Canada is a diverse culture made up of individuals of diverse ethnic and social backgrounds and varying visual and mental ailments. The diversity Canada has to offer causes Canadians to have a wide range of literacy skills. This presentation looks at literacies diversity in Canada, the responsibilities organisations have to ensure that their consumer information is usable for all, and usability guidelines that help ensure document usability for audiences with diverse literacy skills.

About the speaker: Neil Ternowetsky

Neil is in his final year as a technical communication student at Red River College. He has spent the last year creating documents for the Manitoba Housing and Renewal Corporation and studying aspects of readability and usability with the Manitoba chapter of the Consumers Association of Canada. Prior to coming to Red River College, Neil studied Environmental Science at the University of Manitoba and worked as a General Manager of a restaurant. Neil aspires to become a well rounded Technical Communicator focusing on software documentation and creating paper free manuals that follow the latest usability and accessibility guidelines.