Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance Update United for a Barrier-Free Ontario for All People with Disabilities
July 11, 2017
SUMMARY
Please email the Wynne Government by the end of Friday July 14, 2017 to say you support the AODA Alliance’s answers to the Government’s survey on the disability accessibility barriers that over a third of a million students with disabilities face in Ontario’s education system. You might just say:
“I support the AODA Alliance’s answers to the Government’s survey on the barriers facing students with disabilities in Ontario.”
Of course, feel free to go further and answer the entire survey yourself, while voicing your support for our answers too, if you are so inclined. You can email the Government at: AODA.input@ontario.ca
You can download and read our answers in an accessible MS Word document, available at https://www.aodaalliance.org/strong-effective-aoda/07102017-aoda-submission-on-education-accessibility-barriers.docx
As part of our answers to this survey, we also sent the Government two documents as part of our response:
1. The AODA Alliance’s November 21, 2016 Discussion Paper on what the Education Accessibility Standard should include, which you can read at https://www.aodaalliance.org/strong-effective-aoda/11212016.asp
2. An excellent report summarizing the interim results of a survey of parents of students with special education needs at the Toronto District School Board, which that school board’s Special Education Advisory Committee is conducting on line. That report is available at
https://www.aodaalliance.org/strong-effective-aoda/04212017-SEAC-parents-survey-Report.docx Below we offer background on the Government’s survey, details on how to fill it out, and links to the survey and helpful resources.
MORE DETAILS
What’s It All About?
As our earlier Updates have reported, the Wynne Government is conducting an online survey of disability accessibility barriers in Ontario’s education system. The Government says it will use the survey results to help with the development of the promised Education Accessibility Standard under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. That accessibility standard is needed to tear down the many accessibility barriers that impede hundreds of thousands of students with disabilities from being able to fully benefit from Ontario’s education system.
The AODA Alliance has led the campaign for years to get the Ontario Government to enact a strong and effective AODA Education Accessibility Standard. On July 10, 2017, the AODA Alliance submitted a detailed set of answers to the Wynne Government’s online survey of disability accessibility barriers In Ontario’s education system.
The Government has given the public the deadline of this Friday, July 14, 2017 to complete its survey. Even if you don’t have time to entirely fill out the survey, there is a quick and easy way you can help the cause of better educational opportunities for over one third of a million students with disabilities in Ontario. Just take a moment to email the Government to say you support the survey answers that the AODA Alliance has sent in. Send your email to the Government at: AODA.input@ontario.ca
It is better if you can fill out the survey and give your own answers, and add in your response that you support the AODA Alliance’s answers to the survey. But if you don’t have the time to do more, just a quick email to the Government to support our answers will really help.
The links to the Government’s survey are as follows:
* English: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/EducationSurveyEN
* French: https://fr.surveymonkey.com/r/SondageAccessibilite
If you want to get the survey as an MS Word document, fill it out off-line, and email it to the Government, click here to download the survey form:
https://www.aodaalliance.org/strong-effective-aoda/20170616education-barriers-survey.docx If you fill the survey form out offline, you can email it to the Government at this email address: AODA.INPUT@ontario.ca
If you are going to yourself fill out the Government survey, we have made helpful tips available to you at https://www.aodaalliance.org/strong-effective-aoda/06162017.asp
We have asked the Government to extend its July 14, 2017 deadline into the fall. We want the upcoming promised Education Standards Development Committee to get as much useful information as possible. The Government can extend this deadline for completing the survey without slowing the development of the Education Accessibility Standard.
To date, the Government has not answered our request to extend the July 14, 2017 deadline. Therefore, we urge you to complete that survey this week, before the current July 14, 2017 deadline.
The AODA Alliance has also told the Government about serious concerns about the way it designed this survey, and about the way the Government plans to use the survey results. The Government did not consult us on its design. We wrote the Government to set out our concerns and to offer suggestions. You can read the AODA Alliance’s June 21, 2017 letter to the Wynne Government by visiting https://www.aodaalliance.org/strong-effective-aoda/06212017.asp
Helpful Links and Resources
For more background on our campaign to win the enactment of a strong Education Accessibility Standard to tear down the many disability accessibility barriers in Ontario’s education system, visit www.aodaalliance.org
To read the AODA Alliances Discussion Paper that explains what we would like the promised Education Accessibility Standard to include, visit https://www.aodaalliance.org/strong-effective-aoda/11212016.asp
To learn how to apply before July 31, 2017 to sit on the Government-appointed Education Standards Development Committee, visit https://www.aodaalliance.org/strong-effective-aoda/06142017.asp
To read tips we offer school boards and other educational organizations on how to hold a public forum on disability accessibility barriers in Ontario’s education system, visit https://www.aodaalliance.org/strong-effective-aoda/06192017.asp
You can always send your feedback to us on any AODA and accessibility issue at aodafeedback@gmail.com
Have you taken part in our “Picture Our Barriers campaign? If not, please join in! You can get all the information you need about our “Picture Our Barriers” campaign by visiting www.aodaalliance.org/2016
To sign up for, or unsubscribe from AODA Alliance e-mail updates, write to: aodafeedback@gmail.com
We encourage you to use the Government’s toll-free number for reporting AODA violations. We fought long and hard to get the Government to promise this, and later to deliver on that promise. If you encounter any accessibility problems at any large retail establishments, it will be especially important to report them to the Government via that toll-free number. Call 1-866-515-2025.
Please pass on our email Updates to your family and friends.
Why not subscribe to the AODA Alliance’s YouTube channel, so you can get immediate alerts when we post new videos on our accessibility campaign. https://www.youtube.com/user/aodaalliance
Please “like” our Facebook page and share our updates: https://www.facebook.com/Accessibility-for-Ontarians-with-Disabilities-Act-Alliance-106232039438820/ Follow us on Twitter. Get others to follow us. And please re-tweet our tweets!! @AODAAlliance
Learn all about our campaign for a fully accessible Ontario by visiting https://www.aodaalliance.org