Over 1.9 million Ontarians live with disabilities. For these people, lack of accessibility is an ongoing barrier, given that Ontario’s accessibility standards are not currently meeting people’s needs. The Province’s standards lag behind where Ontario pledged we would be by now, as laid out in the 2005 Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).
In an Ottawa Citizen opinion piece entitled, “Ontario’s accessibility standards are falling woefully short”, David Onley, former lieutenant governor of Ontario and a disability rights advocate, expresses concern about the how slowly Ontario is moving when it comes to setting or enforcing accessibility standards. “Every day, in every community in Ontario, people with disabilities encounter formidable barriers to participation. For most disabled persons, Ontario is not a place of opportunity but one of countless, dispiriting, soul-crushing barriers.”
An Ontario scattered with "soul-crushing barriers" as @HonDavidOnley describes is unacceptable. We can't keep moving at a sluggish pace towards making Ontario fully accessible by 2025, our motion today is the urgent action we need. #onpoli https://t.co/JVPVT43AXV
— Joel Harden (@JoelHardenONDP) May 30, 2019
Accessibility within many of Ontario’s publicly funded schools is a big issue. Let’s consider only one aspect of accessibility for a moment – the ability for a student to get to their classroom and participate fully in a rotary class schedule. Elevators are a rarity in Ontario’s schools, making it challenging or impossible for students on crutches or in wheelchairs to attend school. When an Ontario school does have an elevator, maintenance for the elevator is ongoing and provincial funding for said maintenance is inadequate therefore often, elevators in a school are not working. Similarly, school boards are not provided with any special provincial funding to ensure that school buildings are retrofitted to become accessible for children with mobility issues.
My daughter needed crutches to get around for 8 months in her grade 8 year. I still marvel at the physical and emotional strength needed for her to participate in school that year. Clearly, many aspects of a full school experience were off the table for her that year as she focused on the bare minimum of getting to each class on her rotary schedule in a 3-story building with no elevator. She was physically and emotionally exhausted most days as she routinely met with “dispiriting, soul-crushing barriers”. Ontario can and must do better. We owe it to all Ontarians with disabilities, including students.