CAN/ASC-1.1:2024 (REV-2025)-Employment
11. Culture, engagement, and education
Information
Table of contents
11.1 Overview
Everyone deserves respect and dignity at work. An organization helps and includes people with disabilities by:
- creating a positive workplace culture;
- having strong leadership;
- sharing clear communication;
- enabling active worker participation;
- implementing effective training; and
- providing ongoing education.
It is important that an organization encourage the active participation of interested parties, especially workers, in the establishment, implementation, and maintenance of employment best practices.
Improving the workplace for workers with disabilities requires cultural and systemic change. When workplaces operate within a culture of silence, intimidation, fear, and bystander apathy, any actions to support worker rights will remain reactive and retaliatory instead of prevention focused. Creating a disability-confident culture means supporting all workers by proactively removing barriers, avoiding discrimination, and promoting anti-ableism.
To foster a workplace culture that values individuals with disabilities and prioritizes eliminating workplace barriers, it is important to anchor the culture in an intersectional accessibility lens (see Annex C). Potential barriers include systemic, transitional, environmental, and attitudinal barriers. This approach requires strong support and enforcement from leadership, as well as active involvement and commitment from all workers.
11.2 Workplace culture
To establish an equitable disability-confident workplace culture that supports and includes persons with disabilities, the organization shall:
- adopt a proactive and systemic approach to identify, prevent, and remove transitional, environmental, and attitudinal barriers that result in discrimination on the job;
- proactively implement workplace protections against a culture of silence, intimidation, fear, and bystander apathy, and reactive and retaliatory actions;
- implement an intersectional accessibility lens approach (see Annex C) to identify how individual oppression and systemic ableism may be experienced at work; and
- provide for worker-centred, barrier-free, and discrimination-free access to the workplace in all aspects of the employment life cycle.
11.2.1 Comprehensive communication strategies and efforts
To implement comprehensive communication strategies within the workplace, the organization shall:
- make all workplace communication in verbal, non-verbal, signed language(s), and written formats, accessible to all workers;
- share all workplace communications in diverse ways (described in item c)), regardless of self-disclosure;
- provide visual aids, signed language(s) (American Sign Language (ASL), Langue des signes Québecoise (LSQ), Indigenous Sign Language(s), Protactile Sign Language(s)), described video and captions for worker-directed communication based on worker needs, complying with Clause 10.6 d);
- actively ensure that communication is clear and consistent throughout all stages of employment;
- provide communications that are digitally accessible;
- incorporate the use of inclusive language with a focus on eliminating ableist, racist, colonialist, and gendered terminology; and
practice message equivalency across teams and formats to ensure accuracy in the message.
Note: Message equivalency refers to retaining the meaning of the same message or content information conveyed when translating from one language to another language (i.e., avoiding being lost in translation or missing important information because of interpreting inaccurately or misinterpreting when translating occurs).
11.2.2 Worker-centred actions
Worker-centered actions include identifying barriers and fostering anti-ableist attitudes in activities adjacent to job tasks. These activities include but are not limited to:
- interpersonal social interactions;
- impromptu meetings;
- hallway discussions;
- lunchroom discussions; and
- any formal or informal interactions among interested parties.
It is important to identify barriers and foster anti-ableist attitudes in these activities to achieve a healthy workplace culture.
To help identify barriers and foster anti-ableism, the organization shall:
- focus workplace actions on acceptance and collaboration instead of tolerance, as inclusion is critical to the creation of a healthy workplace culture;
take steps to eliminate discrimination, microaggressions, violence, and harassment in the workplace and informal work-related settings;
Note 1: A microaggression is a comment or action subtly expressing a prejudiced attitude toward a person. A microaggression can be a result of unconscious bias.
Note 2: Discrimination of workers with disabilities could take subtle forms, including but not limited to use of ableist or discriminatory language, disrespectful behaviour, covert or overt bullying, misrepresentation or misinterpretation of accessibility supports, and discouragement of achievement or growth.
- use timely and effective processes in response to infractions to reinforce its commitment to this goal to all interested parties; and
- design intersectional leadership approaches, communication, training, and education that advance disability inclusion efforts.
11.3 Leadership and communication
Leadership within an organization can exist at any level. Effective leadership is prevention-focused and involves support and enforcement from leadership. This also includes active commitment and participation from all workers.
Leadership at all levels shall provide a clear commitment to disability inclusion, accountability, transparency in prevention and performance measures, role modelling, and leading by example.
The organization shall create and maintain a strong disability-confident workplace culture by:
- applying an intersectional accessibility lens at all levels of management, including upper management, Human Resources, and others who are accountable, responsible, or have influence within the organization;
- creating a responsive environment that encourages workers with disabilities to identify concerns and issues;
- ensuring that there is no reprisal when workers with disabilities identify concerns and issues;
- acknowledging and responding to issues raised by the worker in a timely and effective manner;
- resolving issues in a timely and effective manner in a way mutually agreeable to the worker(s) involved;
- providing worker access to all resources required to do their jobs (including but not limited to tools, technologies, and training); and
- removing workplace attitudinal barriers, whether formal or informal, by using inclusive, clear, and consistent communication for all workplace parties.
11.3.1 A commitment to inclusion and training from all levels of leadership
Commitment to applying an intersectional accessibility lens starts with all parties with professional influence over anyone in the workplace.
To remove attitudinal workplace barriers, whether they are formal or informal, using clear, consistent, and inclusive communication, the organization shall:
- require management to use data to compare the participation of persons with disabilities in given roles within an organization against the labour force availability of their occupational classification;
- establish representation targets for its workplace against workforce availability; and
- provide workplace training opportunities on disability-related issues for all workplace parties.
11.3.2 Accountability
The organization shall demonstrate its commitment to inclusion, accountability, and evaluation by:
- supporting a leadership team that demonstrates effective knowledge and experience about barriers and discrimination faced by workers with disabilities and other equity groups;
- assigning financial resources for the development of an inclusive and accessible workplace so that budgets do not create a barrier;
- establishing leadership criteria for appointments to agency, board, commission, or senior management positions that promote equitable representation, including the appointment of persons with disabilities;
- providing the option for workers to remain anonymous when making accessibility support (accommodation) needs known or raising accessibility issues and concerns, without prejudice or reprisals, complying with Clauses 10.4.2 and 10.4.3;
- creating mechanisms incorporated into employer-led prevention efforts to resolve issues to satisfy all workplace parties;
- supporting persons with disabilities throughout the course of their careers, profession, or work relationship by implementing and maintaining inclusive accessibility and measurement plans that are collaboratively developed;
- conducting independent review(s) to assess whether targets and objectives have been met and where gaps continue to exist; and
- creating accessibility strategies that include Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely (SMART) goals and targets.
11.4 Worker engagement
Engaging workers is crucial for creating an inclusive workplace culture. It helps ensure that everyone, including workers with disabilities, is supported through effective mechanisms.
Workers have a unique perspective on existing and potential barriers, as well as how to strengthen inclusion in the work environment.
The following processes work to advance these goals.
11.4.1 Needs assessments
To support its inclusive and accessible employment system, complying with Clause 10.4, the organization shall:
- engage workers and their representatives in a needs assessment to identify existing and potential gaps that impede the creation of an inclusive and disability-confident workplace culture; and
- conduct a needs assessment at least every two years to support the existing Accessibility Support System complying with Clause 14, inform prevention efforts, and eliminate barriers, including attitudinal barriers.
11.4.2 Employment accessibility strategy
To support employment accessibility (complying with Clause 10.2), the organization shall:
- engage workers and their representatives in the development of an employment accessibility strategy to comprehensively and accurately measure yearly inclusion targets for hiring, promotions, training, and retention;
- include a section on worker engagement efforts and anti-ableism training in the employment accessibility strategy; and
- harmonize the employment accessibility strategy with employment equity plans, diversity and inclusion plans, and evacuation plans if applicable.
11.4.3 Championing inclusion
Workers can take on the most important role in championing an inclusive workplace culture. To achieve this, workers shall be provided with opportunities during their employment to support and raise awareness of disability inclusion efforts.
As such, the organization shall:
- establish a senior role of an accessibility lead or accessibility officer;
- support worker networks (e.g., self-organized, employer-supported, union-supported);
- provide workers with opportunities to raise awareness around disability inclusion and champion an inclusive workplace culture;
- support worker-led and disability-led initiatives to identify, remove and prevent barriers for workers with disabilities;
- raise awareness of how conscious and unconscious bias challenges inclusive practices; and
- participate in company-funded activities recognizing disability-specific days of observances (e.g., National Disability Employment Awareness Month, National Accessibility Week, and International Day of Persons with Disabilities).
11.5 Training and education
11.5.1 Leadership training
To foster a truly inclusive and barrier-free workplace, leadership must be equipped with the knowledge and tools to champion accessibility and equity.
The organization shall:
- provide training for leadership on an ongoing basis;
- ensure that the training is created and delivered, in consultation with persons with disabilities, to address attitudinal bias, (un)conscious bias, ableist attitudes, and prejudices;
- ensure that the training is accessible to the leaders that would attend; and
- ensure the training includes, but is not limited to the following topics:
- anti-ableism, accessibility, duty to accommodate, anti-discrimination, and anti-harassment;
- literacy on disability issues, accessibility measures and ways to create a barrier-free work environment (e.g., disability confidence);
- applicable disability-related legislation and collective bargaining processes (including the Employment Equity Act, the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Accessible Canada Act, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities); and
- how to strengthen accessibility measures by creating barrier-free work environments.
11.5.2 Organizational training
The organization shall advance workplace inclusion targets and raise awareness of barriers in the workplace by:
- providing mandatory, formal, proactive and strategic training and education opportunities for all interested parties, and workplace parties;
- providing training on understanding and navigating inclusive employment policies, processes, programs, procedures, and practices;
- at minimum, undertaking training on disability issues which impact the work environment including:
- anti-ableism, accessibility, anti-discrimination, and anti-harassment;
- duty to accommodate;
- elimination of barriers in the workplace;
- accessible information and communication;
- early intervention, policy, and system reviews;
- allyship and bystander intervention; and
- training on roles and responsibilities for specific teams, including, but not limited to:
- persons responsible for administrating functions related to disability management to ensure comprehensive accessibility. This includes human resources, payroll and benefits, and third-party contractors responsible for Employee Assistance Programs;
- persons responsible for procurement contracts or for communicating the organization’s expectations for third-party contractors to provide services (e.g., Employee Assistance Programs) in an accessible format; and
- other teams such as IT, communications, policy, etc.;
- conducting ongoing training on a timely basis;
- making training content accessible in multiple formats to accommodate diverse participant learning needs (e.g., online, in-person, conferences, etc.); and
- incorporating inclusive language that emphasizes an equity, anti-oppression and intersectional accessibility lens, centering persons with disabilities and recognizing different disabilities. (See Annex C).