By Geof Collis
April 10, 2010
The Essex County AAC is paving the way for a more inclusive Ontario by being the first AAC to become a member of the www.COAAC.ca website.
On Thursday April 8, 2010 the Essex County AAC was the first to publish its profile at www.coaac.ca/?page_id=280 and its first Post at www.coaac.ca/?p=312
In doing so the information was instantly sent to email update subscribers (www.coaac.ca/?page_id=31) and sent to Twitter followers (www.twitter.com/coaac/ for all to read.
Currently the site is in its infancy so the Email Update list and Twitter followers are small in numbers so I encourage you to subscribe to whatever feed you like best and stay in the loop.
Paid membership to the COAAC website overcomes a major deficiency, there is no Internet venue that endeavors to bring all AAC’s throughout the Province into one resource offering the following:
- Ability to let the public know what barriers your AAC is removing, what attitudes you are changing and any other information you feel relevant to making Ontario Barrier Free
- Network with other AAC site members via a Private Administration direct email list
- Instantly deliver Posts to Email Update subscribers and Twitter followers
- Ability to reach out to Ontarians and other interested Stakeholders
- A central searchable resource Centre
- A place that can hopefully hold the Government, Business and other Stakeholders accountable
This website will be a knowledge resource for researchers as well as a permanent historical record of the accomplishments of AACs across Ontario. Over time it will make a significant contribution to implementing the enforcement requirements of the five standards developed under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and provide guidelines for coping with issues that appear contradictory in other provincial legislation. When your AAC becomes a site member you become part of this important process.
This website will become the standard reference point for people around the world who look to the ground-breaking work done by Ontario AACs for
inspiration and answers.
When I asked David Lepofsky his thoughts on becoming a member, he had this to say, “It is really very helpful to bring together people working around Ontario to make Ontario fully accessible to its over 1.5 million residents who have a disability, so that each person doesn’t have to re-invent the same wheel.”
Become part of this intelligence database and follow the example shown by the Essex County Accessibility Advisory Committee in leading the way in developing what will be a valuable international resource that is ‘made in Ontario’!
Note: Membership is not restricted to just Municipal Accessibility Advisory Committees (AAC) ALL AACs are welcome to join.