Transitions to Work & Career Development Hub members presenting a workshop

Five core hubs supported by five activity areas

Employers in Canada want to improve their capacity to recruit, hire and promote persons with disabilities, yet many lack the skills and confidence to do so. Inclusive Design for Employment Access (IDEA) aims to change this.

IDEA Hubs

Of the five hubs, three core hubs work on defined objectives:

  • Workplace Systems & Partnerships
  • Employment Support Systems
  • Transitions to Work & Career Development

The other two hubs address subject matter central to the three core hubs:

  • Inclusive Environmental Design
  • Disruptive Technologies & the Future of Work
Diagram of IDEA hub structure outlined below

This hub is examining the impact of organizational culture and climate on the employment of persons with disabilities, and identifying and sharing innovative workplace partnerships that can be leveraged to increase the inclusion of persons with disabilities. A first project is developing guidance on best practices in accessibility planning and reporting for employment.​

This hub is identifying, evaluating and sharing the processes and tools that best help employers and other workplace parties find, onboard, promote and retain persons with disabilities. It is working closely with employment support services to prepare employers and workplaces for including workers with diverse needs. ​

This hub is focusing on exploring and designing the processes, programs and resources that assist secondary and post-secondary educational institutions, as well as career coaches and workplace parties, support the transition of students into work and the career advancement of persons with disabilities once working.

This hub is focusing on how best to implement inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility into workplaces from inclusive design perspectives. It is determining how inclusive design can be implemented across policies, cultures, digital platforms and the built environment to benefit businesses and individuals.

This hub aims to ensure that persons with disabilities are not further discriminated against by emerging technologies in the future of work, such as for example, artificial intelligence. It aims to enhance the opportunities of these technologies and decrease their risks.

IDEA Activity Areas

The five hubs are supported by five cross-cutting activity areas that support the work of the hubs and of the IDEA SIL network overall. The activity area teams are supporting evidence syntheses; the use of an equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility lens; training and skills development; knowledge mobilization and communication; and measurement and evaluation.

This activity is building the capacity of hub and other members of the IDEA SIL, as needed, to synthesize evidence to date. Through rapid reviews and environmental scans, evidence syntheses will help the hubs identify challenges, knowledge gaps and solutions, including promising practices and evidence-informed tools, related to their focus.

This activity is increasing the capacity of the hubs to incorporate an equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility (EDIA) lens into its own work. This is being done through the development of a database of training resources on EDIA, as well as lived-experience stories that profile hiring, recruitment and retention best practices. These resources will be made available publicly to workplace parties and other IDEA stakeholders.

This activity is developing and coordinating relevant training modules for IDEA SIL members and stakeholders. 

This activity supports IDEA communications and stakeholder engagement needs. It develops content for various accessible communications channels (for example, website, e-newsletters, social media and media) for sharing, promoting and getting people involved in the work of IDEA. It also helps engage stakeholders – especially persons with lived experience of disability, employers and labour leaders – from the outset in all IDEA projects.

This activity is leading the monitoring and evaluation of IDEA’s activities and processes. This includes offering guidance to hub teams on how to capture, measure and record the impact of solutions they develop, pilot and scale. ​