Living with a disability comes with a stigma. For a large portion of human history, people who are not 100% abled bodied or have “normal” minds have been looked down on. It’s not fair and it’s not right, but unfortunately it is the world we live in. Good news is that the world is changing and one of those changes is the AODA (Accessibility for Ontarian with Disabilities Act).
What is the AODA?
It is an act an Ontarian law that mandates all organizations operating in Ontario must follow standards to become more accessible to people with disabilities. The law was approved in 2005, and the main goal is for all organizations to become fully accessible by the year 2025. This includes both the private and public sectors.
Making organizations more accessible, what exactly does that mean? In this context, it means identify, remove and prevent barriers for persons with disabilities. The two keywords there are barriers and disabilities. Disabilities are defined using the same definition used in the Ontario Human Rights Code. A Barrier is a “circumstance or obstacle that keeps people apart. For people with disabilities, barriers can take many forms including attitudinal, communication, physical, policy, programmatic, social, and transportation”.
How does the AODA work?
The AODA works in conjunction with IASR (Integrated Accessibility Standard Regulations). The IASR has 5 different standards under it. This is all pretty confusing so please see the figure below. Basically the AODA is an act. The act is a broad vague statement that identifies what the goal the government is trying to meet. In this case it is to make all organizations operate in a way that is more accessible to people with disabilities. Regulations and standards are more of the nuts and bolts that iron out exactly how this will be achieved.
Customer Service Standards:
This standards revolves around organizations that provide goods, services and facilities to people with disabilities in a way that maintains their dignity and independence. The main key parts are organization’s policies, training of staff and how they obtain feedback from users.
Transportation Standards:
This standard is pretty obvious. It outlines what are the necessary requirements for both public and private organizations that must be followed when transporting people. This includes types of vehicles, payment options, scheduling and what to do in case of emergencies and service interruptions.
Information and Communication standards:
This standard outlines the requirements for communication between organizations and people with disabilities. This includes having multiple communication formats available for people with disabilities such as large print, text to sound software and etc. This covers websites, written documentation and training materials.
Employment Standards:
This standard highlights how to deal with job applicants with disabilities and work with employees who have disabilities. In my opinion this is probably the most difficult standard to enforce, as most people don’t know the law. It is easy for organization either knowingly or unknowingly not follow this standard.
Design of Public Spaces Standards:
The final standard focuses on public spaces, such as parking lots, outdoor eating areas and access routes. This is a list of requirements that specifies minimum requirements to ensure that the needs of people with disabilities are met.