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Ford Government Extends to November 1, 2021 the Deadline for Sending In Feedback on the Disability Barriers Facing Students with Disabilities in Ontario Schools, Colleges or Universities

Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance Update United for a Barrier-Free Society for All People with Disabilities Web: https://www.aodaalliance.org
Email: aodafeedback@gmail.com
Twitter: @aodaalliance
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aodaalliance/

October 13, 2021

To help students with disabilities overcome the many disability barriers they face in Ontario schools, colleges and universities, you still have a chance to press for long-overdue improvements. The Ford Government has extended to November 1, 2021 the deadline for giving feedback on the disability barriers facing students with disabilities in Ontario schools, colleges and universities.

After years of advocacy spearheaded by the AODA Alliance, two Standards Development Committees were appointed under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act to make recommendations for the contents of a new enforceable regulation to be called the Education Accessibility Standard. The K-12 Education Standards Development Committee will make recommendations on the mandatory measures that are needed to make K-12 education in Ontario schools barrier-free for students with disabilities. The Post-Secondary Education Standards Development Committee will make recommendations on the measures needed to make education offered in Ontario colleges and universities barrier-free for students with disabilities.

Up to November 1, 2021, you can send the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee your feedback on its initial proposals for this recommendation, which were posted online for public comment on June 1, 2021. Write educationsdc@ontario.ca

Up to November 1, 2021, you can send the Post-Secondary Education Standards Development Committee your feedback on its initial recommendations for measures to be enacted in the Education Accessibility Standard for colleges and universities, which were initially posted on June 25, 2021. Write postsecondarySDC@ontario.ca

For each of these two Standards Development Committees, here are four questions you might wish to address:

1. Say if you agree with all the Standards Development Committee’s recommendations. If you disagree with any recommendations, say which ones. Explain why you disagree with them.

2. Explain which of the recommendations you consider especially important. What are your biggest priorities? Why are they important to you?

3. If there are any recommendations that you disagree with, explain what the Standards Development Committee might change in those recommendations to improve them.

4. Are there any recommendations that you would like the Standards Development Committee to add? Did it leave out anything that you consider important?

We have a collection of resources that can help you take part in this important consultation.

1. The AODA Alliance’s action kit on how to give public feedback on the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee initial report and recommendations. You can also use that Action Kit to help you give input on the Post-Secondary Education Standards Development Committee’s initial recommendations.

2. The AODA Alliance’s new captioned video summarizing the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee’s initial recommendations include, and why they are needed.

3. The AODA Alliance’s 55-page condensed and annotated version of the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee initial report and recommendations.

4. The AODA Alliance’s 15-page summary of the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee initial report and recommendations.

5. A captioned video of tips for parents of students with disabilities on how to advocate at school for their child’s needs.

6. The AODA Alliance’s new captioned video giving you an introduction to the duty to accommodate people with disabilities.

7. For general background, the AODA Alliance website Education page.

There have now been 986 days since the Ford Government received the blistering Independent Review report by David Onley on the implementation and enforcement of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. The Ford Government has still not made public a comprehensive plan to implement that report’s findings and recommendations. The Government has staged some media events with the Accessibility Minister to make announcements, but little if anything new was ever announced. There are just a little over three years til 2025. Yet Ontario lags far behind the goal of becoming accessible to people with disabilities by 2025. The Ford Government has announced no plan to get on schedule for that deadline.