Lorin MacDonald
Founder & Principal

For decades, Lorin MacDonald has been the pioneer who forged a path to make it easier for others to follow. In every community in which she has lived, she has left behind a powerful legacy of accessibility and inclusion – from policy development to building ramps, from assistive listening devices to captioning. Education plays a large part in Lorin’s efforts, and she has presented to thousands over the years in the broader, disability, and legal communities to create understanding, collaboration, and change.

Before HearVue, Lorin enrolled in law school as a mature student, believing a deeper appreciation of the law would enable her to more effectively advocate for people living with disabilities. As a woman born with a profound hearing loss, she has experienced a myriad of personal and professional barriers throughout her life and overcome them all through sheer persistence.

HearVue was conceived due to Lorin’s overriding desire to effect change that will benefit everyone, as she became increasingly frustrated by the case-by-case incremental change that occurs within the human rights system. The creation of HearVue is a natural evolution of Lorin’s advocacy throughout her life. Among her many accomplishments, she was the first to introduce captioning in various spheres:

Lorin is widely respected for her advocacy work because of her cross-disability approach, not focusing exclusively on accessibility for people living with a hearing loss. She has appeared in three Government of Ontario videos about accessibility. The popular subtitled YouTube videos, Day in the Life of Lorin (English) and Un jour dans la vie de Lorin (French) highlight the importance of accessibility in the personal and professional lives of people living with disabilities and are praised as a positive message for all. In 2019, Lorin developed the curriculum and taught on the subject of Recruitment, Training, and Employment as part of the online Leadership in Accessibility and Inclusion program at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitian University).

A recognized and respected champion in building awareness of accessibility and disability issues locally, provincially, and nationally, Lorin’s approach is grounded in evidence-based research and a desire to raise the bar in communities with respect to inclusion and accessibility. She arms those who may be unaware or unconscious of the barriers experienced by individuals with disabilities with the tools necessary to create accessible and inclusive communities for all.

Lorin has been honoured for her contributions by her alma mater Western University, the City of London, various non-profit, community and women’s organizations, the Province of Ontario, and the legal profession. In 2022, she was inducted into the Canadian Disability Hall of Fame.