Our Staff

Staff

Since 2017, the Presidents Group has been supported by two staff positions, who work with the members on their journey to best practices in inclusive employment, offer training for the broader business community, and help share the successes and challenges of accessible employment. They are always happy to join a video call with business leaders to discuss how Presidents Group can support their learning and development of accessible employment practices.

Whenever we can, we employ other individuals with specific areas of expertise—like major project management, user testing this website for all aspects of accessibility; supporting our social media; or sharing experiences as employees with disabilities for our curriculum. We endeavour to hire others with disabilities for all these paid roles. Please get in touch if you’d like to be added to our roster of consultants for these opportunities.

Past staff members who have since moved on include Trish Kelly, Marco Pasqua, and Mahin Rashid.

Current Staff

Yat Li – Senior Accessibility Consultant

Headshot of Yat Li

Yat was born with bilateral microtia, a congenital condition in which the outer ears are underdeveloped. Yat cannot wear conventional hearing aids and has profound bilateral conductive hearing loss. Despite a physical disability, he has overcome barriers to inspire others in the community.

Wearing prosthetic ears and a bone-anchored hearing aid, Yat is a communication accessibility advocate. Over the past three years, Yat has spoken at over 100 national and local events about his lived experience, accessibility, and social change. While working at Wavefront Centre for Communication Accessibility, Yat spearheaded numerous brand awareness campaigns to increase communication accessibility. From hosting national webinars to local events, with American Sign Language and captions, Yat is committed to removing barriers for all persons with disabilities.

To complement his passion for accessibility, he is a committee member for the Access Transit User’s Advisory Committee, advising TransLink on improvements to the accessibility of our conventional transit services. Yat is also appointed by the Vancouver City Council to the Persons with Disability Advisory Committee and serves on the transportation subcommittee. Previously, Yat served on the Board of Directors of AssistList.

Contact Yat to discuss

Making your workplace accessible, breaking barriers, joining the movement to measure, and more: yat@accessibleemployers.ca.

 

Micaela Evans – Marketing and Communications Specialist

Headshot of Micaela Evans. She is wearing a black top with a blue blazer. She has shoulder length blonde hair, red lipstick, and is smiling.
Micaela is a disabled professional with a focus on equitable community building and broad systems change, and a strong knowledge of accessible marketing and communications practices. She has a BA in Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies, Indigenous Studies, and Communications from SFU.

In addition, she has been an activist and advocate in disability communities for over a decade—working to improve representation, health care access, and accessible employment. As a person with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, she knows firsthand the challenges of finding work with a visible disability; and hopes through this work we can press forward with further opportunities for others in BC.

When she’s not working, Micaela can be found exploring Vancouver’s cafes and being a homebody with her partner, Yorkie, and kitten.

Contact Micaela to discuss

content you’d like shared with our network, accessible job postings, questions about the Community of Accessible Employers, and more: micaela@accessibleemployers.ca.