Monthly Archives: January 2019

The Shifting Stigma Around Mental Health

Approximately 30 per cent of people in Ontario age 15 and up will experience a mental health or addictions challenge at some point in their lives Opinion by Dr. Thomas Stewart Hamilton Spectator

Dr. Thomas Stewart says of the decision to go public with a mental health challenge: “That decision takes courage. And for far too many people the complicated and overwhelming web of services makes it difficult for people to get connected to the care they need, when they need it.”

Every year two million people in Ontario visit their family doctors seeking support and treatment for mental health challenges such as depression, anxiety and substance use disorder; but we know the number of Ontarians living with mental illness is much higher.

Read more at
https://www.accessibilitynews.ca/the-shifting-stigma-around-mental-health/

Disability Advocates Call for Action Limiting When Principal Can Exclude Student from School

ACCESSIBILITY FOR ONTARIANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT ALLIANCE
NEWS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 30, 2019 Toronto: At a news conference in the Queen’s Park Media Studio today at 10:30 a.m., disability advocates will unite to demand that the Ford Government rein in the sweeping power of school principals to exclude a student from school. The Ford Government has so far announced nothing on this. It hasn’t answered the Ontario Autism Coalition’s December 13, 2018 letter to Education Minister Lisa Thompson, which asks the minister to meet about exclusions. It hasn’t publicly responded to recent media focusing on this issue. See e.g. the Globe and Mail.

Read more at
https://aoda.ca/disability-advocates-call-for-action-limiting-when-principal-can-exclude-student-from-school/

Will Ontario’s New Government Ensure that New Courthouses, Built Using Public Money, Are Barrier-Free for People with Disabilities?

The Previous Government’s Plans for the New Toronto Courthouse Still Have Significant Accessibility Barriers.

Read more at
https://aoda.ca/will-ontarios-new-government-ensure-that-new-courthouses-built-using-public-money-are-barrier-free-for-people-with-disabilities/

Snow Causing Accessibility Issues in North Bay

A woman in North Bay is sharing her frustration about problems she’s facing with accessible sidewalks and bus stops with the city.

Butterfly Beth Fields uses a wheelchair to get around and says many of the stops in her area aren’t shoveled out, making it difficult for her and other riders facing similar challenges to board the bus.

Read more at
https://aoda.ca/snow-causing-accessibility-issues-in-north-bay/

What is the Design of Public Spaces Standard?

The design of public spaces standard of the AODA outlines the need for newly constructed or redeveloped public spaces to be accessible for people with disabilities. This requirement may leave people asking: What is the Design of Public Spaces Standard?

The Design of Public Spaces Standard describes ways to make communal spaces more accessible. Most of the spaces it covers are outdoors. For instance, there are requirements for accessible:

Read more at
https://aoda.ca/what-is-the-design-of-public-spaces-standard/

Accessibility News January 26,2019 Update

Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/acnewsca

Inclusive Media and Design Inc is a proud supporter of Accessibility News.

Inclusive is ready to caption and video describe all your video for web, DVD, and computer desktop. They can also assist you in understanding and implementing Ontario’s AODA Integrated Standards’ media requirements. Consider having them check that any of your new web site content is compliant with an Accessibility Audit.

Visit http://www.inclusivemedia.ca to find out more.

The AODA Clock is Ticking

There are 5 years, 48 weeks, 5 days until a fully Accessible Ontario! Will you be compliant?

In this Issue

Read more at
https://www.accessibilitynews.ca/accessibility-news-january-262019-update/

Accessible Transportation for Colleges, Universities, and Hospitals in Ontario

Under the Transportation Standard of the AODA, colleges, universities, and hospitals that offer transportation services around or between their campuses must make those services accessible upon request. Accessible transportation for colleges, universities, and hospitals applies to all…

Read more at
https://aoda.ca/accessible-transportation-for-colleges-universities-and-hospitals-in-ontario/

The Ford Government Continues Its Freeze on the Work to Remove Barriers in Ontario’s Education System Against Hundreds of Thousands of Students With Disabilities, While the Media Shines A Much-Needed Spotlight on One Troubling Barrier – The Sweeping Power of School Principals to Exclude a Student from School

There have been 216 days since work on developing a new Education Accessibility Standard under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act was frozen in the wake of the election of Ontario’s new Government. The work of the two Education Standards Development Committees, appointed to recommend reforms in Ontario’s school system (the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee) and in Ontario’s colleges and universities (the Post-Secondary Education Standards Development Committee), still remains on hold. School boards, colleges and universities continue to leave disability barriers in place. They spend public money to create new barriers, without an AODA Education Accessibility Standard in place to stop that from continuing.

Read more at
https://aoda.ca/the-ford-government-continues-its-freeze-on-the-work-to-remove-barriers-in-ontarios-education-system-against-hundreds-of-thousands-of-students-with-disabilities-while-the-media-shines-a-much-neede/

Our Biased Web: Why Don’t We Care About Making The Web Accessible For All?

As society has increasingly awoken to the dangers of algorithmic bias in the machine learning and AI systems that underlie an ever-greater portion of our lives, it is notable that for all of the attention and funding being focused on AI bias, there has been in comparison a deafening silence on the topic of accessibility bias.

As the web rushes ever faster towards a multimedia-first existence, why is it that there is comparatively so little conversation about making this content accessible to those with differing physical abilities?

Read more at
http://www.accessibilitynewsinternational.com/our-biased-web-why-dont-we-care-about-making-the-web-accessible-for-all/

Accessibility: A Source of Future Anxiety and a Significant Consideration for Canadian Consumers today

Seven-in-ten Canadians say universal accessibility should be the goal for newly constructed buildings

As Canada’s population grows older, millions of Canadians find themselves worrying about decreased mobility, vision and hearing and the impact it may have on their own lives or the lives of loved ones.

Read more at
http://www.accessibilitynewsinternational.com/accessibility-a-source-of-future-anxiety-and-a-significant-consideration-for-canadian-consumers-today/