Stack-It Green: Part Two
Making sure everyone has a seat at the table
As Stack-It moves forward with our corporate sustainability plan and goals, it is important that the company, as a whole, moves forward together. The only way to ensure that we can all take that step forward is to make certain that we meet certain accessibility standards. This is because, if we cannot give everyone a seat at the table, we—as an organization—will never reach our sustainability goals (or any goals for that matter). We understand the importance of making “new climate change policies [that] recognize” particular barriers or impediments of new policies for disabled persons (Dines, 2016). In the past, “many of the positive changes made to habits and lifestyle, changes that could contribute to minimising climate change and rehabilitating the environment, are difficult or impossible for disabled people to do” (Wright, 2020). This is why Stack-It has formed a Corporate Sustainability Committee that will oversee the creation of communication content in order to make certain that it is meeting accessibility standards.
Below are the three areas that we will be focusing on going forward:
1. All written communication will come with an accompanying video/multi-media component.
We understand that having information available in various formats allows a broader audience to engage with said information. For example, our eblasts series that we will be sending out to all staff will always be accompanied by a video. This video will include subtitles as well as someone signing in American Sign Language (ASL). The video will cover all components that are covered within the eblast itself.
As we have locations in different regions within North American, subtitles will also be available in French and Spanish. The understanding is to push out the message on diverse platforms and multiple formats. Not only will this make the message more accessible, but it will also offer more opportunities for the messages to be engaged with.
2. All company websites going forward will meet standard accessibility regulations
A large proponent of our digital marketing team is website maintenance and creation. As it is already in the marketing plan to rebuild all websites to meet our current best practices, an additional section has been included to make our websites meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 (Rallo, et. al., 2019). Some considerations will include:
- Making certain all information can easily be picked up by a screen reader or braille terminal.
- Ensuring a large enough colour contrast between background and foreground graphics.
- Using legible topography (font size and style)
- Inclusion of alternative text to accompany all unexplained or non-text elements
This will affect Stack-It Green’s promotional material as we will be building out a series of pages on Stack-It’s website outlining our corporate sustainability goals and actions. It will be another place where this information can be accessed by our employees as well as current or potential customers.
3. E-meets hosted by the Corporate Sustainability Committee
In an effort to provide an inclusive platform for our employees, Stack-It’s Corporate Sustainability Committee will put on a number of e-meets that are open to Stack-It employees. This will give everyone the opportunity to weigh in on any future corporate sustainability goals. We see this activity as providing a safe forum for staff to voice their concerns or suggestions for the best way forward. As we want to make certain that everyone has a space at the table, we believe that hearing from our staff will give each of us a better perspective on what barriers might exist to some sustainability initiatives (such as single-use plastic bans).
After each session, we will send out an anonymous survey to all staff. This way, if some members did not feel comfortable voicing their opinions, the survey will hopefully give them the opportunity to do so in a safe (anonymous) environment. Contact information will also be easily accessible so that staff can get in contact with members of the Corporate Sustainability Committee.
Moving forward together
In uncertain times, Stack-It believes that it is important that we go forward in unity. Corporate sustainability is something that we believe to be an important aspect of our organization, but only if it is something that is applicable to all members of our Stack-It community.
Please click the following link for a video explanation of all the above initiatives mentioned. For any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to the Corporate Sustainability Committee. We are all in this together!
References
Dines, H. (2019). The climate revolution must be accessible – this fight belongs to disabled people too. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/15/climate-revolution-disabled-people-activism
Rallo, A., Forest, E., Juo, J., Boutilier, R., & Li, E. (2019). Access Ability 2: A practical handbook on accessible graphic design. Revised + Supersized Second Edition. The Association of Registered Graphic Designers.
Wright, E. (2020). Climate Change, Disability, and Eco-Ableism: Why we need to be inclusive to save the planet. UX Collective. https://uxdesign.cc/climate-change-disability-and-eco-ableism-why-we-need-to-be-inclusive-when-trying-to-save-the-88bb61e82e4e