Message from the CEO
2024 marked a year of tremendous growth and meaningful impact for Easy Surf. As a proudly disability-led benefit company based in British Columbia, we continue to prioritize our mission of making digital spaces more accessible, equitable, and inclusive for people with disabilities.
This report celebrates our achievements, acknowledges our ongoing challenges, and outlines our commitment to continuous improvement as we move forward into 2025.
Our purpose
We founded Easy Surf with clear community-driven goals in mind:
- Enable people with disabilities to have equal access to digital information, entertainment, and commerce by identifying and removing accessibility barriers.
- Maintain a workforce primarily composed of individuals with disabilities.
- Provide compensation significantly above industry standards.
We remain dedicated to these foundational principles, embedding them into every aspect of our operations.
Achievements in 2024
Throughout 2024, our team conducted comprehensive digital accessibility audits, user testing, and remediation planning. Our client projects consistently delivered actionable improvements in accessibility, significantly enhancing digital inclusion for users globally.
Global accessibility reach
We partnered with over 20 organizations across five countries—Canada, United States, Australia, France, and Sweden—including organizations such as Vancity, Marin Bikes, Legal Aid BC, arc programs, and The Polygon Gallery.
Launched gaming service
Worked with Focus Entertainment, Akupara Games, Lemonade Studios and others. We primarily test video games with people with disabilities who provide feedback on the barriers they encounter. This helps studios design games that can be played by a wider audience.
Inclusive employment
Our team delivered over 1,000 paid hours on accessibility projects for people with disabilities. Overall, people with disabilities accounted for the majority of billable hours. 88% of team members self‑identified as having a disability.
Recognition and partnerships
We were proud finalists in the Untapped Workplace Inclusion Awards under the Small Business Inclusion Champion category. We also took the Pledge to Measure, demonstrating our commitment to creating an inclusive workplace.
Our pledge is featured on the website, explaining why we joined and showcasing our 2024 metrics.
2024 metrics
- 8 BC employees in total
- 7 BC employees self-identified as having a disability
- 2 BC senior leaders self-identified as having a disability
Supporting mental health
We deepened our community involvement as an official partner of the mental health gaming charity Safe in Our World, highlighting our holistic approach to inclusion. We helped author their Workplace Accessibility Toolkit.
Challenges
Accessible tools and software
Our primary challenge in 2024 was procuring software and digital tools that were fully accessible for our diverse team. We are actively exploring custom tools and automation to address these gaps.
Gaming
In 2024, the industry underwent a major contraction. Accessibility budgets were correspondingly cut, and many accessibility teams were laid off. We expect accessibility budgets to rebound soon as studios seek to differentiate their games and reach a wider audience.
Third-party impact verification
We completed our first B Impact Assessment. This assessment measures our social and environmental performance against rigorous international standards.
Our Overall B Impact score was 49.9.
Want to read the full report?
Coming soon.