Why Access Matters

Hello everyone! Welcome to the 5th and the last episode of our second season and the 10th episode overall of our podcast “Why Access Matters”. In this episode, I talked to Alison Tedford Seaweed. Alison is an Indigenous Relations consultant based in Abbotsford, BC. In this conversation, she shares her valuable thoughts and experiences regarding her commitment to working alongside Indigenous communities, people, and cultures to create transformative change and its intersectionality with her lived experience as an entrepreneur with disability. And also about how social determinants of health impact the experience of disability for Indigenous persons. She emphasizes the diversity within Indigenous communities and how cultural beliefs, worldviews, and language shape perspectives on disability. There is a vital opportunity to learn from each other cross-culturally and to reflect on how various aspects of our lives contribute to our experiences with health and wellness, including their barriers and disabilities: June is Canada’s National Indigenous History Month, and there are lots of programs and activities that would be perfect opportunities to learn more and listen to Indigenous voices! The next episode will follow in the upcoming fall, but in this break, please: - Send us your thoughts and ideas - Follow our fabulous guest on LinkedIn and also her website - Don’t forget to introduce us to your friends, family and network! Please feel free to share your feedback and suggestions with us by sending an email to: ⁠jolene@accessibrand.com⁠ Host: Jolene MacDonald Production Manager: Farshid Sadatsharifi

Welcome you to the 4th episode of our second season and the 9th episode overall of our podcast “Why Access Matters”. To better understand how important it is to break down barriers and address societal openness to accessibility, we talked to Alicia Jarvis. Alicia is a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion researcher and strategist. She is a creative force for change and a thought leader, offering a positive perspective and innovative solutions to complex problems relating to universal usability. She shared her valuable thoughts about the importance of accessibility, her difficult but fruitful personal journey, and many other key points about identifying our barriers and moving toward a more accessible world. Please feel free to share your feedback and suggestions with us by sending an email to: ⁠jolene@accessibrand.com⁠ Host: Jolene MacDonald Production Manager: Farshid Sadatsharifi

Welcome to the 8th episode of "Why Access Matters."Today, we have two amazing guests, Allan Redford and Isabella Lamanna, who are involved in Little People of Canada, the Little People of Ontario, and the Dwarf Athletic Association of Canada. They will share their experiences and insights into the organization and their work to raise awareness and acceptance around dwarfism. Please check the links below to no more about their fabulous works:  https://littlepeopleofontario.com/ https://littlepeopleofcanada.com/ https://dwarfathletics.ca/ Please feel free to share your feedback and suggestions with us by sending an email to: jolene@accessibrand.com Host: Jolene MacDonald Production Manager: Farshid Sadatsharifi

Welcome to the second season and the 7th episode of our podcast “Why Access Matters”! It is also our 2nd episode of season 2. This episode will not only cover the question about the connections between accessibility and advocacy but also will cover lots of thought-provoking topics about accessibility. In this episode seeking a better understanding of how important it is to address that everyone –including non-disabled people- can and should do their part towards a more equitable and accessible world, I spoke to Cam Beaudoin, the founder of “Accelerated Accessibility.” In our conversation, he spoke not only as a disability inclusion advocate and social media influencer in accessibility but also shared his own story with me about how he, as a non-disabled person, entered the Accessibility sphere in the first place. Please feel free to share your feedback and suggestions with us by sending an email to: jolene@accessibrand.com Host: Jolene MacDonald Production Manager: Farshid Sadatsharifi

We want to welcome you to the second season and the 6th episode of our podcast “Why Access Matters”! In this episode, we talk about how important it is to break down barriers to make a more inclusive and accessible world, and also we address the intersection with neurodiversity. In this topic, we talked to Aditya (Adi) Bikkani, the CEO and Founder of AdvancedBytez, a company with the mission “to ensure all users of the web are included while using your products and services.” Please feel free to share your feedback and suggestions with us by sending an email to: jolene@accessibrand.com Host: Jolene MacDonald Production Manager: Farshid Sadatsharifi

“How can people without disabilities make policies and decisions for the disabled without having the benefits and information provided by our lived experiences?” This very important question sums up the theme of our 5th episode of “Why Access Matters” and the very important topic of disability and inclusion. Our incredible guest in this episode is Edward Faruzel. Edward is the Executive Director of KW AccessAibility. In our conversation, he shared his valued lived experiences with us and specially addressed key points about how to move toward a more accessible world. Please feel free to share your feedback and suggestions with us by sending an email to: jolene@accessibrand.com Links to some of our key concepts in this episode: - “Nothing about us without us.” In Wikipedia - About “Disability inclusion” by the US government - Website of KW AccessAbility Host: Jolene MacDonald Production Manager: Farshid Sadatsharifi

“How do people who cannot see your website well or at all, use your website or products?” This question is something we will be touching upon in the 4th episode of our podcast, “Why Access Matters.” In this episode, and with continuing focus on “Making your brand accessible,” we want to talk about people with visual difficulties and other visual disabilities and how accessibility is crucial for them too. Our guest speaker in this episode is Andrew Tutty. He is the lead auditor and web tester at Accessibrand. Please check out these two very important and eye-opening articles he wrote here and here. Also, if you are interested in knowing more about “W3C,” what it stands for, and info about “visual disabilities”, please check out this link. The full transcript is available at https://accessibrand.com/podcast.htm Host: Jolene MacDonald Production Manager: Farshid Sadatsharifi

“Make your branding Accessible!” is the topic of our 3rd Episode of Why Access Matters, where we also briefly review the concept of “Universal Design.” We talked to Jessica Oddi, one of our team members at Accessibrand! She introduces herself as “A disabled designer with an ethical approach,” and in the podcast, she speaks about her lived experience and addresses many key points about how to move toward a more accessible world via more inclusive design. Transcript is available at https://accessibrand.com/podcast.htm Host: Jolene MacDonald Production Manager: Farshid Sadatsharifi

“Make your business Accessible!” What do you think of when you hear that? Elevators, Automatic push buttons at the entrance, and ramps? As a business owner, would you be worried about the extra work and money you would need to spend? Or would you consider making your business accessible as an investment in your clientele? To better understand how important it is to break down barriers, I talked to Maayan Ziv, the CEO of AccessNow: a startup which arose from experiencing the frustration of going to inaccessible places. Rather than being passive, she was motivated to make our world more accessible. In this conversation, she spoke about her lived experience and addressed many key points about how to move toward a more accessible world. Please follow our fabulous guest here, and get the AccessNow app from here. Also, please feel free to share your feedback and suggestions with us by sending an email to: jolene@accessibrand.com PS: You can see the transcript on our website. Host: Jolene MacDonald Production Manager: Farshid Sadatsharifi

Every time we as a society innovate, invent and educate, we solve problems. Accessibility is no different! To quote the brilliant Dave Dame, the Director of Accessibility at Microsoft, “Accessibility is the solution but the disability is the opportunity!” To find out where that line came from, and to hear other gems and thoughts regarding Accessibility, check out Episode 1 of Accessibrand’s new podcast Why Access Matters, coming to pod-catchers and podcast platforms this Friday, June 21st, 2022. Transcript is available at https://accessibrand.com/podcast.htm! Host: Jolene MacDonald Production Manager: Farshid Sadatsharifi

Tune into Why Access Matters this Friday, May 27th, to find out how important Accessibility is; from the people who need and use it to the people who work for it. In honour of GAAD (Global Accessibility Awareness Day), join us at Accessibrand in spreading awareness on this important topic. Here you can find a teaser of the Podcast and those we have interviewed so far. Please check it out and share it with your network! PS: You can see the transcript on our website. Host: Jolene MacDonald Production Manager: Farshid Sadatsharifi

Hi everyone! Welcome to the pre-episode of “Why Access Matters.” This episode published on Friday, May 27, 2022, 2 days before a very important week: National AccessAbility Week (NAAW) in Canada, which spans from May 29th to June 4th, 2022. This year the theme for National AccessAbility Week is “Inclusive From the Start” and we profoundly believe that listening to the lived experiences of people with disabilities and how and why they consider accessibility a vital element of our society is one of the major steps to make it “Inclusive From the Start.” In this pre-episode, Farshid Sadatsharifi is talking with Jolene MacDonald about “Why Access Matters,” what this podcast aims to cover, and what not to expect from it. Stay tuned after the show for some selected words from some of our guest speakers! PS: You can see the transcript on our website. Host: Jolene MacDonald Production Manager: Farshid Sadatsharifi