Glenda Watson-Hyatt

Glenda Watson Hyatt is an author, keynote speaker and a badass agitator. Motivated by her personal experiences and the continual flow of social injustices faced by others living with communication disabilities, Glenda is a formidable voice for this systemically overlooked and devalued segment of our society. Through various projects and committees, she aims to increase awareness, understanding and inclusion of people who use alternative means of communication. Currently, she is the Social Media Coordinator for the Canadian Chapter of the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication. She has worked with Communication Disabilities Access Canada on several projects, the current one relating to communication supports for people who have speech and language disabilities that affect how they make and communicate decisions in critical situations. She played a strong advocacy role for the inclusion of communication access in the newly enacted Accessible Canada Act; the first-time speech and language disabilities have been recognized in accessibility legislation.

Glenda is working on her Master of Applied Science in Mechanical and Materials Engineering. Her proposed thesis topic is "Developing a universal design strategy to ensure equity in employing people with communication disabilities".