Did you know that one in five Canadians have one or more disabilities; either temporary or permanent, and that this number is set to grow as the Canadian population ages?
Did you also know that one in ten Canadians, according to Statistics Canada, has a print disability?
PUO-UOP is dedicated to accessible publishing and to advancing accessibility more broadly as a way to ensure that individuals with disabilities have access to research and to literature. We are striving to achieve accessibility in a sustainable way and to create a more diverse and inclusive organization.
Products, services, and facilities for all
PUO-UOP is trying to advance accessibility in Canada, inspired by:
- the Accessible Canada Act (ACA), which came into force in 2019 with a goal to realize a barrier-free Canada by 2040; and
- the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and its key objective, which is to make Ontario accessible to people with disabilities by 2025.
To this end, we:
- adopted born-accessible, Benetech-certified publishing in 2022;
- are preparing a move to accessible offices in 2023;
- are revisiting our communications practices and introducing changes to facilitate accessibility;
- redeveloped our new website with accessibility in mind;
- are developing an accessibility plan to ensure our organization is as inclusive as possible.
Please let us know how we can improve! Send suggestions to PUO-UOP@uOttawa.ca.
Accessible publications
Our main priority in terms of accessibility is to create accessible publications that are adapted to persons a perceptual disability.
And what is a perceptual disability, also known as a print disability? The National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS) explains that there are three broad categories of people who require accessible formats:
- severe or total impairment of sight or hearing or the inability to focus or move one’s eyes,
- the inability to hold or manipulate a book, or
- an impairment relating to comprehension.
Working with NNELS and thanks to government of Canada financial support, we are proud to have secured Benetech’s Global Certified Accessible (GCA) certification in 2022. Since 2022, our publications are born-accessible, GCA-certified titles.
With the GCA certification, we are now able to further accessibility goals. Our accessibility plan includes the following priorities:
- produce born-accessible new releases, including open access new releases;
- convert key backlist titles to accessible formats, including our open access collection of more than 100 titles;
- respond to requests for accessible versions of backlist titles, or requests for alternate accessible formats where possible and feasible;
- ensure that these publications are clearly identified as being accessible in the metadata to promote them as much as possible;
- ensure that in these ways we grow our accessible publications collection; and
- continue to invest in training and capacity building.
Where can you find our accessible publications?
Here’s a quick list of key resources to help you find our accessible publications:
- PUO-UOP website: click here for a round-up of our accessible titles (in development)
- University of Ottawa Library
- Your research library
- Your public library
- Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA-CAÉB)
- National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS-RNSEB)
- Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB-INCA)
Please let us know if you require a specific format – we’ll be happy to help by sending us an email at: PUO-UOP@uOttawa.ca
For general information on accessibility, we’ve pulled together a list:
- Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA)
- Accessible Books Consortium (ABC): promotes the production of “born accessible” publications that are fully accessible to all readers – our vision is for the same product to be usable by everybody.
- Accessibilities Canada Act (ACA)
- Accessibility – Policy 119, University of Ottawa
- Accessibility Hub at the University of Ottawa
- AccessiblePublishing.ca: a repository for information and resources which will help a variety of stakeholders work toward the goal of born-accessible publishing and improving access to ebooks;
- Benetech Global Certified Accessible (GCA) Program
- Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA-CAÉB)
- National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS-RNSEB)
- Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB-INCA)
- National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS): a digital public library of books for Canadians with print disabilities, and an advocate for an accessible and equitable reading ecosystem for Canadians with print disabilities
- Capsules de formation produced by ANEL and De Marque