Learning Outcomes

Access means gaining entry, and in Ontario the right to access is enshrined in our Human Rights Code as well as through accessibility legislation. The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA):

“Recogniz[es] the history of discrimination against persons with disabilities in Ontario, the purpose of this Act is to benefit all Ontarians by,
(a) developing, implementing and enforcing accessibility standards in order to achieve accessibility for Ontarians with disabilities with respect to goods, services, facilities, accommodation, employment, buildings, structures and premises on or before January 1, 2025”

Gaining entry is, therefore, not just about physical access, but about ensuring that people with disabilities have access to the activities, relationships and institutional structures within a service, including within education. All services in the province of Ontario, including education and early childhood education and care, are also subject to the Ontario Human Rights Code (OHRC), which enshrines the “duty to accommodate” and outlines protections for people with disabilities to be free from discrimination (HRC, 2016). The specific experiences of exclusion in educational settings have prompted the call for a new accessibility standard that is focused on education.

The two aims of these activities are:

References

• Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) Act, 2005, S.O. 2005, c. 11,
• Ontario Regulation. 191/1 (2005). Integrated Accessibility Standards, last amended 2016, s.5, c.1,
• Ontario Human Rights Commission (2016)