Principles of Accessibility: January 2017

Monday, January 30, 2017

Proposed Ontario Changes to Accessibility Regulations

The Ministry of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure has proposed changes to the Customer Service Standard and Integrated Accessibility Standards regulations under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). If approved, the changes will be enacted on July 1, 2016, and take immediate effect.

This proposal includes incorporating the Customer Service Standard into the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation and making changes to requirements of the Customer Service Standard.

· Proposed customer service standard changes include:

· Regarding training, the proposed changes clarify who must be trained and when training must be provided to:

· All employees and volunteers

· All people who participate in developing the organization’s policies

· All other people who provide goods, services or facilities on behalf of the organization

Every person must be trained as soon as practicable. Organizations must provide training on any changes to its accessibility policies on an ongoing basis.

· Regarding the customer service feedback process, it is proposed that the title of the section be changed to “Feedback Process on the Accessible Provision of Goods or Services” and to make changes to the requirements to match the language in the Information and Communications Standard, which specifies that:

Obligated organizations must ensure that their feedback process is accessible to persons with disabilities by providing or arranging for the provision of accessible formats and communication supports upon request.

It is proposed that an organization be required to provide accessible formats and communication supports upon request to a person with a disability. These must be provided in a timely manner and at a cost that is no more than the regular cost charged. It is also proposed that the current provision that organizations and people with disabilities “agree upon” an accessible format be replaced with the following requirement: Organizations must consult with the person making the request to determine the suitability of an accessible format or communication support.

· How does this change your organization’s implementation of the AODA?

If you are interested in learning more about Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) or how to make accessibility a natural part of your business through the application of Corporate Social Responsibility, please contact Sandra Broekhof @ 416-579-1035 orsandra_broekhof@sympatico.ca

Monday, January 23, 2017

Proposed Ontario Changes to Accessibility Regulations

This proposal includes incorporating the Customer Service Standard into the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation and making changes to requirements of the Customer Service Standard.

· Proposed customer service standard changes include:

· References to “policies, practices and procedures” throughout the Customer Service Standard will be changed to match the term “policies” in the other accessibility standards. This change will align to language and terminology across all accessibility standards, reduce inconsistencies and simplify requirements.

· The definition of service animal will be changed. An animal would be defined as a service animal if

· The person provides third-party certification that their service animal has been trained to provide assistance that relates to that person’s disability; or

· It is readily identifiable that the animal is used by the person for reasons relating to their disability; or

· The person provides documentation from a regulated health professional confirming that the person requires the animal for reasons relating to their disability.

· How does this change your organization’s implementation of the AODA?

Monday, January 16, 2017

Proposed Ontario Changes to Accessibility Regulations

This proposal includes incorporating the Customer Service Standard into the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation and making changes to requirements of the Customer Service Standard.

Proposed customer service standard changes include:

Currently, the Customer Service Standard establishes different requirements for private and not-for-profit organizations based on the number of employees: organizations with 1–19 employees are small; those with 20 or more employees are large. Under the proposal, these classes would be changed to match the other accessibility standards, as follows

· Small private and not-for-profit organizations would be defined as having between 1–49 employees

· Large private and not-for-profit organizations would be defined as having 50 or more employees

This means organizations with 20–49 employees would continue to be required to establish policies, practices and procedures governing the provision of goods or services to people with disabilities (as required under Section 3 of the Customer Service Standard). However, these organizations would no longer be required to prepare one or more documents describing their policies, practices and procedures or to provide these documents upon request (as currently required under Section 3.5).

Proposed changes regarding class structure would be reflected in the requirements for private and not-for profit organizations under the following sections of the Customer Service Standard:

· Establishment of policies, practices and procedures

· Service animals

· Support persons

· Notice of temporary disruptions

· Training

· Feedback process

· Notice of availability of documents

· Where practical and applicable, compliance dates under the Customer Service Standard would align with the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation with provision of a grace period, if required. These changes are intended to ensure that organizations have sufficient time to understand and comply with the revised Customer Service Standard.

· How does this change your organization’s implementation of the AODA?