A major disability issue that keeps coming up with Ontario election candidates around Ontario has been the pressing need to tear down the many disability barriers that impede students with disabilities in Ontario’s education system. We asked all the major parties for specific commitments in this area. Below we set out what we asked, and what they committed. This is taken from the AODA Alliance’s issue-by-issue breakdown of the commitments we secured on a wide range of disability accessibility issues.

Read more at
https://aoda.ca/more-proof-during-this-election-of-the-need-for-ontarios-next-government-to-take-strong-prompt-new-action-to-tear-down-the-many-barriers-impeding-students-with-disabilities-and-what-should-an/

The chair of London’s accessibility advisory committee says she’s looking forward to the start of a new dialogue with city council after the committee members were persuaded to drop their threat to resign en masse Tuesday night.

The threat was made at the end of a presentation to the Community and Protective Services Committee, during which several members of the advisory committee expressed their frustration with city council’s failure to adopt their recommendations.

Read more at
https://aoda.ca/frustrated-by-a-lack-of-co-operation-from-city-council-the-committee-accepts-offer-to-talk-things-through/

Reflecting an Impoverished Approach to Ontario’s Disabilities Act, The Wynne Government Said It is Not Seeking Public Input on those Recommendations

Read more at
https://aoda.ca/on-the-eve-of-the-2018-ontario-election-campaign-the-wynne-government-made-public-the-weak-final-recommendations-of-the-transportation-standards-development-committee-for-revisions-to-the-2011-tran/

The Ontario Association of the Deaf (OAD) has partnered with the Ontario Provincial Police to provide members of the deaf community with visor cards, a guide that makes communicating with police more accessible.

Let’s say you’re deaf and you’re pulled over by a police officer. How do you quickly communicate that you may have different needs than another person?

Read more at
https://aoda.ca/a-first-of-its-kind-program-in-ontario-will-help-police-officers-and-deaf-people-communicate/

Marie-Claire Bilyk works in peer support for CNIB in London, Ont. Bilyk says she’s heard from a number of CNIB clients who want the province to update its assistive devices program.

When Marie Claire Bilyk drops an earring and can’t find it, she reaches for her smart phone.

Read more at
https://aoda.ca/cnib-ontario-calls-on-political-parties-to-update-assistive-devices-program/

National Access Awareness Week is intended to raise public awareness of barriers that people with disabilities face and to find ways to help remove these barriers. Mayor Graydon Smith and Members of the Town’s Accessibility Advisory Committee met recently to raise a flag in honour of this week.

Read more at
https://aoda.ca/bracebridge%c2%92s-accessibility-advisory-committee-keeps-accessibility-issues-in-the-forefront/

Election day is only two weeks away. It’s time for all voters with disabilities to now take active steps to ensure that you can vote, despite barriers that you may face in the process. We here offer ideas on what to do. Of course, as a non-partisan coalition, we don’t suggest who you should vote for or against. However, we do urge all Ontario voters, including at least one million Ontario voters with disabilities, to be sure to vote, and to think about the election’s disability accessibility issues.

Read more at
https://aoda.ca/aoda-alliance-urges-all-ontario-voters-with-disabilities-to-vote-at-advance-polls-to-avoid-the-risk-of-running-into-accessibility-barriers-on-voting-day-june-7-2018-here-are-helpful-action-tips/

Any Time, You Can Watch Online the Archived Video of the May 21, 2018 Interview on TVO’s “The Agenda with Steve Paikin,” Addressing The 2018 Ontario Election’s Disability Accessibility Issues

Read more at
https://aoda.ca/more-proof-that-there-are-accessibility-problems-at-the-new-toronto-courthouse-planned-to-be-built-in-the-heart-of-downtown-toronto/