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Lakehead University & Health Canada

Palliative care aims to improve the quality of life for patients with life-limiting conditions, and their caregivers.

This case study is available to download in PDF format here.

Leveraging their lived experience, our Accessibility Advisors test the cognitive accessibility of palliative care resources. We work with Lakehead University, with financial contribution from Health Canada. Our work aims to promote equitable access to palliative care services for persons with cognitive disabilities.

The Problem

Neurodivergent individuals experience inequities in palliative care compared to their neurotypical counterparts. While they share many of the same palliative needs, they are faced with cognitive accessibility barriers and systemic biases that negatively impact their care. Identifying and eliminating these barriers from the patient journey is key to addressing these palliative care inequities.

The Solution

Open assessed the cognitive accessibility of Canadian palliative care resources. Guided by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and Health Canada’s framework, our team of neurodivergent, bilingual Accessibility Advisors assessed the cognitive accessibility of patient information through the lens of their lived experience. Open also provided accessible language adaptations of bilingual resources, and recommended design revisions to improve their accessibility.

Services provided:

  • Inclusive Research & Development
  • Inclusive Design
  • Accessibility Testing
  • Accessibility Education & Training

The Outcome

With guidance from advisors with lived experience, we are developing recommendations and refining language in key materials to make them more accessible and understandable. Through our continued collaboration, the research team at Lakehead University is working to improve the cognitive accessibility of palliative care resources.

“Our work with Open has led to meaningful improvements in accessibility. Their process identified unintentional barriers in our materials, and the revisions have made our resources more effective for individuals with diverse cognitive needs.”
~ Lynn Martin, PhD, Professor, Department of Health Sciences, Lakehead University

Testimonials

We have been working with Open for over a year and it has been a pleasure; Open offers a professional, fast, efficient, detailed, and conscientious path to engaging neurodiverse communities as advisors for corporate related accessibility projects.

Nadia Hamilton, CEO, Magnusmode

We work with Open in order to develop a cognitively accessible medication management application. They provided us with a wealth of expertise regarding cognitive disabilities and accessibility while ensuring we received input directly from persons with cognitive disabilities.

Dinis Cabral, CEO, JLG Health Solutions

It is always a pleasure to work with you and your students! They were quite remarkable throughout the process. They were available, accessible and certainly their report today was spot on.

Caroline Granger, Director, Valor & Solutions

Our work with Open has led to meaningful improvements in accessibility. Their process identified unintentional barriers in our materials, and the revisions have made our resources more effective for individuals with diverse cognitive needs.

Lynn Martin, PhD, Professor, Department of Health Sciences, Lakehead University

Thank you for helping make SCERN a success! Based on your feedback, we have made a number of improvements.

Christopher Macdonald Hewitt, Ph.D.