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| title | collection | path | parentDocument | createdBy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | Cooperative Foundations | Cooperative Foundations/Accessibility | null | Jennie R.F. |
A reference doc for facilitators and coordinators on accessibility practices across Cooperative Foundations. This covers what we do, what we offer, and what participants can expect. It's a companion to the trauma-informed facilitation protocols - there's overlap, and that's fine. Accessibility is baked into the trauma-informed approach, but it also needs its own space because some of it is logistical, not emotional.
This doc is written for the same first audience as the session guides: a regional coordinator shadowing during Cohort 7 who needs to understand what's in place and why.
Our starting point
Cooperative Foundations is remote-first by design. That's not a pandemic holdover - it's an intentional accessibility choice. Running remotely means people across the country can participate without relocating, commuting, or navigating physical spaces that weren't built for them. It also means ill and disabled people can join from environments that work for their bodies and energy levels.
But remote-first doesn't automatically mean accessible. It just changes which barriers you're dealing with. The practices below are what we've built up through six cohorts of learning what works and where we've fallen short.
Captioning and transcription
Live captioning is standard for all Cooperative Foundations sessions. This is not a request-based accommodation - it's a baseline program feature, budgeted into every cohort. Starting with Cohort 5, we integrated live captioning as standard practice, and the Ontario Creates IDP budget for Cohort 7 includes a dedicated line item for live captioning and transcription across all 12 sessions.
Zoom's auto-generated captions are also always enabled as a secondary layer. Auto-captions are imperfect but immediate, and some participants prefer them to live captions for speed.
A few things to keep in mind as a facilitator:
Speak at a pace that lets the captions keep up. Both live and auto-captions struggle with fast speech, overlapping speakers, and heavy jargon. When you're co-facilitating, leave a beat between speakers so the captions can catch up and attribute correctly.
Repeat questions from chat or breakout report-backs verbally before responding. If someone types a question in chat and you just say "great question" and start answering, anyone following via captions has no idea what you're responding to.
If a participant needs ASL interpretation or other communication supports beyond captioning, coordinate with the program lead as early as possible. These services need advance booking and the session content should be shared with the provider ahead of time so they can prepare.
After the session, captioned recordings are the primary accessibility artefact. Make sure captions are enabled on the recording before you hit record. Sessions are also transcribed - the transcript should be posted alongside the recording in the cohort channel.
Recordings and asynchronous access
Every Cooperative Foundations session is recorded, with consent. Here's how that works:
Recording consent is established at Session 0 and revisited at the start of each session. Participants are told at onboarding that sessions will be recorded and made available to the cohort. If someone has concerns about recording, those are addressed individually - usually the concern is about specific sensitive moments, not the entire session.
Facilitators can pause recording for sensitive discussions. Name this option out loud before getting into heavy content: "We're about to get into some personal territory. I'm going to pause the recording for this section, and I'll let you know when it's back on." Participants can also request a pause at any time.
Recordings are posted to the cohort's shared channel within 48 hours of the session. This is a hard commitment, not an aspiration - people who couldn't attend live are waiting on these to stay connected. Include a link to the recording, the Miro board, and any session notes or handouts.
Participants who can't attend a live session should never feel like they're falling behind. The peer support team checks in with anyone who missed a session to walk them through what happened and answer questions. Asynchronous reflection prompts are posted in the cohort channel after each session so people who watched the recording can still participate in the meaning-making, not just the content consumption.
Multiple ways to participate
This is already covered in the trauma-informed protocols, but it's worth naming here as an accessibility practice specifically:
Every session offers verbal, chat, and Miro-based participation. No one is required to speak on camera or unmute. This isn't just about introversion - it's about people with speech disabilities, auditory processing differences, social anxiety, or environments where speaking out loud isn't possible.
Breakout rooms are where a lot of the real work happens, and they're also where accessibility can quietly break down. Check in with participants before the first breakout to see if anyone needs specific accommodations - for example, staying in the main room with a facilitator instead, or being paired with someone specific.
When collecting responses (sticky notes, reflections, check-ins), always give writing time before speaking time. This supports people who process more slowly, people working in a second language, and people who are following via captions with a slight delay.
Access needs and disclosure
Starting with Cohort 7, access needs are gathered through a structured onboarding survey before the program begins. This gives the facilitation team time to arrange supports in advance rather than reacting on the fly. The survey covers technology access, communication preferences, captioning and transcription needs, scheduling constraints, and accommodations for in-person events.
At Session 0, we also invite participants to share access needs live via DM to the facilitators. The exact language is: "If you have any access needs, put it in the chat or DM @jennie or @eileen." For Cohort 7 onward, this should also include the regional coordinator's name. The Session 0 invitation matters even with the onboarding survey in place - some people won't fill out a survey honestly until they've met the facilitators and gotten a read on whether the space is actually safe.
We don't ask people to disclose diagnoses or conditions. We ask what they need to participate fully. Sometimes that's captioning. Sometimes it's breaks every 45 minutes. Sometimes it's having materials sent in advance so they can process at their own speed. The facilitator's job is to make it easy to ask and straightforward to accommodate.
Access needs can change session to session. Someone might be fine for six sessions and then have a flare-up or a life change that means they suddenly need something different. Check in periodically, not just at the start.
Materials and platform accessibility
Session slides and handouts should be available in the cohort channel before the session starts. "Before" means at least 24 hours in advance, not five minutes before. People who use screen readers, need to enlarge text, or want to pre-read to reduce cognitive load during the session are all depending on this.
Miro boards are a core tool in Cooperative Foundations and they have real accessibility limitations. Miro is not fully screen-reader compatible, and complex boards can be overwhelming for people with cognitive or visual processing differences. When possible, offer an alternative way to engage with Miro content - for example, a text-based version of the prompts, or a facilitator who can describe the board layout verbally.
Zoom is the current platform. If a participant can't use Zoom for accessibility or technology reasons, work with them to find an alternative - even if that means dialling in by phone for the audio portion and having someone share Miro screenshots in a side channel.
Ontario Hub-specific supports
The Central (Ontario) Hub, hosted by Gamma Space in Toronto, has specific accessibility supports built into its delivery model and budget. Some of these are shared across all hubs; others reflect Ontario-specific infrastructure, funding, and legal context.
Hybrid delivery model
Cohort 7 runs as a hybrid program: eight weekly curriculum workshops delivered virtually, plus two in-person events in Ontario - a Kickoff (September 14, 2026) and a Wrap-up (November 24, 2026). The virtual sessions carry all the accessibility practices described above (live captioning, recordings, asynchronous access, multiple participation modes). The in-person events introduce a different set of accessibility considerations.
Travel stipends
The IDP budget includes travel stipends ($1,000 x 2) for Ontario-based studios attending the in-person events. These are specifically framed as removing access barriers - not everyone can absorb the cost of travel to Toronto, and distance shouldn't determine who gets the full program experience. Coordinators should communicate the availability of travel stipends during onboarding, not wait for participants to ask.
In-person venue accessibility
In-person events for the Ontario Hub are held in Toronto. Venue accessibility is a requirement, not a nice-to-have. This means wheelchair access, proximity to accessible TTC routes, scent-free policies, and sensory considerations (lighting, noise levels, quiet space availability). If events are hosted at Gamma Space or a partner venue, confirm physical accessibility well before the event date.
[TODO - Jennie to confirm: Has the planned venue for Cohort 7 in-person events been assessed for physical accessibility? Is there a backup venue if accessibility issues come up?]
AODA compliance
Ontario's Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act sets legal requirements for accessible delivery that apply to the Ontario Hub. Coordinators should be familiar with AODA's customer service standard (how we communicate with and serve participants) and information and communications standard (accessible digital content, providing information in accessible formats on request). Baby Ghosts' existing remote-first, captioned, multi-format approach already meets much of the spirit of AODA, but the in-person components and any Ontario-specific digital materials should be reviewed against the specific requirements.
Onboarding access survey
The IDP application commits to an onboarding survey on participant needs, including access needs. This goes beyond the Session 0 "DM us your access needs" approach - it's a structured intake that happens before the program starts, giving the facilitation team time to arrange supports rather than scrambling to respond in real time. The survey should cover technology access, communication preferences, captioning and transcription needs, scheduling constraints, and any in-person event accommodations.
Ontario ecosystem partners
The Ontario Hub's outreach strategy names several ecosystem organizations, including Tangled Art + Disability, Interactive Ontario, imagineNATIVE, and QueerTech. These connections matter for accessibility because they extend the program's reach into communities that may have specific access needs and expectations. Tangled Art + Disability in particular brings expertise in disability arts and accessible programming that could inform how the Ontario Hub delivers its in-person events and community programming.
Software and tools
All required software licenses are provided to participants at no cost. This is stated as a risk mitigation for tech and access barriers in the IDP application. The budget includes Miro and Slack licenses (Slack provided in-kind through Gamma Space at the nonprofit rate). Coordinators should confirm during onboarding that participants can actually run the required tools on their devices - providing a license doesn't help if someone's laptop can't handle the software.
Mental health supports
Mental health support is available to all participants throughout the program. This is listed alongside captioning and asynchronous access as a standard feature in the IDP application, not an add-on. The details of how this is delivered (referrals, direct support, crisis protocols) are covered in the trauma-informed facilitation protocols doc.
What we're still working on
Honest list of gaps we know about and haven't solved yet:
Alternative submission formats for assignments and reflections (video, audio, visual) were committed to in the charity application. These haven't been fully implemented yet. As of Cohort 6, most submissions are still text-based.
Miro accessibility remains a known limitation. We've worked around it but haven't found a full solution for participants who can't use Miro at all.
Francophone access has been raised as a need, particularly for hubs serving regions with significant francophone populations. No bilingual facilitation capacity exists yet within the program.
Captioning accuracy for industry-specific and cooperative-specific terminology is inconsistent with auto-captions. Live captioning helps significantly, but a shared glossary for captioners covering co-op terminology, game industry jargon, and program-specific language would improve quality further.
Physical accessibility for in-person events has not been formally audited. The Ontario Hub has in-person Kickoff and Wrap-up events on the calendar, and venue accessibility needs to be confirmed and communicated to participants well in advance.
This section exists so coordinators know where the edges are. If a participant's access need bumps up against one of these gaps, the response is to problem-solve with them directly, not to pretend the gap doesn't exist.