Module 3 – Access Texts and Communication, Reciprocity, and Building Community
Introduction to Access Reports
Access Reports Introduction
Components
- Context and background of organization
- Organizational understanding of access
- Access practices and access gaps broken down into sections
- Recommendations
- Suggestions for areas of focus
How they were created
- Based on a discourse analysis of governing texts from each organization (e.g., hiring policies, employee handbooks, strategic plans).
- Included access texts when available (e.g., access statements, accommodation policies, accessibility commitments on websites).
- Supplemented with data from focus groups, staff interviews, and surveys with community members.
- Aim: to understand how organizations currently talk about, imagine, and practice access.
How they will guide your work
- Provide a snapshot of each organization’s access landscape, their strengths, gaps, and priorities.
- Act as a baseline for your access plan. You’ll build from this, not start from scratch.
- Highlight areas where organizations are open to transformation and where tensions may arise.
- Offer recommendations that you’ll adapt, expand, or challenge in your work.
Invitation to contribute
- If you notice access gaps, opportunities, or areas of focus not covered in the reports, bring them forward.
- Your lived experience, insights, and creativity are essential – this is co-created work.
Next Steps
- Read through your organization’s access report carefully.
- Meet with your group to discuss initial impressions and possible directions.
- Set up a meeting with Yoonmee, Lisa (research team members who authored the reports), and myself to clarify questions and decide on your group’s area of focus. We’ll also discuss the possibility of a site visit to your organization and we will put you in touch with your mentor and the organization staff you’ll collaborate with.