- Seven participants across four projects selected for scripted comedy/drama and kids streams, plus a participant for the podcast stream assigned to the CBC podcast Sickboy.
- AccessCBC is supporting three unscripted projects from the Creator Network and CBC News Manitoba which will debut on CBC platforms.
CBC today announced 13 new participants for the fourth year of AccessCBC: A CBC Initiative for Creators with a Disability, a national program that provides pre-development training, mentorship and financing support for creators with disabilities. The pioneering CBC program has supported over 60 creators in its first three years. For its fourth edition, AccessCBC will support seven participants across four projects selected for the scripted comedy/drama and kids streams, as well as a participant for the podcast stream working on Sickboy, and three unscripted projects from five creators across the country.
For the fourth iteration of AccessCBC, CBC continues to collaborate with the Disability Screen Office (DSO), a national not-for-profit organization that works with the Canadian screen industry to eliminate accessibility barriers and foster authentic and meaningful disability representation throughout the sector. Award-winning writer and performer Ophira Calof returns as a consultant on the fourth year of AccessCBC. Calof is a recognized leader and champion for accessible storytelling and project curation. AccessCBC welcomes a new consultant and mentor for the Scripted stream, Julie Di Cresce, a seasoned development executive with experience in broadcasting and as an independent producer.
AccessCBC also welcomes back Neshama Entertainment as an official sponsor for a second consecutive year. With the continued support of the Toronto-based production company, next year AccessCBC participants will attend CMPA’s Prime Time in Ottawa, Canada’s leading media industry conference, where they will have the opportunity to network and build community with others in the broadcasting, television and feature film industries.
AccessCBC participant bios are available on the AccessCBC website.
Scripted projects
Comedy:
- The Co-op - Adrian Morphy (Toronto, Ont.) and Nicholas Ewart (Toronto, Ont.)
A socially inept, middle school math teacher finds herself unexpectedly elected board president of a chaotic co-op apartment. She must juggle parenting, work, and the impossible task of uniting a building full of quirky, feuding tenants.
Drama:
- Juvenile - Matt Sadowski (Toronto, Ont.)
A newly licensed psychologist takes a job at a juvenile detention center to escape her own messy past - only to discover that helping deeply troubled teens confront their trauma forces her to face the one person she’s been avoiding: herself.
Kids projects
- Hyperspace Hotel - Daniel Share-Strom (Peterborough, Ont.) and Katie Lafferty (Toronto, Ont.)
A precocious, eight-year-old Autistic concierge and his friends work to make sure every unique guest has a space at his parents’ hotel - which happens to be on the moon!
- Story Lab - Ebony R. Gooden (Calgary, Alta.) and Alexandra Hickox (Toronto, Ont.)
Every Wednesday after school, a group of Deaf and hearing kids gathers for Story Lab, where stories told through the Deaf storytelling art of Visual Vernacular magically come to life. Together they must solve the hilarious chaos before the final school bell rings.
The successful candidate for the podcast stream of AccessCBC is Vanessa Leu (Toronto, Ont.), who has been selected to work on the CBC podcast Sickboy, with an opportunity to hone her audio production skills through chasing, researching, and assisting with writing scripts and conducting interviews, helping to create up to four new episodes of the award-winning podcast.
As part of the unscripted stream, the following three projects from creators and filmmakers working with the CBC Creator Network and the local news team out of CBC Manitoba will be available on CBC platforms in the coming months. Unscripted projects created as part of Absolutely Canadian are also in development for release at a later date.
- Getting Around - Summan Kandola, Kevin Wong, Agasha Mutesasira (Vancouver, B.C.) - CBC Creator Network
Agasha Mutesasira earned her N licence and can now drive a car. But for true freedom, she now has to figure out how she, as a wheelchair user, can get into and out of a car alone, and drive herself wherever she wants to go.
- Birding Bros - Sarah Taylor (Edmonton, Alta.) - CBC Creator Network
"Bird Bros" Scott and Mike aren't your typical birders. They're two buddies that met working in the oil and gas industry in Alberta. Scott is from Edmonton and Mike is from Calgary, waging their own Battle of Alberta with binoculars and cameras to see who can find the most elusive birds across parks and nature reserves around Edmonton. Together they explore how this peaceful outdoor activity has benefited their mental wellbeing and physical health while strengthening their friendship in the most non-traditional outdoor pursuit for two "bros".
- The Forgotten and Invisible - Alex Lytwyn (Winnipeg, Man.) - CBC News Manitoba
Written by Alex Lytwyn, based on his personal experiences about what politicians get wrong during electoral campaigns. He is writing these pieces through the lens of someone who lives with disability, but also as a former political candidate himself, several times over, and what he learned about the electoral process. This project is being produced as part of the First Person series and will air during upcoming municipal election coverage.
The following projects from year three of AccessCBC are now available:
- The Feeling of Music - Available now on CBC Music’s YouTube channel.
A beautiful four-part docu-series exploring how sound impacts our nervous system, emotions, and well-being. The series follows Vancouver-based singer-songwriter and disability advocate Agasha Mutesasira as she consults with neuroscientists and artists to examine the role of music in how we experience anger, sadness, fear, and joy.
- Beyond Sight - Available now on CBC Music’s YouTube channel.
Produced by Rebel Creative Media. Beyond Sight follows the senior choir at the W. Ross Macdonald School for the Blind in Brantford, Ontario. Directed by Pedro Miguez and Violette Craig-Innes, the documentary captures the students' ambitious journey of learning a new song in Cree. The film highlights how music fosters independence, community, and confidence for young people navigating visual disabilities.
- An Artist’s Journey: Legacy of Japanese-Canadian Internment - Available now on CBC Gem
In this poignant POV documentary, multimedia artist Laura Shintani and her service dog Hunter, journey across Canada to retrace her family’s WWII internment. Through their travels, Laura prepares a Toronto exhibition that redefines modern Japanese-Canadian identity.
The fourth iteration of AccessCBC launched in June 2026 and submissions were open to producers and writers who self-identify as having a disability and are not employed by CBC. The AccessCBC program is overseen by Sarah Duda, Content Accessibility Lead, Business & Rights and Audreanna Lartey, Project Lead, Industry Information Sharing. For eligibility purposes, AccessCBC follows the Accessible Canada Act’s definition of a disability: any impairment, including a physical, mental, intellectual, cognitive, learning, communication or sensory impairment — or a functional limitation — whether permanent, temporary or episodic in nature, or evident or not, that, in interaction with a barrier, hinders a person’s full and equal participation in society. Read more about the program and watch past AccessCBC content on the YouTube Playlist.
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About CBC/Radio-Canada
CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada's national public broadcaster. Through our mandate to inform, enlighten and entertain, we play a central role in strengthening Canadian culture. As Canada's trusted news source, we offer a uniquely Canadian perspective on news, current affairs and world affairs. Our distinctively homegrown entertainment and sports programming draws audiences from across the country. Deeply rooted in communities, CBC/Radio-Canada offers diverse content in English, French and eight Indigenous languages: Dëne Sųłıné, Dene Kǝdǝ́, Dene Zhatıé, Eastern Cree, Dinjii Zhuʼ Ginjik, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun and Tłı̨chǫ. We also deliver content in Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Punjabi and Tagalog, as well as both official languages, through Radio Canada International (RCI). We are leading the transformation to meet the needs of Canadians in a digital world.
About the Disability Screen Office
The Disability Screen Office (DSO) is a national, bilingual, disability-led not-for-profit organization whose mission is to develop opportunities for disabled creatives and advocate for a more accessible Canadian screen industry. Through our partnerships and programs, we’re setting a new national standard for inclusive screen-based storytelling.
