Making the MSSU more accessible for all
May 28 – June 3 is National AccessAbility Week, a week to celebrate the valuable contributions and leadership of Canadians with disabilities and the work of everyone helping remove barriers to make Canada more inclusive. In honour of this week, the MSSU would like to recognize and thank our Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility (EDIA) Science Team. This diverse group of dedicated individuals advises the MSSU on EDIA-related issues and initiatives. “We are excited to welcome new Patient/Public Partners to this team in the coming weeks and look forward to their contributions and unique perspectives as they support the advancement of EDIA in the MSSU and across the Maritime health research community,” said Marina Hamilton, MSSU Executive Director.
Our Highlights and Achievements
Since our Phase II funding last spring, many exciting projects have been implemented at the MSSU with a renewed focus on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility (EDIA), Sex and Gender Diversity, and Indigenous Allyship and Engagement. These achievements include the creation of our EDIA Science Team, a commitment to providing meetings and training virtually to support everyone’s attendance and regular office hours for Indigenous Engagement support. Staff demonstrated their commitment to EDIA by creating an accessible and inclusive Research Summit last June. The event featured practical information on how experts can incorporate wise practices in health equity into their research, and sessions included live closed captioning and remote English steno CART captions with accompanying digital French captions. We are currently developing an Accessibility Guide to ensure all information and communication products, including our website, meet accessibility requirements and best practices in all three Maritime provinces. Our strategic plan has also been updated to reflect these cross-cutting themes as we move forward in making our organization more accessible and addressing inequities in health research and care across the Maritimes. The following resources have been developed to support EDIA within the MSSU:
Accessibility & Systemic Ableism in Health Research
Webinar with Dr. Katie AubrechtPodcast with Prince Owusu