BEAT Symposiums
Each year, BEAT hosts an all-day event that offers in-depth learning and networking. The BEAT Symposiums alternate between a Leadership Seminar format that highlights the careers of emerging and established leaders, and a Forum that explores issues surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion. Typically, the day includes a panel discussion, networking lunch, and afternoon break-out sessions led by the morning’s panelists. In 2018, BEAT was the first AED organization in Ontario to offer unconscious bias training—through a BEAT Forum event—a topic which was later adopted by larger organizations, including the OAA.
BEAT is thrilled for the next edition in our BEAT Forum Series!
Access by Design: Rethinking Accessibility in Architecture
Presentation + Panel Discussion
Saturday Feb 7, 10:00 AM - 1:30 PM
OCAD University, Room # 230
This event explores how the meanings of accessibility and disability in architecture are changing—both in the spaces we design and within the profession itself. We begin with a keynote from a leading expert in accessible, disability-informed design, offering a framing of accessibility that moves beyond code compliance to consider equity, lived experience, and belonging. A panel discussion will follow, bringing together designers, advocates, and educators to examine what accessibility looks like in practice: how we shape environments that welcome a wide range of bodies and minds, and how we build a profession that reflects diverse abilities, perspectives, and needs.