Principles of Accessibility

Monday, January 9, 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:

· The types and definitions of obligated organizations under the Customer Service Standard will be matched with those of other accessibility standards (i.e., information and communication, employment, transportation, built environment for public spaces). This means the definitions under the Customer Service Standard of designated public sector organization, provider of goods and services, and private and not-for-profit organizations defined as having between 1–19 employees (small) or 20 or more employees (large), would be removed and replaced with the definitions under the other accessibility standards, as follows:

· Designated public sector organization

· Government of Ontario

· Large designated public sector organization

· Large organization (private and not-for-profit organizations with 50+ employees)

· Legislative assembly

· Small designated public sector organization

· Small organization (private and not-for-profit organizations with 1 to 49 employees)

· The term “facilities” will be included throughout the Customer Service Standard where there are currently references to “goods and services.” It will now say “goods, services and facilities”). As noted in the proposal, “facilities” refers to services in buildings or premises that are offered for use to members of the public or third parties (e.g. stadium, banquet hall). It does not refer to the structure or physical features of the built environment which are covered by the building code.

· Requirements under the Customer Service Standard that currently apply to organizations with 20 or more employees would now apply to organizations with 50 or more employees.

· 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 2, 2017

The unlimited potential of an Accessibility ERG

An Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) is a fundamental driver of the Inclusion and Diversity agenda in corporate Canada. However an ERG's impact can be much broader than Inclusion and Diversity.

The area of accessibility in particular provides a unique opportunity to create an ERG that interconnects with the business in multiple ways. This could include:

Business Development
Recruiting
Facilities and office design
Employee engagement
Health and wellness
Legislative Compliance (e.g. Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act)

Given the facts*….

7% of Canadians self-identify as having a disability.

180,500 job-ready Canadians with disabilities have a post-secondary education.

$40 billion estimated buying power of the disability community in Canada.
90% of people with disabilities rated average or better on job performance than their non-disabled colleagues.
98% of people with disabilities rated average or better in work safety than their non-disabled colleagues

……corporate Canada is realizing the importance of this community.

An ERG that focuses on Accessibility can provide immediate, useful insights to make a workplace more inclusive, which benefits both employees and the business.

Does your organization have an ERG focused on Accessibility? Are there other benefits to an Accessibility ERG not mentioned above? I’d love to hear from you!

Monday, December 26, 2016

Upcoming 10th Anniversary of Major Event in the Long Campaign for Strong Disability Accessibility Legislation

October 29, 2008 is the 10th anniversary of an extremely important event in the decade-long battle for the enactment of a strong Disabilities Act, to achieve a barrier-free Ontario for persons with disabilities.

There is so much about October 29, 1998 that remains important to Ontarians with disabilities. First, this stunning achievement was the result of hard work by Ontarians with disabilities and their friends, families and other supporters, from right across Ontario at the grass-roots. They tenaciously visited, phoned, faxed and wrote to their members of the Ontario Legislature to urge them to support this important resolution. Their hard work paid off. They waged this battle with determination, in the face of the brick wall they kept slamming into, whenever they tried to discuss a Disabilities Act with the ruling Mike Harris Conservative Government. In the 1995 provincial election, Mike Harris had promised that he would pass the Ontarians with Disabilities Act (ODA) in his first term. Yet for the next years, his Government showed no real interest in taking this promise seriously.

The MPP who championed this resolution ten years ago was Opposition Liberal member Dwight Duncan. How can you help mark this important anniversary on the road to a barrier-free Ontario? We encourage you to circulate this update widely. Encourage others to come up with creative ways to mark this anniversary in your community. Let your local media know what progress has been made in the past ten years, and what progress still must be made, to make Ontario fully barrier-free to over 1.5 million Ontarians with disabilities.

What have you done to encourage the implementation of the AODA?