ACE Trainings
Our series of free ACE (Accessibility Confident Employers) training targets a range of sectors in Nova Scotia including businesses, public service organizations, and the impact (non-profit) sector.
Scroll down or click the options below to learn about our free offerings.
Self-Paced Online Cohorts
These 4-week blended trainings include live Zoom sessions at the beginning and end and four self-paced modules online.
Inclusive Leadership: Cultivating Accessibility Confidence
Date: February 6th – 27th, 2025 | Time: Anytime | Location: Online
- Explore the accessibility confident leadership model to facilitates accessibility buy-in across your organization
- Set the tone for your organization’s accessibility mindset, and make it easier to establish goals and acquire accessibility-related resources
- Explore individual, interpersonal, and structural accessibility leadership actions
- Practice creating safer spaces:
- Proactive and responsive accommodations
- Promising practices for accessible recruitment and hiring
- Disability disclosure
Welcoming All: Accessible Customer Service
Date: May 1st – 22nd, 2025 | Time: Anytime | Location: Online
- Identify how to communicate with customers who have various disabilities
- Explore how to interact with customers who:
- Use service animals, support persons, assistive devices
- Are neurodivergent
- Identify how to use any devices or equipment the provider may have to help customers access goods or services
- Practice how to assist a customer having difficulty accessing goods or services
Skill Builders
These two-hour, highly interactive online skill builders provide ready-to-use frameworks, relevant examples, and scenarios to build skills, knowledge, and confidence.
Accessibility Audits and Plans
Date: January 30th, 2025 | Time: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm | Location: Online
This training will be of interest to leaders and employers who are ready to take action and make their workplaces more accessible.
Even if you already have a well-formed inclusion strategy, this course will give you tips to make it more robust, and you’ll also get the low-down on the relevant accessibility legislation.
During this skill builder we will:
- Identify the core components of an accessibility and inclusion strategy.
- Determine who should be involved in building your strategy — and how to get them on board.
- Define an Accessibility Audit and Action Plan and explain how it can help your organization meet its legal and human rights obligations
- Identify and practice the pieces of an Accessibility Audit and Action Plan
AI for Accessibility and Social Impact
Date: February 26th, 2025 | Time: 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm | Location: Online
During this skill builder we will:
- Explore the potential of AI to enhance accessibility and drive social impact.
- Identify ethical considerations and challenges in using AI for accessibility.
- Explore current AI technologies and tools that improve accessibility for diverse populations.
- Develop skills to assess and apply AI solutions to address accessibility gaps.
- Foster a responsible mindset by promoting equitable and inclusive AI practices.
Accessibility Confident Retention and Promotion
Date: March 27th, 2025 | Time: 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm | Location: Online
During this skill builder we will:
- Explore the moral and legal requirements for accessible retention and promotion.
- Identify and address barriers to accessibility in career development and advancement.
- Develop inclusive practices like onboarding, mentorship, and employee resource groups (ERGs), etc.
- Ensure proactive accommodations for employees with disabilities.
- Foster an inclusive mindset and challenge unconscious biases in career progression.
Access Achieved: Learning from Our Plans and Practices
Date: April 23rd, 2025 | Time: 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm | Location: Online
During this skill builder we will:
- Explore key insights from our collective efforts to develop and refine accessibility plans, highlighting lessons learned and best practices.
- Discuss how to weave accessibility into the fabric of organizational culture effectively.
- Exchange practical tools and insights that aid in keeping accessibility plans fresh and impactful.
- Engage in dynamic peer-to-peer exchanges to spark innovative solutions to shared challenges.
- Develop a proactive approach to continually refresh and improve your accessibility strategies.
Accessibility in Action: Adapting for Summer and Seasonal Staff
Date: June 12th, 2025 | Time: 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm | Location: Online
During this skill builder we will:
- Examine unique accessibility requirements for seasonal and summer employment.
- Identify best practices for accessible training and onboarding of temporary staff.
- Develop strategies for implementing effective, short-term accessibility measures in diverse work environments.
- Facilitate an understanding of legal and ethical accessibility considerations for seasonal workers.
- Create actionable plans for integrating accessibility into summer employment programs quickly and effectively.
On-Demand
On demand training allows you to learn in a way that’s optimized for you– in your own time, pace and place.
3-hour: These 3-hour on-demand, self-paced trainings provide foundational definitions, concepts, and approaches to accessibility and equity work.
Accessibility Foundations
- Define types of disabilities, accessibility, and the prevalence of disability in Nova Scotia
- Explain the importance of the Nova Scotia Accessibility Act
- Explore the impact of the Accessibility Act on employers
- Provide examples of barriers and ableism and their impacts on persons with disabilities
- Outline practices to address accessibility barriers
Allyship Foundations
- Define allyship and how it can be a powerful force toward inclusion and belonging
- Unpack your privilege and your power
- Identify historic and current day realities and inequities for equity seeking groups
- Feel more confident to interrupt bias and respond to microaggressions
- Use an active allyship framework to identify inequities and potential allyship actions
Breaking Barriers: The Art of Inclusive Hiring
- Evaluate current organizational culture and systems
- Establish impactful partnerships
- Optimize job postings and processes incorporating accommodations
- Practice inclusive and bias-free interviewing techniques
- Embrace skills-based hiring
90-minute: These 90-minute, on-demand, self-paced trainings introduce the topic, why it’s important, and step-by-step approaches to implement the skills within the workplace.
Introduction to Accessible Communications
- Define accessible communications and its importance
- Explore digital accessibility, alternative formats, and plain language
- Discover the accessibility +1 practice to get started
Core Skills of Plain Language
- Define clear and accessible language and why it’s important
- Describe who benefits from plain language and why
- Apply key principles of plain language to review a document
- Start using plain language in your communication
Core Skills of Digital Accessibility
Practice 7 core skills of digital accessibility including: headings and document structure, font style, lists and tables, links, alternative text, colour contrast, and video and audio.
In-Person
These are hybrid events, so we can accommodate you in person and online!
Leadership and Organizational Culture
Tuesday, May 6th, 2025
White Point Beach Resort
More details and registration coming soon! Save the date!