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The purpose of Accessibility for Ontarians with
Disabilities Act (AODA) and accompanying
standards is to achieve accessibility for people with
disabilities in Ontario by 2025, beginning January
1, 2012 for the private sector.
The goal is to identify and remove barriers within
the government and organizations in the province
of Ontario that keep people with disabilities from
fully participating in activities such as employment,
shopping, going to restaurants, accessing services
and goods, applying for government and other
services on the Internet etc.
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The AODA includes every person in the public and
private sector and provides standards and
enforcement procedures.
Under the AODA the government has been
developing mandatory accessibility standards to
identify, remove and prevent barriers for persons
with disabilities in key areas of daily living.
These Accessibility Standards are meant to aid
organizations to achieve accessibility for the
largest number of people with disabilities.
Organizations must make difficult decisions,
because clearly they cannot accommodate every
type of disability in the same way.
Accessibility means organizations will need to
provide alternative delivery methods so that
everyone can participate in society. When we think
about accessibility, personalizing the issue can
help us understand and act.
The AODA requires the persons or organizations
named or described in the standard to implement
those measures, policies, practices or other
requirements within the time periods specified in
the standard.
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The definition of disability is very broad and is the
same definition used in the Ontario Human Rights
Code. This definition applies to all the standards
under the AODA.
It is any degree of physical, mental, learning
and/or developmental disability.
For example, birth defect, amputation, blindness,
deafness, dyslexia.
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A “barrier” means anything that prevents a
person with a disability from fully
participating in all aspects of society because
of his or her disability, including a physical
barrier, an architectural barrier, an
information or communications barrier, an
attitudinal barrier, a technological barrier, a
policy or a practice.
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The government has created five standards.
The customer service standard addresses business
practices and training needed to provide better
customer service to people with disabilities. This is
the first standard to become a regulation. It came
into effect January 1, 2008. The public sector had
to comply with this standard by January 1, 2010
and the private sector by January 1, 2012.
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The Integrated Accessibility Regulation created three
standards which came into effect July 1, 2011. The
standards under the integrated regulation will be
phased in between January 1, 2012, and January 1,
2025 and they are:
• The information and communications standard
addresses the removal of barriers in access to
information and communications
• The employment standard addresses paid
employment practices relating to employee-employer
relationships, which may include recruitment, hiring,
retention policies and practices
• The transportation standard addresses access to
public transportation that is needed for aspects of
daily living
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1.
2.
Two specific requirements under the Integrated
Accessibility Regulation must be met by January 1,
2012.
If your organization prepares emergency or safety
plans available to the public, these must also be
available in an accessible format
Every obligated employer must provide
individualized workplace emergency response
plan to employees who have a disability. The
employer must be aware of the disability and
accommodate accordingly
The built environment standard addresses access
into and within buildings and outdoor spaces.
The standard for built environment consist of the
policies, practices or other requirements for the
identification and removal of barriers with respect
to the built environment for persons with a range
of disabilities (focused on built public open spaces,
streetscape elements and building elements in a
range of occupancies).
The standard will only apply to new construction
and extensive renovation.
Final accessibility standards for built environment
have not yet been brought forward in a regulation.
The standard is expected sometime in 2012.
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The first AODA standard, the Accessibility
Standards for Customer Service outlines the actions
businesses and other organizations in Ontario
must take to make their goods and services more
accessible to people with disabilities.
The standard does not set accessibility
requirements for the goods themselves, but rather
the way that they are provided to customers. In
other words, it is the method by which you provide
goods or services to the public or other third
parties that must comply with the customer service
standard.
Every person or organization that provides goods
and services to members of the public or other
third parties, and has at least one employee in
Ontario, must have complied by January 1, 2012.
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According to ministry guidelines, all full-time,
part-time, seasonal and contract employees,
regardless of status, must be counted when
determining the number of employees an
organization has. Volunteers and independent
contractors must not be included in the count.
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“Other third parties” in this instance means any
other persons or organizations other than the
general public with whom you do business. They
can include consultants, manufacturers,
wholesalers, suppliers of professional services,
vendors, postman, delivery man or government
agencies.
The customer service standard requires that you
provide the same level of service to third parties as
to the general public.
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2.
Establish policies, practices and procedures that
promote access to your goods & services. Ensure
that your policies, practices and procedures are
consistent with the core principles of
independence, dignity, integration and equality of
opportunity
Set a policy on the use of assistive devices.
Identify and include any other measures (assistive
devices) you may offer to enable accessibility
(e.g., wheelchairs, scooters, hearing aids,
crutches, canes, screen readers, TTY etc.)
3.
Communicate to a person with a disability in a
manner that takes into account the person’s disability
4.
Allow persons with disabilities to enter your
organization’s premises with a service animal
5.
Allow persons with disabilities to enter your
organization’s premises with a support person
6.
7.
Where admission fees are charged, provide notice
ahead of time on what admission, if any, would be
charged for a support person of a person with a
disability.
Implement training for everyone in your workplace
who deals with the public or other third parties on
behalf of your organization
8.
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10.
Implement a process and documented plan to
provide notice of any temporary disruption
Establish a process for people to offer feedback
on how you provide goods or services to people
with disabilities, and how you will respond to any
feedback and take action on any complaints.
Make the information about your feedback
process readily available to the public in
alternative formats upon request.
Document and file annual accessibility reports
with the government (if applicable)
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Businesses with fewer than 20 employees do
not need to prepare written documents based
on the requirements found in the standard, or
file annual accessibility reports with the
government. Nonetheless, as of January 2012,
organizations with fewer than 20 employees
still have new responsibilities to perform, they
are still obligated to comply with the law and
they must make policies, practices and
procedures. Although businesses do not need
to document them, the best practice is to
document accessibility policies, practices and
procedures to avoid workplace confusions and
legal complications.
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The AODA is about understanding that people with
disabilities may not be able to access your goods
and services unless barriers are removed.
The AODA is about being willing to be proactive by
anticipating those barriers and taking measures to
reasonably remove those barriers. For the barriers
that cannot be anticipated, the AODA allows you to
be reactive once you have been made aware of
these barriers and be willing to deal with them.
1.
This means conducting a needs assessment.
Assess your organization premises, processes,
existing policies and procedures for real or
possible barriers, for example assess,
◦ How your customer access your goods and
services?
◦ How you and your employees interact with your
customer?
◦ What type of customers you deal with?
◦ What barriers are there?
◦ What you can do to remove these barriers?
◦ Emergency plans or public safety information in
place?
2.
Develop you customer service accessibility plan,
policies, procedures and practices
Policies are what you intend to do, including any
instructions and rules for employees. Practices
are what you and your employees really do on a
daily basis. Procedures whether informal or
written, are how you and employees will interact
with customers with disabilities and provide your
goods or services.
Your employees must follow the policies,
practices and procedures on a daily basis.
3.
Train
Implement training for everyone in your
workplace who deals with the public or other
third parties on behalf of your organization. This
includes employees, contractors, volunteers and
agents, and those participating in developing
your organization’s policies, practices and
procedures governing the provision of goods or
services to the public or other third parties.
Regardless of format, the training must cover the
following:
•
Review of the purposes of the AODA and
requirements of the customer service
standard
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Instruction on how to interact and
communicate with people with various types
of disabilities
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Instruction on how to interact with people
with disabilities who use assistive devices or
require the assistance of a service animal or a
support person
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Instruction on how to use equipment or
devices available at your premises or that you
provide otherwise, that may help people with
disabilities access your services, such as
teletypewriter (TTY) telephones, elevators,
lifts, accessible interactive kiosks or other
technology
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Instruction on what to do if a person with a
disability is having difficulty accessing your
services
4.
Monitor, review and improve
 Communicate your standard for customer
service to your employees and customers
• Ensure your employees are applying your
policies, practices and procedures everyday
• Obtain feedback from customers with
disabilities that your policies, practices and
procedures are working
• Based on feedback, review, improve and
adjust your policies, practices and procedures
• Communicate and train your employees on
revised policies, practices and procedures
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Having a process to communicate by email or internet
form or fax if the customer cannot communicate by
telephone.
Providing employees with pen and paper so that they
can communicate in writing with customers when verbal
communication is not possible.
Installing a door bell so that people in wheelchair can
ring to have the door open for them.
make existing documents, forms or other digital
content accessible in large print or Braille
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If your organization or business does not have the
required policies and procedures in place by the
deadline, you may face fines:
For individuals and unincorporated entities, up to
$50,000 for each and every day or part day that the
legislated requirements have not been met
For a corporation, up to $100,000 for each and
every day or part day that the legislative
requirements have not been met
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Individual directors and officers of corporations
have a duty to take all reasonable care to prevent
the corporation from committing an offence; they
can face fines of up to $50,000 for each and every
day or part day that there is non compliance
The AODA allows for enforcement through
inspections, compliance orders and administrative
penalties.
There is also a potential for a human rights claim.
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The License Appeal Tribunal has been designated
to hear appeals of director’s orders under the
AODA including orders for penalties issued against
a person or organization
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The standard for information and communications outlines
how organizations may be required to create, provide and
receive information and communications in ways that are
accessible for people with disabilities. The main goal of the
standard is to promote inclusive design of information and
communication platforms and to specify requirements to
prevent and remove barriers to persons with disabilities when
creating, conveying, distributing, procuring and receiving
information and communication to and from your
organization. Making your communication practices more
accessible will require a bit of work. You will need to think
about how you communicate and engage with people with a
disability.
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Obligated organizations must meet the above requirements in
accordance with the following schedule:
• For the Government of Ontario and the Legislative
Assembly, January 1, 2014
• For large designated public sector organizations, January 1,
2015
• For small designated public sector organizations, January 1,
2016
• For large private sector organizations (50 or more
employees), January 1, 2016
• For small private sector organizations (at least one but
fewer than 50 employees), January 1, 2017
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The standard for employment includes specific requirements
for the recruitment, retention and accommodation of persons
with disabilities. This standard applies to all organizations in
Ontario that have at least one paid employee. This includes
private businesses, non-profit organizations, provincial and
municipal governments, universities, colleges, hospitals and
school boards.
Generally speaking, to meet their obligations under the law,
employers have to develop an organizational accessible
employment policy statement.
Obligated organizations that are employers, must meet the
following requirements under the AODA employment
standard:
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For the Government of Ontario and the Legislative Assembly,
January 1, 2013
◦ For large designated public sector organizations, January 1,
2014
◦ For small designated public sector organizations, January 1,
2015
◦ For large organizations (50 or more employees), January 1,
2016
◦ For small organizations (at least one but fewer than 50
employees), January 1, 2017
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The employment standard consists of several specific parts:
• Workplace emergency response information
• Recruitment, selection, hiring process and employment
cycle
• Return-to-work process
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Performance management
Career development and advancement
Redeployment
Accessible formats and communication supports for
employees
All of the above parts to the employment standard must meet
the documented individual accommodation plans, except
when an employer is exempt.
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The standard for transportation is a sector-specific standard that
relates specifically to modes of transportation that come under
the jurisdiction of provincial and municipal governments. This
standard focuses on making transportation services accessible.
This includes buses (including public school buses), trains,
subways, streetcars, taxis and ferries.
This standard requires transportation services to prevent and
remove barriers so that people with disabilities can more easily
access transportation services across the province. Requirements
for accessible transportation apply to persons and/or
organizations that offer transportation services to the public or
employees, and that are responsible for or provide the following
types of services:
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Conventional transportation
Specialized transportation
Public school transportation
Other transportation services
Ferry
Taxi
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Conventional transportation service providers and specialized
transportation service providers must start meeting the
requirements of the transportation standards beginning July
1, 2011. Certain requirements have various other effective
dates depending on the requirement and/or type of
transportation covered under the standard.
The standard is extensive and sets out detailed
transportation-specific operational practices and procedures
that address various topics. Note that under each
transportation-specific operational practice and procedure
listed, written policies will be required to include how services
and/or equipment and other will be provided in an accessible
manner.
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In addition, the integrated accessibility standards also provide
guidance on how you can ensure your people interact in a positive
manner with persons with all types of disabilities under all three
standards: information and communications, employment and
transportation.
Part one of the integrated regulations has common requirements
obligated organizations must meet under all three standards. The
regulations require that all of the factors under discussion are
addressed through policies and multi-year plans. There are five
steps in the general section of the standard:
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1.
Establish accessibility policies
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Establish accessibility plans
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Purchasing or acquiring goods, services or facilities
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Self service kiosks
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5.
Training