Search

ASL – Summary of the Accessibility Progress Report 2023 for the CRTC (1 of 1)

This is a summary of the Progress Report 2023 for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in American Sign Language (ASL).

This video is also available in

LSQ

Video Transcript

Summary

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is a quasi-judicial tribunal that operates at arm’s length from the federal government. We regulate broadcasting and telecommunications in the public interest.

The Accessible Canada Act requires the CRTC to publish accessibility plans and progress reports that describe the actions taken to implement our plans.

Successfully implementing our plan means identifying, removing and preventing barriers for persons with disabilities when the CRTC interacts with the public and its employees.

In the first nine months since launching its 2023-2025 Accessibility Plan in December 2022, the CRTC implemented the measures below.

Promoting accessibility-specific training and resources

  • We implemented and promoted new mandatory accessibility training.
  • We offered sessions on autism and bipolar disorder, and have a session on neurodiversity scheduled. Before the end of the year, we plan on giving awareness training on Deaf culture and communication with persons who are Deaf and use sign language.
  • We hired an accessibility expert who is a member of the Deaf community and has experience living with multiple disabilities. We staffed three additional resources focused on accessibility, including a Senior Legal Counsel.
  • We offered a plain language workshop and provided resources on accessible communications to all employees.
  • The Procurement Team completed training on procuring accessible information and on communications technologies.

Promoting the hiring and retention of persons with disabilities

  • Following amendments to the Public Service Employment Act, we implemented changes to address barriers in the staffing process.
  • Executives now have a commitment in their performance agreements to support the accessibility plan and improve the representation of persons with disabilities.

Improving workplace accommodations

  • A medical note is no longer required for most equipment-related accommodations.
  • Automatically generated captions are available to employees during internal meetings. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) services and sign language interpretation are provided as needed.

Minimizing environmental and physical barriers

  • We are operating from a temporary office space. While we cannot make permanent modifications to this space, we have conducted a walk-through to identify barriers to consider when we move back into our permanent offices.
  • We offer flexible hybrid work arrangements and have a procedure in place for accommodation requests.

Improving the accessibility of our network applications and website

  • We have created and staffed an Accessibility Center of Expertise for Information Technology to ensure that all web applications receive accessibility recommendations.

Increasing participation of persons with disabilities in CRTC processes

  • We established a formal engagement function to engage with disability communities.
  • We encouraged groups representing persons with disabilities to participate in key CRTC consultations.
  • We promoted videos in sign language, and we now offer live streaming with closed captioning for all public hearings.

Providing more information in ASL and LSQ

  • A centralized budget was established for accessibility-related needs, including ASL and LSQ interpretation, as well as CART services.
  • We consulted with members of the Deaf community on how sign language content is presented on our website. As a result, we developed new practices including creating unique ASL and LSQ buttons to make the content easier to find.

As well as these measures not included in our accessibility plan

  • We shared a blog post by a colleague living with an invisible disability about their accessibility journey and how the right accommodations can empower and play a big role in someone’s well-being.
  • We are acknowledging the gap in knowledge and attitudinal barriers around invisible disabilities such as mental health, cognitive disabilities and neurodiversity. We provide monthly tools, training and resources that are inclusive to all disabilities.

Consultations

We reached out to organizations across Canada for feedback on the implementation of our accessibility plan. People who are deaf or hard of hearing, people who are neurodivergent, and people with physical disabilities were represented during the consultations and provided their invaluable knowledge based on their lived experience.

Feedback

We received 16 emails from the public through our accessibility feedback process. These were related to the accessibility of the communications services that the CRTC regulates, rather than to the accessibility of the CRTC itself. They were handled by our Client Services team, in accordance with our regular procedures.

Internally, 2 emails were received and actioned regarding the accessibility and readability of our internal document management system.

What we learned

We heard that you would like us to:

  • improve the accessibility of our website and share updates with the disability community;
  • build awareness of disability in the workplace and streamline our accommodation procedure;
  • hire more people with disabilities, especially in management roles;
  • be more detailed and ambitious with our accessibility plan.

Challenges

While our sign language content continues to steadily increase, interpreters and translators across the country are facing a growing demand. We are establishing a corporate contract that will streamline the production of content in sign language.

The way forward

The conversation on accessibility at the CRTC is evolving. We have moved from the question of what must be done to how to get it done and started to reflect on how we can be more ambitious in the future.

We acknowledge that the contribution of individuals with lived-in experiences of disability is the driving force behind our cultural change. To create a CRTC that is fully accessible and inclusive for our employees and the Canadian public, we welcome everyone’s perspective because accessibility isn’t one size fits all.

Date modified: