The Rick Hansen Foundation (RHF) offers a range of accessibility advisory services designed to support organizations on their journey towards increased accessibility and inclusion for people of all abilities. Whether you’re looking to promote disability awareness within your organization, improve access within your current facilities or ensure new buildings are designed to meet best practices in Universal Design, our accessibility advisory services will help.
Applying this expertise can increase your rating score under the Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility CertificationTM (RHFAC) program, helping your site achieve your certification goal. For organizations planning multiple ratings, we can act as your single point of contact to coordinate RHFAC Professionals and facilitate discussions with architects, designers and other related disciplines. Although RHF does not typically conduct RHFAC ratings, we support our RHFAC Professionals in that process and we are happy to assist with calls for proposals.
Your first step is to send an enquiry to our team of accessibility and universal design professionals, led by Jonathan Marriott, Director of Accessibility Advisory Services. Your quote will be customized based on the scope of the project(s) and the types of accessibility advisory services your team needs.
Types of Accessibility Advisory Services:
RespectAbility Disability Awareness Training |
Disability & accessibility awareness training seminars for employees to improve the culture of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Those seminars are designed to help participants understand disability, and include discussion on inclusive language and etiquette so that we can all do our part to create a workplace culture of inclusion. |
Accessibility Criteria Design Manual |
We work with your organization to develop a customized Accessibility Design Manual, including accessibility best practices to guide your organization’s project development process. |
Architectural Drawing Review |
We review your project plans for both new construction and retrofit projects, from pre-design to commissioning. This review will ensure accessibility requirements are included early in the process, to ensure cost-effectiveness. The review also includes a preliminary RHFAC rating to help you ensure you meet your RHFAC certification goal. |
Facility Accessibility Assessment |
Assessment of your facility to determine its current level of accessibility and provide recommendations for improvement. The assessment is conducted utilizing onsite visits, reviews of drawings and other planning documents, and may also include discussions with Site Managers. A preliminary RHFAC rating is also included. |
Getting to RHFAC Gold |
Learn about key design considerations during the pre-design phase to achieve best practices in accessibility including RHFAC Gold. |
RHFAC Rating Project Management |
For organizations with multiple buildings, we provide a portfolio wide analysis and report to identify trends and prioritize accessibility improvements to inform your accessibility strategy. This includes providing project management of larger-scale RHFAC rating initiatives to identify resources and contractors, and manage the overall RHFAC rating process. |
We are proud to be one of 77 organizations globally selected by an independent review panel for the Valuable 500 Directory. The directory features organizations with expertise in digital, physical and cognitive accessibility, as well as tools for inclusive recruitment and branding practices. |