New standards for accessible employment contracts for Canadian workers in development
June 1, 2026
LCBO among employers to join the initiative, funded by Accessibility Standards Canada, to eliminate cognitive accessibility barriers and improve neuro-inclusion in hiring practices.
OTTAWA, Ontario – Open Collaboration for Cognitive Accessibility (Open), Canada’s leader in neuro-inclusive co-design, has published a policy brief outlining key recommendations to improve the accessibility of employment contracts for Canadians with cognitive disabilities. Publication of the policy brief coincides with the social enterprise’s announcement of an initiative—funded by Accessibility Standards Canada—to develop new guidelines and templates for plain language employment contracts that will help Canadian employers address key cognitive accessibility challenges in the recruiting and hiring of workers.
As legal documents, employment contracts inform Canadian workers of their responsibilities and rights as employees but are often written in ways that make them confusing or difficult to understand. This creates accessibility barriers that disadvantage employees, especially those with cognitive disabilities. Open’s policy brief highlights the need for plain language employment contracts along with a recommendation for co-development of accessible job contracts by employers with persons with lived experience.
Led by Open and funded under the Advancing Accessibility Standards Research program, the initiative will see the creation of publicly available standards, tools and templates Canadian employers can use to eliminate accessibility barriers from their employment contracts. “Millions of Canadian workers can’t access the accommodations and benefits they’re entitled to because they can’t understand their job contracts,” explained Dr. Virginie Cobigo, Executive Director at Open. “Making [employment contracts] accessible helps workers of all cognitive abilities better understand their rights and responsibilities and helps those with disabilities feel more included.”
The initiative also aims to support the country’s national standard for employment accessibility under the Accessible Canada Act. Updated in 2025, the standard requires Canadian employers to proactively identify and remove or prevent accessibility barriers covering all aspects of the employment life cycle. Established under that Act, Accessibility Standards Canada is a federal organization focused on developing and promoting accessibility standards to help ensure all Canadians—particularly those with disabilities—can participate fully in society, with the goal of a barrier-free Canada by 2040.
Working with several employer partners, including the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), Open will facilitate a neuro-inclusive co-design process involving neurodivergent accessibility advisors with cognitive disabilities. Through this collaborative process, Open will assess employers’ job contracts through a lens of lived experience and recommend plain language adaptations that improve understanding and eliminate accessibility barriers, all while maintaining the legal integrity of the contracts.
It’s estimated that there are between 4 to 10 million people in Canada with cognitive disabilities, many of whom face employment and career challenges as a result. The Accessible Canada Act mandates that barriers impacting the federal employment of persons with disabilities must be removed. Presenting employment contracts in plain language—a way of improving clarity and comprehension of written or textual content—not only aligns with this mandate, but also helps Canadian workers better understand their role, their rights and benefits, and avoid exploitation or even abuse in the workplace. Despite the benefits of plain language contracts, stigma and a lack of clear guidelines prevent their implementation.
The policy brief is available here.
About Open Collaboration for Cognitive Accessibility Corp.
Based in Ottawa, Open Collaboration for Cognitive Accessibility is a Canadian social enterprise that enables organizations to include persons of all cognitive abilities in the design of their policies, products, services, environments and experiences. Established in 2020 by Dr. Virginie Cobigo, through a partnership with the University of Ottawa, Open provides neuro-inclusive research and development, training and knowledge mobilization to public and private sector organizations around the world.
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