Resources

Policy and legal references

• ACA
  Accessible Canada Act

  Federal accessibility legislation covering federally regulated employers and the public service.
• ASC
  Accessibility Standards Canada

  Federal body developing accessibility standards under the ACA.
• CHRC
  Canadian Human Rights Commission — Duty to Accommodate

  Authoritative guidance on the duty to accommodate for federally regulated workplaces.
• EEA
  Employment Equity Act

  Federal equity obligations and employer reporting requirements.
• DIAP
  Disability Inclusion Action Plan

  Government of Canada's cross-government disability inclusion plan.
• ESCD
  Employment Strategy for Canadians with Disabilities

  Federal employment strategy under the DIAP.
• PIPEDA
  Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act

  Governs handling of employee personal and medical information.
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  Quebec Law 25

  Quebec's modernized private-sector privacy regime; applies in addition to PIPEDA.
• BTG
  Bridging the Gap

  Report on disability inclusion in Canadian workplaces.

• ADA
  Americans with Disabilities Act

  Title I covers employment for employers with 15+ employees.
• EEOC
  U.S. EEOC — Reasonable Accommodation

  Guidance on reasonable accommodation and undue hardship under the ADA.
• S.503
  Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act

  Obligations for federal contractors and subcontractors.
• WIOA
  Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

  Federal workforce development law including disability provisions.
• FMLA
  Family and Medical Leave Act

  Job-protected leave; relevant to return-to-work and accommodation.
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  Section 508

  Federal accessibility requirements for information and communications technology.

• UN CRPD
  Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

  The international human rights treaty underpinning modern disability law.
• ILO C159
  ILO Convention No. 159

  Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention, 1983.
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  ILO Global Business and Disability Network

  Employer network and the Ten Principles charter.
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  W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WCAG)

  The reference standard for digital accessibility.

Policy references indicate the legal or policy basis a question relates to. They are not a legal opinion, and LEADS is not legal advice. Organizations should confirm obligations in their own jurisdiction.

Other assessment frameworks

• ILO GBDN Self-Assessment

  ILO Global Business and Disability Network

  Free multilingual self-assessment for local business units, aligned to the GBDN Charter and the UN CRPD. Produces a Foundational / Practitioner / Leader rating.
• Disability Equality Index (DEI)

  Disability:IN and AAPD

  The most widely used U.S. corporate benchmark. Employer-completed and scored out of 100.
• Disability Smart Audit

  Business Disability Forum

  UK employer audit of policy and practice, delivered through membership.
• BenchmarkABILITY

  Yang-Tan Institute, Cornell University

  Employer self-assessment of disability inclusion policy and practice.
• Disability Confident Scheme

  UK Department for Work and Pensions

  Three-level government employer certification scheme.
• NOD Employment Tracker

  National Organization on Disability

  U.S. employer benchmarking on disability employment practice.
• AbilityNet Accessibility Audits

  AbilityNet

  Digital accessibility auditing against WCAG.
• Disability Facility Scorecard

  Humanity & Inclusion

  Facility-level accessibility assessment used in international development contexts.
• Workplace Accessibility Passport

  Government of Canada

  Employee-held record of accommodations that moves with the employee.

Research and reports

Studies and reports informing the framework, and useful for building an internal case. Where a figure is cited in LEADS materials, the source is listed here.

• Your Workforce Includes People with Disabilities. Does Your People Strategy?

  BCG, 2023

  Survey of ~28,000 employees in 16 countries. Found ~25% self-identify as having a disability while most employers report only 4–7%. The source of the disclosure-gap statistic cited throughout LEADS.
• Supporting the Diverse Identities of Employees with Disabilities

  BCG, 2024

  Follow-up analysis on multiply-marginalised employees with disabilities.
• Disability Inclusion @ Work 2024: A Global Outlook

  Deloitte Global, 2024

  10,000 respondents across 20 countries. Found 74% of accommodation requests were declined at least once.
• The Disability Inclusion Imperative

  Accenture with Disability:IN, 2023

  Post-pandemic update to the Getting to Equal series on disability and financial performance.
• Getting to Equal 2020: Disability Inclusion

  Accenture, 2020

  Global survey of 6,000 employees with disabilities and 1,748 executives.
• Getting to Equal: The Disability Inclusion Advantage

  Accenture with Disability:IN and AAPD, 2018

  The original study linking disability inclusion practice to financial performance.
• Disabilities and Inclusion

  Coqual

  Widely cited research on why employees do and do not disclose at work.
• Return on Disability

  The Return on Disability Group

  Canadian research and advisory on the disability market and employee experience.
• Institute for Work & Health

  IWH, Toronto

  Independent Canadian research on work disability prevention and return to work.
• Conference Board of Canada

  Conference Board of Canada

  Canadian benchmarking on inclusive workplace practice.

Practical tools and organizations

Resources administrators and employees can use directly, most of them free.

• DCIDE

  Institute for Work & Health

  Free decision-support tool helping workers with episodic or invisible conditions think through whether, when and how to disclose.
• Job Accommodation Network (JAN)

  U.S. Dept. of Labor / ODEP

  Free, confidential accommodation guidance, searchable by condition and job function. The most practical first stop for a specific situation.
• EARN — Employer Assistance and Resource Network

  ODEP

  Employer toolkits covering recruitment, retention, advancement and accommodation.
• ADA National Network

  ADA National Network

  Ten regional centres providing free technical assistance on ADA obligations.
• Accessibility Standards Canada — Standards

  ASC

  Published and in-development Canadian accessibility standards.
• Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification

  RHFAC

  Third-party rating and certification of physical site accessibility in Canada.
• Accessibility Services Canada

  —

  Training and resources on Canadian accessibility compliance.
• W3C WAI — Getting Started

  W3C

  Practical starting points for making digital content accessible.
• Washington Group Short Set

  Washington Group on Disability Statistics

  The standard six-question set for measuring disability prevalence in surveys. Used by Deloitte and others.
• Lime Connect

  Lime Connect

  Talent network connecting students and professionals with disabilities to employers.
• The Valuable 500

  Valuable 500

  CEO-level commitment network on disability inclusion.
• Disability:IN Resources

  Disability:IN

  Supplier diversity, benchmarking and corporate practice resources.
• Canadian Accessibility Network

  Carleton University

  Pan-Canadian network connecting research, policy and lived experience.
• Centre for Independent Living in Toronto

  CILT

  Independent living resources, peer support and consumer-directed services.
• National Council on Independent Living

  NCIL

  U.S. cross-disability grassroots advocacy organization.
• nTIDE

  Kessler Foundation and UNH Institute on Disability

  Monthly U.S. disability employment statistics and a Lunch & Learn webinar series.

Statistics and prevalence data

Primary sources for disability prevalence and employment data.

• Canadian Survey on Disability

  Statistics Canada

  Prevalence and employment outcomes for Canadians with disabilities.
• Persons with a Disability: Labor Force Characteristics

  U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

  Annual U.S. disability employment data.
• WHO Global Report on Health Equity for Persons with Disabilities

  WHO, 2022

  Global prevalence and health equity evidence.