c

IDEA is a social innovation laboratory; IDEA 
stands for Inclusive Design for Employment Access.  

Our goal, broadly as an organization, is to create 
stronger and more inclusive labor markets that  

include persons with disabilities. And a big 
part of this is developing evidence-informed  

tools and resources through co-design with 
partners to help advance employer capacity to  

be inclusive. And that's across the employment 
cycle, from recruitment to hiring, onboarding,  

retention, mentorship, promotion, and also things 
like organizational exit. So this initiative is  

spearheaded by teams of researchers. community 
leaders, global experts, industry leaders, policy  

makers, and many others. And many of us involved 
in the IDEA team also identify with disability  

in one form or another, uh kind of in keeping 
with the concept of "nothing about us without  

us." Our mission is to help create stronger and 
more diverse labor markets that include persons  

with disabilities by developing, evaluating, and 
sharing evidence- informed, knowledge-to-practice  

solutions. Our vision is to see every workplace 
in Canada have the capacity to recruit, higher,  

onboard, retain, mentor, and promote persons with 
disabilities across the full range of employment  

opportunities and to see all persons with 
disabilities in Canada who can and want to work be  

able to find, keep, and flourish and meaningful, 
suitable, and good quality work. We value  

inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility 
in all areas of society, particularly in the labor  

market. We value strong and diverse labor markets, 
where all persons have equal opportunities in  

careers, jobs, and work. We have quite a number 
of partners from research, from the disability  

community, from labor organizations, industries, 
service providers, and government. This is a list  

of organizations that partnered with us at 
the outset of our initiative, but we have new  

organizations joining all the time. It is a space 
that is really growing and people are excited  

about making change and we are super excited 
that people are keen to make change happen,  

so we are looking to partner with organizations. 
This can only happen if we all work together.

These are the stories of persons with disabilities who have found and thrived in fulfilling work and of the workplace leaders with the confidence, capacity and knowhow to employ and mentor them.
I'd like to share a bit of my career story with you and and some of my learnings and and reflections which hopefully will resonate with you. So, first a little bit more about me. Uh I've been an academic researcher for 25 years, a post-secary educator for the same amount of time. um an inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility professional for 20 years, a founder and leader in the discipline of accessibility and STEM for 15 years, a research strategist and administrator for the past 10, and a nonprofit executive for the last five. So, those of you who are relying on your eyesight, I'm older than I look. For those of you who are relying on audio, I'm younger than I sound.

What that tells you is is even when they're functioning, our senses don't always tell us everything about our world. The idea project is is all about translating innovation for workplace for workers with disabilities into workplaces. Uh as a social innovation laboratory, we are all about the most basic definition of what we call in the sciences translational research. Scaling from pilot to process. But I do think it's important just settle for a moment on the concept that not all persons with disabilities have the same set of experiences. our lived experiences, our interacting social identities, intersecting social identities, whether we're born with disabilities or we acquire them later in life, whether we identify as living with multiple disabilities, all of those play a substantial role in in shaping how we interact with the world and how the world interacts with us. And at CNIB research, my my team spends its time understanding both the personal and systemic aspects of that lived experience and that interaction between the person and the systems of society is at the center of our research philosophy. A well-intentioned system can still fail a person because of a lack of understanding of that interaction. I have a PhD. The employment rate of persons who are blind or partially sighted with PhDs is 55%. The employment rate of a high school dropout who does not identify as living with a disability in this country is 60%. I'm going to put that another way. I'm less employable than my neighborhood high school dropout. Right? And and so so when when we think about this space, we we think usually that education begets employment. And that that's true up to a certain point. Um and uh and and so so the experiences that all of us have uh really come from that space of who we are and and and what what spaces do we live in and what are the systems that we uh interact with in in terms of um in terms of the things that we want to do in our life today. I could tell you the story of of the the uh the blind first generation immigrant not born in Canada uh science prodigy the the one who started high school when he was 10 and post-secary when he was 15. the one who wasn't diagnosed with congenital cataracts until he was 10 months of age and and lives with neurological changes to his brain because his um his sight loss was not uh was not identified until the point after his visual cortex has started to do stuff. I I could tell you that you speaking with a real life Sheldon Cooper. I could share the message that anyone with a disability can succeed in the workplace. And you know what? Those are all true stories. Every last one. Those are powerful messages. Every last one. But I want to tell you the story behind the story. And I want to share with you the biases and attitudes that we need to counter and remove in order to achieve the goals of this important work that we're doing together over the next six years. My biography says I'm the world's first congenally blind geneticist. And that is empirically true, but it's not what I set out to be. One of my first genetics profs said to me on the first day of class, "Wow, you're the first blind geneticist I've ever heard of." Now, I thought to myself, "No, that that can't be right." And I did what any good scientist would do. I sought the evidence. Turned out she was actually right. Um, I wanted to be a science teacher. In fact, my mother was a science teacher. My older sister was trained to be a science teacher. My, oddly enough, my wife was trained to be a science teacher. Um, you could argue that that that runs in the family. Um, I certainly wanted to be the first to do something or learn something in my field. I mean, science, after all, is a great place for somebody to be if we want to be explorers of knowledge or to discover or learn something new. But it was never in my mind to be the first blind person to do it. I've claimed that identity now, just as for the Marvel fans in the audience, Tony Stark is Iron Man. I am the world's first congenity blind geneticist. But that identity comes with a price. It comes with several, in fact. First, the price of misunderstanding. People that I know who know me well have misunderstood why I chose my career path. And in misunderstanding that have also misunderstood or misrepresented me as a person, as an individual. Second, the price of trailblazing. Nobody did it before me. So there were no role models, no precedents, no examples, no sponsors, no community. Being the first, I've discovered, is very, very lonely. Being the only as in the only person with a disability in your space is also very isolating. This is one of the reasons I choose to spend a lot of professional and personal time on mentorship and sponsorship as well as on capacity building in the space of accessible and inclusive research. Loneliness and isolation in our professional and personal lives is a very hard thing and in my mind not to be propagated to the next generation. Third, the price of disbelief. Well, you can't be a scientist with a disability was a common refrain. The word can't was used in the context of capability, in the context of permissiveness or lack thereof, and in the context of disbelief, and sometimes all three at the same time. English is such a wonderful language. Even today, I have a mentee who started their relationship with me by asking, "How did you navigate the transition away from science to do what you do now?" Asking me essentially how I left a discipline and skill set that I actually haven't left. But I was born in and grew up in a part of the world where the supports and services we take for granted in Canada for persons with disabilities, leaving aside whether those services work or not or effective or not, they just did not exist. And they still don't exist to this day. That meant no access to a public school education for me while I was growing up. No access to assist of technology, no access to disability support, no access to a network for me, my parents, or my siblings. But it also meant no one to gatekeep or to tell us that something was possible or not possible. And within this lack of systemic or personal support came an opportunity. The opportunity to try and to succeed or not without anyone biasing my parents or myself one way or the other. Now I don't wish growing up with a lack of support on frankly anybody. But I do wonder how to capture that opportunity to try within a support system that can be unintentionally restrictive. Finally, there is the price of cognitive load and mental health. The toll that I experience being a scientist and a researcher in a system that frankly doesn't think I should be here and is itself unfriendly to persons with disabilities as practitioners of the research craft. That's something that's been there from day one. And it's also something that I wasn't anticipating, couldn't prepare for, and can only live with each day. We don't talk enough about the extra work, in gigantic air quotes, that persons with disabilities undertake to live our lives and participate in society and the little points of advocacy or education that we do multiple times a day, nor about the toll that these effects take. Everyone's energy will everyone's bucket is finite and needs replenishment. And even if we all have the same energy reserves, I as a person with low vision have to spend that energy that much more and that much more quickly on a daily basis, whether is at work or in my community. When we think about accessibility for persons with disabilities in the workplace, often we focus on the transactional nature of the work, accommodations, a word by the way, which I actively loathe, uh toolkits, resources, checklists, and mediating the relationship between employer and worker. And yeah, those are absolutely important. They help us get jobs. But I say, yeah, so too are the policies, the practices, and the systems of the workplace, the attitudes and the biases of our co-workers and our managers and our own sense of internalized abelism. These two must be addressed in our work, and addressing them collectively will ensure a truly inclusive workplace for us all.

00:02
You can't spell inclusion without a D, the podcast that explores the power of inclusion and why disability is an important part of the workplace diversity and inclusion conversation. Produced by the Ontario Disability Employment Network, with your hosts, Jeanette Campbell and Dean Askin.

00:26
Hi there and welcome back to another season of You Can't Spell Inclusion Without a D. This is episode 19. I'm Dean Askin here with you as we kick off season five of the show. And hello and welcome back from Me Too. I'm Jeanette Campbell and back with you at the other mic. Also back for this episode of 2024 at their respective mics are the two guests who are with us on our 2023 season opener.

00:53
That's right, Jeanette. They're back to give us an update on year one of the inclusive design for employment access initiative, or IDEA for short. Now, if you missed our original conversation with Dr. Emile Thompa and Dr. Rebecca Goertz about IDEA, that's episode eight. And a quick recap. IDEA is a six year research project being done with $9 million in federal funding under Canada's new Frontiers in Research Fund.

01:23
can be more inclusive for people in this country who have a disability. It's been almost a year since IDEA officially launched, and we wanted to find out what's been happening since then. So back with us are Dr. Emile Tompa and Dr. Rebecca Goertz. They're leading the IDEA initiative. Dr. Emile Tompa is a senior scientist at the Institute for Work and Health in Toronto and an associate professor in the Department of Economics at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

01:52
He's also an assistant professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. And Dr. Rebecca Gortz is an occupational therapist and associate professor in the School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University. Now, Jeanette, I'm pretty sure this is going to be another conversation with Emile and Rebecca that'll have our listeners glued to their speakers or their earbuds, because these two are both just so passionate about what they're doing with IDEA, and it...

02:22
really comes across. Emile and Rebecca, welcome back to You Can't Spell Inclusion Without a D. Well, it's a delight to be back. We're really excited to tell you about what we've been up to over the last year. Yeah, I can't believe it's in some ways, I can't believe it's only been a year. We've been so busy and we were excited to share this, uh, our journey with you. Well,

02:45
That's a great way for us to start the conversation then, because that's exactly what we were hoping to start talking about. So, Emil, let's start with you. What's been happening on the IDEA Initiative since we talked to you about a year ago? Oh my gosh, where to start? It's been a very crazy busy, very exciting year, actually. So quite a number of things happening over this last year. I should maybe just start up with our launch that we did in May.

03:15
of last year, May 2023, was a day-long event, which was held in person. We also had an option of joining virtually, and we had an amazing lineup of speakers. I just found them so inspiring. People telling us about their lived experiences, some of our partners telling us about the things they're doing in their space, a number of our academics who are talking about the kind of things that they're going to be doing over this.

03:43
the year ahead kind of thing. So it was a really lovely day to kind of team build, tell the world about what we're doing, hear people's stories and move forward in this initiative and let everybody know that we're here and we're here to make change, I guess, ultimately, in a partnered co-design way that's really reflective of the team spirit that we need to move forward and to move the needle ahead in inclusive employment.

04:13
And Rebecca, what about you? What's been happening for you on the initiative since we talked? Well, Emile and I work together very closely and the launch was certainly a full team effort. But beyond the launch and well, after the launch and all the amazing speakers, we've continued to engage

04:38
with many community organizations and individuals across Canada. The hubs have continued to do amazing work and we have a large roster of projects underway. Many evidence-based efforts and research and with products that are coming soon.

05:07
So, you know, this is a long-term initiative and we're expecting some of those early products to be ready, become ready for release shortly. The other thing that's been really exciting is the engagement of students across Canada, diverse students across Canada who've become really interested in the work of IDEA and the idea of interdisciplinary partnered research.

05:36
And these are students of all levels from undergraduate to graduate students, and we're starting to recruit postdoctoral students as well. So really exciting to see that engagement and that building up of capacity in this area. Yeah, I'm glad you're mentioning the postdocs because those calls are still open for a little bit and they're really important parts of our capacity building students in general. We really want to...

06:04
Forge the way forward for a new generation of academics doing work of the sort that we're doing that's very partner driven, that's community based, that's really action oriented, you know, knowledge to practice that really focuses on facilitating uptake of that knowledge in the field. So the post-docs are a good way of building up some of that capacity. We have two of them that I'll do a shout out about. One of them is with Odin actually, which is a post-doctoral fellow that's

06:33
In honor of our former Lieutenant Governor David Onley, that we are looking to fill a space where a person can do some really great quantitative work in this space around understanding the benefits of inclusion across organizations, across systems, across Canada. And then the second one that's in honor of Marcia Riu, a colleague of ours.

06:58
was part of our Center for Research on Work Disability Policy. So that postdoc is really focusing on qualitative research and the really deep roots we need to understand about what's happening in this space, I mean the field and synthesizing that knowledge to get a good handle on the best practices going forward for organizations to be more inclusive. So those are two of our current calls that are open for people interested in this kind of work.

07:25
I want to jump in here for a minute. And you've kind of sort of touched on a few of the things that stick out in your mind. Are there, you know, are there other things that are real highlights that are like, you know, uber exciting over the past year? Okay. Well, there's quite a bit as my list is quite long. I actually tried to write it out and I got exhausted just putting together the list. And we, we launched our speaker series last fall as well. So we have a monthly speaker come and talk about what they're doing in this space. We've started off with some of our key.

07:55
Co-investigators will open it up to others who are working in our partnership group and beyond to have an ongoing dialogue with our audience about some of the great stuff that's happening in the area of inclusive employment, really focused on knowledge to practice type initiatives. I'm involved in a number of best practice guides in the form of standards as well, so some of those have been out for public review.

08:20
One of them is with the CSA Group on ETIA in the trades and internship programs. Another one is about inclusive employment with accessibility standards in Canada. So I think those will be out sometime this year for organizations to pick up and run with. So I think that's a really good part of what we're doing is building up that knowledge in best practice guidance that's been standardized for broad application. Rebecca, anything else stick out in your mind over the year?

08:49
Yeah, for me what sticks out is the engagement that we've been doing across the sector with organizations of different sizes and the different ways that just being able to think about the different ways that we can work with these organizations and in some cases it's just talking about the work that they're doing and in some cases we're able to really get involved in support.

09:18
some of the some evaluation of some of the initiatives that they're doing or help them build capacity and look at scaling across the sector or conducting different types of reviews that can inform the work that they're doing. So that kind of engagement that's been leading our process has been really exciting and to see the idea of the idea of social innovation

09:47
by different people with different backgrounds. To me, that's been really exciting and a real privilege and opportunity, yeah. Might I also mention the project we're doing with Ontario Federation of Labour, where we're doing a train the trainer workshop on inclusive design. And this is a collaboration, as I mentioned with Ontario Federation of Labour, we've done a couple of pilots last year, and we're looking to scale that up.

10:17
Ontario with all of the constituencies that are part of the Ontario Federation of Labour. I think that's a really important way to get people up to speed on on how to do inclusive by design approaches in the workplaces and our colleagues at the Ontario Federation of Labour are really keen on making this happen with their constituency so we're really looking forward to continuing those pilots and scaling up that initiative this year. So

10:46
What have been some of the challenges of making all these things happen over the last year? Because this is all new. You're working with hubs across the country and everybody's got to do coordinated things. What are the challenges of it all? Yeah, maybe I could, I could start for me, one of the challenges and, uh, you know, Emile has a bit more experience than I do have these large initiatives. Um, and, and I'm a bit new to this. So for me, the real challenge has been

11:14
I think there's two major challenges. One has been really, as I mentioned, there's so many opportunities and it's such a privilege to be invited into some of these organizations to learn about the work that they're doing. And it's been really a challenge to be able to think what can we take on? Like we wanna get some stuff done here and there's a real risk of spreading ourselves too thin and obviously ideas not the only...

11:43
research initiative in this space. So what makes sense for IDEA to prioritize and really run with, and what are the other ways in which we can support the other initiatives? So really sort of sorting that out and making at times some difficult decisions, but also decisions that are for the best of both IDEA and the various organizations. And then I think one of the challenges for doing

12:13
partner-based research that is focused on knowledge to action is, you know, staying in the realm of research, knowing that there's other people in the space doing some of the consultancy work and the service provision work and making sure that we really sort of think what is the research that, what is the research skills that we offer as an organization.

12:43
and differentiating ourselves in that way about what the value added of idea is. So I think we've been successful at doing that, but we've had to be very intentional in the work that we do. Yeah, I agree. The biggest challenge for me too has been just juggling all the various competing demands on our time.

13:09
and triaging, prioritizing, what do we do first, what do we park for later, that kind of thing. So there's a lot of decisions that we have to weigh on a regular basis with our team to make sure we're hitting the right notes at the right time. The other part of that too is the talent recruitment part of it. We have so many demands in our projects for students, for post-docs, for others to help support the development of these projects. And just doing that talent.

13:38
takes time as well. We've got a great roster of folks at our national office and on some of the projects that we've got up and running, really great teams, but that's a constant for us is like the talent-recruiting part of it. There's an investment there as well for us to find the right people. We're really prioritizing people with lived experience as well, so we really try to walk the talk. And that part is an important part.

14:06
The work we do is a reflection of the teams we've built up, and we want to make sure we do this in the best way possible. And you know, that's such an interesting challenge, because it's actually something that people don't really talk about a lot. We talk about the challenge of the work of the project, but it's interesting and really informative, I think, for people to understand some of the challenges of putting together these teams that are going to be able to do this incredible work.

14:34
and being able to source that talent and source it in such a meaningful and intentional way. But you know, I want to touch on another thing you were talking about, you know, that you've got things like the speaker series that you've launched, the work you're doing with the Federation of Labour and the train the trainer on inclusive design. So I'm wondering, what are some of some of the key things that you're learning right now about employers?

15:02
workplaces, workspaces that is related to disability inclusion? Um, I can go first. I think we're learning a lot is the answer. We're learning, um, you know, how to navigate, um, partnering with organizations that are complex and ever-changing, um, that, um, you know, we, we,

15:30
how to leverage our network to really get some of this work done, that things can get stuck at different points for various reasons, despite everybody's good intentions. So those are some of the challenges we're learning about and how to work through. I think we're also learning that there's a lot of really exciting stuff out there. I don't think I really realized how much...

16:00
how much innovation is happening on the ground and that much of the work that IDEA can do and the value that we can offer is beginning to showcase that work and through research. And so that's been some of the stuff that I've learned about.

16:27
Yeah, I hear you, Rebecca, and I agree. There's so many interesting things happening out there. Very inspiring to see all of the different facets of this space that I didn't know existed because we're being approached quite regularly by organizations within Canada and internationally as well about wanting to learn more about what we're doing, wanting to partner and things like that. And it's really interesting to see how many layers. Most recently, I was approached by an organization from the US that's...

16:55
just started up a couple of years ago, it was a group of several colleagues, academics from Harvard who developed a not-for-profit that's developing indicators for workplaces to use to measure progress in this space and related spaces and make them available and standardize them across the US, I guess, for them and internationally as well. And I was just thinking that that's such an important part of it because what gets measured gets attended to, as we all know, it's an-

17:25
saying that many people use, but we don't always have good measures to identify where the gaps are, what we're doing well, what we need to prioritize, and so they're trying to develop some standardized ones because standardization is another important part of measurement because you want to compare yourself sometimes with your peers, so you want to see what are sort of the...

17:48
averages in your field in certain spaces and be certain that what you're comparing is a meaningful comparison. So I thought, wow, that's a great space to be in. And we were continuing the conversation with them about how we can support the process. So there's always new things like that arising that we thought, oh, wow, here's another great thing we could get involved in and help support or promote. And it's a complex field. And the other...

18:17
element that Rebecca mentioned too that is a really critical thing is just dealing with the complexity of organizations and the different actors in the space, particularly large organizations. And some of that takes a bit of time and investment to understand how they operate. We're doing a couple of big projects with the federal government that have many layers to them. And so we really want to understand how they operate and how what we're doing can weave into building more capacity for them.

18:46
internally and making sure it works with where they're at currently and where they want to go in their journey. And that's a very customized product, so it takes time and investment of both the research part of it and also the facilitating uptake part of it can be a large investment of people time. And sometimes you don't realize that the front end when you get into some of these projects and you think, okay, well.

19:14
We can add this new project on it becomes bigger than you imagine and it requires a lot more resources. In some ways we need to think about having that excess capacity a little bit at the margin so that we can build in these extra layers into what we're doing to make sure what we're doing is the best possible going forward. Yeah, well that makes me think about Rebecca's earlier point around the challenges about

19:39
you know, really just understanding exactly what it is that you can take on because you do run that risk of spreading yourself too thin. Because you're just uncovering so much information and in your so many people are reaching out and and there's so many opportunities to engage and go in different directions with this so that's really exciting. I'm wondering, is there anything that you've learned so far that you weren't expecting to learn yet.

20:08
I think there's a couple things for me. One was I don't think I fully appreciated how much already exists. Like I think sometimes when we're proposing to do work, we say, okay, we're gonna create this, we're gonna create that. And I see students doing that all the time. And how important it is to actually do an environmental scan or a scan of what already exists because we don't need, there's so much to do.

20:37
we don't need to waste time duplicating efforts. And yeah, so I think that an appreciation for how much already exists is really important. Now there's reasons sometimes that we're not aware of what already exists because it hasn't been scaled or it hasn't been disseminated or perhaps it even hasn't been evaluated, but.

21:04
not having to start from scratch is a really interesting, a really important point in research that I think isn't emphasized. I don't think I fully appreciated how important that step is. Yeah, so I think that's number one there for me. That's a big one.

21:30
is understanding how much is already out there. And so that's what a great lesson to learn in year one, not four years down the road. Exactly. Emil, what about you? Yeah, no, but I just want to add to what Rebecca says and we're very much aware of it in some respects that we don't know what we don't know. And part of what we're doing at the front end, actually, Alec Farquhar, our lead for engagement is doing a scan with us on looking at...

21:59
promising practices that organizations are currently doing. It's low-level stuff maybe that's happening that we don't know about that we could consider generalizing to different contexts and seeing how well it works in different types of contexts. So that's part of one of our foundational projects where we're working with industry to understand where they're at, some of their challenges too, but also learning about what they find is working well for them so that we can pick up and run with that rather than reinventing those kinds of things. But in terms of...

22:27
One of the things I feel I'm learning is about the challenges of doing very accessible websites and social media more broadly. We're about to launch our permanent website. We have a temporary landing page up currently. And we really want to walk the talk as we try to do with all of our work, but making sure it's accessible as possible using the latest standards around WK 2.1 AAA to be sure that all the...

22:55
most up-to-date features are there. There's quite a bit of involvement, investment, of people time and learning as well about the different options you have to entertain to make sure it's a site that is accessible for different needs. And so we've been putting a lot of time into that on almost a daily basis. We have meetings to make sure we're reaching all of our targets because we're trying to get this launched for April of this year.

23:24
And so, you know, that was a learning curve for us, I think. We had an external group develop the foundations of it, and then the rest of it were doing it in-house before we launched, doing a soft launch in early April, we're hoping. Emile, you made me think of the entire episode we did last season on the show about making, you know, making web accessibility and the web accessible for all. You know, you mentioned a couple of minutes ago that you've been...

23:53
getting contacted by other organizations wanted to be involved, how easy or difficult has it been to get businesses involved in this initiative? Good question. Do you start? Sounds like you're about to say something, Rebecca. I think what I would say is that businesses, we have found that businesses and different employers are generally really interested.

24:22
want to participate and want to engage, I think there are challenges and many organizations, especially in the post-pandemic labor market and the post-pandemic workplace, they have limited resources and limited time and despite intentions and dedication and a desire,

24:51
sometimes that can be a challenge. And so to work with these organizations, we really have to sort of meet them where they're at and sort of figure out what makes sense. But I think in general, businesses, the idea of becoming an inclusive employer is very appealing. That's been my experience, but there are challenges to engagement for sure. Yeah.

25:18
Yeah, I would say that certain workplace stakeholders have come on board with quite a bit of excitement and energy, like the Ontario Federation of Labour, which I mentioned, federal and provincial governments as employers themselves, industry associations, we've also had service providers, community groups who work with employers coming forward, wanting to move forward in this space and partner with us. The employers themselves are a little bit more challenging, as Rebecca notes.

25:47
given that they have limited time. But I'm not sure if we've gone that direction in as big a way as we're planning to going forward. We're just starting up doing piloting of resources in workplaces, so I think over this next year, we'll be coming full board with reaching out to employers about helping facilitate piloting some of these resources and tools that we're developing. And we'll have a better handle on some of the challenges in kind of finding.

26:16
helping them find time to really move forward with some of their efforts that they very much want to do as they become inclusive employees, but carving out the space to help facilitate that kind of evaluation process that we feel is really important as part of our piloting. Well, we're probably gonna be up against that in a big way, I think, over this next year. If I could just add, I think we have an awareness of that, that there are certain workplaces that

26:46
have more capacity to engage. And I think the public sector is an example of that. And people, employers that are in this space already, like service providers and disability organizations and so forth, even though we know the Canadian labor market tend to be made up of smaller businesses, I think we have to start where there's capacity.

27:15
make sure that as we're building tools and resources, we think about their relevance to the smaller organization. So I think we always knew that that was going to be the case because we have an awareness of the reality of organizations. So I don't think that's been a huge surprise. I just think it's built into our process. So let's take a step back from that for a minute for our

27:43
may not have heard our original conversation last season. And again, that was episode eight. For all the things you've said about the challenges that business face and the commitment that they have, why is the IDEA initiative so important overall? So well, employers in Canada, as Rebecca and I have mentioned too, they really want to improve their capacity to recruit, hire, and promote persons with disabilities. There's labor shortages.

28:10
even ourselves, I mentioned that we're struggling to recruit talent. So being better at this is an important thing for organizations in order to be sustainable, to be productive. But they lack the skills and confidence. And that's where we've come into this space to think about how we, as a knowledge to practice initiative, can work with our partners to do co-design, to facilitate building up.

28:37
the knowledge base through tools and resources that we will pilot test, evaluate, and scale up in the field. So we really focus on what we describe as demand-side capacity building, so helping employers be more inclusive in the way they recruit talent and retain talent. And that's sort of the angle that we're taking. In the past, a lot of effort's been put into skilling up workers, getting them job ready, which is important, but our focus, we feel is like...

29:06
on the employer side because it's great to have workers ready and willing to take up jobs, but if the employers don't have the capacity for that uptake because they lack that confidence, that know-how of how to do that well kind of thing, we're always going to be finding that barrier that there's jobs just aren't out there, people aren't getting employed because the employers aren't up to speed on how to do this well. Rebecca, what do you think?

29:34
I agree with everything that Emile has said. What I can maybe add is I think entering into this work at this time, the timing kind of, things kind of lined up because there's a real understanding of the importance of having an inclusive workplace where employers have the capacity to hire, retain and promote workers with different skills and backgrounds.

30:03
And also I think the post pandemic workplace has been a real, in some ways, a bit of an opportunity to really rethink how people work together and how we can make these spaces and places and relationships more inclusive. So I think.

30:27
That's really what the idea initiative is about, is trying to build on that momentum through research. Yeah, we're strong believers in knowledge to practice and also co-designing, working with our partners to find solutions, evaluate them, scale them up in a particular field across the country.

30:49
I think it really requires partnership. You know, as we mentioned earlier, there's so many people working in this space. We need to work together. If we're going to make change in a big way, and we would like to see Canada be a role model for other countries of inclusive employment practices, inclusive societies. And so working together with all the people in this space is absolutely a critical thing. But a strong belief in knowledge of practice and knowledge that we can then share with everybody.

31:15
who's looking to make change. If you're at the workplace level, at the systems level, wherever you're at kind of thing, building up that knowledge for everybody to pick up and run with is really critical for us. So through our social media, through our website, we really wanna share whatever we develop with the public to make it available. There was something else we touched on in our original conversation, but I just wanna throw it out there again. What's the, do you think is the single most important

31:45
message for businesses in all of this. Well, I would say, well, I'm sure Rebecca has something to add here too, but I would say it's not so complicated or costly. A lot of times we sense that there's an apprehension to go down this bit because they think it's going to be costly, that they don't have the know-how or the capacity to do it, so they shy away from it. And I would just say to the workplace stakeholders that it's not so complicated.

32:14
You're not eating it alone too. There's so many great resources out there, stuff that we're developing, stuff that some of our partners have developed. Sometimes it's just being a bit more aware of what's out there and putting your best foot forward. You're not gonna solve all of your problems in one day. It's a continual improvement process, but you take a few steps to start off identifying maybe if you have recruitment challenges, how you can be more inclusive in your recruitment process.

32:43
and then build it into other layers of your human resources system, mentorship and advancement of persons with disabilities. Thinking about a journey and where that starting point is and just going forward with it and seeing what's out there. There's people and resources and tools to help you on that journey. Yeah, and building on what Emile has said, because I agree with everything that has been said,

33:13
The business case for hiring workers with disabilities and the positive impact that can have on an organization has been out there for a while. I think what we are saying is that, you know, there's a need to actually build capacity within the organization and that...

33:40
organizations are already doing a lot of great things. They're not starting from scratch, but it's important to go through an intentional process of taking stock, what they're already doing. And when there is innovation, I think it's really important to really evaluate that and to share it. And as an organization, ideas about knowledge to action, and I...

34:09
I think we want to eliminate this idea of these innovations happening across Canada in silence. We want them to be showcased and shared because as a society, as a country, as an economy, we want everyone to benefit from this built capacity that already exists and continue to build on that. So I think that would be...

34:38
an important message to businesses is that we really want to celebrate their successes and build on that capacity. Exactly. And, you know, Rebecca, that sort of brings me to one of the next areas we wanted to unpack a little bit. And it's that, you know, this initiative is focused on rethinking and reshaping workplaces in Canada to make them more inclusive. But both of you have been talking about sort of, you know,

35:07
Canada is a role model about the actual reach and the potential for this. And, you know, Emil, you said you're already being contacted, you know, from the US, I think you said it was Harvard, you know, reaching out to find out about this project and what it is you're doing and how to work together. So, you know, ultimately, do you think IDEA could make a global impact through sharing what it is that you're learning?

35:34
Yeah, we live in a global world for sure. Yeah, Emil, you go ahead first. No, no, no, we're both on the same page. Yeah, yeah, of course. I mean, I don't think we could not do that. I mean, the only way this is gonna work, not just the work we're doing, but the work we're all doing this space has to have an international reach because Canada is not in a siloed space. It's connected within the global economy. And so we really need to think about how

36:01
what we do in Canada is connected with what others are doing in other countries. I mean, when we think about EDIA, equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility in industry, well, we need to think about supply chains, right? And a lot of those supply chains cut across jurisdictional boundaries. It's, you know, procurement is one of the priority areas in the Accessible Canada Act. It's a key part of one of our guidance pieces within accessibility planning

36:31
In fact, one of the next projects we're doing in one of the incubator hubs is guidance on EDIA in the supply chain because it's absolutely critical. You can't think about it as just being the things that your organization is doing, but all the people you connect with in your supply chain and your clients. It's really critical that we take a global perspective for this to really work well and be sustainable as well.

37:00
Oftentimes, we're trying to connect it with other things that are happening in the international scene around sustainability, like the ESG model, everything about environmental issues, social issues, governance issues. That disability lens has to be part of those things because we can't do sustainability without being inclusive of the diversity of people in that market. It's just not a realistic option. You can't be environmental if you're not thinking about...

37:29
the human condition and making sure that everybody has a place to participate and be included and belong, right? Also feeds into the governance notion as well, you know to be sustainable in your governance You need to think about community, right and you're the impact you have in your local community in your National community and in the global community. So I think we we just need to go down that space I think about how we don't tailor integrate with the broader

37:59
international kind of economy and the reach that organizations have around the globe. So with all that inclusivity and reaching out and people interested in it, how can people and businesses and organizations get in touch with you about getting involved in the idea initiative? So pretty soon we're going to have a fully launched website that people can visit and

38:29
and you know everything that we do is going to be available on the website and shared like the idea here is that things are shared widely and freely and without restriction. So I believe Emile do you have the website up in front of you? Yes, yeah I do well www.

38:58
with an E at the end, dash idea dot CA. We also have a general email that people can reach out to called info at fray idea dot CA. And then we have a national office team that people can reach out to as well. Sabrina Chowdhury is our national manager S Chowdhury, C H A U D H R Y at IWH dot ON dot CA.

39:27
So there's various ways that people can connect with us. Our temporary landing page also has an option to subscribe to our newsletter and our social media platforms. We have a number of different social media platforms. So there's various ways that they can connect with us. The key thing is just reach out through our website, through our info at freyaidea.ca, email, and join our initiative in some way. Come to our webinar series.

39:56
reach out to us about partnering or just forward all the materials that you come across on our website to your colleagues through your own social media platforms. We have LinkedIn, we have Macedon, we have X as well, so we have a number of different platforms that we're trying to connect with people in this space. So there's lots of good ways that people will be able to connect with you, a variety of different ways that they can get to you, and I love that you're saying, you know, share information with us.

40:26
get involved, come to our speaker series, come and learn, come and participate, give us your resources and information too. Dean, I'm wondering, are we going to be able to post the contact information so that people will have an easier time getting in touch? We will definitely be putting all that contact information in the show notes and when the episode goes up and the social posts

40:55
They'll be mentioned there too Okay, that's super so we'll make sure people know how to find you. So, you know now this first year which has been Incredibly busy and engaging and exciting, you know now that this first year is pretty much behind you. What's next? What do you want to accomplish in? year to idea Yeah, I think we're at a really vital point an idea

41:24
You know, we've built some of these networks, it's ongoing. We've done some of these scans, also ongoing. But I think what the next big milestone is going to be starting to release some of the tools developed in-house, sharing it, evaluating, looking at really beginning to translate new knowledge to

41:54
to the field. And I think that's really where we're focused. And that's why the website is a critical platform to help us do that. Obviously, we're not just gonna be posting things on the website and hope that people come to it. We'll be much more actively translating tools and resources to the field.

42:20
Not all the tools and resources that we share actively will be developed in-house. Many will be through our partner organizations and IDEA will have various roles in that process. But, you know, I think that's really going to be an exciting time where we start really not only supporting organizations towards inclusion, but to actually say, and here's...

42:48
some tools that can help you along that process. And here's some evidence-based practices that can support the work you're doing. So I think this is really pivotal in the idea journey. Yeah, I totally agree. Over this next year, certainly building up all of our social media platforms to have as broad a reach as possible, facilitating uptake and scaling across.

43:18
you know, whatever, an industry, a field across Canada, of the tools and resources that we are developing and that others have developed as well that we're helping promote will be absolutely critical because we really ultimately want to have a substantive and measurable impact in the employment of persons with disabilities. So that is our end goal is to make, I guess, transformative change by having an impact in this field. So we want to...

43:45
make sure we're facilitating that happening by not just ending our efforts with development of those tools and resources, but the scaling part is really, really critical for us as well. Well, I knew this was going to be another fun, dynamic conversation, and you've told us so much about year one of the IED initiative. I mean, I have to ask before we wrap things up, you know, have we covered all the essentials about year one, or is there anything else you think is important for us to mention?

44:15
There's a lot we could go through. There's a long list. As I mentioned, I started PrepareList and there's quite a few things that are underway. I think the main thing I would like to say is just ask people to reach out to us, to partner with us, to collaborate with us, to connect with us in some way, become part of this broader initiative that we're all part of.

44:40
in order to make change, we need to work together. So I think it's really critical that we connect with each other, and I just encourage anybody who's listening to this podcast to become part of that wave of change. And to join, like us on our speaker series, to join the newsletter so that you can be aware of some of the exciting work that's happening and connect where relevant, for sure. Well.

45:08
You know, I just have to say thank you so much for coming back on the show to help us kick off our 2024 season. And truthfully, I want to know what everything else was on your list, Emil. So I'm looking forward to our next conversation about idea. You're going to have to, it sounds like, come back every year for the duration of this to keep us up to date on what's happening in this really important initiative. Oh, we'd be happy to.

45:38
Thank you very much for the invitation. And in the meantime, as well, thank you. And in the meantime, as Dean said, we have put some links into the show notes so that people can go to, that people can go to so they can learn more about all the different ways that they can engage and participate, or just learn about the inclusive design for employment access initiative. That's right, Jeanette. Check out those links.

46:07
Do make sure if you haven't, do catch that original conversation with Emile and Rebecca about idea if you haven't already. Once again, one more time, it's episode eight from 2023. You know, I'm like you, Jeanette, I'm already looking forward to next season's update from Emile and Rebecca because it's like I said earlier, their enthusiasm and passion is just infectious and it just well, it always makes for a great conversation. So Dr. Emile Thampa and Dr. Rebecca Goertz.

46:36
I would just again like to say thank you for once again helping us kick off a new season of You Can't Spell Inclusion Without a D with the update on what's happening with the reimagining of how we can make workplaces more disability inclusive. Thank you, we've been delighted to be part of this conversation. Well thanks from me as well, Emile and Rebecca. You know, next episode we're going from inclusion to ableism.

47:03
Joining me as guest co-host will be Odin's own Dr. Jennifer Krausen. We'll be talking with two guests who have some insights about why ableism is still happening in the workplace in 2024. It's many forms and what can and needs to be done about it. That's coming later this month on April 23rd. And until then, that's a wrap for this 2024 season opener of You Can't Spell Inclusion Without a D. I'm Jeanette Campbell. And I'm Dane Askin.

47:31
Thanks again for listening wherever, whenever, and on whatever podcast app you're listening from. Join us each episode as we have insightful conversations, much like this one, and explore disability inclusion in business and in our communities from all the angles. You Can't Spell Inclusion Without a D is produced in Toronto, Canada by the Ontario Disability Employment Network. All rights reserved. Our podcast production team, executive producer and host, Jeanette Campbell.

48:00
Producer Sudefo, Associate Producer and host Dean Askin, audio editing and production by Dean Askin. Our podcast theme is Last Summer by Ixen. If you have feedback or comments about an episode, contact us at info at odinnetwork.com. That's info at O-D- Join us each episode for insights from expert guests as we explore the power of inclusion.

48:27
the business benefits of inclusive hiring, and why disability is an important part of the diversity, equity, and inclusion conversation. Listen to You Can't Spell Inclusion Without a D on Podbean or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

>>>Francis Fung: Okay, I have a time check here, it's past noon so we're going to get started. um So welcome everyone to the IDEA speaker series. Our regular host Dan Samosh is off this week, so I'll be filling in for him. My name is Francis Fung I'm the Engagement Co-lead for IDEA and the National Manager for Rehabilitation and Clinical Services at March of Dimes Canada. This uh session is being recorded and the recordings will be made available on our IDEA website that's triple W https://vraie-idea.ca/

For those of you who may not know much about IDEA, it is a social Innovation laboratory focused on helping create stronger and more diverse labour markets that include persons with disabilities through knowledge to practice. IDEA is the acronym for Inclusive Design for Employment Access.
Before we dive into today's webinar, I'd like to share a land acknowledgement relevant to the IDEA National office which is located in Toronto. IDEA is uh National office is situated on the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca and most recently the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today�this land is still home to many Indigenous People across Turtle Island, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to conduct our work on it. Please note, that this acknowledgement is only relevant to Toronto, however since we are gathered for this meeting virtually uh, we suggest you think a little bit about the communities in your respective locations as well.

If you're new to this monthly speaker series um this series serves um as an opportunity to hear the latest about the current topics in the work disability policy arena and learn about their activities underway within and beyond IDEA, and we um we encourage you to stay uh connected with us through this webinar series. During the last 20 minutes of this webinar, we will hold a question-and-answer period, and you will be able to type your questions in a Q&A box at any time throughout the presentation and we'll answer as many questions as we can at the end of the webinar.

Our speaker for today is Dr Alexis Buettgen, a Postdoctoral Fellow, at DeGroote School of Business and an adjunct assistant clinical professor at the School of Rehabilitation Sciences at McMaster University. She's also an adjunct faculty member in the Critical Disability Studies program at York University. For IDEA Alexis co-leads the measurement and evaluation activity area and she's also an advisor and consultant to the International Disability Alliance. An International alliance that advocates at the univers.. uh sorry at the United Nations for more inclusive environments worldwide. Alexis's work focuses on advancing research practice and policy in the areas of social and climate justice, inclusion, and poverty reduction, as well as community capacity and coalition building with a particular interest in disability studies. So welcome Alexis and over to you.

>>>Alexis Buettgen Thank you, Francis, for that introduction, still hearing me, okay? All good. It's one of those days where there are lots of tech surprises so hopefully all goes well for the rest of this webinar and thank you to all of you who are here today. I can't see you so it's kind of strange as a presenter to be sitting in this sort of invisible room with people that I can't see, um but um happy to connect with you uh a bit throughout my presentation and then also at the end.

Um so this topic is a big one and um uh something I that I've been exploring over the last couple of years or so, uh in terms of um disability inclusion in the green economy you know broadly speaking, but today I'm going to focus in particular on the area on inclusive employment in the green economy. So sometimes uh acknowledgements and thank yous come at the end, but I want to start here and express my thanks from the outset, uh to some really important groups and people who were integral to making this research happen. So first, I want to thank IDEA uh for their uh support of this work and for this webinar in particular, uh as well as for my thanks for co-funding my post-doctoral research which is where this week's um presentation comes from, with IDEA and the Institute for Work and Health. I also want to thank Emile Tompa who was my post-doctoral supervisor extraordinaire, uh and really integral and making sure that this work happened. We had lots of conversations and thinking through this um uh newish area of research I would say. Thank you also very much to IWH staff so the Institute for Work & Health Emma, Maggie, and Joanna who were really helpful with some of the uh literature review pieces; the McMaster University Department of Economics where I was um during during the data collection for this, all interview participants who took their time and contributions um to speak with me and share their thoughts and ideas and experiences and Katherine Lofts who was a stellar research assistant throughout this work. So just want to say all that right from the beginning because I'm just really grateful for all of the support for this work. um

To get started I'll give a bit of background and context on the topic, um so this work stemmed from a recognition and many years of work I've been doing in academia but also been working with uh the disability movement uh internationally but also locally and nationally here in Canada, around issues of socioeconomic poverty and the profound and disproportionate rates of poverty and low employment rates among people with disabilities which some of you may be familiar with and one of the reasons why IDEA exists as well. So, this has been an issue that's been bothering me, and I've been thinking about um solutions for quite a while. So, it was in about 2020 when I started learning about climate change and its disproportionate impacts on people with disabilities um particularly in terms of how um folks are able to um manage in emergencies. So, in wildfires or in floods how can they get out? How are they supported? How are they included in um emergency preparedness plans and often not? um Some solutions to climate change is around um using public transit which when it is built is not always affordable or accessible to people. So, people with disabilities are left behind and left out of those um situations, but there's also this need to shift towards more sustainable economic development, with a growing recognition that climate change is real, and it is happening, and it is getting worse and so we need to do something about it. um So I started learning a little bit about the green economy, and what it means and the possibilities there and I'm really interested in that, but then found that there was very limited knowledge or awareness about disability inclusion in terms of climate change but also in terms of the emerging green economy and green jobs.

So on the screen here, um I just have those points written out in terms of background and context, and an image of people dressed up as polar bears uh from a um a protest, and they're holding signage that says "climate change makes poor people poorer" um often because the areas where um uh communities experiencing structural oppression and low income also tend to be disproportionately impacted by things like environmental pollution um and um the toxicity of of of that. So, there's a lot of um connections there. So, I'll get a little bit more into that, but before I go into it I wanted to just check in with all of you um to ask you um what does green economy mean to you? it's uh this concept that kind of gets thrown around a little bit sometimes the um the definition isn't clear it's a little bit elusive. So I just wanted to take a moment to invite you all to use the Q&A and just share you know, one word or a few words about what the green economy means to you and I'm going to try to see that at my end if I can if not, I'll just ask um Therese or Francis to see that because I don't see it right now.

>>>Francis Fung: Okay, so we have an entry, uh "sustainability."

>>> Alexis Buettgen: Oh yes, there it is I see that. Hi, Sandra, anybody else have any thoughts that come to mind what does the green economy mean to you? {Alexis Buettgen reads} "In tested domain", yes, I can see it now, {Alexis Buettgen reads} "shift in skills and jobs to those that support environmental sustainability." Yup, so great so thank you for that, uh {Alexis Buettgen reads} "means a workplace and environment that supports climate health." Yes, {Alexis Buettgen reads} "an economy focused on environmental preservation, sustainability and accountability." Great, thank you, uh I'm just going to.. great start.

There are no right or wrong answers to this, this isn't a trick question and it's not it's not a quiz, um but also wanted to um ask you likewise, what does "green jobs" mean to you? Please use the Q&A if you have any thoughts about what this term means to you. "Jobs with a low environmental footprint", "jobs that contribute to preserving the environment" is what I'm seeing in the in the Q&A area. Yes, "jobs that are good for the environment", yep, great so thank you all. uh "Jobs that cover a range of employment sectors" yes, "a job that is sustainable, healthy, and environmentally friendly reducing the environmental impact is what I'm seeing. Thank you all for contributing to that and thinking about it.

>>> Alexis Buettgen: um So uh as I started embarking on this research uh and went through a fairly steep learning curve; uh my my previous research was around uh as I mentioned, like disability and poverty issues, social inclusion, social exclusion, and social justice issues; so it's only been in the last few years I've started learning about this topic. uh So when I uh came across the green economy, I used the definition set out by the United Nations environmental program as sort of like an International broadly written definition, which understands the green economy to be something that is low carbon, resource efficient, and socially inclusive; and those three things together is what really interested me in this topic. Green jobs uh was also something that I've heard about um before, so I was curious about what those are, um, particularly with my interest in work and employment. um So for this research I was inspired by the International Labour Organization's definition of green jobs, which is defined as decent jobs that contribute to preserving or restoring the environment uh either in traditional sectors like manufacturing and construction or in new emerging green sectors such as renewable energy and energy efficiency. So, this definition is the one that I drew from because it refers to quality work with a fair income, job security and prospects for personal development, and social integration and equality of opportunity and treatment for all. So, to me, it sounds great, these are things that are going to help the environment and promote some sort of social inclusion and address some of the challenges that we're having in working employment now; but there was very little research that was done on this topic, so I explored it, using um these three broad research questions.

Uh the first uh reads, what are the challenges, barriers, and opportunities for inclusion of persons with disabilities in the green economy? That's really like the crux of this research, um but then I was also interested in really what is the current state of the scholarly literature on disability inclusion in the green economy. I wanted to take a deep dive into that to see what's actually known about this topic, and what programs, policies, and initiatives can support sustainable and equitable participation in the green economy. So those are my broader research questions, but this presentation will focus on findings specifically related to work and employment as part of this larger postdoctoral research project on disability inclusion across the green economy. So my methodology for this uh was an evidence synthesis approach uh which uh was was inspired by a critical disability theoretical framework, um and here I defined disability in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; as long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder an individual's full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. I'm particularly um uh interested in the right to decent work and employment. So the the convention also talks about um the right to work and employment but this definition is one that I like to draw from because it focuses on people with disabilities as rights bearing citizens and understands disability from a cross perspective with people with different impairments and how their disability is impacted by the environment in which they're living in. um critical disability studies also draws from the disability justice model which focuses on examining disability and ableism as they relate to other forms of of oppression and identity such as like race, indigeneity, class, and gender; uh and that model in particular has a has a specific focus on sustainability so quite relevant to this work.

My methods involved a scoping review, um which included only those studies published between 2012 and 2023, uh published online and in English. We ended up with 21 at the end. uh We conducted qualitative interviews with 18 key informants, the majority of these participants included diverse people with disabilities who were familiar with the connections between disability and climate change, uh but participants also included green economy experts like researchers, policy analysts, policy makers, non-profit service providers and employers and entrepreneurs who are engaged in environmental sustainability efforts. uh Then I did an environmental scan um which uh is currently just in the process of analysis. All of this work is sort of in the later stages of a of an early analysis. um So this scan identified more than 30 promising policies, practices, and initiatives on a continuum really of more or less relevance to the green economy specifically; uh and most of these examples are from Western Europe a few from Canada and the USA. uh to scope out this work, I focused on the Global North um with a particular interest in Canada.

So, the findings I'm going to talk about in terms of the challenges and barriers and then also talk about opportunities. So, starting with challenges and barriers, uh one of the um biggest themes that came out of this work is that the current structure of work and employment as it is now is inherently problematic. um This is um as some of you might already be aware, there's you know, these disproportionately low employment rates of people with disabilities. There's a lack of accessibility. there's a lot of exclusion, explicit and implicit discrimination; and so, what I learned through this research is that all of those things will continue to be the same unless there's a transformational shift in the way we understand work and employment in relation to um environmental sustainability. So here are some of the particular areas that are problematic in relation to green jobs and um the green economy; is a lack of access for people with disabilities to education and relevant skills in the green job sector, um as well as like a over representation of people with disabilities in entry-level jobs and potentially hazardous green jobs especially in um some examples from the uh e-waste recycling sector where um people are dealing with new chemicals um new types of equipment on a regular basis. They're a lot of times run by um small businesses who might not have the capacity to provide health benefits and there's a lot of health and safety hazards and risks associated with that work. um, so that's one particular problem, as well as this prevalence of the charity model where people with disabilities are getting jobs because it's considered the nice thing to do uh as opposed to like true inclusion. uh Through this work, I found a few examples of disability inclusive employment uh in the green economy um but not many. uh So the point made through the interviews and through the research like the scoping review was that this is a largely untapped potential to harness the creativity and um really advance the socially inclusive green economy by including people with disabilities in green jobs. um The last point here is um around the uh risk of dependence on financial incentives for employment of people with disabilities. So um on the one hand, uh the research that uh has been published on disability inclusive employment and green jobs was that financial incentives were found to be a key facilitator of employment of people with disabilities um and examples from the literature of inclusive employment emphasize that employers relied on financial incentives to employ a substantial number of people with disabilities in green jobs, um but the literature and the interviews suggest that there's a need to reduce this dependency on wage subsidies and financial incentives to advance the emergence of a new image of true diversity in green enterprises. So, shifting away from this charity model to more um rights-based approach and true inclusion.

Other challenges and barriers, um A big one that kept coming up over and over again is this uh problem with dialogic and functional silos. So, on the screen I have an image of um four uh steel silos side by side each separate from one another. um So this this theme of silos kept coming up over and over again um, particularly between government departments and agencies. So, for example, ministries of disability and social affairs are separate from ministries of the environment, um some people critiqued the Accessible Canada Act for not really addressing sustainability specifically. uh There was also some discussion around the um conceptual and practical divisions between ESG initiatives, so this is Environmental Social and Governance initiatives whereby disability and accessibility and corporate sustainability reporting has been largely neglected, um and relegated to social sustainability considerations which are less attention than environmental and economic sustainability; but there's also silos and divisions between and within movements, so a big challenge here is around the uh exclusive and inaccessible climate justice and labour movements um who are working towards progress um in a just transition to a green economy. So, in particular, the labour movement um working towards leaving no one behind. when we shift away from our dependence on fossil fuels to alternatives; um but disability has not really been included in in much of that so there's um been some divisions there.

There's also a general lack of meaningful investment in disability inclusion um in relation to to green jobs and the green economy and this is really reflected in the dirth and lack of literature and research on disability inclusion in the green economy which currently is largely hypothetical and conceptual, and it doesn't really have a lot of empirical studies. So, there's that piece, but also um what I heard was that you know, it's no longer socially acceptable to discriminate against people with disabilities; so there's an increasing mention of people with disabilities in laws, policies, and programs in relation to climate change, um but rhetoric really isn't enough. So, I have a quote here uh from one of the participants saying, "rhetoric isn't enough to change the climate and it's not enough to sustain a business." So for example, for somebody like a uh person with a disability trying to start up a business in the green economy or um support green jobs in some way, that there is a lack of appropriate funding uh in that regard for disabled social entrepreneurs in particular, and a lack of disability inclusion and climate financing; so like the loss and damage fund, adaptation funds, and green climate and environmental funds. So, this lack of investment um means there's not enough knowledge and technical expertise for people with disabilities and their representative organizations to be informed and prepared for the growth in green jobs and the green economy. So, all that being said, the challenges and the barriers uh are heavy but there are also some interesting opportunities and I want to share this example here on the screen of sustainability includ...uh Sustainability Through an Inclusive Lens. or STIL Solutions.

This uh was a Canadian Social Enterprise founded by woman with a vision impairment to bridge the gap between sustainability and accessibility. So, on the screen I have Hillary Scandin who was the entrepreneur who um started up this business. uh So the company produced something called Waste Finder uh on the screen in the the um top right corner, I have the Waste Finder system which is uh tactile floor mats placed in front of waste disposal bins. So, if you've ever been in a a public space uh where you might see you know those there are three bins, two or three bins side by side, one is for garbage, one is for recycling, and one might be for compost. what Hillary found as a blind woman was that she wasn't able to divert her waste properly because she couldn't see which one needed where her waste needed to go, so she um started a business to create these tactile floor mats; and they were sold to municipal governments, universities, pharmacies, food markets, and nonprofit organizations across Canada the US and even in India. They also offered consultation and workshops for businesses, communities, and institutions to make their spaces more accessible and sustainable; uh but this business has unfortunately closed down um because of the challenges with the lack of investment. A lot of people were keen on the projects and started pilot projects but didn't actually fully invest in it. So, um this is an example of both the challenges, barriers, and the opportunities um around disability inclusion in the green economy. So, I'm always interested in in understanding the challenges and barriers but where are the opportunities and how do we go forward. um What are the solutions and how can we harness some of that to promote broader forms of inclusion. So, um now I'm going to talk about the opportunities that were identified um in this research.

So, the first was around employment opportunities in green jobs. So green jobs were mostly defined uh by participants as waged employment in the renewable energy uh environmental and conservation sectors, um and so as employment options arise to provide um good green goods and services, there are opportunities to advance equitable employment especially as our economic and environmental transitions can negatively impact low-income communities. So, um some of the things that I heard was that it uh there's opportunities to leverage all of the money going into disability and employment and green solutions and if we can bring those things together there could be tremendous opportunity to advance disability inclusion in the green economy. um Also there was some thought that perhaps employers who are um trying to advance green jobs are receptive of changes in the world of work, so perhaps more receptive to employing people with disabilities, um and the literature suggests that firms employing a substantial number of workers with disabilities and integrating diverse worker knowledge into their business model reinforce the social, economic, and environmental sustainability of the organizations. So, some of these business models that could work well for disability employment are those that focus on a triple bottom line in terms of the people, the planet, and profit. So, there is some opportunity there, but um the evidence suggests that this is um not really happening right now. So I have a quote on the screen now from a participant I'll call Joe, uh who said that, "respecting the environment, society, community, people and also thinking about social impact and not just generating revenues. For me a green job is receptive of changes of individual needs and adjusting for reasonable accommodation flexibility and adaptability." So, there's the opportunity, however, another participant I'll call Sydney said, "we cannot just assume that every green job is a decent job, and it's important to ensure that green jobs also meet those decent job requirements." So thinking back to the challenge that I mentioned just before, around um some of the health and safety risks and entry-level positions in some sectors of the so-called green economy um are important things to think about; and that we don't replicate the current challenges in work and employment going forward um towards transforming our economy to be more sustainable.

So, with that in mind, I want to share another example um of a organization called ATF Gaia. uh This is a firm based in France that specializes in the life cycle management of professional IT and mobile equipment from deployment to reuse through operational um maintenance. So, since its Creation in 2005, uh ATF Gaia has promoted the employability, professionalization, and social inclusion of people with disabilities. They have 81 employees uh 68% of them are people with disabilities on permanent contracts. The company reconciles economic performance with their social mission and continuously works to advance the integration of employees with disabilities; adapt their workstations, when necessary, support the professionalization of their employee's development of skills in the environmentally sustainable jobs sector, and focus on the extension of the lifespan of IT equipment, waste reduction, and the protection of natural resources. So, I came across this example as um in the literature as an exemplar of social, environmental, and economic sustainability um with um record... um recorded annual business sales nearing almost 10 million Euros. So, seems to be um somewhat of a successful business model.

Other opportunities related to this is around human rights law and policy. uh So um this was thought about as a way to leverage current anti-discrimination and affirmative action requirements to increase the employment of people with disabilities, um as well as lean on international human rights law that obliges states to ensure inclusion and meet climate targets. So, examples here were the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Paris Agreement and the sustainable development goals. um in terms of policy and thinking about the connection between disability and climate; uh participants talked about the built environment regulations is something like hanging fruit that could be a starting place, uh leveraging uh LEAD certifications, so that's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design with accessibility standards for the built environment. So, things like automatic doors that also conserve energy, living walls that offer tactile information and cleaner air, as well as automatic taps and lighting all of which are beneficial for the environment and for people with disabilities, and kind of everyone, I would argue. There's also increasing recognition of disability in climate policies and agreements, um so it's good news that people with disabilities are at least considered and specifically mentioned; um like in Canada their 2021 Nationally determined contribution under the Paris Agreement, as well as Canada's Sustainable Jobs Plan. uh So this sustainable jobs plan includes targeted support for Canadian workers and communities and specifically mentions people with disabilities in the investment and skills programming for sustainable jobs. So, they cite um almost $300 million over the next five years is promised for the Opportunities Fund for people with disabilities which assists people with disabilities to prepare, obtain, and uh maintain employment. um so that is great, um but the Opportunities Fund is not new and it's not specific or targeted to green jobs or green economic development in particular.

So, on the screen, I have just some examples of what I mentioned, uh image and the front cover of the Accessible Canada's Act, an image on the CRPD, an image of the Climate Agreement, front page of the Sustainable Jobs Plan and the Government of Canada's Adaptation Action Plan which also at least mentions people with disabilities as well. So, these are potentially opportunities to leverage. The last opportunity I want to highlight is um this cultural shift that's happening as we start to recognize the impacts of climate change and its realness, um and so the shift towards thinking about wellness and collective care. So the green economy presents a cultural shift really uh to transform our current economic and business models to support a thriving ecosystem, and my research indicates that collective care and support for living in a world that is hostile to us is work that's already underway by people with disabilities, Indigenous people, and other historically marginalized groups; so there's an opportunity to learn from those experiences and value that knowledge. There are also a lot of possibilities within the care economy. So, the care economy recognizes paid and unpaid care work um and calls for greater investment in public health infrastructure and expanding the inherently low carbon sectors of caregiving, teaching, social work, and the arts which is often not considered uh part of the green jobs but is really essential to our social, environmental, and economic sustainability. So, when thinking about well-being, I just want to share this other example here of an organization in the UK called Wheels for Well-being. uh They address the challenges and barriers to accessible and environmentally sustainable forms of transportation such as cycling. um So they uh are run by a group of trustees, staff, and volunteers with disabilities to create ad adapted forms of of cycling um and particularly for those who don't have access to uh alternate forms of accessible and affordable transportation options. So, on the screen, I just have a couple of pictures of these adapted bicycles uh and the folks who are involved in that initiative.

So, to conclude, uh I have some preliminary conclusions because this research has been a lot to think about and I'm really open to hearing from you around um what... how to interpret this, what matters most to you, what sort of stood out for you, what should be thought about. um This is just the beginning of a longer research program for me; um but basically uh what I've concluded is that there is an opportunity right now to make the green economy and green jobs inclusive. As it's emerging it can be reconceptualized and represented um uh to to support an inclusive image of disability. Also, that disabled experiences and epistemologies must be central to the design, planning, and implementation of the emerging green economy using inclusive design principles so very relevant to the IDEA initiative and including people with disabilities throughout the whole process. Also, there is a need to implement a just transition. So, this is about making the transition to a green economy socially just, uh and that will require an integrated mix of employment standards, social protection, skills development, and attitudinal transformation with regards to disability.

Some preliminary recommendations, I've split them up and thinking about research, uh policy, and practice. So, for researchers there's a real strong need for theoretically informed empirical research within a transformative paradigm focusing on um social justice and I would suggest a critical disability lens fits very well with this work; uh and looking for examples where there more examples of inclusive green economic activities in real-world settings. So, like ESG or sustainable business models as well as a critical policy analysis of some of the just transition and sustainable jobs plans that are coming out now. In terms of policy, um lots of the research indicated that Government needs to take a lead here, and there is an opportunity for the Government of Canada in particular to demonstrate international leadership in this area. There needs to be multi-stakeholder governance with a focus on decent work as well as collaborative cross-sector local workforce development so bringing together the public, private, and non-profit sectors as well as um community groups in order to to inform that process. There must also be mandates and regulations or requirements for disability inclusion in climate financing and procurement to enforce this to happen, um as well as leveraging the existing incentives that I mentioned uh before. Employers uh themselves can showcase their promising practices and initiatives in this regard, some employers might be doing it and not even really thinking about it as uh as as as a big deal but trying to connect the economic, environmental, and social sustainability together, employing people with disabilities in some sort of green jobs is really um critical. So, and thinking about this skepticism abounds in this area, so most participants were really skeptical of the role of the private sector in a disability-inclusive green economy given the current emphasis on maximizing profit. So, one of the participants said {Alexis Buettgen reads} uh that "simply capital cannot do this job because of the way the capitalist system is designed to operate, um and that these systems cannot be reformed in a way that would be inclusive of collective care", and that theme was carried out throughout the literature as well. um Another participant said {Alexis Buettgen reads} "I don't have any hope of the private sector doing anything that's not in its own interest unless there are reasons it becomes its interest" so those quotes are up there on the screen.

So I have questions remaining and for discussion that if you want to take up that would be wonderful, but things that I'm thinking about now and engaging with uh participants who took place in the study and other groups I'm working with; is wondering you know is it possible to realize a disability inclusive green economy and green jobs in a capitalist political economy, and if so, what would that look like? Also, what role can we play? So those of us who are interested in the intersection of disability and employment uh and contributing towards inclusive employment in a green economy how have you considered the intersection between disability inclusion and environmental sustainability in your work, uh and what opportunities can you leverage to advance knowledge and practice at this intersection? So, I'll leave those with you to ponder uh today or later on I'd be happy to connect um at some point over email or on LinkedIn. I have my references and resources listed here and my contact information. So, thank you very much for listening, I know it it's been a lot uh it's a big topic but a really interesting one I think, so thank you.

>>>Francis Fung: Well thank you Alexis for a very uh interesting and informative session and I know that you've left some questions for us to ponder um and also methods to stay connected with you and carry on the conversation that we are uh uh really appreciative of that; um but we have a little bit of time right now um if you would mind may be taking some questions. So um for the audience if you're new to the Zoom platform um there is a Q&A button that should be on the bottom of your screen and if you click on that you should be able to type in your question, um and I will try to bring that to Alexis and uh and have that answer with the remaining time that we have for this session. So um you can go ahead and do that, and um while we're waiting for the questions to come in, Alexis um you've mentioned quite a few things um with connecting the you know the the the support to people with disabilities and the inclusion uh with uh green economy which is emerging in our society, um and you talked a little bit about having that social conscience um altogether, and uh you know there are certainly some challenges uh from a employer side in a capitalist economy. I I'm wondering from the political front how do you see this, because environmental issues and social services issues are often treated very very separately you know in terms of funding and departments within the government. um Has there been any efforts you know related to that that you've seen um even at the grassroots level or is this very very new still?

>>> Alexis Buettgen: Yeah, I've been looking uh and I I um can say you know that the so the Sustainable Jobs Plan for example uh is something that was informed um part by Chrystia Freeland and thinking about disability in particular and how um the Government of Canada wants to move forward with a just transition to a green economy. um So I was able to see her working in collaboration with uh Steven Guilbeault the um minister for the environment, and so that has been something that's been good to see in like building those connections, but that's also a result of years of advocacy. so, um there's a group that I've been working with at McGill University called the Disability Inclusive Climate Action Research Program and that's a uh an international network of people interested at that uh in disability and climate issues. uh and I've been lobbing for a long time to get recognition of the impacts of climate change on people with disabilities as well as how people with disabilities can be engaged as agents of change and moving things forward; so, um there are those elements and I found, individuals here and there that that are starting to make the the connections as well. um There was a one example also that I came across locally at the University of Waterloo, um they did some work to um put together a guide on um... related to the circular economy and their built environment at the university to make it both sustainable and accessible at the same time. So, there has been a few examples that are starting to arise but there's not that many um mostly because where we're at right now I think is just in in building education and awareness around the connections between disability and climate and social justice so it's kind of where we are right now.

>>>Francis Fung: Great, um I know that uh among our audience we probably have quite a few people that are working with employers or um try to facilitate a more inclusive workplace; um and when we had the opportunity to speak with um perhaps maybe the leaderships um you know within those employer settings, what can we tell them about green economy and how how do we connect that conversation with with um inclusion of people with disabilities, because you know when we work with these employers they're not necessarily familiar with green economy depending on their operation and what their business uh nature is like. Can you comment on that?

>>> Alexis Buettgen: Yeah, so anecdotally uh and just just learning um from the findings from this research. um One I think important point to make is that um at some point employers uh are going to have to be more sustainable and they're going to have to be more accessible and that those two things don't need to be done separately they can be done together. uh Which ultimately can save time and resources and be much more effective overall. um So my thoughts would be to start thinking about how those two initiatives might connect, um and when they're talking about or thinking about sustainability are they talking about that in terms of environmental sustainability or economic sustainability or social sustainability, and what are the connections between um those three elements of their work? So um I think it's just it's a conversation at this point, but this is definitely an area where there needs to be more research, is an understanding of um any examples that are out there of people who are are trying to do this, to try to make the connections; um but the challenges that I've been hearing about um in the literature and from people trying to advance this work are that you know the sustainability departments are separate from the accessibility departments and they don't really talk to each other. So starting to have those conversations and finding where their mutual interests are is a good place to start.

>>>Francis Fung: Thank you, um I want to bring to you a comment and a questions from our audience as well um one of our audience um uh works with the Disability Inclusion Business Council Secretariat um and the council members are are are big businesses and um they continue to emphasize that disability inclusion is good for business and good for employers, um and when their workplaces are inclusive it results in a better business outcomes and in the context of your earlier comment that you know perhaps employees are reluctant to do anything uh that isn't you know within their their self-interest, um the audience is wondering um if there's an opportunity to show employers that disability inclusion in the transition to a green um economy is, in fact, their best interest.

>>> Alexis Buettgen: It's a tough business case um to make, I think you know we all been trying it for many years um and so um the the folks who were uh quite skeptical about this are are are people that weren't necessarily also um doing this work um from the private sector's perspective, um so there I just want to caveat my comments around that point, um so yeah and making the business case around it. I think it's it it resonates well with the argument that you know if we design things to be inclusive from the outset it actually costs less money in the long run, because then you don't have to go back and retrofit, you don't have to worry about um providing you know accommodations or adaptations to something that's already built or developed, whether it's uh a structural physical entity or whether it's a policy or a program. So, designing inclusively from the outset I'll actually make it more effective, um and the same goes for anything around sustainability or climate action. So, you know thinking about how um when you know if there's if there's this push in a municipality let's say to um create a better public transit system so that they can um reduce the number of cars on the road. If those public transit systems are not uh built to be accessible and affordable then there's a huge wack of the population that aren't going to be able to use it and it won't fully address the issue that they're hoping to address. So, the same would happen at an organization or firm level um where whatever they're trying to develop and build I they think they can really harness from the knowledge of people with disabilities themselves. So, one of the points that I made earlier was that you know people with disabilities are um well versed and have had a lot of experience working, living, and managing in a world that has been hostile to their existence, and we are now living in a world that is becoming increasingly hostile to our existences. You know there's there's wildfires, there's heat waves, there's flooding, there's droughts that's making it harder and harder; and so, learning from that experience and how to manage it and think creatively because if we need to think outside the box, we need to talk to people who live outside that box, that would be part of my answer.

>>>Francis Fung: Right, thank you, um you've earlier on mentioned about the the green economy maybe a bit more new um it's an emerging economy. uh An example was brought up um that in the '90s uh technology advancement um allowed the telecommunication sector to grow quite a bit um and at that time um call centers type of occupations became sort of a preferred um environment for people with disabilities to uh to get jobs, um and um however, in many instances some of those jobs became um precarious in nature and there was lack of career advancement for people with disabilities. So, uh you know sometimes it's due to the inaccessibility of the system um uh in that in that sector, so what can we learn from that example um with the transformation um of that technology and those jobs available for people with disabilities, and how do we avoid the same type of pitfalls?

>>> Alexis Buettgen: I think using a decent work agenda right from the outset is really critical. um We need to address poverty and uh climate change together uh in the in the same vein. um So you know, if for example there are government grants available to promote green job development then that green job development must be decent, it must provide quality work, it has to um you know... there's various indicators around how to measure that and I don't need to go into it right now, but there the International Labour Organization has a decent work agenda for example; but that's about um avoiding precarious work, providing people with a fair income, uh opportunities for professional and personal growth, and and real inclusion in the workplace. So, my sense uh from this research is that Government needs to be a leader in that way uh in terms of how they're moving this forward. So that's been a key message from what I've learned around climate change, in order to make an impact Governments need to be strong leaders, and also in terms of green jobs and the green economy they also need to be strong leaders to promote um environmental sustainability and social inclusion at the same time. So there's this need to really think about how the green economy is defined um and that was why in my recommendations for research doing some critical policy analysis and looking at how disability is starting to be mentioned, and how some of these initiatives are really going to impact people with disabilities and how they can be better included in the design and the implementation right now before we get too far along in the transition.

>>>Francis Fung: Okay, we have a couple more um entries on a Q&A, um One of them is um more of a comment um but I'm going to uh try to paraphrase a little bit for you, um so we have someone that had experience with research in economics and retention, um and there are some um employment insertion models that have been discussed, um and one of the things that were noticed is that uh there's a dependency on funding, um and and that often force leaders to uh focus on sort of the performance of employees and uh during those reintegration programs. So, the uh questions uh that raised is regarding um how sustainable is this with this kind of a structure um against the social mission and and the challenges for the working collective.

>>> Alexis Buettgen: I'm not quite sure I fully understand the question.

>>>Francis Fung: That's um so it's not so much of a of a question but more of a comment on that and wondering you can elaborate on it. So, the um the comment is that uh certain elements such as dependency on funding has become a major constraint that forces leaders to strengthen the performance of the employees um and participants in reintegration programs, so um this sometimes would raise questions about the sustainability of the structure um for the social mission and also present significant challenges for the working collectives. So, wondering if you have any comments to elaborate on that.

>>> Alexis Buettgen: So, in terms of reintegration and sustainability. I mean um I so I I'm not super familiar with the reintegration process itself, um but when I think about disability inclusion and sustainability um you know it's it's it's thinking about you know how like I think about it is also not forgetting that people with disabilities are are people. So, um what you were just talking about there sounds very much like a kind of surveillance type of model, which I would say you know, really, I don't know... if that's um that's not really what the green economy based on a definition of being socially inclusive is not really so much um what that's about... So, you know in support but in supporting people reintegrating means you know supporting people back to work, if they've been injured or so on, um you know engaging people in like engaging workers and employees with disabilities in conversations and initiatives at an organization or firm level about how they can be more sustainable gets more buy in from uh employees. You know, and you really gather a lot of diverse worker knowledge in order to uh create better happier workers and workplaces as well as move towards something um that's going to be sustainable and work for the organization itself. So, I'm not sure if that's kind of getting at that at all but that's um my comment.

>>>Francis Fung: Yeah, um we have another question that perhaps is somewhat related to this as well. I think the question is that um you know when we supporting people with disabilities and when there is a structure that has a focus on uh performance in the capitalist um economy um and how would that impact on that social mission? um there's a follow up to another question that's maybe related to this, is that you touch on the health and safety in some of these green economy uh jobs. um So the question is that what would you advise in terms of um how you could limit health and safety risk for people with disabilities in particular in those uh environments.

>>> Alexis Buettgen: Oh that's a big question, there's I think there there's so many layers to this work and it's it's it spans the bounds of policy and practice and programs like it's really it there's there's so many silos to be broken down in order to make that happen, um but I think one one of the critical points is that just because a person with disabilities has been employed in a job does not mean that that's a good job, it doesn't mean that it's quality work and so um looking at that and thinking about how to address that challenge is really important, but you know the thing the example with the E-Waste um recycling um in the health and safety risk so the the ATF example I shared with you that wasn't necessarily the case, but in some other organizations it is, and part of that is just because the the the exponential growth in tech it's really hard to keep up with the changes in in the equipment and in the materials that are used, um and then the challenges associated with being a small business, so there's this is why there's a need to do to promote more cross- sector uh and uh more cross- sector collaboration and multi-stakeholder governance around those things. So it's very layered and very complex.

>>>Francis Fung: Yeah, thank you, Alexis, I I think you've given um um the audience a lot to think about. There's a lot of um interconnected things that you touched on.

>>>Francis Fung: um So we are um close to the last few minutes um of our time together now um so I want to uh thank you on behalf of IDEA for um taking the time to provide this uh presentation. I wanted to give a reminder to the audience that the session was recorded um so it will be made available on our IDEA website, um and we will also be back for our next IDEA speaker series on Friday, June 28th so just about a month away, and the next speaker will be Valerie Martin from the University of Quebec in Montreal. um In the meantime and uh if anyone has any questions uh they can feel free to reach us at info@vraie-idea.ca or https://www.vraie-idea.ca/ um and we invite you to follow us on our social media accounts as well. So, thank you again uh Alexis for the wonderful session and uh we'll end here today thank you.

IDEA is a social innovation laboratory; IDEA 
stands for Inclusive Design for Employment Access.  

Our goal, broadly as an organization, is to create 
stronger and more inclusive labor markets that  

include persons with disabilities. And a big 
part of this is developing evidence-informed  

tools and resources through co-design with 
partners to help advance employer capacity to  

be inclusive. And that's across the employment 
cycle, from recruitment to hiring, onboarding,  

retention, mentorship, promotion, and also things 
like organizational exit. So this initiative is  

spearheaded by teams of researchers. community 
leaders, global experts, industry leaders, policy  

makers, and many others. And many of us involved 
in the IDEA team also identify with disability  

in one form or another, uh kind of in keeping 
with the concept of "nothing about us without  

us." Our mission is to help create stronger and 
more diverse labor markets that include persons  

with disabilities by developing, evaluating, and 
sharing evidence- informed, knowledge-to-practice  

solutions. Our vision is to see every workplace 
in Canada have the capacity to recruit, higher,  

onboard, retain, mentor, and promote persons with 
disabilities across the full range of employment  

opportunities and to see all persons with 
disabilities in Canada who can and want to work be  

able to find, keep, and flourish and meaningful, 
suitable, and good quality work. We value  

inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility 
in all areas of society, particularly in the labor  

market. We value strong and diverse labor markets, 
where all persons have equal opportunities in  

careers, jobs, and work. We have quite a number 
of partners from research, from the disability  

community, from labor organizations, industries, 
service providers, and government. This is a list  

of organizations that partnered with us at 
the outset of our initiative, but we have new  

organizations joining all the time. It is a space 
that is really growing and people are excited  

about making change and we are super excited 
that people are keen to make change happen,  

so we are looking to partner with organizations. 
This can only happen if we all work together.