Making Engagement Accessible for Everyone with the Government of Saskatchewan
Virtual public participation tools can help eliminate mobility and time barriers, address public health restrictions, and reach broader audiences, their use can create obstacles for people with disabilities, as well as older adults, people with limited language proficiency and those with limited access to technology.
The Government of Saskatchewan is developing legislation that seeks to achieve accessibility by preventing and removing barriers that keep people with disabilities from being able to access, understand, and use the places, information, and services in our province. When engaging the public and disability community for input into the legislation in early 2021, it was critical that online engagement processes were as accessible as possible.
Join IAP2 Prairies for a chat about accessible engagement with Stefanie Wihlidal, Josh Hone and Colleen McMahon from the Government of Saskatchewan. They will provide an overview of the project and considerations for accessible engagement online and using traditional tools. The chat will include broader group discussion on how to embed accessibility into your organization’s ways of engaging.
About the speakers
Stefanie Wihlidal, Project Manager, Ministry of Social Services
Stefanie is currently the Project Manager of the Accessibility Legislation Project. Stefanie has over 20 years of experience in the disability sector. Her training is in Occupational Therapy from the University of Alberta and in Psychology from the University of Saskatchewan. She spent the first decade of her career providing Occupational Therapy for adults with intellectual disabilities before she moved into policy and project management work.
Josh Hone, Policy Analyst, Ministry of Social Services
Josh is a policy analyst currently working on the development of accessibility legislation for Saskatchewan, which involved the development, organization, and operation of an online public engagement session. Josh just recently started with government in the last year after graduating from the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy with a Master’s in Public Administration.
Colleen McMahon, Executive Council
Colleen is a currently a public engagement advisor in Government of Saskatchewan’s providing strategic engagement planning advice and support to all ministry engagement projects. Previously Colleen worked for almost a decade in Crown corporations and the private sector in various marketing and communications roles. She holds a Master of Science in Market Research, a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Saskatchewan, and a Certificate in Public Relations from the University of Regina. Colleen also serves as Chair, Board of Directors for the Lung Association, Saskatchewan.
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