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Creating in More Accessible Ways

Samaak™ Institute for Inclusion and Cultural Access helps organizations, institutions, startups, and community groups create services, spaces, documents, events, and digital experiences that are more accessible, inclusive, and usable.

Led by Dr. Farshid Sadatsharifi, an accessibility and EDI practitioner with lived disability experience and more than a decade of leadership in inclusive project management, Samaak™ offers practical, tailored services that help teams move from compliance to meaningful access.

Our work supports accessibility and human-rights responsibilities under frameworks such as the Accessible Canada Act, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), the BC Accessibility Act, and WCAG 2.2, while centring the voices, expertise, and lived experiences of people with disabilities.

We believe accessibility is not only a technical requirement. It is a way of designing participation, dignity, communication, and belonging from the beginning.

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What We Offer

1. Digital, Document, and Built Environment Accessibility Audits

We provide practical accessibility assessments that help organizations identify barriers, understand risk, and prioritize improvements.

Our audits may include:

  • Website and mobile accessibility reviews

  • WCAG 2.2 compliance and usability testing

  • Accessible document assessments

  • PDF, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint accessibility reviews

  • Accessibility reviews of architectural drawings, public spaces, facilities, and service environments

  • Plain-language findings with clear, actionable recommendations

  • User feedback from people with lived accessibility experience

Our goal is not only to identify what is missing, but to help teams understand what needs to change and why it matters.

 

2. Accessible Documents & Plain Language Services

Documents are often one of the most common barriers to public participation. Samaak™ helps organizations make internal and public-facing documents clearer, more accessible, and easier to use.

Services include:

  • PDF accessibility remediation

  • Word, Excel, and PowerPoint accessibility improvement

  • Accessible templates and document workflows

  • Plain-language writing and editing

  • Inclusive communication review

  • Staff guidance on creating accessible documents from the start

We help teams reduce reliance on last-minute remediation by building accessibility into everyday document creation.

 

3. Accessible Meetings, Consultations & Inclusive Events

Samaak™ supports accessible meeting and event design for public consultations, community gatherings, conferences, workshops, hybrid meetings, and internal organizational sessions.

Services may include:

  • Accessibility planning for in-person, virtual, and hybrid events

  • Accessible registration and communication review

  • Accessible agendas, slides, handouts, and event materials

  • Guidance on captioning, ASL interpretation, plain language, and alternate formats

  • Inclusive facilitation and participation strategies

  • Barrier identification before, during, and after events

  • Support for accessibility feedback and follow-up

Relevant experience includes delivering Disability Inclusion AMA sessions for the University of Waterloo and collaborating with community accessibility partners such as GRAAC (Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee and KW AccessAbility) on accessibility projects and accessible event design.

 

4. Training & Capacity Building

We design interactive, practical workshops that help teams understand accessibility as part of everyday work, communication, service delivery, and leadership.

Sample training topics include:

  • Foundations of Accessibility: why accessibility matters beyond compliance

  • Inclusive Language in the Workplace: how words shape culture

  • Identifying and Removing Barriers: real-world scenarios and practical solutions

  • Accessible Documents 101: creating accessible Word, PDF, PowerPoint, and web content

  • Accessible Meetings and Public Engagement: designing participation from the beginning

  • Disability Inclusion and Lived Experience: moving from awareness to action

Custom workshops are available in English and Persian/Farsi.

 

5. Community Engagement, Co-Design & User Testing

Accessibility work is strongest when it is informed by people who experience barriers directly. Samaak™ supports organizations in designing engagement processes that include people with disabilities and other equity-deserving communities in meaningful, respectful, and practical ways.

Services include:

  • User testing with people with disabilities

  • Community co-design sessions

  • Barrier identification projects

  • Accessibility feedback sessions

  • Inclusive survey and consultation design

  • Recruitment support through community networks

  • Practical reporting with clear recommendations

Samaak™ has access to a network of 30+ community testers across Ontario and British Columbia and has contributed to projects involving organizations such as BC Housing, the Vancouver Foundation, and Montréal Airport.

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Why Work With Samaak™?

Samaak™ brings together professional accessibility knowledge, lived experience, cultural competency, and practical systems thinking.

Our work is:

  • Practical: focused on usable recommendations, not only theory

  • Lived-experience informed: shaped by disability experience and community knowledge

  • Intersectional: attentive to disability, race, newcomer experience, language, culture, class, gender, and other dimensions of access

  • Compliance-aware: grounded in accessibility legislation, standards, and public-sector responsibilities

  • Community-centred: committed to co-creation, listening, and meaningful participation

  • Culturally responsive: connecting accessibility with language, culture, communication, and belonging

Selected experience includes:

  • Accessibility work across public, nonprofit, community, and institutional settings

  • Training, consultation, audit, user-testing, and accessible event experience

  • Applied knowledge of digital accessibility, accessible documents, inclusive engagement, and built environment review
     

Featured Work

Why Access Matters Podcast

Samaak™’s accessibility work is connected to public education and storytelling. The Why Access Matters podcast explores accessibility, disability inclusion, lived experience, public participation, and the everyday barriers that shape people’s lives.

 

 

Get in Touch

Whether you are a public institution, nonprofit organization, startup, cultural group, or corporate team, Samaak™ can help you build more accessible, inclusive, and culturally responsive services.

Email: samaak.ca@gmail.com
Phone: +1 (438) 927-0036
LinkedIn: Samaak™ Institute for Inclusion and Cultural Access

Ready to create in more accessible ways? Let’s collaborate.

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