This session is also available at a discounted rate as part of our 2026 Training Day package. See our full Training Day program for more details.
Representatives from editing organizations around the English-speaking world come together for a roundtable discussion about how AI tools, accessibility practices and conscious language are changing editing, writing, communication and our day-to-day lives. This roundtable is held by Editors Canada in collaboration with the Editorial Freelancers Association, The Indigenous Editors Association, ACES: The Society for Editing, The Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading, The Institute of Professional Editors and The Professional Editors Guild. Each presenter will give a ten-minute long talk on current issues in editing. The remaining time will be dedicated to discussion led by questions from the presenters and the audience.
Editors Canada
This presentation cuts through current AI hype to argue that access is never fully automatable. Grounding our editorial practice in conscious language and Disability Justice principles improves access beyond what could ever be automated, as well as offering key teachings for resisting automated inequality and imagining more equitable futures.
Emily Faubert (she/they | elle/iel) is a freelance editor and founder of M.L.E. Style Editing. With a background in journalism and community justice movements, they are a PhD student at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information. Her research explores how “access” is weaponized in tech to exploit disabled users as data while simultaneously eroding labour and inclusion. Emily’s work sits at the intersection of information politics, media ethics and collective resistance.
EFA
Embracing humanity is ever more important in the age of AI. Many of the insults and generic adjectives used today are based on derogatory terms for disability and mental illness. Reconsidering our language opens up a world of vibrant description and radical hospitality.
Dayna M. Reidenouer (they/them) is Your Publishing BFF, an inclusion-focused line/copy editor, proofreader, and book coach, specializing in romance, cozy mystery, and children’s books. Their favorite characters are those who aren’t traditionally represented in romance—MCs who are disabled, queer, and fat—and they automatically check for authenticity and respectful portrayal of historically marginalized people as they edit. Dayna was an elected director of the Editorial Freelancers Association board from 2023 to 2026 and is completing a two-year term as vice president of communications for the Contemporary Romance Writers.
ACES
Heather E. Saunders (she/they/Mx.) is CEO and lead editor at Nova Arc Content Co., a content company specializing in the aerospace, defense, STEM, and medical sectors. She has more than 17 years of experience as a technical editor, writer, and proofreader. She also teaches on and writes about technical editing, conscious language, business and mentorship, and science communication. She is Past President of ACES: The Society for Editing and has served on the Executive Committee since 2017. You can find her at NovaArcContent.com and on most socials as @H_E_Saunders.
CIEP
How good is AI at copyediting for inclusion and accessibility? Jennie Seitz tests its ability to identify conscious language and accessibility issues.
Jennie Seitz (she/her), owner of GT Pro-Edit LLC, is originally from the UK and began her freelance editing career while teaching English in Japan. She now lives in the US and has more than fifteen years’ experience copyediting and proofreading academic journal articles and trade nonfiction and fiction books. Jennie is an Advanced Professional and Council Member of the CIEP, where she leads the AI Advisory Group. She is also a member of the EFA, ACES, and the SSP’s CoIN Working Group on Keeping Up with AI. She is a coordinator of the EFA and Editors Canada’s Academic Editing Group and created the EFA’s self-paced Academic Copyediting course.
IEA
Kaitlin Littlechild, a member of Sweetgrass First Nation, is the founder of both Kaitlin Littlechild Editing and Juno Communications and is the executive director of the Indigenous Editors Association. She is committed to furthering the rights and interests of Indigenous Peoples in Canada through her work. Kaitlin holds a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Waterloo and multiple professional certifications, including strategic public relations and project management from the University of Toronto and editing from Simon Fraser University. She has facilitated numerous sessions and workshops for Editors Canada, the IEA, universities, and various organizations.
PEG
Alexis Grewan is a freelance copy editor based in South Africa. She is the immediate past chairperson of the Professional Editors’ Guild (PEG) and current member of PEG’s DEI team. As a collaborator, she enjoys working with colleagues to build and expand professional growth. She has finally found a way to merge her social work values with her work as a copy editor through the establishment of her initiative CREDIT – a series of webinars that build capacity while paying forward to those in need.
IPED
Sharon Mullins is an editor, copywriter and educator with a career spanning scholarly, trade and digital publishing, as well as corporate communications in the library sector. She currently teaches editing and publishing at the University of Melbourne and is undertaking a PhD at the Australian National University that explores the practice of shared reading for adults with literacy gaps. Sharon is chair of IPEd’s working group on AI and part of a cross-institutional academic research group, investigating the possibilities and pitfalls of using generative AI as an editing tool.