61 Appendix B: Methodology

Drawing from our experience at field-scanning and trend-scanning, the Institute for Community Prosperity has been engaged by ATCO to produce this scan of accessibility issues facing adults in Canada living with a disability.

This work is produced to mobilize and amplify academic, practitioner and public knowledge for the purposes of sparking ideas, enhancing practice, and enriching public insight. It does not constitute formal academic research, and as such will not result in a published academic work or presentation at an academic seminar or conference. Rather, this is instead considered the equivalent of a “program review”, which is specifically exempted from the requirement of approval from the MRU Human Research Ethics Board. Nonetheless, as the Institute is conducting this work under the auspices of MRU, and in the furtherance of sound inquiry involving human respondents, the key principles articulated by the Human Research Ethics Board have been adhered to.

For the interviews, the list of conversations developed in a loose snowball method, first identifying a set of contacts, and then asking participants for additional referrals.  The list of conversation participants is included in APPENDIX A. Potential conversation participants were invited to take part in a video-conference-based meeting, submit a written or recorded piece, or share an existing resource if they felt it answered the topics of interest. Contributions were gathered in Summer of 2022 with twelve key informants, plus two anonymous contributors, with a variety of perspectives on accessibility.

The authors also consulted both academic and non-academic literature (including from government, think tanks, NGOs and foundations) on the topics related to accessibility, with particular reference where possible to Calgary and Canada.  These insights are woven throughout the final document, rather than as a discreet “literature review” section. A range of additional resources not commonly considered in academic works (tweets, TikToks, TED Talks, personal YouTube channels, etc.) were also prioritized for our learning in recognition that these platforms are far more accessible – both in their creation and distribution – to the public than academic or other publications.

A reference to any vendor, product or service in this work does not imply any endorsement, recommendation or approval by the author or sponsors of this work.