Inclusion Matters

As our National Inclusion Partner, TD has been a proud sponsor of The Walrus Talks Inclusion across the country. Each event sparked essential Canadian conversations, bringing together a range of perspectives and experiences on how design, technology, and education can remove barriers for people with disabilities. Speakers focused on a shared vision for ability, accessibility, and diversity to make Canada a more inclusive society. Here are some of the highlights from the 2019 series: ‘‘ Three principles of inclusive design are recognize exclusion; learn from diversity; and solve for one, extend to many.” Ricardo Wagner, Microsoft Accessibility Lead, Microsoft Canada “It’s about developing a culture of belonging that values difference as a strength. It’s about empowering the millions of Canadians living with disabilities to unleash their full potential.” Janet Austin, Lieutenant-governor of British Columbia “People with disabilities are full rights holders and citizens, and as such deserve to have all the same rights and access as each individual in society.” Jewelles Smith, Chairperson, Council of Canadians with Disabilities “Special education evolved out of the medical model: something’s wrong, you go to the doctor and then they fix you. But we’re learning a lot of things about disability. First thing is, well, maybe we don’t want to be fixed. Maybe we need disability as much as anything that makes us diverse.” Shelley Moore, UBC PH.D. Candidate & Inclusion Advocate

“I think it’s really important for us to realize that disability is a big deal. Stats show that 1 in 5 Canadians is living with a disability today.” Rick Hansen, Founder, Rick Hansen Foundation “The frequency of disability among Canadians is approximately 22 percent; within the Indigenous community, it’s about twice that. ” Neil Belanger, Executive Director, British Columbia Aboriginal Network on Disability Society “The beauty of inclusion and access is then to struggle together to create spaces that meet the needs of everyone.” Vivian Ly, Executive Director, Autistics United Canada “The goal has to be delight, not accessibility. Accessibility can be part of that conversation, but it cannot be that conversation. We spend all of our time talking about minimal access and, frankly, struggling mightily to get there, when it’s actually a very small subset of getting to delight. The good news is organizations are really good about delighting people; they just have never thought about delighting people with disabilities.” Rich Donovan, CEO, The Return on Disability Group & author of Unleash Different TD is proud to work with The Walrus to support their mission of creating forums for conversations that matter to all Canadians. At TD, we understand that change is everyone’s reality, so we have launched The Ready Commitment, our global corporate citizenship platform that aims to open doors to a more inclusive and sustainable tomorrow. To help create the conditions so everyone has the chance to succeed in a changing world, The Walrus shares TD’S commitment to Inclusion by making The Walrus Talks across Canada more inclusive for persons with disabilities.