Accessibility is an important part of creating welcoming and inclusive communities. Inclusion Canada is committed to inclusion and accessibility both online and offline. As a nonprofit organization, sometimes a lack of resources prevents us from making things as accessible as we would like - and sometimes we have more to learn. We know there will always be room for improvement, and we are committed to this growth. Below are some of the ways we build accessibility into our daily work.
On Our Website
Our website meets all of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, especially the Priority 1 guidelines.
Our website can be navigated with a keyboard, screen reader, or other assistive devices.
Our web forms have extra-large text fields and buttons, to make them easier to click on.
Our website content is in plain language, as much as possible.
Our website content is in both official languages (French and English), as much as possible.
Our website uses a mix of visual content and text-based content. We know the needs of people with disabilities are diverse. We aim for a balance of content, while prioritizing the needs of people with an intellectual disability and their families.
Our video and audio resources include alternative content (like alt text descriptions) whenever possible. Because of limited resources, we can’t always provide full transcripts. We sometimes use auto-generated captions and transcripts as a compromise.
In Our Offline Spaces
Our work is informed by the needs and goals of people with an intellectual disability and their family members. The majority of our Board of Directors are people with lived experience, and people with lived experience are always included on our committees, advisory groups, and project teams.
We provide onboarding accessibility training and ongoing training to all our staff.
We evaluate the accessibility of our key public-facing materials. This helps us identify where we struggle and help us improve.
We use inclusive participation guidelines (Listen Include, Respect) developed by self-advocates and their families.
We follow our accessibility guidelines for online and in-person events. We work with our guest speakers to prepare them to deliver accessible presentations.
We follow our accessibility guidelines for all Board meetings and documents, and our Annual General Meeting.
We maintain strong relationships with accessibility providers including translators, English and French interpreters, ASL and LSQ interpreters, and CART captioners.
Tell Us How We Can Improve!
People with disabilities and their families are the experts on what is accessible and what is not. Your feedback helps us learn and improve.
Did you have any barriers while using our website?
Was the information easy to find, understand, and use?
Do you have a creative idea about how to improve accessibility?
Would you like to help fund our accessibility work?
Contact us – we’d love to hear your thoughts. Email us at comms@inclusioncanada.ca
Resources:
Blog: “Doing my part: How to make digital content accessible"
ASC Communication Project Resources (Coming in March 2024)