Register now! for RDC25 – Resiliency in Times of Change. Nov 3-5, 2025
You Can’t Spell Inclusion Without a D is the Ontario Disability Employment Network’s podcast, launched in 2020.
Our show season runs from April to November.
Each episode we bring you insightful conversations with expert guests that explore from all the angles, the power of disability inclusion in business…in employment…in education…and in our communities…and why disability is an important part of the diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility conversation.
Curious about how we came up with that name? The diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) business conversation still too often focuses on gender and ethnicity only. Disability is left out or is an afterthought. We believe that you can’t really have inclusion without including disability in the conversation. Hence, You Can’t Spell Inclusion Without a D.
The podcast is co-hosted by Amy Widdows, ODEN’s new CEO, and Dean Askin, our Communications Strategist. Amy stepped in as the new co-host starting in 2025, with Season 6.
Jeannette Campbell, ODEN’s previous CEO, co-hosted the podcast for five seasons (Episodes 1 to 30).
You Can’t Spell Inclusion Without a D is hosted on Podbean, and available wherever you download your favourite podcasts.
Executive Producer/Co-Host — Amy Widdows
Executive Producer/Co-Host (Seasons 1 to 5, Episodes 1 to 30) — Jeannette Campbell
Producer — Sue Dafoe
Associate Producer/Co-Host — Dean Askin
Audio Production — Dean Askin
Canada is known as “Hollywood North.” That’s because so many television shows and series, and theatrical and television films have been, and are filmed, in this country. They include Supernatural, Schitt’s Creek, Hudson and Rex, Deadpool, Star Trek Beyond, Star Trek Discovery and Hot Zone: Anthrax. According to figures from the Motion Picture Association, film…
Disability is the world’s largest minority group — one that all of us will likely join at some point in our lives. According to World Health Organization figures, 1.3 billion people globally have a disability. People who have a disability are just regular people, living their every-day lives one day at a time…like all…
October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. So we thought, what better time to launch a new, occasional series we’re calling, Making the Journey. It’s a fitting title for this series. Because when a business leader or owner makes the conscious decision to become intentional about disability inclusion in their organization, it really is a…
If you’ve never heard about some of the disability innovation things happening around the globe….like Africa’s first Assistive Technology Accelerator project called Innovate Now….or StreetCo, a pedestrian GPS app developed in France to help people with reduced mobility safely navigate city streets….or the World Health Organization’s first official collaborating centre on assistive technology….you’re probably not…
There’s more conversation about disability inclusion in business and employment, than ever. It’s been driven by some rapid changes in the nature and future of work. All this conversation is a good thing. But, it’s a discourse that’s been going on in Canada for over a hundred years. For all intents and purposes, the modern…
What do you think of when you hear the words, “assistive technology,” or AT, as it’s known for short? And what’s the difference between assistive technology and accessible technology? From smartphones, to podcast apps, to earbuds, to eyeglasses, to canes, they’re all AT. The World Health Organization (WHO) notes, assistive technology is “an umbrella term.” …
In the beginning, the Web was pretty much accessible for everyone….because it was originally text based. In 2023, web-page technology and design has advanced light years beyond the original hypertext markup language (HTML) used to build the world’s first websites. But is accessibility….that universal power of the Web referred to by its inventor, Sir…
This episode is a check-in…a check-in on hidden mobility disabilities in Canada, and the Hidden Mobility Disabilities Project, or the HMD Project for short. What are hidden mobility disabilities? Generally, they’re the inability to walk any great distance or stand for a long time. And the HMD Project has been investigating accessibility as it…
Worldwide, there are an estimated 180 million to 220 million youth who have a disability. In Canada, there are over 540,000 between the ages of 15 and 24. Over 100,000 of these youth are not in education, employment or training (NEET). Seventy-seven per cent of this group — over 83,000 young people who have a…
When you hear the words, “disability inclusion,” what’s the first thing that comes to mind for you? There’s a lot being written these days about accessibility, and disability inclusion in business and employment. But what about something like disability inclusion and accessibility in research? That’s not something many of us have thought about. In this…
Si vous avez besoin de services en français, veuillez contacter Performance Plus – Soins en Réadaptation inc. au 1-800-427-6214, un membre d’ODEN qui vous aidera avec vos besoins.
