The Rick Hansen Foundation (RHF) has launched an Accessibility Professional Network, a professional association developed to bring together the accessibility community in Canada. The network will connect like-minded professionals with a shared mission to improve accessibility in the built environment.  Members of this association will benefit from access to an industry job board, educational resources, professional development, and networking opportunities. This network is for:

• Those interested in or working in the field of accessibility in the built environment;
• Designated Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification (RHFAC) Professionals;
• Students interested in the field of accessibility.

RHFAC Professionals have been trained in rating the accessibility of buildings and spaces using the Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification (RHFAC), a national program that rates the accessibility of the built environment based on holistic, meaningful access.

“The Accessibility Professional Network will bring accessibility professionals together to improve the meaningful access of places and spaces in which people live, work and play. Only through collective collaboration and action can we make Canada truly accessible from coast-to-coast,” said Brad McCannell, Vice President, Access and Inclusion at the Rick Hansen Foundation.

Currently more than 150 people have taken the RHFAC Accessibility Assessor course, and over 1,200 buildings have been rated in the program. The new Accessibility Professional Network will bring together this community.

“The number of accessibility professionals is growing across Canada, and there is a real need to bring this community together to share best practices and collectively improve the accessibility of Canada. The Accessibility Professional Network supports this goal,” said Stanis Smith, the executive vice president at Stantec and chair of the

RHFAC Advisory Committee. Membership to this association is free for the remainder of 2019. The Accessibility Professional Network will host its first annual conference on October 31 – November 1, 2019 at MaRS Discovery District, Toronto.