What this program offers

On this page

• Program objectives
• Funding priorities
• Glossary

Program objectives

The objectives of the National AccessAbility Week 2024 Call for Proposals are to provide funding to organizations that will increase awareness through National AccessAbility Week (NAAW) activities that:

• improve understanding and knowledge of Canadians on accessibility and disability inclusion
• reduce stigma and attitudinal barriers towards persons with disabilities
• share best practices and lessons learned related to NAAW activities within the disability community

Funding priorities and considerations

Priorities

We will give additional points and prioritize projects that:

• include plans for the participation of persons with disabilities in the overall project design and delivery of associated activities
• include plans to test, learn and scale-up project activities, so that they can reach more people, communities and build more partnerships
• support NAAW activities within underrepresented communities (e.g., Official Language Minority Communities (OLMCs), 2SLGBTQIA+, Indigenous (First Nations, Métis and Inuit), minority communities, including Black and other visible minority groups)

Considerations

When assessing applications, ESDC may further consider:

• applications based on geographical distribution to have coverage across Canada
• applications that include multi-sectoral partnerships, such as, partnerships with organizations from various sectors, including:
  • academia
  • retail
  • health, and
  • financial sectors

• applications that include partnerships among diverse groups from within the disability community for example:
  • small to medium size disability organizations
  • organizations supporting different types of disabilities; and
  • organizations supporting persons at the intersection of disability and other identities

Glossary

Accessible and inclusive services

Accessible services are effective services designed and delivered for persons with disabilities. These services avoid barriers so that everyone can use them. For example, offering sign language or captions for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Inclusive services make everyone feel like they belong, no matter who they are or where they come from. They are made to feel welcome, valued, and respected. For example, providing services that treat people of all gender- identities equally and with respect.

Attitudinal barriers

Attitudinal barriers are unfair or negative opinions about others because of disability, race, gender, or age, or intersectionalities. These attitudes develop over time and come from both inside and outside experiences. They can make it hard to communicate well, understand and connect with others.

Capital assets

Non-consumable items that will continue to exist after the funding period ends, such as:

• equipment
• electronics
• furniture
• appliances, etc.

A capital asset may be a single item or a group of items forming 1 functional unit. For example:

• components of a public address system for seniors' events includes:
  • an amplifier ($600)
  • 2 speakers ($150 a piece)
  • a microphone ($150)
  • a stand and cables ($100)

This equals $1,150 since they are a collection of items that are designed to function together.

Capital assets have a purchase or lease value of more than $1,000 before taxes.

Community

A group of people who share something in common. A community can be formed from:

• geographic location
• identity factors
• shared experiences, or
• other attributes

These attribute(s) create a sense of belonging or interpersonal connection among its members.

Disability

The Accessible Canada Act defines disability as: “Any impairment, including a physical, mental, intellectual, cognitive, learning, communication or sensory impairment — or a functional limitation — whether permanent, temporary or episodic in nature, or evident or not, that, in interaction with a barrier, hinders a person’s full and equal participation in society”.

This definition is based on the social model of disability.

Disability community

The disability community is a group of people who share a common experience of living with disabilities.

Disability organization

An organization whose primary mandate promotes or contributes to the social inclusion of persons with disabilities.

Disability supports

Disability supports are things that help people with disabilities live their lives. This can include a range of services, devices and accommodations designed to enhance the quality of life and independence of individuals with disabilities. For example, this can include;

• tools such as wheelchairs or hearing aids,
• people who assist with daily tasks, or
• changes in schools or workplaces to make them easier to use

Diverse groups/organizations

These include:

• small to medium-sized disability organizations
• organizations supporting different types of disabilities
• organizations supporting persons at the intersection of disability and other identities. This can include:
  • Official Language Minority Communities (for example, Francophones living outside the province of Quebec and Anglophones living in the province of Quebec)
  • 2SLGBTQIA+ persons/groups
  • Indigenous (First Nations, Métis and Inuit)
  • Visible minority communities including Black and other racialized groups

Intersectional identities

There are multiple and diverse intersecting identity factors that shape our perspectives and experiences. Examples of intersecting identity factors that may intersect include but are not limited to:

• gender identity
• sexual orientation
• living with or have lived with a disability
• racial or ethnic background

National scope

For this Call for Proposals, national scope is defined as projects that are delivered in more than 1 province or territory.

For this Call for Proposals, having a national website, or planning to create one, does not equal national reach.

Organizations and institutions supported by provincial/territorial entities

For this Call for Proposals, this includes educational institutions and health/social services institutions.

Outcomes

Outcomes are the changes that are expected to occur as a result of activities and outputs. Outcomes answer the question, "how do the project activities make things better for clients?"

Outputs

Outputs are direct products, services, or partnerships that may be created to generate the desired outcomes. Several activities can contribute to one output. Outputs answer the question, “what will the funding produce?”

Partnership

A relationship between the applicant and another organization who are engaging and collaborating in this project. Partnerships are defined as relationships with recognized organizations that are willing to support the project. This can include providing expertise and organizational capacity to contribute, either in-kind or financially, to the project. This can involve:

• linking or sharing information
• resources (such as staff members; computers; etc.)
• activities, and/or
• capabilities by different organizations to achieve joint outcome(s)

Projects not requiring mandatory partnerships (those requesting $100,000 or less) are encouraged to involve a partnership-based approach to better represent a range of disability viewpoints and to maximize the scale and impact of investments.

Small to medium-sized organizations

For the purpose of this Call for Proposals, small to medium-sized organizations are defined as organizations with 1 to 9 employees (small) and 10 to 99 employees (medium).

Stigma

Stigma is when people have bad attitudes, beliefs or behaviours about a group of people because of their life situation. It makes them feel alone or left out.

Underrepresented communities

Include, but are not limited to:

• 2SLGBTQIA+ persons/groups
• Official Language Minority Communities
• persons residing in rural and remote areas
• Indigenous communities (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit)
• minority communities including Black and other racialized groups, etc.

2SLGBTQIA+

Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex and asexual. The symbol “+” represents the wide spectrum of gender identities, sexual orientations and romantic orientations not explicitly named.

The choice of letters or symbols and the order in which they are presented could differ depending on the context and the audience. Some examples of abbreviations include:

• LGBT
• LGBTI
• LGBTQ
• LGBTQ2
• LGBTQ2S
• LGBTQ2IA
• LGBTQ2IA+
• 2SLGBTQIA+
• 2SLGBTQQIA

When there are 2 “Q”s in the abbreviation, the second “Q” stands for “questioning.”