ACCESSIBILITY PLAN

Centre Wellington Community Radio Inc.

 

Introduction

Our Accessibility Plan is presented in response to the Accessible Canada Act (ACA) and the

Accessible Canada Regulations (regulations) which mandates that federally regulated entities, like the Grand at 101 publish their Accessibility Plans.

The ACA has been passed into law, to bring about a more accessible Canada for people with disabilities. The Grand at 101 has published our plan to not only be in compliance with its regulatory obligations but also to support its commitment to a more equitable and accessible environment for all.

Our Plan

We are developing an Accessibility Plan to help make our workplace and services more accessible for people with disabilities. We are committed to providing barrier-free access to all Canadians who interact with our services or seek employment with our organization.

Our accessibility goals are:

1. Review our physical location with the goal of exploring how access and exit can be improved for persons with disabilities to independently access our facilities.
2. Provide opportunities for feedback to allow for improvements to our communication platforms that would provide more accessibility to people with disabilities.
3. Review and encourage feedback from applicants as part of our job posting protocol to ensure that there are steps taken to eliminate barriers for people with disabilities in applying for available positions.
4. Provide appropriate training to all our staff about accessibility.
5. Review our website with the goal of making it more accessible to people with disabilities.

Getting Feedback from People with Disabilities

To help us with this Accessibility Plan, we are utilizing our Human Resources partner, who will do surveys within and outside our organization.  We will be reaching out to organizations in the communities we serve to better understand and help us respond to accessibility issues.

Statement of Commitment

Centre Wellington Community Radio Inc (The Grand at 101) is dedicated to being accessible to everyone. We see this plan as an opportunity for our organization to bring our workplaces, activities and services to a level that would provide accessibility for all persons with disabilities. We are open to hearing from people with disabilities who interact with the station as an employee, client, or visitor.  This is an iterative process that will change over time as per needs. We commit to addressing any barriers as soon as possible even if they are not outlined in this Plan.

Feedback Process

Centre Wellington Community Radio Inc. welcomes feedback about our Accessibility Plan. This feed back can an anonymous or they can leave their contact information. We are committed to reviewing all contributions we receive and to taking steps to address barriers identified through this feedback. To submit feedback you can email info@thegrand101.com  or by calling 226-383-1011.

We will maintain an archive of all feedback submitted for the duration of 7 years. This information will be used as a measurement of our progress towards our accessibility goals, document identified barriers and help us to refine our Plan in future changes.

Definitions

This plan uses these definitions:

Disability: An impairment, or difference in physical, mental, intellectual, cognitive, learning, or communication ability. Disabilities can be permanent, temporary or can change over time.

Barrier: Anything that might prevent people with disabilities full and equal participation in society. Barriers can be based in attitudes, the built environment, technology, in how information is communicated or can be the result of a policy or procedure.

Accessibility: Greater accessibility is achieved through the design of products, devices, services, environments, technologies, policies, and rules in a way that allows all people, including people with a variety of disabilities to access and use them, as independently as the person wishes.

 

AREA DESCRIBED UNDER SECTION 5 OF THE ACCESSIBLE CANADA ACT (ACA)

Build Environment

Overview

Centre Wellington Community Radio Inc.  has a physical office location in Fergus Ontario. Our building was constructed in 2015 and the facilities are on one level with Wheelchair accessibility.

Members of the public and clients occasionally visit our office. Primary access is for employees and volunteers.

 

Accessibility Goals:

• By December 2024 we will review emergency evacuation plans through the lens of people with disabilities in our location.
• By June of 2025 we are planning to review accessibility for our building and assess the need for further remedy if applicable.

 

Employment

Overview:

Centre Wellington Community Radio Inc has 12 full and part-time employees.

Our staff work in our office at 540 Garafraxa St.E. in Fergus, as well as, remotely.

We strive to be reflective of Canada’s diversity and report on our employees annually through Employment Equity reporting. Achieving the goals outlined below will help us to improve accessibility for our current and future employees that have disabilities.

Accessibility Goals:

• By the end of 2024, Centre Wellington Community Radio Inc along with our HR provider Beyond Rewards will conduct a review of our hiring processes to look for any barriers including reviewing the process for job applications by individuals with disabilities who experience barriers to our systems for hiring.
• By the end of March 2025, Centre Wellington Community Radio Inc. will review and update our policy about accommodations for employees and candidates with disabilities.
• Early in 2026, Centre Wellington Community Radio Inc. will conduct a review of the accessibility of the platform where we post jobs. Once this review is complete, we will strive to remove any barriers.

 

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

Overview:

As a company, we use the following technologies:

• Radio Station Website; Grand 101.1 FM (thegrand101.com)
• Social media platforms
• Document Repositories – Sharepoint
• Internal communication platforms

Our radio station web plattorm has some accessibility  features, however;  we intend to meet with the platform provider to see if any further improvements can be done. We will undertake a review of these features within the next 12 months and see what can reasonably be done to make them more accessible.

When we post jobs to industry websites, they are to third party websites that we do not have control over, and therefore, we have limited abilities to influence the degree of accessibility on these sites.

The technology that our employees use has not been reviewed for accessibility. Our plans to address these are outlined below:

Accessibility Goals:

• By June 2025, Centre Wellington Community Radio Inc. will conduct a technology accessibility audit that ideally will include user testing by persons with disabilities. We will identify and then do our best to remove the minor barriers in our technology. This could include the ability to;
  • Change text font and size
  • Improved structure and formatting
  • Improved navigation of the website for people who are using a screen reader.
• By December 2025 we will provide accessibility training for all employees who create or edit webpages or content for our platform.

 

Communication

Overview:

We produce content including local news reports, and we sell advertising on our radio station and digital platform. We communicate internally with our Team as well as externally with the public.

As a media company, our main source of communicating our information is through technology.

Our managers make themselves available for one-on-one meetings or virtually, at any time, with any member of their team in a manner that best suits their needs. This allows for personal communication and connection to instill and support a workplace environment that has open and honest communications and helps those who have a difficult time with virtual meetings or group meetings.

We work with a number of organizations in order to promote diversity and facilitate support and removal of barriers. Examples include:

• Wellington County Accessibility Advisory Committee
• Centre Wellington Advisory Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
• We run news stories, and podcasts, and we raise awareness of Pride events via on air interviews, cruiser cut-ins through the radio station

 

Accessibility Goals:

• By the end of 2024, any document for the public will be available in alternative formats.
• By the end of 2025, we will complete a review of non-ICT communications (Information and Communication Technologies) to identify barriers for people with disabilities and will endeavor to remove these barriers.
• By the end of 2024 we will increase the accessibility of our social media by doing the following:
  • Make our contact information and website address visible on all platforms
  • Write posts in plain language and without acronyms
  • Capitalize the first letter of each word in hashtags and place hashtags at the end of captions
  • Add alt-text for images
  • Make sure photos have sharp colour contrast
• By December  2025,  Centre Wellington Community Radio Inc   will  provide  accessibility  training  for  all employees who work on communications

 

 

Design & Delivery of Programs & Services

Overview:

Centre Wellington Community Radio Inc.  is federally regulated to provide the essential services of radio. As a broadcast license holder, it is our duty to ensure that our representation of the local area and its people is accurate, entertaining, and timely.

Most of the way that people interact with our company is through our Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) or communication. Tthe goals contained in the previous sections of this plan will help make the design and delivery of our programs and services more accessible. We will continue to monitor internal and external feedback to identify any additional barriers related to design and delivery of programs and services to address any existing barriers and prevent any new ones.

We do not provide transportation services to the public.

We do have a radio station community cruiser vehicle for use by our staff and volunteers who are licensed to drive the vehicle. Primary use is in programming, technical, news or promotions departments. Occasionally Sales people drive the vehicle, but anyone using it require a valid driver’s license.

Our current company Accommodation Policy addresses the need for flexibility and allowances in this area, such as when an employee with a disability is unable to drive or needs to use their own accommodated vehicle to perform their job duties. Centre Wellington Community Radio Inc.  currently has policies in place to either send an alternate employee or pay a mileage fee if and when an employee is required to use their personal vehicle. No further actions are planned at this time.

 

Organization-wide Initiatives

We are committed to organization wide training. This training will be completed by the end of 2024.

 

CONSULTATIONS

Overview:

Centre Wellington Community Radio Inc is committed to listening to and learning from people with disabilities. To uphold this commitment, we will continue to consult people with disabilities in all aspects of this Plan. We recognize that consultations need to continue. We are dedicated to building relationships of trust with people with disabilities to engage in effective consultations going forward.

 

Consultations with Other People Who Have Disabilities

Overview:

By 31 December 2024 we will consult with other people outside of our own employees and volunteers  who have disabilities through the activities of our EEC to help develop and refine our plan.

It is in the best interest of all parties to consider health and safety in every activity. Commitment to health and safety must form an integral part of how we operate. We are committed to protecting employees from injury and illness by establishing safe work practices in compliance with occupational health and safety legislation.

 

Accessibility Goals:

• By the end of 2024, centre Wellington Community Radio Inc will consult with persons with disabilities outside our employees and volunteers to find ways that we could improve on the work of this plan.