National AccessAbility Week, held each year in the last week of May, aims to promote accessibility and inclusion for people with disabilities in Canada. This year, AccessAbility Week takes place from May 25-31.

What is accessibility?

Accessibility is…

• … about making sure that everyone can participate equitably in society and that environments, goods, and services are designed without barriers.
  
  
• …more than just physical access to spaces – it’s also about environments that are open and inclusive to various sensory, cognitive, and psychosocial needs.
  
  
• …about creating a culture that accepts people for who they are, where all people are afforded dignity and respect.
  
  
• What does accessibility mean to you? Tell us and you can win! Share your thoughts by filling in this sentence: “Accessibility is…” and sharing it on social media with the hashtags #CEIU2025 and #AccessibleCanada. All of those who share will be entered into a contest to win a $100 gift card.

Barriers persist

While progress has been made in making Canada more accessible, most people with disabilities continue to face barriers in their day-to-day lives.

• Almost 3 in 4 people with disabilities in Canada report experiencing one or more barriers to accessibility.
  
  
• Nearly 7 in 10 employed people with disabilities face accessibility barriers in the workplace.
  
  
• In the federal public service, employees with disabilities report the highest rates of discrimination and harassment of any group, year after year.
  
  
• As well as experiencing barriers to hiring and promotions, many employees with disabilities face unnecessary hurdles to accommodation in the workplace.
  
  

Let’s make Canada more accessible

We can do better!

All of us, individually and collectively, can help make our workplaces, our unions, and our communities more accessible.

CEIU regularly challenges employers to do a better job at ensuring our workplaces are accessible and that employees’ accommodation needs are met without delay. We also strive to ensure that CEIU’s own practices, policies, and event spaces are barrier-free.

Over the next year, CEIU will be conducting an equity audit to determine what barriers might exists within the union and how we can remove them so that all of our members can equitably participate in our union.

All of us can also take individual or collective actions towards improving accessibility:

• Learn more:
  • Doing Things Differently: A Disability Rights at Work Handbook
    
    
  • Understanding Barriers to Accessibility
    
    
  • The Duty to Accommodate
    
    
• Practice accessibility: When you participate in or organize workplace, union, or community events, identify and, where possible, remove any barriers that might prevent people with disabilities from accessing and participating fully in the event.
  
  
  • See these tips for creating inclusive meetings and accessible virtual events.
    
    
• Advocate for change: Support policies and initiatives that promote accessibility and inclusion.
  
  
• And don’t forget to tell us what accessibility means to you: Share your thoughts by filling in this sentence:  “Accessibility is…” and sharing it on social media with the hashtags #CEIU2025 and #AccessibleCanada. All those who share will have a chance to win a $100 e-gift card.