Update, 24 September 2026: Both published sign-up deadlines have now passed. The in-person Toronto cohort closed on 22 September and began on 23 September. The virtual cohort closed on 23 September and begins today. AccessNow’s FUTURES page still shows a live sign-up form and still carries the line “Fall 2026 sign-ups are open”, so if you want a place in a cohort that has just started it is worth asking rather than assuming. The FUTURES Intensives cohorts, which run October to November, have not started and are a separate route in.
FUTURES is a free twelve-week program run by AccessNow for young people in Canada aged 18 to 30 who have disabilities, are neurodivergent, or both. The fall 2026 cohorts run from late September to early December, in person in Toronto or on Zoom. Sign-ups closed on 22 September for the in-person cohort and 23 September for the virtual one.
What FUTURES actually is
FUTURES is a leadership and community program, not a training course with a certificate at the end. AccessNow describes it on its own program page as twelve weeks in which “you meet with your cohort” once a week for two and a half hours, working through sessions on identity, community, action, and what participants build next.
The program is run by AccessStudio, the programming arm of AccessNow, the Toronto organization best known for its accessibility mapping app. AccessNow sets out its own starting assumption plainly on the FUTURES page: “You do not come here to learn that ableism exists. You come here to figure out what you want to do about it.”
That framing matters for deciding whether FUTURES is for you. It is built for people who have already spent years navigating systems that were not designed for them, and it is aimed at turning that experience into something directed.
Who can register
AccessNow lists five eligibility conditions for FUTURES. Applicants must be 18 to 30 years old. They must have a disability, be neurodivergent, or both. They must be Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or hold refugee status. They must be ready to attend weekly sessions and do some independent work between them. AccessNow adds that young people who are 2SLGBTQIA+, BIPOC, or Indigenous “are always welcome.”
There is no diagnosis requirement. AccessNow’s FAQ answers the question directly: “No formal diagnosis is required. Self-identification is welcome.” The program page adds that invisible disability, late diagnosis and undiagnosed experience are all in scope, and that participants do not need to prove anything to take part.
This is worth naming because the diagnosis barrier stops a lot of people before they start. Many Canadian disability programs ask for medical documentation, and gathering it can take months. FUTURES does not ask.
What the twelve weeks look like
The two fall 2026 cohorts run on different days and different dates. The in-person cohort meets on Wednesdays from 23 September to 9 December, 6:00 to 8:30 pm Eastern, in downtown Toronto at a venue AccessNow lists as still to be confirmed and says will be confirmed before the first session. The virtual cohort meets on Thursdays from 24 September to 10 December, 7:00 to 9:30 pm Eastern, on Zoom. ASL interpretation is included in both.
The dates that matter most are the sign-up deadlines, and they are not the start dates. AccessNow asked for in-person sign-ups by 22 September and virtual sign-ups by 23 September, and states on the FUTURES page that sign-ups close the day before your cohort starts.
The time commitment is larger than the session length suggests. AccessNow’s FAQ puts the weekly session at two and a half hours and adds that participants do independent work between sessions, “about two hours per week.” For anyone budgeting energy rather than hours, that is closer to four and a half hours a week for twelve weeks.
Partway through, participants begin what AccessNow calls an Activation Project, described in its own evaluation as “real-world advocacy initiatives ranging from accessible community events to public awareness campaigns to peer support tools.”
What it costs
Nothing. AccessNow’s FAQ answer is one line: “Nope. FUTURES is fully funded thanks to Canada Service Corps” and there is, in its words, “no cost to participate.”
Canada Service Corps is a federal youth service program run by Employment and Social Development Canada, open to young people aged 12 to 30. AccessNow describes it as “a national movement that empowers youth” to “gain experience and build important skills while giving back to their community,” and links to the federal page for it. FUTURES is funded in part through that program.
The access supports that come as standard
AccessNow lists what every session includes rather than what is available on request, which is the more useful way round. Every session comes with the agenda and materials sent in advance, closed captions, ASL interpretation, large print materials, screen reader compatible documents, breaks during sessions, extended time, and a low stimulation environment. Virtual cohorts also get transcripts and recordings.
In-person sessions add a scent-free environment and an access guide covering the venue, transit, accessible washrooms and entry.
Three supports sit behind a request rather than coming as standard: CART captioning, audio description, and physical accessibility support. AccessNow asks participants to state access needs at registration and says it will work with them before the first session. It also offers an optional access needs conversation before you sign up, booked through a link on the FUTURES page.
If a support you rely on is not on that list, ask before you register rather than after. The program’s own evaluation reports that “100% of access needs were met across all three seasons,” but that figure describes needs that were raised, and a need nobody named is not a need that was met.
What AccessNow reports about its own results
In May 2026 AccessNow published an evaluation of the program. The numbers below are the organization’s own, drawn from participants rating themselves before, during and after the program, and published by the organization that runs it. There is no comparison group. Read them as what participants said about their own experience, which is a real thing to know, rather than as an independent measurement.
AccessNow subtitles the report “Three Years of FUTURES Data.” The report itself describes something narrower: “three cohort cycles of evidence from the FUTURES program” covering Spring 2025, Fall 2025 and Winter 2026, and 60 participants tracked from application to graduation. Three cohort cycles, not three calendar years.
Across those cohorts, AccessNow reports that participants rated their disability community knowledge 1.74 points higher on a ten-point scale by the end, their leadership skills 1.26 points higher, and their social impact skills 1.13 points higher. Participants started at roughly 5.3 out of 10 across all three areas.
The pattern AccessNow found most interesting is that social impact scores did not move at all in the first half, sitting at 5.3 before the program and 5.4 at the midpoint, then rose by more than a full point after participants began their Activation Projects. AccessNow’s reading of that: “Participants do not develop social impact skills by learning about social impact. They develop them by doing the work.”
On what participants took away, AccessNow reports that 93 per cent felt better able to contribute to communities that matter to them, 90 per cent better at leading groups where people from different backgrounds feel welcome, 76 per cent more confident engaging in constructive dialogue across disagreement, and 72 per cent better at responding to bias and discrimination.
The organization also names what it intends to change, including bringing the Activation Project into the room earlier and prioritizing racialized facilitators, noting that 31 per cent of participants identify as racialized and that “multiple cohorts independently raised this need.”
If the fall cohort does not fit
FUTURES Core is not the only route in. AccessNow also runs FUTURES Intensives, described on the same page as the “same program as Core, compressed,” meeting twice a week for six weeks, with fall 2026 cohorts running October to November. There is a FUTURES Book Club and a free virtual FUTURES Arts program making original visual art, open Canada-wide. AccessNow also runs a six-week social media internship on the AccessStudio account, but its page now marks that one as applications closed, so it is not a route in this autumn.
For readers outside the 18 to 30 range, none of these apply. The federal program that funds FUTURES is open to young people aged 12 to 30, so the narrower band is AccessNow’s own and not a funding condition.
How to register
Registration runs through a sign-up form linked from the FUTURES page. Both fall Core deadlines have passed, but the form was still live and the page still said “Fall 2026 sign-ups are open” when we checked it on 24 September. AccessNow says applicants can share their answers “by video, audio, or written response,” which removes the written-application barrier that filters people out of a lot of programs.
Access needs are collected at registration. AccessNow’s stated commitment is to work with participants on those needs before the first session, so the registration form is the place to raise anything you need rather than the first session itself.
Questions go to studio@accessnow.ca.
The in-person Wednesday cohort in Toronto closed to sign-ups on 22 September and the Thursday cohort on Zoom closed on 23 September. AccessNow’s own line is that sign-ups close the day before your cohort starts, so there was no grace period to plan around. If you have landed here after the fact, the Intensives cohorts running October to November are the next thing on the calendar, and studio@accessnow.ca is where to ask about anything else.
Frequently asked questions
Does FUTURES cost anything to take part in?
No. AccessNow states that FUTURES is fully funded through Canada Service Corps and that there is no cost to participate. Canada Service Corps is a federal youth service program, and AccessNow describes FUTURES as funded in part through it.
Do you need a formal diagnosis to register for FUTURES?
No. AccessNow’s FAQ states that no formal diagnosis is required and that self-identification is welcome. The program page adds that invisible disability, late diagnosis and undiagnosed experience are all included, and that participants do not need to prove anything to take part.
When do the fall 2026 FUTURES cohorts run?
AccessNow lists the in-person cohort as running Wednesdays from 23 September to 9 December 2026 in downtown Toronto, 6:00 to 8:30 pm Eastern, and the virtual cohort as running Thursdays from 24 September to 10 December 2026 on Zoom, 7:00 to 9:30 pm Eastern. Sign-ups closed 22 September for the in-person cohort and 23 September for the virtual one.
How much time does FUTURES take each week?
AccessNow puts the weekly session at two and a half hours and says participants do about two hours of independent work between sessions. That is roughly four and a half hours a week across twelve weeks, which is worth budgeting for if you are managing limited energy.
What accessibility supports are included in every FUTURES session?
AccessNow lists agenda and materials sent in advance, closed captions, ASL interpretation, large print materials, screen reader compatible documents, breaks, extended time and a low stimulation environment. Virtual cohorts also get transcripts and recordings. CART captioning, audio description and physical accessibility support are available on request.
Who is eligible to register for FUTURES?
AccessNow lists people aged 18 to 30 who have a disability, are neurodivergent, or both, and who are Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or hold refugee status. Applicants must be able to attend weekly sessions and do some independent work between them.
If you are working out what changes at eighteen and which supports follow you into adult life, our Transition to Adulthood Guide covers the wider picture that a program like FUTURES sits inside.
Sources
- FUTURES program page, AccessStudio (AccessNow) – cohort dates and days, sign-up deadlines, eligibility, weekly format, cost, access supports, registration route, FAQ. Page checked 24 September 2026.
- What 60 Disabled and Neurodivergent Young Adults Taught Us About Leadership: Three Years of FUTURES Data, AccessNow, 13 May 2026 – the cohort cycles covered, participant self-rated scores, Activation Project finding, access-needs figure, planned changes.
- Canada Service Corps, Employment and Social Development Canada – the federal program AccessNow names as the funder, open to young people aged 12 to 30. Page checked 19 September 2026.
