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
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.
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!
Stay tuned for our next hybrid event!