to understand why there is more to creating an accessible website than meeting WCAG. You’ll learn other methods to include in your web plan to create a site that is accessible and usable.

As a web accessibility specialist, Sandi Gauder has been developing modern, accessible websites for over 15 years. She also coaches designers, developers, and content producers on best practices for meeting web accessibility guidelines.

Sandi has led workshops for businesses, municipalities and web development firms on web accessibility and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). She has spoken at conferences and has appeared as a web accessibility expert in webinars. Sandi developed the curriculum and taught Web Content and Social Media Accessibility at Mohawk College as part of the former Accessible Media Production Graduate Certificate program. Management and technical audiences welcome her clear, common-sense approach.

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Session 5: Efficient Alternatives to Drag-and-Drop for People with Disabilities

Alan Cantor, BA, B.Ed., MA

Theme: Access Technology (AT)

Some computer users have difficulty with drag-and-drop. This includes people who are blind, have upper-body disabilities, and have certain learning disabilities.

During this interactive session, I demonstrate alternative drag-and-drop techniques. My focus is on practical methods that are easy to remember and easy to do: accessibility features built into operating systems; alternative ways to select, copy, and paste; poorly documented commands in Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook; macros; voice commands; and hybrid approaches.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Understand five fundamentals about dragging-and-dropping as a computer access method
• Identify five actions that are typically performed by dragging-and-dropping
• Recognize four reasons people with certain disabilities cannot, or cannot easily, perform drag-and-drop operations
• Identify six alternative ways to perform tasks that are typically done via drag-and-drop

Alan Cantor is an assistive technologist who has worked in the workplace accommodation and accessibility fields for over 25 years. He has advised more than 90 organizations in North America, Europe and Asia; has published more than 50 articles, book chapters, guidelines, and FAQs; and has facilitated over 200 workshops, classes, and webinars.

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Session 1: Co-Designing Better Career Transitions for Persons with Sensory Disabilities in Canada

Opneet Sandhu & Michael Knot

Theme: Looking Forward (conference theme)

This session is for individuals, educators, policy-makers, potential employers, employment counsellors, or post-secondary career advisors.

For persons with disabilities, there is significant research identifying barriers to employment globally and limited research on career transitions within a sustainable career in Canada. We will explore the diversity of experienced individuals encounter in career transitions and their setbacks to sustainable careers. Alongside personal resiliency, other factors are important during careers transitions and job change including access to technology, skills and training opportunities when moving into new employment opportunities.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Recognize the barriers that individuals encounter during career transitions and job changes
• Understand the different forces and impacts of career transitions and job changes
• Acknowledge the nature of choice and importance of meaningful employment
• Identify the possible solutions to create more effective and efficient career transitions and job change

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Session 2: How can we make parks more accessible?

Tilak Dutta | KITE Research Institute, University of Toronto

Theme: Looking Forward (conference theme)

Spending time in parks can improve health, yet many experiences in parks remain inaccessible to individuals with disabilities.

This presentation shares our team's work to create a comprehensive collection of approaches for ultimately making all activities offered in parks accessible to individuals with disabilities. There is dedicated time in this session for members of the audience to provide feedback on our approach.

After this session you will be able to:

• Better understand the barriers and facilitators to park accessibility

Tilak Dutta is a scientist at KITE Research Institute, the research arm of Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, University Health Network. He holds cross-appointments at the University of Toronto at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Rehabilitation Sciences Institute. The goal of Tilak’s Engineering Health team is to give individuals with disabilities and their caregivers the tools they need to realize their full potential.

His team's projects include:

• Preventing falls on icy surfaces with advanced winter footwear
• Reducing tripping risk on sidewalks by measuring minimum foot clearance
• Preventing caregiver back pain using a wearable device called PostureCoach
• Preventing pressure injuries at home using repositioning prompting systems
• Improving accessibility of Canada’s national and provincial parks
• Revising emergency evacuation guidelines for individuals with disabilities

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Session 3: Transformation in Education Outcomes and Online Learning

Ainsley Latour & Mahadeo Sukhai

Theme: Accessible Teaching & Learning (ATL)

This session is for individuals, educators, and policy-makers in the education system.

This presentation highlights the systemic and structural barriers to the accessibility of online learning for students with disabilities during the pandemic. While online learning provided opportunities to remove some barriers to learning, different barriers have arisen. What intersectionality exists among learner preferences, instructor knowledge of accessibility, and systemic supports? How can we apply the lessons of the pandemic to enhance accessibility of online learning for students with disabilities? 

Session 4: Web Accessibility at Scale, from a Small Company to Massive One

Robert Carr | IAAP

Theme: Web Accessibility (WA)

This session is for web accessibility specialists at different stages of their careers, people interested in being web accessibility specialists, and people trying to scale their organizations web/internal accessibility programs.

Having gotten into accessibility at a small company, doing the work often meant commenting on tickets and answering questions. Later working at a larger company with multiple teams, the process had to scale to include training, targeted audits and working closely with developers. Now at a huge company this work requires more strategy and the development of scalable processes that teams can take on themselves.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Achieve web accessibility at different scales given the size of the organization
• Identify policies and practices that can be used to scale accessibility within an organization
• Recognize how our role as web accessibility specialists changes based on the organization we find ourselves in

Robert Carr is a certified professional in web accessibility (CPWA) from the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP).

Robert is a web accessibility specialist based in Toronto. He has been in the web accessibility industry for almost 10 years and has worked with banks, a public broadcaster, and a massive consultancy firm. Before becoming a web accessibility specialist, Robert was a web developer.

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Session 5: Employing Student-Driven Methods to Envision Adaptive Technology Spaces

Nancy Waite & Paige Maylott | McMaster University

Theme: Access Technology (AT)

This session is for individuals working in education, or anyone looking to create an accessible space for others.

In 2018, McMaster University Libraries had the opportunity to create and, in 2022, renovate their accessible study space, affectionately known as CATS, the Campus Accessible Tech Space.

In this session, we describe our process to create CATS, an environment that, while all are welcome, has been designed to be particularly supportive of visually impaired and neurodiverse students, along with providing a relaxing environment for students with mental health diagnoses. We share the results from our cross-Canada consultation with university accessibility colleagues and our strategy to ensure students felt heard during the construction process and continue to feel heard.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Recognize what questions to ask and when to ask them
• Turn those results into objectives
• Incorporate design principles expressly for visually impaired, neurodiverse and mental health diagnoses together
• Identify our successes and failures, and what we would change
• Extract information from the surveys

Nancy Waite is a passionate accessibility advocate with more than ten years as the coordinator of library accessibility services and 25 working for McMaster University. She is the past chair of the OCUL Accessibility Committee and current Co-Chair of the McMaster Accessibility Community of Practice.

When not working, Nancy is completing her master of library and information sciences, where she is particularly interested in social justice and serving the needs of underrepresented groups. She also holds a BA in anthropology.

Paige Maylott is an accessibility champion who works as an assistant in library accessibility services at McMaster University. She holds an honours BA in English and cultural studies and is an active member of several equity-deserving committees, and chairs UNIFOR 5555’s Pride Committee.

In her spare time, Paige moonlights as an accomplished author. She was recently awarded the Hamilton Arts & Letters Award for Creative Non-Fiction and her upcoming memoir, My Body is Distant, which is slated for release in September 2023 through ECW Press.

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Session 2: DMV at ROM: Three Years of "Uncomfortable" Learning

Lisa Cruikshanks & Sharon Allan | Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)

Theme: Document and Media Accessibility (DMA)

This session is for staff who run a not-for-profit, anyone with an "older" or volunteer learner, or any group starting on the journey to accessible documents.

For volunteers at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), the challenge of meeting the AODA 2021 deadline on a zero-budget turned into a year-long learning opportunity. We walk you through our journey and explore the positive outcome. From finding experts to creating templates, educating older adults was slow-moving but produced great results. Please join us for a discussion on taking your group from zero to accessible.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Understand how a not for profit, volunteer lead organization can meet AODA 2021
• Explore the challenges of inspiring a volunteer group to learn accessible Word formatting
• Compare before and after examples of documents for better understanding of the learning curve for older adult volunteers

Lisa Cruikshanks focused on sales and marketing across North America during her career in the cosmetic industry. As a ROM volunteer for the past five years, her roles have expanded from museum visitor experience to communications and marketing, and accessible documents.

Sharon Allan worked in various federal governments for over 30 years focusing on partnership development, quality and change management, and client service delivery. In her volunteer career at Royal Ontario Museum for 10 years now, she has been involved in the museum visitor experience as well as an outreach program and marketing volunteer.

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Session 3: What are the Costs and Benefits of Disclosing an Invisible Disability to One’s Peers?

Talia Emanuel | Royal Bank of Canada

Theme: Accessible Teaching & Learning (ATL)

The primary target for this session is those with disabilities. The secondary audience is those who learn, work, and live alongside us.

Using personal experience, scholarly research, and results from a study of 378 Toronto Metropolitan University students, I lead an interactive discussion on the "best practices" of disclosing disabilities in the university classroom.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Identify three categories which increase disability related stigma
• Correctly identify diabetes-related stigma and misconceptions
• Develop practical knowledge in when, how, and to whom to disclose your disabilities
• Develop a better understanding of how to respond to disability-related information, and how to reduce disability-related stigma (for allies) 

You will leave this session with a greater understanding of the benefits and costs, and complexities which impact each disclosure decision. Persons with disabilities will be given the agency to serve as experts of their own experience and develop "best practices" in disclosure within the community.

Talia Emanuel currently works in human resources at the Royal Bank of Canada, where she is honoured to work on variety of equity-focused initiatives—including focused initiatives on increasing our support of local and minority-owned businesses and supporting enterprise-wide initiatives on accessibility.

She has co-authored papers on immigrant wage gaps during Covid, and on mindfulness in the human resources classroom, and served as the graduate representative for the Dimensions pilot project at Ted Rogers School of Management. Through the Dimensions Pilot project, Talia worked to reduce barriers for research and scholarly activity for: persons with disabilities, Indigenous people, racialized people, women, and LGBTQ2S people. Her own research has focused on the complex relationship between disability status and human capital investments, including the disclosure of invisible disabilities.

Talia is an active advocate for the type 1 diabetes community; she was diagnosed with diabetes at age 11. Since then, she has participated in four clinical research studies for the advancement of treatment options for type 1 diabetes through LMC Diabetes & Endocrinology in Toronto and volunteered with I Challenge Diabetes.

She is passionate about designing workplace and classroom practices that are truly inclusive to those of us with disabilities, and she is excited to connect with others working and researching in this important space.

Talia holds a master of science in management, organizational behavior from Ryerson University.

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Session 4: Rethinking Alt Text

Karen McCall, M.Ed., ADS | Carlen Communications

Theme: Web Accessibility (WA)

This session is for anyone who creates accessible digital content with graphics, especially complex graphics.

This session discusses the results of two research surveys on alt text. The focus was on the end-user experience and their suggestions on how to improve alt text or alternative text for complex graphics.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Identify what is working for end-users who depend on alt text
• Identify the shortcomings of alt text for end-users
• Identify strategies for improving alt text for complex graphics

Karen McCall provides strategic planning, consulting and education on accessible content design/creation and inclusive education. She has more than 22 years of experience in accessible digital content/inclusion.

Karen has been an advocate for a global inclusive education standard since 2009. Her experience as a leader in accessible content design includes participation in the following committees: ISO 32000 (PDF), ISO 14289 (PDF/Universal Access), Technical Standards Committee for Plain Language and Technical Standards Committee for ICT, both part of the Accessible Canada Act.

Her book 'Accessible and Usable PDF: Techniques for Document Authors' was first published in 2005, with the fourth edition published in 2017. She has written books on accessible Word and PowerPoint content, and how to use Microsoft Office applications from the keyboard. She has been a Microsoft MVP for Office Apps and Services since 2009, and a Microsoft Accessibility MVP since the category was created in 2014.

Karen conducts research on how those with disabilities access digital content.

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Session 5: Nothing About Us: How to Amplify the Voice of the Disabled Community in Your Accessibility Efforts

Pina D'Intino, M.Des, PMP, CPACC | Aequum Global Access Inc.

Jennifer Curry Jahnke, M.Ed., IAAP (CPACC) | AccessibilityConsulting.ca

Theme: Looking Forward

This session is for teams who want to develop a more inclusive learner experience—this may include teams from both educational institutions and organizations.

Disability is a critical aspect of diversity and intersectionality.

Join us in this unconference session as we explore:

• How we can include the voice of the disability community in our EDI work
• How to amplify the voices of disabled students, faculty, and employees
• How viewing disability through this lens develops a more inclusive learner experience

The feedback and input from you will help to inform a series of disability inclusion criteria for the IAAP.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Understand diversity and intersectionality as it relates to disability
• Participate in discussions where you can share your experience of disability and explore new perspectives
• Examine ways to amplify the voice of disabled community members in order to create a more inclusive learner experience

In 2016, Giuseppina (Pina) D’Intino founded Aequum Global Access Inc., an inclusion and accessibility professional network to help build disability-inclusion awareness and accessibility confidence across organizations through strong leadership and action-driven plans, turning visions into reality.

Pina is a sought-out international accessibility speaker and entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience working with large organizations on four continents, world-wide. More importantly she is a strong advocate for disability rights and inclusion by helping to amplify the voice of the equity seeking groups, including disabled people, through active engagement and ensuring that their-our voices are amplified during decision making.

A digital accessibility educator, Jennifer Curry Jahnke is an active member of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act's (AODA) Education Standard Development and K-12/PSE Technical Committees, Accessible Canada Act's Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Standard Development Committee, and the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP).

An award-winning post-secondary educator and academic researcher and a full-time professor on a leave of absence, Jennifer is now exploring other opportunities in academia as the principal consultant with AccessibilityConsulting.ca. Here she brings her ability to build industry and academic relations, which makes her a sought-after accessibility researcher, content developer, educator, and accessibility consultant.

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Session 1: Creating an Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression Framework and Equity tool: Reflections on Building Intersectional Accessibility Equity Work Within a Municipality

Melanie Stone | City of London

Theme: Looking Forward (conference theme)

In this session, I will share how the Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression Framework and Equity tool was used to create more accessible opportunities for policy shaping and design with the City of London with concrete examples of intersectional change.

After this session you will be able to:

• Examine how the Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression Framework and Equity Tool was created using pilot projects and community input
• Recognize how this equity tool has shaped new accessible thinking and design
• Understand the barriers and roadblocks that exist to enact changes and support structures for this accessible equity work
• Build capacity for the community work required to make change using the framework

Melanie Stone is the accessibility and inclusion advisor with the City of London, and part of the City of London's Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression (ARAO) team. She is a professor of Disability Studies at King's University College and has been a qualitative researcher engaged in accessible research design and methodologies. Her doctoral thesis, 'making her life work: re-presenting motherhood, disability and work engagement using photovoice', involved learning from mothers with disabilities in London, Ontario. Their work, advocacy, day-to-day experiences of ableism, and stories inform her daily work at the City of London.

Melanie is a Vanier scholar and has most recently helped lead her ARAO team through the process of developing an anti-racism and anti-oppression framework and equity tool to ensure that all policies, procedures, programs and budgets are inclusive, community engaged and intersectional.

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Session 2: Assistive Technology Roundup*

Doug Mantle | King's College University

Theme: Document & Media Accessibility (DMA)

*Double Session

This session is for assistive technology (AT) and alternate format professionals.

Calling all assistive technology and alternate format professionals, plus anyone else who’s interested in listening in on this informal discussion forum!

We will address the challenges related to assistive technology and the sharing of best practices that lead to creative and modern ways of supporting the AT clients we serve.

Bring your questions. Contribute to the AT show and tell. Connect with other ATs.

This session is structured as an unconference-style roundtable discussion for you to share, discover, collaborate, and network with other professionals. Although the heart of the session will be sharing of knowledge, there is no formal presentation. Build and strengthen your AT knowledge, discover new tech, and chat about all things AT.

Doug Mantle has worked as an assistive technology professional since 2009. He currently works as the assistive technology support specialist at King's University College, London, Ontario. He has a strong belief in the true integration of tools that return and maintain a person's independence.

In 2015 Doug founded The Network of Assistive Technologists (NOAT)—a community of practice for assistive technology practitioners.

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Session 3: Teaching Topics on Accessibility: A Reflection and Co-Design Journey

Julia Foster | Vision Rehabilitation Clinic

Theme: Accessible Teaching & Learning (ATL)

This session is for educators and those influencing education/training decisions (e.g., managers, team leads, leadership), accessibility enthusiasts, people who use the health-care system and other services, health-care students and workers, as well as other types of service providers and students.

Explore the journey of creating learning resources for health-care workers/students on “Increasing Accessibility in Healthcare Delivery for Persons with Vision Loss.” Unique aspects of the project are discussed: 1) co-design with multiple populations—learners and people with blindness, deafblindness, and vision loss, 2) respecting the learning journey, and 3) supporting learners through uncomfortable topics. You are invited to consider if this applies to other initiatives.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Outline the “Increasing Accessibility in Healthcare Delivery for Persons with Vision Loss” resource development project
• Explore the structure chosen to frame the module topics
• Identify challenges and opportunities emerging during the project’s co-design and development process
• Reflect on any related challenges and opportunities within other [audience members’] initiatives

Julia Foster is an occupational therapist at the Vision Rehabilitation Clinic at Kingston Health Sciences Centre-Hotel Dieu Site, in collaboration with the local Vision Loss Rehabilitation Ontario as part of the South East Ontario Vision Rehabilitation Service (SOVRS).

Julia is part of a larger team and network of contributors interested in and working on topics related to health-care journeys and the accessibility of health-care for people who are blind, deafblind, or have low vision or other types of vision loss

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Session 4: Prioritizing Lived Experiences: Compatibility Tests with Assistive Technology Users

Elana Chapman | Fable

Theme: Web Accessibility (WA)

This session is for accessibility specialists, project managers, designers, and developers. 

Today, the most relied upon marker for measuring web accessibility is adherence to the Web Content and Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). With four principles, 12+ guidelines, and 60 to 80 criteria, practitioners are often left feeling overwhelmed by the lack of prioritization provided by a compliance focused approach. Fable seeks to turn this on its head by centring AT users and their lived experience using the in-house developed compatibility test.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Understand the compatibility test methodology
• Recognize the benefits of a human centred approach to accessibility issues over compliance

Elana Chapman is a CPWA certified accessibility research manager with a background in sign language linguistics.

Since joining Fable in 2020, she has worked with assistive technology users and clients to create exceptional and inclusive product experiences.

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Session 5: Social Accessibility and Autism in the Workplace*

Sarah Taylor

Theme: Looking Forward (conference theme)

*Double Session

This session is for accessibility advocates from all walks of life.

Accessibility is so crucial to helping people who are differently enabled get and keep employment, and many companies invest in physical tools to make the workplace more accessible; however, few think about social accessibility and the barriers that conventional hiring practices and management styles create for people who are wired to be socially different.

This session speaks to autism and social accessibility in the workplace. You will leave with a whole new perspective on accessibility and actionable steps for how to create change.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Recognize autism specific resume writing challenges
• Recognize autism specific job application challenges
• Recognize autism specific interview challenges
• Identify and develop tools for how to navigate these challenges

Sarah Taylor is one of Canada’s leading experts on maximizing the employability of people with different styles of thinking. She is a speaker, consultant, coach, and neurodiversity strategist—meaning she teaches companies how to understand and amplify the potential of teams that include those diagnosed with autism, ADHD and other related invisible differences.

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Session 3: Rethinking Access and Instruction for Learning Technologies – Building Our Tech Hub

Carren Tatton & Ricardo Loza | Sheridan College

Theme: Accessible Teaching & Learning (ATL)

This session is for post-secondary accessible learning centres, learning strategists, learning skills professionals, assistive tech, student services professionals, post-secondary learning centres and tutoring services, international centres, and IT professional interested in assistive technology.

A showcase of how the Learning Team within Accessible Learning (AL) at Sheridan College built a “Tech Hub” to provide early intervention, streamline access, and align learning approaches for students needing learning technologies. Learn more about how AL moved away from the traditional assistive technology (AT) prescriptive, funding-dependent procedure to a more efficient student-centered process. Excited to share how the Tech Hub system continues to reduce barriers to student-directed success.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Appreciate a streamlined, centralized learning technology distribution model which provides early intervention and aligned instruction for students within a post-secondary environment
• Recognize how investment in building a Learning Virtual Resource Community and aligned instructional practice with data collection can support student self-training and informed decision-making
• Understand how to advance parallel processes for specific accommodations that include technology-aided tools in a timely and responsive manner

Carren Tatton and Ricardo Loza work collaboratively as learning strategists and assistive technologists at Sheridan College where they support students within accessible learning to expand their academic skills and develop large accessibility practices throughout the College. They feel passionately about integrating individualized technology-aided learning with evidence-based applied strategies.

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Session 4: Making an Accessible Open Street Map

Bob Dodd | CNIB

Theme: Web Accessibility (WA)

This session is for individuals interested in where embedded maps can go in terms of accessibility, those interested in how to integrate HTML and interactive SVG in an accessible way, and those interested in how we get from raw map data to rendered navigable and accessible content.

Two demonstrations of accessible embedded street maps using mapping data from OpenStreetMap that are screen-reader friendly.

The first explores necessary page structure and displaying navigable search results with pins. We also talk about navigation and way-finding in terms of describing those pins, their meaning, location on the map, and order of announcement.

The second, more experimental example, is an exploration of the maps themselves, the buildings, the streets, the parks.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Recognize the current inaccessibility of online maps
• Mix interactive content with HTML and provide a more seamless screen-reader experience
• Identify how we can render street map data in an accessible form

As is often the case, Bob Dodd started his journey into digital accessibility with family connections. In his case, Bob helped to support a cousin with multiple sclerosis (MS) and created tools and applications to support him as his medical condition advanced.

In 2001, Bob returned to university to study for a master's degree in multimedia with a thesis in mobile accessibility for people with MS; this turned into a (still unfinished) PhD that applied his work for Nokia Research in adaptive user interfaces to support a more inclusive user interface. In 2013, Bob brought his skills in accessible UI design to CNIB’s digital library. In 2019 he moved to be manager, digital accessibility at CNIB Frontier providing accessibility consulting and audit services to external clients.

Bob has published peer-reviewed research, notably the CISNA Model of Accessible Adaptive Hypermedia, which is available through the ACM Digital Library.

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Session 5: Accessible Design for Business: An Educational Odyssey

Donna Saccutelli & Kevin Stolarick | Seneca College

Theme: Accessibility Theory, Policy and Compliance (ATPC)

This session is for design educators, disability advocates, and business and not-for-profit community.

Seneca College Communication, Art & Design currently has a micro-credential offering in 'Inclusive Design for Business' that is being supplemented with a full seven-course certificate offering.

This session provides an overview of this new and unique program, discusses the thinking behind the courses, and seeks suggestions and input.

After this session, you will be able to identify the intended audience for the Inclusive Design for Business Certificate and the learning outcomes obtained from program completion.

Kevin Stolarick is an instructor in the Inclusive Design for Business (IDB) program and micro-credentials at Seneca College, dean of the Curtner Urban Leadership program at the Urban Land Institute, and consulting researcher at Toronto Workforce Innovation Group.

Donna Saccautelli is program coordinator and professor in the Inclusive Design for Business (IDB) program and micro-credentials at Seneca College. She is also an associate researcher at the Inclusive Design Institute (IDI) at the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD).

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Capstone: Shifting to Experience

Rich Donovan | The Office of 4th Independent Review of the AODA

Rich Donovan is CEO of The Return on Disability (RoD) Group and is a globally recognized subject matter expert on the convergence of disability, user delight, and experience design. He has invested more than 17 years defining and unlocking the value of the disability market.

Rich shares his vision for people with disabilities as a powerful force in the global economy in his book, 'Unleash Different'.

He has been named one of the Top 50 Most Influential People with Disabilities in the world by UK-based Powerful Media and Shaw Trust in October 2016.

In February 2022, by Order in Council, the Government of Ontario appointed Rich to review the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).

Rich founded The Return on Disability Group in 2008 to provide corporate and public sector clients with insights and design adjustments to maximize experience and stakeholder value. RoD delivers proprietary and proven processes that translate disability experience factors into specific actions that create sustainable value. The team is sought by business and government leaders for insights, design and execution when acting in the disability market.

Rich founded Lime (2006), the leading third-party recruiter in the disability space, where he worked with Google, PepsiCo, Merrill Lynch, IBM, TD Bank and others to help them attract top talent from within the disability market.

Rich has a combined 25 years of experience in portfolio and investment risk management. As a proprietary trader and portfolio manager at Merrill Lynch, Rich delivered consistent performance results focused on macro strategies with an event-driven overlay, using equity indices as a primary tool.

Rich holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BBA from Schulich School of Business at York University. Rich is an avid sailor and proud father of his son, Maverick, along with his partner-in-everything, Jenn. He is a person with disabilities.

For more information, visit the Return on Disability website.

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Session 1: Vendor, can you spare a VPAT?: Procuring Accessible Platforms from the Get-Go

Sarah Jevnikar | TD Bank

Theme: Accessibility Theory, Policy and Compliance (ATPC)

This session is for product owners, vendor/account managers, anyone responsible for procurement or buying things in their organization, and anyone curious about how to navigate difficult conversations around accessibility.

While some organizations develop the platforms and applications they need for themselves, many buy all or part of an application to use either off-the-shelf or customized to meet their needs. How does an organization guarantee accessibility in these platforms? What questions should be asked to verify accessibility? What makes these dialogues most successful? This presentation will aim to explain it all.

In this session, you will learn how to seek information about the accessibility of third-party platforms, how to validate that reported accessibility, and how to support internal teams in testing the accessibility of any modifications to that platform, to ensure that no internal modifications lessen the accessibility of that vendor's solution.

Sarah Jevnikar (she/her/hers), CPWA, IT Accessibility Analyst, TD Bank Group, is a passionate advocate for universal inclusion and empowerment. She has lifelong exposure to assistive technologies, as someone born blind.

Sarah has been working as an accessibility consultant for more than eight years, first in quality assurance (QA) testing and later in broader consultation that includes QA, advocacy, and support particularly of third-party vendors' as they seek to onboard new platforms at TD or update existing ones.

Through her work in advocating for procurement of accessible platforms, Sarah is determined that her experience of living independently and in the life of her choosing be the future experience for more people with permanent disabilities than it is today.

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Session 2: TV for All: Breaking Barriers to Accessibility on Connected Devices

Olivier Fortin & Sarah Wang | CBC

Theme: Document & Media Accessibility (DMA)

This session is for designers, developers, project managers, accessibility specialists, and those interested in inclusive design for connected TV. 

This presentation will cover how CBC Gem has implemented best practices for designing accessible user interfaces, optimizing video content for accessibility, and using accessibility features such as screen readers on a TV.

We provide practical insights on developing accessible apps for connected TV with a user-testing approach.

Whether you are a developer, designer, project manager, or accessibility specialist, this presentation will provide you with practical insights and best practices for making your apps accessible to all users. Additionally, anyone interested in accessibility and inclusive design for connected TV will find this presentation beneficial. So, don't miss out on this opportunity to enhance your skills and create more accessible and usable connected TV apps.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Identify the latest trends in connected TV design and development
• Recognize the challenges of developing accessible apps for connected TV
• Apply best practices for designing accessible user interfaces for connected TV apps
• Optimize video content for accessibility on connected TV
• Utilize accessibility features such as screen readers on a TV
• Make recommendations based on the platforms available for developing connected TV apps
• Develop accessible apps for connected TV that are usable by all users, including those with visual, auditory, and motor impairments

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Session 3: "Born Accessible” is Not Enough: The Laurier Library PDF Pitstop Responds to the “Born Inaccessible”

Mark Weiler & Ashley Shaw | Wilfrid Laurier University

Theme: Document and Media Accessibility (DMA)

This session is for librarians, document remediators, instructors, university course developers, and blind members of academia.

Responding to a mountain of untagged journal articles faced by a blind graduate student, the Laurier library and student co-designed a “PDF pitstop”.

Including the student’s experience, we share the story of the PDF pitstop and report on its performance. Our findings indicate that about 93% of the items the student needed that were purchased through library consortia were not accessible. University libraries are encouraged to support collaborative remediation strategies that include tagging.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Better empathize for blind members of university facing inaccessible journal content
• Describe the essential features of a library remediation PDF pitstop
• Reflect on performance data of a PDF pitstop from a user-centred perspective

Mark Weiler, MLIS, PhD, is the web and user experience librarian at Wilfrid Laurier University. He is sighted and certified with the JAWS screen reader. He has reported over 500 accessibility bugs in the university library environment.

Ashley Shaw is a master's student in the Community Psychology program. The Social Science and Humanities Research Council awarded Ashley a masters fellowship to study workplace inclusion and accessibility, as well as employment-related interventions for adults who are blind and visually impaired. She is also a recipient of the Ontario Graduate Scholarship. Ashley is blind and has been using JAWS as the primary means to read web content for over 20 years. She is also an analyst for Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada.

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Session 4: Systemic Barriers to Full Social Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Canada

Jordann Thirgood & Nevena Dragicevic | CSA Public Policy

Jordann Thirgood and Nevena Dragicevic are leading a research project focused on identifying the systemic barriers to full social and economic inclusion of persons with disabilities in Canada, and exploring policy recommendations for all orders of government to expedite progress and strengthen Canada’s overall approach to accessibility and disability inclusion. They are in the process of drafting the final report, which is expected to be published in May/June 2023.

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Session 5: Meaningful Access in the Built Environment

Mike Greer | Rick Hanson Foundation

Theme: Looking Forward (conference theme)

This session is for anyone interested in seeing how removing barriers within the built environment improves accessibility for business owners, developers, patrons, and employees.

Today, one in five Canadian adults identify with having a mobility, vision, or hearing disability. That figure is set to rise to one in four during the next two decades, fuelled by an aging population.

Currently, 6.2 million adults in Canada are affected by the lack of accessibility in our communities. Improvements to workplace accessibility would allow 550,000 Canadians with physical disabilities to work. This would result in an increased gross domestic product of $16.8 billion by 2030. When we remove these barriers to access, we are unleashing their social and economic power.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Define tangible and measurable results of meaningful access levels within the built environment
• Develop a roadmap to identify, prioritize, and remove barriers in the built environment

Michael Greer is on a mission to help those with a disability have a greater voice around accessibility—in the home, office, and travel. Born with a condition called Osteogenesis Imperfecta, he learned to adapt to and deal with many challenges over the course of his life. With a degree in information technology, Mike has 10 years of corporate IT software sales in some of the world’s largest tech firms. In 2016 he transitioned out of IT Sales, and into a full-time motivational speaker, and consultant for disability advocacy.

Mike is a past member of the City of Guelph’s Accessibility Advisory Committee, and a contributor to WheelChairTraveling.com. Currently, he is a board member at Guelph Independent Living & GW United Way. These activities have given him a greater opportunity to have a voice for inclusion for all. He continues to build new partnerships and is working to make Guelph more accessible for all. Striving to bring affordable accessible housing to the city is something he is also working hard to make a reality.

Mike uses his social media persona of "BloodSweatandWheels" to further his ability to share many stories and information about his personal journey and other accessibility topics and issues. He has a passion for wheelchair racing, completing his first half marathon in September 2016, and just completed his 2nd marathon in May 2021. He is part of a strong adaptive racing community from all over the world that shares a common narrative around adaptive sports, as well as working with race directors to make races more inclusive.

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Session 1: What is a Service Animal? Recent & Ongoing Regulations - Their Impact on Others and You

David Wysocki | Aequum Global Accessibility Inc.

Theme: Looking Forward (conference theme)

This session is for professionals in accessibility services, public service staff and management, and service animal users.

The laws, roles and public access for service animals remain confusing. Canadian and Ontario regulations continue to evolve and update, leading to even more confusion. Just over a year ago, an update of the Accessible Canada Act led to three significant separate consecutive changes in major airline policies in less than a month.

What does access to the community with a service animal mean today? How does one keep up?

After this session, you will be able to:

• Clearly understand current regulations
• Recognize how the community responds to the wide variety of animals it sees
• Gain perspective tools to feel more confident with your own or others' service animals in the community
• Gain clarification of what an “Emotional Support Animal” means in Ontario

David Wysocki is an occupational therapist (OT) and the managing director for Aequum Global Accessibility Inc. He has worked diligently over 25 years, across North America, for best-practices and client inclusion in the community and in the modern workforce, for people with a wide variety of disabilities and accessibility needs. He is published, and has been a recipient/director of several notably funded projects in modern work access for people with disabilities, as well as in service animal community based best practices. Most recently, David has received The Queen Elizabeth Platinum Jubilee Medal, and The City of Pickering Civic Award in Accessibility.

David is steeped in the principles of Client Focused Practice and looks at things from the perspectives of function, environmental contexts, client goals, and user experience—including physical, sensory, neurological, psycho-social and cognitive domains. His OT background also provides considerations for end-user safety, medical/rehab needs, and developmental/age-span and healthcare concerns. Ultimately, he views all outcomes as affecting real people in real-life situations.

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Session 2: Document Accessibility Quality Control: How to Become a QC Detective and Improve the Adaptive Technology Experience

Billy Davidson | Accessibil-IT

Theme: Document & Media Accessibility (DMA)

This session is for people who have some experience remediating digital documents and/or are in a document accessibility testing role. Screen reader users may also be interested in learning what kinds of issues lead to problems they experience as users.

This presentation focuses on a very common question, “I followed all of the directions I learned in training, why is the AT user having problems or the document not compliant?”

In this presentation, we cover some of the most common issues identified during quality control. Learn how to spot the main issues and fix them to ensure the document is complaint and works with popular screen readers. We cover tagged PDF files as well as documents designed and tagged in Microsoft suite.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Immediately apply the practical skills you've learned
• Improve quality control with a checklist approach to help ensure compliance and a good user experience
• Use automated testing tools and more confidently
• Answer practical questions like, “I followed all of the directions I learned in training, why isn’t the document compliant?”
• Employ some practical solutions to common tagging issues
• Identify things to consider depending on which screen reader is being used

Billy Davidson has extensive experience remediating digital documents as well as testing with NVDA and Jaws. He has remediated large volumes of classroom materials including math and chemistry teaching materials and tests. He is a member of the PDF Association PD.

Billy is a graduate from University of Toronto. He has also studied HTML. Billy joined Accessibil-IT in 2019. He is an expert remediator and also has extensive experience testing with NVDA and Jaws. Billy has made classroom materials accessible, including Math formulas and hand-written notes, for several universities and colleges. He is a member of the PDF Association PDF/UA Committee. He is also an experienced chef and brings the attention to detail and focus on an excellent end user experience to digital accessibility.

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Session 3: Described Video in an Education Setting

Joanne Henry & Marina Matthews | Lakeshore Media Services (LMS)

Theme: Document and Media Accessibility (DMA)

Session details TBD.

Lakeshore Media Services (LMS), was founded by Joanne Henry, a leading specialist in described video and media accessibility. Over the past decade, she has led the creation and production of more than 10,000 hours of DV.

Joanne is a strong proponent of innovation who works closely with industry professionals to promote accessibility and inclusion. She contributed to the development of the Best Practice Guidelines for Post Production and Live DV (Audio Description) in association with Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB).

Joanne was a professor with the former Accessible Media Production Program at Mohawk College, where she taught DV.

Marina Matthews is an integral part of Lakeshore Media Services (LMS) where she manages the daily operations and control. She works directly with both describers and clients. With her extensive background in digital marketing for broadcast media and her commitment to promoting accessibility and inclusivity, Marina's goal is to contribute to a richer, more complete media experience for audiences who are blind and low-vision.

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Session 4: Creating Accessible Forms in Adobe Acrobat Pro DC

Karen McCall, M.Ed., ADs | Karlen Communications

Theme: Document and Media Accessibility (DMA)

This session is designed for anyone interested in creating more accessible PDF forms and form templates.

One of the most daunting tasks in creating accessible PDFs is to create a PDF form that is accessible. Forms that often confront those using adaptive technology have form controls but are not tagged, have form controls and are tagged but the form controls are not in the Tags Tree or are tagged PDF forms with the form controls in the Tags Tree but no Tooltips. Forgetting any component of an accessible tagged PDF form means the the form is not accessible. Additionally, the form template must be created to be accessible.

This session provides an overview of the accessible parts of a PDF form.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Identify the elements of an accessible form template created in Word
• Identify the types of form controls and how to add them to a tagged PDF document
• Understand how to add Tooltips to form controls

Karen McCall (MEd) (Karlen Communications) provides strategic planning, consulting and education on accessible content design/creation and inclusive education. She has more than 22 years of experience in accessible digital content/inclusion. Karen has been an advocate for a global inclusive education standard since 2009. Her experience as a leader in accessible content design includes participation in the following committees: ISO 32000 (PDF), ISO 14289 (PDF/Universal Access), Technical Standards Committee for Plain Language and Technical Standards Committee for ICT, both part of the Accessible Canada Act. Her book 'Accessible and Usable PDF: Techniques for Document Authors' was first published in 2005, with the fourth edition published in 2017. She has written books on accessible Word and PowerPoint content, and how to use Microsoft Office applications from the keyboard. She has been a Microsoft MVP for Office Apps and Services since 2009, and a Microsoft Accessibility MVP since the category was created in 2014. Karen conducts research on how those with disabilities access digital content.

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Session 5: Initiatives Toward Fostering an Accessible Workplace Culture at Occupational Safety Group (OSG)

Lisa Kovac & Cortney Hanna-Benson | Occupational Safety Group, Inc. (OSG)

Theme: Accessibility Theory, Policy and Compliance (ATPC)

This session is for individuals who are interested in practical strategies for creating a culture that fosters a commitment to accessibility.

This presentation shares initiatives for fostering a culture of accessibility in the workplace at Occupational Safety Group, Inc. (OSG). We outline three initiatives toward extending company accessibility knowledge: an onboarding presentation introducing new hires to our processes for creating accessible courses; a workshop discussing our best practices for writing alt-text; and, an AI prompt to promote use of inclusive, anti-ableist language in workplace communication channels.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Examine how knowledge of accessibility promotes design of accessible products and services
• Recognize how a culture of accessibility in the workplace benefits all colleagues and customers
• Identify teams in their organizations where more knowledge of or commitment to accessibility would be most beneficial
• Determine how to spread accessibility knowledge throughout various company departments, and select content for that accessibility knowledge

Lisa Kovac, MA, is a curriculum developer for Occupational Safety Group, Inc. (OSG). As a member of the Curriculum team, she provides iterative editorial and accessibility feedback during the development of both face-to-face and online courses on various topics relating to occupational health and safety. She also writes articles for OSG’s aoda.ca website, an archive of resources related to current and future standards under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). She has been a university writing tutor, both face-to-face and online, and delivers creative writing workshops at King’s University College. 

Cortney Hanna-Benson, PhD, is an instructional designer, lead for the Occupational Safety Group, Inc. (OSG). As a member of the Curriculum team at OSG, she is responsible for developing both face-to-face and online courses on various topics relating to occupational health and safety. Her previous research projects involved investigating the effectiveness of a pre-university online course for its effectiveness in easing the transition to university and exploring the use of competition-based technologies in the classroom. Cortney also added to her e-learning and facilitation portfolio by hosting workshops on topics relating to e-learning and graduate student professional development.

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