Many barriers that people with disabilities face are physical or architectural barriers. Physical barriers happen when features of buildings or spaces limit people’s access. For instance, some physical disability barriers are:
Many mandates in the AODA are designed to help organizations recognize, prevent, or remove disability barriers. In our next series of articles, we will explore what some types of disability barriers are. Moreover, we will also consider how to recognize, prevent, and remove them.
Today is Remembrance Day.
Remembrance Day, celebrated on November 11th every year, honours the sacrifice of soldiers who have fought to protect Canada. Canadians pause in a moment of silence at 11:00 A.M. to remember the men and women who have served, and continue to serve Canada in times of war. In this moment of silence, people often remember soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for their country. In addition to these brave men and women, we should also spend some moments remembering veterans with disabilities.
In Part 1 of this article, we explained that every student should learn science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects in school. A strong background in these subjects can lead to more opportunities for careers. However, students with disabilities face many barriers to learning STEM and to pursuing career paths involving STEM. In Part 2, we discuss how teachers and support staff can work together to overcome these barriers.
The AODA does not yet have an education standard. Two committees are making recommendations about what an education standard should include. Our recent articles have considered how the education standards can build on requirements from the AODA’s existing standards. Now, we will explore new mandates that the education standards could create. One area that an education standard should address is an accessible Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) curriculum. Students with disabilities, including students with print disabilities, need STEM accessibility in school.
