Many Missed Opportunities to Ensure 1.9 Million Ontarians with Disabilities Equally Share in New and Expanded Programs the Wynne Government’s Budget Announces
ACCESSIBILITY FOR ONTARIANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT ALLIANCE
NEWS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 28, 2018 Toronto: What does the new Ontario Budget do from the perspective of accessibility for 1.9 million Ontarians with disabilities?
Employers have the duty to accommodate persons with disabilities in the workplace. Accommodations range from changing work hours to modifying their workstation, to providing alternative work tasks, to even allowing service animals in the workplace.
What classifies as a service animal? What are your responsibilities as an employer? Below we answer these questions.
An animal is a service animal for a person with a disability:
Although the deadlines for AODA compliance have passed, your company may not be hiring people with disabilities because you are unaware of how best to recruit from this demographic.
Ontario’s Accessibility Standard for Employment is a key portion of the Ontario government’s plan to make Ontario an accessible province by 2025. After all, about one in seven people in Ontario has a disability. If you are in charge of recruiting and hiring, seek to make the process as welcoming as possible to Ontarians with a disability. Hiring people with disabilities allows your company to tap into a diverse range of options to fill your open positions.
People with disabilities are overlooked when it comes to workplace employment and here are a few top myths. Unproven myths, stereotypes and barriers are a hindrance to those individuals trying to seek employment. There are plenty of benefits and reasons to hire them. Employers fail to recognize the positive benefits and opportunities they bring to their organization. In doing so, employers violate the AODA, the Human Rights Code, and also fail to follow proper Accessible Workplace Requirements.
Ontario’s goal of becoming a fully accessible province by 2025 relies on the enforcement of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). In the Second Legislative Review of the AODA, reviewer Mayo Moran made recommendations aimed to determine who enforces AODA accessibility compliance requirements. These included making an enforcement plan, building transparency into the plan, and incorporating feedback into compliance and enforcement.
