Disability & Job Accessibility

The Pulse

Synopsis:

On this episode of The Pulse, host Joeita Gupta and her guest, Max Brault, Vice President of People in Change Accessibility Consulting at BDO Canada, discuss the organization's initiatives to promote accessibility and workplace inclusion, disability and workplace inclusion, focusing on the need for employers to examine their structures, practices, policies, and processes to root out ableism. The episode highlights the high unemployment and underemployment rates faced by people with disabilities in Canada, with the employment rate for adults with disabilities lagging behind the general population. BDO’s initiatives include developing an auditing tool to assess organizations' disability inclusion efforts and conducting research on the federal government's procurement process to ensure accessibility. Here, Max emphasizes the importance of engaging the disability community and addressing fears and misconceptions surrounding hiring individuals with disabilities.

Episode Highlights:

Introduction (0:00)

Mission & Mandate of BDO Canada (2:57)

Workplace inclusion and addressing unemployment and underemployment faced by people with disabilities. (4:02)

The fear people with disabilities have in terms of dealing with the employment process. (6:44)

Which nonprofit organizations has BDO chosen to work with and how were they chosen? (7:53)

BDO’s partnership with the Institute for Research and Development on Inclusion in Society to develop an accessibility audit. (9:45)

A description of the auditing process. (12:10)

What aspects of an employer’s processes or practices or structures will be taken into account for this auditing tool. (13:37)

Will this auditing tool be versatile enough to be used for both small- and large-scale employers? 16:21

What is BDO’s plan for developing this audit engagement tool? (17:36)

When will this audit tool be ready? (18:06)

Max’s project in collaboration with the CNIB about the federal procurement process. (18:20)

Where does the CNIB come into this research? (20:32)

When looking at the federal procurement process, what are some of the considerations from an accessibility point of view that need to be considered? (22:47)

What precisely will the research look at? (24:17)

What is a KPI? (25:38)

When will this research be complete? (25:57)

What do you think the most immediate impact of the research on procurement is likely to be? (26:26)

Conclusion (27:06)

About Max Brault:

Max accepted a leadership role with BDO Canada, guiding consulting projects focused on accessibility issues. Previously, Max guided the federal government toward historic legislation for persons with disabilities, the Accessible Canada Act. Unafraid to challenge convention to make positive change for the disability community, as a vice president with BDO Consulting (Strategy & Operations), Max aims to identify accessibility issues for corporations, governments, and non-governmental agencies, and to provide strategic solutions to address them.

Reference: https://www.bdo.ca/our-people/max-brault

About The Pulse

On The Pulse, host Joeita Gupta brings us closer to issues impacting the disability community across Canada.

Joeita Gupta has nurtured a life-long dream to work in radio! She's blind, moved to Toronto in 2004 and got her start in radio at CKLN, 88.1 FM in Toronto. A former co-host of AMI-audio's Live from Studio 5, Joeita also works full-time at a nonprofit in Toronto, specializing in housing/tenant rights.

Find Joeita on X / Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoeitaGupta

The Pulse airs weekly on AMI-audio.

For more information, visit https://www.ami.ca/ThePulse/

About AMI

AMI is a not-for-profit media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians who are blind or partially sighted. Operating three broadcast services, AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French, AMI’s vision is to establish and support a voice for Canadians with disabilities, representing their interests, concerns and values through inclusion, representation, accessible media, reflection, representation and portrayal.

Learn more at AMI.ca

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