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Deadline Looms for Accessibility Law

By Heather Travis
Thursday, September 24, 2009

The first step in a long, complex rollout of groundbreaking legislation to ensure accessibility for Ontarians with disabilities reaches The University of Western Ontario on Jan. 1.

Western, along with other public sector organizations in the province, is working towards a January deadline for instituting the first stage of compliance – new customer service standards – required by the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) passed in 2005.


More services available for learning disabled

By SooToday.com Staff
SooToday.com

September 15, 2009 – The Learning Disabilities Association of Sault Ste. Marie (LDA) has had funding approval of $61,554 from the Province of Ontario, through the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities under the Ontario Job Creation Program for their ‘Opening Doors’ Project.

The one-year funding has allowed for the hiring of two full-time staff, an adult services manager and a community technology manager; and for project costs
including computers, assistive learning software and specialized training for the two participants.

This project will allow the LDA to improve, enhance and increase services in the community.


Critics Barking Over Carleton Place ‘Service Dog’

Dog Owner Launches Human Rights Complaints Against Merchants

By Kelly Egan, The Ottawa CitizenSeptember 11, 2009

OTTAWA-The movie, inescapably, would be called Carleton Place Chihuahua.

Except no one, even in Hollywood or Beverly Hills, would believe a story so bizarre — only government could make it so.

A teacup chihuahua named Dee-O-Gee, weighing maybe seven pounds, and its assertive owner, Alex Allarie, have dragged the Ontario Human Rights Commission into a dispute over what is and isn’t a “service dog” — the kind permissible in food stores and restaurants.


School Board Re-commits to Accessibility Plan

Thursday September 10 2009
By ASHLEY GOODFELLOW

Public schools in Peel will move toward greater accessibility in accordance with a provincial act to make Ontario barrier-free, pledged the school board at its Sept. 8 meeting.

Recent criticism of the Peel District School Board’s lack of action on approving a plan to address accessibility issues prompted the board to bolster efforts and get back on track.


AODA Transportation Standards Will Compromise on Safety!

Monday, September 7, 2009
By wheelchairdemon

Warning – These New Standards Will Not Be Safe!

The provincial government has too many pieces of legislation and, after reading through a lot of it, I have been left to wonder if they are investing enough resources into making sure they are properly cross-referenced for conflicts or loop-holes which would prevent them from fulfilling their original mandate.