Interactive Activity

David Lepofsky is a visiting professor at the Osgoode Hall Law School and an adjunct member of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. He holds volunteer leadership roles in the disability community. He is chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance and the chair of the Toronto District School Board’s Special Education Advisory Committee (2017). The following video is an excerpt from a lecture that David gave at Toronto Metropolitan University on February 14, 2017. David’s lecture highlights the processes of identification of “exceptionality”, placement in programs, and programming, as well as the IPRC and IEP processes. These processes can be summarized for students if they are not familiar. The discussion questions aim to encourage students to think about how the processes and procedures in special education create barriers or facilitate access.

Download (Word Document) David Lepofsky Transcript

Instructor information: Watch the video of David Lepofsky’s lecture on a proposal for an AODA Educational Standard. Provide students with the (Word Document) Education Accessibility Standards Summary . Encourage students to think about their responsibility in designing accessible environments, not just complying with the legislation and policies. Divide into smaller groups of 3-4. Ask students to respond to the questions in small groups.

Discussion Questions

Identify key principles of an AODA Education Standard according to David Lepofsky and the proposed standard.
Based on your knowledge of education settings (early childhood, elementary, and secondary), do you think that an Education Accessibility Standard will be an effective tool to support inclusive education? Or do we need more than legislation for effective inclusive practice?
- Probe: In the lecture, David Lepofsky talks about the need for a designation in order for legislation to apply. This is a limitation of accessibility legislation and policy. Also, inclusion is about more than access, but also about process.
What do you think are the barriers to implementing an Education Accessibility Standard?
How could the Individual Education Plan, and Individual Placement and Review Committee be improved with the application of an accessibility lens?
Outside of school settings, early childhood education and care are not governed by the IEP and IPRC processes. What processes are in place and how can they be governed by accessibility legislation?

Resources

Download the (Word Document) Education Accessibility Standards Summary

Interactive Activity

Discussion Questions

Resources

References