Introduction to the New ASC Standard on Employment

Overview

CAN/ASC 1.1:2024 is the first employment standard focused on promoting systemic change through environmental solutions and policies to facilitate accessibility and inclusion in the workplace. The vision behind the standard is to promote a work environment that is accessible, inclusive, barrier-free, and discrimination-free for all workers, including persons with disabilities. 

In practice, implementing a standard can be challenging as it requires contextualizing and customizing the requirements for a particular organization. Enter IDEA and the development of implementation guidance to help organizations change norms and practices in their workplace to in their effort to become confident and competent in managing a workforce that includes workers with disabilities. The focus is on sustainable change through a systems-level approach.

This webinar is the first in a three-part IDEA Speaker Series that will introduce the standard and its key elements and then profiles the implementation guidance being developed to accompany it. The sessions provide rich opportunities for dialogue and discussion. In each session, members of the implementation guidance development team will lead you through a brief presentation, followed by a panel discussion, and a question-and-answer period. The team includes the standard’s technical committee chair Mahadeo Sukhai, and vice chair Andrew Livingston, as well as others with expertise in standard implementation and work disability policy. The three parts of the webinar are:

1. May 16: Introduction to the New ASC Standard on Employment: In this session, guest speakers will provide a primer on CAN/ASC 1.1:2024 – Employment. They will discuss the objectives of the standard and how it can help employers go beyond compliance with regulations that govern accessibility to be confident and competent in managing a diverse workforce. Attendees will learn what the standard has to offer and how it can be used to become accessible by design.
2. May 30: Implementation of the Employment Standard: Part: In this session, guest speakers will provide an overview of the implementation guide, detail its key modules and explain how organizations can use it to support implementation of the standard.
3. June 13: Implementation of the Employment Standard: Part 2: In this session, guest speakers will continue the exploration of key modules of the implementation guide, and then discuss related tools and resources to support the implementation process.

Speakers

Mahadeo Sukhai is the world’s first congenitally blind geneticist. He holds adjunct faculty appointments at University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Queens University, and OCAD University. Sukhai co-leads IDEA’s Hub 4, Inclusive Environmental Design.

Sukhai is a leading expert on accessibility of graduate and post-doctoral research training in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and healthcare disciplines. He was the Vice President, Research & International Affairs and Chief Accessibility Officer at CNIB where his research program at CNIB focused on social determinants of health and inclusion for people living with sight loss in Canada. Prior to joining CNIB, Sukhai was a researcher at the University Health Network in Toronto.

Sukhai chairs the Employment Technical Committee for Accessibility Standards Canada. He is the external co-chair of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Expert Advisory Committee on Accessibility and Systemic Ableism. He also serves on the Boards for Health Data Research Network Canada and the Institute of Neurodiversity Canada, and is a member of the steering committee for Disability and Work in Canada. Sukhai has a PhD in medical biophysics and a PhD in cancer genetics, both from the University of Toronto.

Andy Livingston is the CEO of Dexterity Consulting. He is passionate about making dispute resolution accessible for all. His expertise, mediation skills and work on accessibility and accommodation issues are highly sought after.

Over the last 20 years, Livingston's career focused on helping people improve their citizenship within society by allowing them greater levels of participation within their chosen communities. Livingston brings a unique perspective of lived experience to his work. As a wheelchair user, he is able to easily relate to people with disabilities and to organizations trying to improve accessibility at all levels. He has a Double Honours Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Sociology and a Masters Degree in Sociology from the University of Saskatchewan.

Host

Dan Samosh is an Assistant Professor in Employment Relation at Queen’s University and Academic Co-Lead of the IDEA Incubator Hub on Transitions to Work and Career Development.

About the IDEA Speaker Series

The IDEA Speaker Series provides an opportunity to hear guest speakers talk about their efforts to create stronger and more diverse labour markets that include persons with disabilities.