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About Us

A Canadian social enterprise pairing persons with cognitive disabilities with organizations aiming to make products, services and experiences accessible to everyone.

We bring persons with a range of cognitive abilities together with researchers and accessibility specialists, combining their knowledge and lived experience to test, improve and assure cognitive accessibility.

Our Purpose

Parity for people of all cognitive abilities.

We envision a world where people of all cognitive abilities can function to the best of their potential.

Our Mission

To be a one-stop-shop for cognitive accessibility solutions, resources and expertise.

  • We provide a unique and innovative platform for technology developers, accessibility specialists, researchers, businesses and public organizations to collaborate with persons of all cognitive abilities and co-create solutions for an inclusive community.
  • We help researchers, evaluators and technology developers who want to involve persons of all cognitive abilities in their R&D processes.
  • We provide a supportive and empowering environment for persons with cognitive disabilities.

Our Team

Creating a more accessible world requires a remarkable team.

Virginie Cobigo standing in front of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ottawa.

Virginie Cobigo PhD, C.Psych

Founder & Executive Director

Munazza Tahir, PhD

Associate Director

Alana Murphy

Alana Murphy

Accessibility & Engagement Coordinator

Dominic Couture

Dominic Couture, MA

Linguistic Operations Manager

Photo of Kety Jean-Baptiste

Kety Jean-Baptiste

Administrative Coordinator

Photo of Janice Singer

Janice Singer, PhD

Business Development & Operations

Board of Directors

Akos Hoffer, MHSc CHE CEC

Chief Executive Officer
The Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre

Heidi Hauver

LearnExperts

Greg Lane

CEO
Canada’s Association of I.T. Professionals

Virginie Cobigo

Founder & Executive Director
Open Collaboration for Cognitive Accessibility

Janice Singer

Business Development and Operations
Open Collaboration for Cognitive Accessibility

Research Coordinators & Assistants

  • Lynne Potvin
  • Danika Quenneville
  • Melanie Beres
  • Niima Er-raji
  • Audrey Katelyn Hodgins
  • Sarah Healy
  • Clara Marty
  • Emily Cliche
  • Maryse Kavwahirehi

Our Partners

JLG Health Solutions
University of Ottawa
Centre for Social Enterprise Development
Agewell
Access to Success
Perley Health
Breton Ability Centre
l’Association pour l’intégration sociale d’Ottawa (AISO)
Valor & Solutions
Sinneave Family Foundation
Specialisterne
Employment Accessibility Resource Network (EARN)
Valoris for Children and Adults of Prescott-Russell
Sheet Metal Workers Local 47 Ottawa
Provincial Building & Construction Trades Council of Ontario
Research Canada logo
Work With Us

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.