When you start a business, you think you know exactly what you are building. Then you listen, learn, grow and discover what the people and organizations you serve actually need.
Diverse Abilities Programs Inc. has evolved in exactly that way.
Over the years, we have created workshops, presentations and training programs based on the conversations we were having in classrooms, workplaces, businesses and communities. Some programs grew. Some changed. Others became so intertwined with what we were already doing that they no longer needed to stand alone.
IDEAL Team Building is one of those programs.
IDEAL Team Building has been an important part of our journey. It helped shape the work we now do through aDAPT Workplace Inclusion. While IDEAL Team Building will no longer appear as a separate program on our website, the principles, conversations and practical learning behind it have not disappeared.
They have evolved.
Our work environment starts with the people we interact with daily
Our Business Team Building Programs were created to help build conscientious corporate communities in small, medium and large businesses.
When teams embarked on IDEAL Team Building, IDEAL represented Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and Language. Through our aDAPT workshops, we worked with organizations to create more inclusive and accessible workplaces for hiring, supporting and serving individuals who navigate life differently.
That work taught us something important.
No two team members’ backgrounds, abilities, confidence levels, interests or preferences are the same. Therefore, no two individuals will require exactly the same accommodations, assistance or approach.
Accessibility and inclusion cannot simply be a checklist.
Our mission is both simple and profound: to foster a broader understanding of diverse abilities and create environments where everyone feels welcome, heard and respected.
Whether working with a small business, nonprofit organization or large corporation, our training has included diversity for workplace workshops, lunch-and-learns, team building, consulting, presentations and speaking engagements for events and conferences.
Today, much of that work has evolved into aDAPT Workplace Inclusion.
From IDEAL Team Building to aDAPT Workplace Inclusion
We believe that when organizations develop a fundamental awareness of IDEAL concepts, we can begin breaking through barriers.
Moving beyond superficial conversations allows us to explore what inclusion, disability awareness and accessibility actually look like during everyday interactions.
What do you say?
What do you do?
What should you notice?
How do you respond when a real-life disability situation happens?
Our lived experience with disability helps lead these conversations. It allows us to go beyond definitions and talk about barriers, practical strategies, respectful communication, accommodations and the different ways people navigate environments that were not always designed with them in mind.
The goal is not to give people a script for every situation. It is to build the awareness and confidence to listen, ask, adapt and problem-solve respectfully.
About Diverse Abilities Programs Inc.
At Diverse Abilities, we believe that investing in disability advocacy benefits society as a whole.
Our abilities and accessibility needs can change throughout our lifetime. Aging, disability, illness, injury and life circumstances can all change how we interact with our environments and what accommodations or assistance we may need.
Our aDAPT team building training, workplace inclusion workshops, presentations and consulting services have helped businesses and nonprofits gain awareness of what disabilities really are, what they are not and how to make environments more inclusive and usable for everyone.
Our presentations and DEI training sessions in Canada are delivered by people with lived experience with disability.
Topics developed through IDEAL Team Building have included:
Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and Language (IDEAL): Breaking through barriers and understanding how each element contributes to belonging.
How to Create Inclusive Workspaces: Working through practical solutions that make workplaces more accessible and usable.
Making a Difference: Being open to learning and shifting attitudes around disability and diversity.
Language Matters: Understanding how the words we use and the way we communicate can either lift someone up or create another barrier.
What teams gained through IDEAL Team Building
Our aDAPT team building training was designed to empower teams with the knowledge and confidence to interact with and support people with diverse abilities.
Participants learned how to:
Gain confidence communicating and interacting with people with disabilities.
Explore alternative ways to assist people with both apparent and non-apparent disabilities.
Understand the importance of accessibility and inclusion and identify practical ways to implement them.
Discover tools, devices, strategies and accommodations that can improve employee and customer experiences for people from all walks of life.
Most importantly, we created an environment where people could ask questions, make mistakes, learn and become more comfortable having conversations about disability.
That remains central to our work today.
Why lived experience matters
Our programs are not built around simply telling people what disability is.
They are led by lived experience.
There can be layers to accessibility barriers that are difficult to recognize until you have encountered them yourself. Lived experience allows us to share the practical strategies people with disabilities use every day and explore solutions alongside the people participating in our programs.
We customize our training to meet the specific goals of each organization because inclusion does not look exactly the same everywhere.
Businesses recognized for inclusivity and accessibility can create stronger experiences for customers, employees and communities from diverse backgrounds. Our approach is designed to relieve some of the awkwardness or discomfort people may feel around disability and replace it with practical knowledge, respectful communication and confidence.
Simplifying what we do
As Diverse Abilities Programs Inc. continues to grow, we are simplifying our website and our services around three core aDAPT programs:
Youth aDAPT brings disability awareness, accessibility, respectful communication and inclusion into classrooms and youth organizations.
Community aDAPT helps community organizations and groups build greater confidence around disability, communication, interaction, assistance and accessibility.
aDAPT Workplace Inclusion brings together much of what we learned and developed through IDEAL Team Building and our workplace training. It focuses on respectful communication and language, apparent and non-apparent disabilities, practical accessibility, interaction and assistance, usable environments and creating workplaces where people feel welcome and respected.
Our IDEAL Framework remains at the heart of all three.
Inclusion. Diversity. Equity. Accessibility. Language and respectful communication.
IDEAL Team Building helped us get here. Its lessons, language and purpose are not being left behind. They have become part of something broader.
That is one of the lessons entrepreneurship continues to teach me.
A business does not have to remain exactly as it began to remain true to why it began.
You listen. You learn. You aDAPT.
Diverse Abilities Programs Inc. continues to provide disability awareness, accessibility and workplace inclusion training in Edmonton, Victoria and across Canadian work environments.
If your workplace, school or community organization is ready to move beyond simply talking about inclusion and start exploring what it looks like in real-life situations, we would love to start the conversation.
