This year’s National AccessAbility Week (NAAW) is May 25 – 31, 2025. This year’s theme is “Increase Awareness: understanding and knowledge of accessibility and disability inclusion”. NAAW’s awareness campaign promotes accessibility and inclusion, celebrates the contributions of Canadians with disabilities, and recognizes efforts to identify, prevent and remove barriers.
Accessibility for all is essential for promoting equity and respect for human rights. This benefits everyone everywhere in our communities, society and workplaces. It is a time to raise awareness, improve understanding of accessibility and disability inclusion, reduce stigma, and share best practices within the disability community.
Canada now has the Accessible Canada Act (ACA), which aims to make Canada a more accessible and barrier-free country by 2040.
Within PSAC NCR, the Members with Disabilities Access Committee (MDAC) works closely with this legislation. The committee’s foundation is based on access and disability inclusion. This community works to end stigma, provide relevant information for self-advocacy, and boost awareness of how critical access is for us all. This community is resilient and agile, and we continue to strive for equity. MDAC members sit at many other tables in the private sector, academia, the federal public service, and cross-governmental networks and Communities of Practice (CoP).
MDAC welcomes PSAC NCR members from all employers and bargaining units to share in our work of advocacy, advisory and information sharing. The committee supports not only members with disabilities, but all members through an accessible and intersectional lens that can be applied to all aspects of our lives, both personally and professionally.
You can reach out to MDAC through the committee’s mailbox. You can also visit the PSAC NCR website for more information on the committee and its meetings.
Happy NAAW!!!
Karen Kenniphaas
MDAC Chair