A Guide to Parents Advocating for A Child with Disabilities in the School system – and – AODA 101 – An Introduction to the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance Update United for a Barrier-Free Society for All People with Disabilities
http://Web: www.aodaalliance.org Email: aodafeedback@gmail.com Twitter: @aodaalliance Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aodaalliance/
October 21, 2020
Here are two new captioned videos, available online to you, hot off the presses, that we encourage you to watch and share with others:
1. Tips for Parents of Students with Disabilities on How to Advocate For Your Child’s Needs at School
Are you the parent or guardian of a student with disabilities? Would you like very practical tips on how to advocate for your child’s disability-related needs at school? This captioned talk offers just that. It is aimed at parents or guardians whether they have no experience at all with this, or if they have some experience, but are looking for more ideas.
This talk is given by AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky. In addition to his efforts advocating for students with disabilities as the AODA Alliance chair, he is also a member and past chair of the Special Education Advisory Committee of the Toronto District School Board, Canada’s largest school board. He also serves as a member of the Government-appointed K-12 Education Standards Development Committee.
This new talk will be helpful to parents, grandparents, guardians and siblings of students with disabilities in the school system, or about to enter the school system. It will also be helpful to those working in the school system like teachers, principals, special education specialists, and school board administrative staff, as well as for those working at Ontario’s Ministry of Education. As well, any professionals outside the school system that work with students with disabilities and their families can benefit from this talk, such as physicians, psychologists, occupational therapists, autism ABA therapists, speech and language pathologists, and others. Faculties of Education could use this talk when training future teachers.
You can watch “Tips for Parents of Students with Disabilities on How to Advocate For Your Child’s Needs at School” by visiting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtadvCvcGC0
This talk does not go into the details of Ontario’s laws on special education. There is an excellent series of short videos on that topic from the ARCH Disability Law Centre and its partner in that project that you can find at https://inclusiveeducation.ca/advocacy-for-inclusion/
2. AODA 101 An Introduction to the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and How It Works
The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) has been on the books in Ontario since 2005. Yet many do not know what it is, what is says, why it was passed, and how it works. This video, entitled “AODA 101” gives a one-hour introduction to the AODA for those who know nothing about it, and for those who know some but would like to know more. It is also delivered by AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky, who led the decade-long campaign to get this law passed, from 1994 to 2005. You can find out more about that campaign on the legacy website of the Ontarians with Disabilities Act Committee, the AODA Alliance’s predecessor.
This talk will be helpful to people with disabilities, anyone who has people with disabilities among their family or friends, disability organizations big and small, government officials, elected politicians, candidates running for public office, and people working in businesses, school boards, hospitals, public transit authorities, or other organizations that must comply with the AODA. This lecture will also be helpful for people in other parts of Canada or the world, who want to see how Ontario’s AODA addresses the goal of making Ontario accessible to people with disabilities. It will be helpful for lawyers, but you certainly don’t need any training in law to enjoy this talk.
You can watch “AODA 101 An Introduction to the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act” by visiting https://youtu.be/zrPLb3N1DBQ
We encourage you to:
* Encourage others to watch these videos.
* Post these videos on your organization’s website, and share them through newsletters.
* Let others know about these videos through social media like Twitter and Facebook.
* Encourage your school and school board to let parents and families know about these issues.
These two new videos now form part of the growing series of AODA Alliance online captioned videos on a wide range of important topics relating to accessibility for people with disabilities. You can check out our video lecture series online. We are delighted that various of our videos have gotten an encouraging number of views. Several have been used in university courses and other educational programming. Everyone is free to make use of our videos.
We welcome your feedback on these videos and on any other related issue. Email us at aodafeedback@gmail.com