The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA) became law in 2005. The government of Ontario is developing accessibility standards that will identfiy, remove and prevent barriers for people with disabilities in key areas of their daily lives. Standards will be set in both public and private sectors. In Ontario, about 1.5 million people (13.5% of the population) have a disability in 2001 and about 1.97 million people (15.5% of the population) have a disability in 2006. National statistics indicate that 41% of people aged 65 and over have a disability. The number of people with disabilities will continue to grow as our population ages.
Accessibility standards will be developed by Standards Development Committees comprising of members of the disability community, representatives of the broader public and private sectors, and the Ontario government. The Committees are developing proposed standards in five key areas:-
- Customer service
- Information & communications
- Built environment
- Employment
- Transportation.
The Committees will submit propsed standards to the government for adoption as regulations. Business and organizations must comply with the accessibility standards that apply to them. Failure to do so may result in penalties, such as fines.
The accessibility standards for Customer Service (Ontario Regulations 429/07) came into force on Jan. 1, 2008. The regulation outlines a number of things that organizations and business must do, e.g. establishing policies and procedures on providing goods or services to people with disabilities, establishing training policy for staff etc. Public sector organizations designated in the standard must comply by Jan. 1, 2010. Private business and non-profit organizations must comply by Jan. 1, 2012.
At present, we already have a large print collection and a good collection of books on CD. To increase accessibility, MPL can consider the following:
- described DVDs
- DAISY books and digital audio players
- more braille materials
- accessible work stations - computers with adaptive software (Zoom Text, JAWS)
- when designing a new website, ensrue it is totally accessible for all users
- review evacuation plan to determine if it addresses the needs of people with disabilities
- provide a simple application process for access to specialized materials for people with a print disability
A person's disability may be visible (e.g. someone who is blind uses a white cane) or may not be as obvious (e.g. someone with a mental illness). One thing we can do immediately to improve accessibility is to treat people with all types of disabilities with dignity and respect, and asking "How may I help you?"
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