CSPC 2021

In 2019 the Accessible Canada Act (ACA) came into effect, requiring organizations prepare and publish accessibility plans, establish feedback processes, and report on these processes and progress in achieving its goal of making Canada barrier-free by 2040. The introduction of the ACA heightened the need for pan-Canadian mechanisms for organizations and stakeholders to engage across sectors, disciplines, and industries in action-oriented collaborations to address the multifaceted issues in accessibility. The Canadian Accessibility Network (CAN), under the leadership of the READ Initiative at Carleton University, has been developed to address this need. This panel focuses on a program of work undertaken by CAN’s Policy Domain Committee (DAC) to advance disability inclusive accessibility policy processes. Science and stakeholder informed inclusive accessibility policy processes drive the DAC’s strategic priorities, which include: 1) Identifying emerging issues, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and engaging with relevant communities, stakeholders and governing bodies to centre the perspectives and rights of diverse people with disabilities; 2) Coordinating policy fora where scientists and cross-disability first voice advocates address policy questions being asked by public, private and non-profit decision-makers related to the Accessible Canada Act; 3) Scanning accessibility and disability inclusion policy and policy research to identify how governments are developing and implementing accessibility and disability inclusion policy across jurisdictions; 4) Designing a disability inclusive policy analysis tool to support an intersectional human rights approach to accessibility policy. Panelists describe how disability communities can be meaningfully engaged in policy processes to inform the development of science policy into the future.