Ten Years of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act

On June 3, 2015—the 10th anniversary of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA)—Ontario’s government introduced an accessibility action plan, which establishes measures to meet the goal of an “accessible Ontario” by 2025. The action plan also responds to the Report on the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act review released in February 2015.

I have spoken about the different ways the government has attempted implantation.  Mayo Moran, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Toronto, was mandated to lead the scheduled independent review of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act(AODA). She tabled her report and recommendations to the Ontario government in November 2014.

Brad Duguid, Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure released the 79-page report to the public on February 13, 2015. Overall, the report indicates that although the government and public and private sectors have shown strong support and commitment to accessibility, the slow implementation of the AODA has resulted in rather modest improvements for persons with disabilities in the areas of jobs and access to goods or services.

Key statements from the report

The report aims to provide advice and feedback that will guide the government in the task of making Ontario accessible by 2025. Ten years have passed since the implementation of the Act, and there are 10 to go.

Substantial compliance challenges

The review was told that implementation of the AODA has proven challenging for many obligated organizations. “The Review repeatedly heard about ‘fatigue’—implementation fatigue, training fatigue and review fatigue.” Organizations feel that the AODA standards are too complex, hard to understand and difficult to interpret and follow, because they lack specifics.

Next week I will discuss the recommendations in the report for implementation with private companies in mind. 

Do you know how far toward compliance your company is?

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 or sandra_broekhof@sympatico.ca