Last week, the Ford Government announced that it is investing over half a billion dollars into building new schools and expanding existing ones, without announcing any effective measures to ensure that those schools will be designed to be accessible to students, parents, teachers, or other school staff with disabilities. Public money should never be used to create new barriers against people with disabilities. If new barriers are created, it costs much more to later renovate to remove them.
Monthly Archives: July 2020
An Interim Victory for Disability Advocates – Toronto City Council Directs City Staff to Investigate Dangers to People with Disabilities If Electric Scooters are Allowed
Yesterday disability advocates won an important interim victory in Toronto, Canada’s largest city, in the campaign to protect the public, including people with disabilities, from the proven dangers to public safety and disability accessibility that are posed by electric scooters (e-scooters).
More Myths about Workers with Disabilities After the COVID-19 Pandemic
In our last article, we described some myths or false ideas that some employers may have about workers with disabilities. Here we outline more myths about workers with disabilities, and discuss how employers can find accurate information.
Read more at
https://aoda.ca/more-myths-about-workers-with-disabilities-after-the-covid-19-pandemic/
More Overwhelming Proof that Electric Scooters Endanger Public Safety
On the eve of Toronto City Council considering the question of whether to allow electric scooters in Canada’s largest city, here is yet more overwhelming proof that electric scooters pose a danger to the safety of the public. We set out a sampling of four news articles below. A CBC News July 21, 2020 report showed a troubling increase in serious personal injuries in Calgary, resulting in hospital emergency room visits, due to e-scooters.
Read more at
https://aoda.ca/more-overwhelming-proof-that-electric-scooters-endanger-public-safety/
15 Moments Within the Fight for Disability Rights
The disability civil rights movement has many distinct narratives, but the prevailing themes are of community, justice and equity.
As with every other civil rights movement, the fight for disability rights is one that challenges negative attitudes and pushes back against oppression. But it is also more complex.
Read more at
http://www.accessibilitynewsinternational.com/15-moments-within-the-fight-for-disability-rights/
Accessibility News July 25,2020 Update
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AbleDocs Inc. is excited to be joining the Accessibility News team to ensure all documents are made accessible and compliant.
AbleDocs is the only organization to guarantee the compliance of the files we produce and back that up with a $10,000,000 guarantee.
We look forward to working with you and Accessibility News for years to come. For more details, please come to https://www.abledocs.com for more information about our revolutionary approach to document accessibility.
The AODA Clock is Ticking
There are 4 years, 22 weeks, 6 days until a fully Accessible Ontario! Will you be compliant?
In this Issue
Tell Toronto City Council Not to Subject Canada’s Largest City to the Dangers, Personal Injuries and New Disability Barriers that Electric Scooters Cause
At its meeting on Tuesday, July 28, 2020, Toronto City Council has on its agenda the question whether to unleash electric scooters (e-scooters) on the people of Canada’s largest city. The AODA Alliance calls on Toronto’s Mayor John Tory and City Council to resoundingly reject e-scooters. They are a proven danger to the safety of the public including people with disabilities. They will create new accessibility barriers for people with disabilities in a city that already has too many disability barriers and that has done too little to remove those barriers.
AODA Alliance Endorses ARCH Disability Law Centre’s Brief that Shows in Even More Detail How the Ford Government’s Revised Draft Medical Triage Protocol, Now Undergoing Consultation, Would Discriminate Against COVID-19 Patients with Disabilities If There Were Not Enough Ventilators for All Patients Needing Them
The ARCH Disability Law Centre has made public a superb new brief to the Ford Government on the serious disability human rights problems with the revised draft medical triage protocol on which the Ford Government is now holding a consultation. The AODA Alliance strongly endorses ARCH’s brief and congratulates ARCH on excellent work. ARCH’s brief is set out below.
Air Canada Lays Off Blind Longtime Employee, Saying It Can’t Accommodate Him Amid Pandemic
In 2016, Sean Fitzgibbon starred in an Air Canada promotional video about inclusion.
It showed him on the job, working as a stock-keeper. He was also given the company’s award of excellence for his service.
So it came as a shock when he got a letter saying the airline could no longer accommodate his medical condition.
Bus Driver with One Eye Wins Discrimination Case; Judge Nixes Ontario Licence Rule
A city bus driver whose licence was revoked after she lost her eye to cancer has won her battle to have the relevant provincial regulation declared unconstitutional.
Read more at
https://aoda.ca/bus-driver-with-one-eye-wins-discrimination-case-judge-nixes-ontario-licence-rule/
