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.
Breaking Barriers: The Art of Inclusive Hiring
Date: October 3rd – 24th, 2024 | Time: Anytime | Location: Online
- Commit to being an inclusive employer
- Develop and implement recruitment and hiring best practices to hire people with diverse abilities.
- Create accessible job postings and accommodations policies
- Encourage and support proactive self-disclosure of disability
- Develop inclusive and bias-free interviewing techniques
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
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.
Recruitment and Hiring
Date: November 6th, 2024 | Time: 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm | Location: Online
During this skill builder we will:
- Create accessible job postings
- Conduct accessibility-friendly interviews
- Provide reasonable accommodations in the recruitment and hiring process
- Reflect on your organizational readiness and values alignment
- Learn about the fundamentals of accessible job postings and application processes
Plain Language Part 2
Date: December 4th, 2024 | Time: 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm AST | Location: Online
During this skill builder we will:
- Review plain language and be able to describe its key principles
- Practice plain language writing on real-life writing projects
- Explore how plain language can support organizations in becoming more accessible
- Feel more confident about using plain language to write, edit, and summarize documents
Accessibility Audits and Plans
Date: January 30th, 2025 | Time: 1:00 pm – 3:00 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.
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
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!
360 Accessibility: From Audits to Impact
Date: October 30th, 2024 | Time: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm | Location: NSCC Truro Campus (Option to attend online)
An interactive and engaging hybrid gathering designed for leaders and teams across private, public and social impact sectors. This event highlights intersectional perspectives, and accessibility audit and planning tools.
Join us to learn, share, and use your influence to move the needle on accessibility and equity.