In today’s workplace, digital literacy — being able to use a computer, knowing how to use email and navigate the internet — is a must. Often, the first step to achieving employment is ensuring your digital literacy skills are up to par.

Neil Squire’s Computer Comfort and Distance Computer Comfort programs help Canadians with disabilities to obtain the necessary digital literacy skills to thrive in the workplace, from basic training in using the computer, smartphone, and tablet, to detailed lessons with programs that come in handy at work like Word and Excel, as well as training in using assistive technology.

When participants in our employment programs lack the digital literacy skills they need in the workplace, they are often referred to our digital literacy programs to upgrade their skills. And many participants in our Distance Computer Comfort and Computer Comfort programs go on to participate in our Creative Employment Options program and into the workforce.

With an in-house team of engineers, occupational therapists, and assistive technology specialists, digital literacy participants have access to assistive technology solutions from our Solutions (new window) and Makers Making Change (new window) teams. And our digital literacy training doesn’t just help people with disabilities trying to obtain work, it also serves people maintaining employment or making their job easier with our training. Nathan, who has cerebral palsy and received training on the speech recognition software, Dragon, through our Distance Computer Comfort program, explains how our program has made his workday easier.

“Whenever I’m having those high pain days or low mobility days, just to be able to still get work done, or if I have a day where I have a lot of writing and a really high volume, just to be able to keep up with the demand by going to that voice to text, taking a bit of the load off of my hands, off of my fingers, and letting me get more things done and be more productive with my day,” he shares. “It’s funny. You don’t often associate office work and white-collar work with physical burden, but the reality is if you have any sort of fine motor challenges, it can be difficult to type all day or to sit in one spot all day and get things done.”

This article originally appeared in our 2024-2025 Annual Report.