You Can’t Spell Inclusion Without a D

About eight million Canadians 15 and older have at least one disability. But there aren’t any statistics on exactly how many of them live in rural and remote parts of the country. Almost two-thirds of the 5,123 municipalities in Canada are consider moderately remote, more remote or most remote by Statistics Canada. In remote communities there are some distinctly different challenges compared to ex...

Twenty twenty-six is a big year for big sporting events. In February, there were the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games, in Italy. Then — the geopolitical climate aside — there’s the 2026 FIFA World Cup with matches being played in Mexico, the U.S. and Canada from June 11 to 19. And then there’s the twenty-third Commonwealth Games happening in Glasgow, Scotland from July 24 t...

In the first episode of our seventh season, we’re kicking things off on a “touristy” note, with a conversation about making tourism in Canada — and globally — more accessible. Tourism is one of the most important sectors of the Canadian economy. And the global one. In Canada, it directly employs more than 700,000 people. Globally, more than 357 million people. And tourism is almost two per cent of...

In our season six closer episode, we’re delving into the intersection of Disability and poverty. Both are on the rise in Canada. The Canadian 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability showed, 27% of Canadians 15 and older have at least one disability. That’s eight million people. And that’s up 5% from the previous survey in 2017. And, 2022 and 2023 figures from Statistics Canada show, over one million pe...

Again this year, we’re delving into disability and intersectionality to close out the show for our 2025 season. It’s a broad topic — there are many directions to approach it from. In part one of our two-part season ending series, we’re exploring the intersection of disability, Blackness and gender. It’s a convergence that makes for a compelling conversation. One published report said, “little is k...

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Or NDEAM, as it's known for short. This month across Canada, NDEAM campaigns are focusing on raising awareness about disability-inclusive hiring…disability inclusion throughout the employment cycle…breaking down barriers to employment for people who have a disability…and creating a disability-inclusive workplace and culture. So every seaso...

September is back-to-school time for students at all levels…elementary school, middle school…and college and and university students. It’s a good time to talk about supporting youth who have a disability so they can transition to employment from high school or post-secondary education. Research shows that young people who have a disability…have a better chance of long-term success in the workforce...

Research shows, only 21% of business leaders put a priority on creating an inclusive culture in the organizations they lead. And they’re not exactly in tune with whether employees really feel safe in their work environment. A 2020 study by Accenture found, 84% of executives believe employees feel safe disclosing a disability. But the reality is, only 65% of them do. The same Accenture study showed...

Sean Towgood is the creator, star, writer and co-executive producer of You’re My Hero. If you’re not familiar with You’re My Hero, it’s a six-part CBC Gem comedy series about Ian Fletcher. The main character created and played by Sean Towgood. Ian is an angsty 20-something wheelchair user with cerebral palsy, dealing with the pressures of adult life in a physical environment that’s not designed wi...

It’s definitely no secret — there’s a general labour shortage in Canada that’s going to last until about 2030. It’s affecting just about every sector. Perhaps none more than the health care sector. There’s a labour crisis in the sector that’s affecting — among other things in hospitals, wait times in emergency rooms; and often whether some smaller communities even have an open ER or hospital at al...

In 2024, tourism was the fifth-largest industry in the world by revenue, and the largest industry globally by employment. Here in Canada, tourism contributes $102 billion to the economy, and generates over 745,000 jobs in communities across the country. A tourism industry report noted, more often than not, it’s in the front-line jobs where people who have a disability tend to be hired the most. An...

In the Province of Ontario, Canada, the twentieth anniversary of legislation that was supposed to make the province fully accessible by 2025 came and went in January with Ontario being nowhere near fully accessible for people who have a disability. Over in France, with disability groups protesting in Paris on the eve of the twentieth anniversary of that country’s disability law of 2005, people cha...

In our first episode of the 2025 season, we’re jumping right into the controversial fray of things. We’re tackling a timely topic that’s literally dividing people and an entire country. There’s been a lot of controversy, destructive action…and destructive conversation on social media about diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI. This episode is part one in a two-part series to start off season si...

The newcomer community in Canada is huge. In 2022, the country welcomed 431,645 new permanent residents — the largest number in one year — in Canadian history. The last time Canada welcomed that many newcomers was over a century ago, in 1913. There was a time when almost all immigrants to Canada came from Europe. Today, they come from countries and cultures all over the world. Asia is the continen...

You can't explore intersectionality without talking about disability among Canada's Aboriginal people — the Inuit and First Nations. An estimated 30% of Canada’s Indigenous population, or 420,000 people, live with a disability or functional limitation. So just what is the perception and definition of disability in the Inuit and First Nation cultures and communities? How much of a role does the Bri...

The World Health Organization points out that for people who have a disability, negative attitudes about disability is one of the most common barriers to participation and inclusion — in the broader community and society in general — that they face. But what about the intersection of disability, including attitudes and perceptions about it, with marginalized communities and cultures? In Episode 28...

In North America, the disability inclusion conversation — the fight for equity — has been going on for over 50 years. In Canada — more specifically, in the province of Ontario — the name David C. Onley is synonymous with championing disability inclusion in employment, and accessibility. He was the first working television journalist in Canada, and the first Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, who had...

Advertising and disability. There’s a lot of both in North America. Eight per cent of the population in both the U.S. and Canada have a disability. In the U.S. that’s about 87 million people. In Canada, about eight million people. In the U.S., there’s an average of about eight minutes of television ads every hour of programming on major networks. In Canada, there’s now no limit on the minutes per...

There are over 1.2 million employer businesses in Canada. And almost 98% of them are small businesses, which employ about 5.7 million people. But surveys have shown that over half the small businesses in Canada have never hired someone who has a disability. They’ve never made the disability-inclusive hiring journey. In Episode 25 — the second instalment of our occasional Making the Journey series...

If you’ve ever looked for a stock photo portraying disability to use in a blog post or on a website page, you might find yourself thinking they all look the same; they all look contrived; and they don’t authentically portray disability in all its diversity. How disability is broadly viewed and perceived, can depend on how it’s seen through a photographer’s mind, eye, viewfinder and lens. The first...

In part two of our series on The State of Accessibility in Canada, we go from the bird’s-eye view to a closer look at accessibility — in branding, marketing, advertising and social media content created by businesses in Canada. This is an important conversation to have, because the accessibility of content for everyone can affect a business’s profitability and brand reputation. Be sure to listen t...

Accessibility is a single word that can have a lot of impact. Every day in Canada, indeed across North America and in countries around the world, many people — especially people who have a disability — face challenges in their daily lives because the built environment we all live in, generally isn’t all that accessible. We mark National AccessAbility Week 2024 in Canada with this episode that’s pa...

There are more than 200 universities, and more than 200 colleges and institutes in Canada. Certainly no lack of choice for young people looking to pursue post-secondary education. But there’s a problem on campuses across this country. It’s one affecting students, staff and faculty alike — a lack of accessibility and disability inclusion. Statistics show that about 27% of Canadians have a universit...

Ableism. It happens in workplaces, in communities and in society in general, every day. Maybe you have lived experience facing it. Or maybe you’ve practised it, without consciously realizing it. In this episode, we get a perspective on disrupting ableism in the workplace: Why it’s happening, its many forms, its impact and what can, and needs to be, done about it. Our two guests have many powerful...

In our Season 5 opener, the two guests who were with us on our 2023 season opener, are back to give us an update on year one of the Inclusive Design for Employment Access initiative, or IDEA for short. A quick recap: IDEA is a six-year research project being done with $9 million of federal funding under Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund. IDEA is reimagining how Canadian workplaces can be mor...