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Wavefront Centre for Communication Accessibility

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Making Waves - Breaking Barriers

Capital Campaign

Wavefront Centre for Communication Accessibility is a B.C. based, multi-service, registered charity that exists to reduce hearing-related communication barriers by providing access and inclusion for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.  The only centre of its kind in Western Canada, Wavefront Centre provides a full range of programs and services “under one roof”.

 

Our Q-Street Office

Our head office building in Kitsilano was no longer able to accommodate the accessibility, clinical or technological needs of our growing client base. Renovations were not a cost effective option given the building’s advanced age.

We made the most of our Kitsilano location for six decades. It’s time for us to move forward.

2005 Quebec Street

Through strong board governance, years of planning, and the leadership of Chris Newton, Chair of our Capital Campaign, we opened a new head office in the Fall of 2019. This new centre meets the needs of our rapidly growing client base and proudly serves as a national model for accessible communications for all!

Learn more about the impact and benefits to our community.

Capital Campaign:

 

 

“The Wavefront Centre specialists and advocates are so caring and professional. Wavefront Centre is so much more than a place to get hearing aids. I’ve received vocational counselling and employment resources. I’ve even attended workshops about communication —all of which have enriched my life.”

 

– Caroline Gatchalian

About Wavefront:

Centrally located in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant district, our new 18,000 sq. ft., Wavefront Centre is a model of innovation and inclusion – we’ve gone the extra mile to ensure a seamless transition for our existing clients, while increasing capacity for new ones. Our new purpose-built four-story building is equipped to ensure Deaf, Deafblind, and Hard of Hearing individuals have an accessible space to connect, build community and access
our vital services.

Progress

Working in collaboration with the Rick Hansen Foundation and MGBA Architecture + Interior Design, we’re utilizing universal design principles to set a new standard of excellence in  accessible built environments. Wavefront Centre ensures people can interact freely regardless of hearing, vision, mobility or age-related challenges.



 

Impact to our Community

The new centre allows us to work towards our vision of a society where all people can interact freely without communication barriers.

The key benefits to our community include:

  • Increased number of audiology testing / counselling rooms to reduce appointment wait times
  • Telehealth: New remote Audiology, Interpreting and Counselling to help isolated individuals across B.C.
  • State of the art showroom featuring assistive listening and alerting devices for home and office
  • World class hearing health research program aimed at producing outcomes that can be adopted readily by clinicians
  • Expansion of outreach services to seniors to increase social connections and reduce isolation
  • A free Video Relay Service (VRS) to enable ASL (American Sign Language)- based phone calls
  • Truly accessible, large spaces for our community groups to meet and connect

Located in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant district, our new building proudly serves as a national model for an accessible environment that recognizes human diversity and inclusion.

Accessible Building Features include:

  • Curved corridor corners to enable clear sightlines to approaching individuals
  • Improved lighting to elevate visual communication cues
  • Large-area assistive listening system in meeting rooms
  • Visual and auditory alerting, security and wayfinding system
  • Visual displays in meeting rooms to project captioning and interpreting services
  • Accessible washrooms with fixtures and counters optimized for wheelchairs and those with mobility issues
  • Wider corridors to not only accommodate wheelchairs but also to provide adequate space for sign language users as they travel through hallways
  • Acoustically optimized walls, ceilings and flooring to control room reverberation, sound transfer and background noise
  • Strategic installation of electrical and mechanical systems to reduce the effects of electromagnetic interference on assistive listening equipment

Wavefront Centre for Communication Accessibility is committed to create a barrier-free environment for our staff, clients and visitors. We acknowledge that our work takes place on the unceded homelands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

Wavefront Centre for Communication Accessibility is the operating name for Western Institute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, a registered charitable organization. Charitable Registration Number #108200098RR0001

Accessible brand and website made with heart by Harc Creative