AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky Files Another Freedom of Information Application to Get Needed Information on AODA Implementation and Enforcement
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance Update United for a Barrier-Free Ontario for All People with Disabilities http://www.aodaalliance.org aodafeedback@gmail.com Twitter: @aodaalliance
April 19, 2018
SUMMARY
1. Immediate Fall-out from the Release of the AODA Alliance’s Report on Five Years of Lax AODA Enforcement
Ontario’s continued lax enforcement of provincial accessibility legislation shows independent agency is needed, critics say.
Lawyer David Lepofsky, who is blind, is chair of the AODA Alliance, a non-partisan coalition that monitors progress on the province’s Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. He wants to see enforcement assigned to an independent, arms-length public agency. By Laurie MonsebraatenSocial Justice Reporter
Wed., April 18, 2018
ACCESSIBILITY FOR ONTARIANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT ALLIANCE
NEWS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 18, 2018 Toronto: The Wynne Government has known of five consecutive years of rampant violations of Ontario’s disability accessibility law, but still hasn’t taken the effective enforcement action that 1.9 million Ontarians with disabilities need. This is so, even though each year it leaves unspent large amounts of budgeted funds that could have been used to beef up this legislation’s enforcement. That is the conclusion of a detailed report, set out below, on the enforcement of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, which has just been released by the AODA Alliance, a widely-respected non-partisan disability coalition that spearheads the campaign in Ontario for accessibility for people with disabilities.
The City of Ottawa has tightened its rules on service animals, but there are still concerns that some people could take advantage of the designation to get special treatment for pets they regard as “support animals.”
City council amended the Animal Care and Control Bylaw on March 28 to include stricter requirements for documentation from health professionals to prove a person’s need for a trained service animal, and detailing of how the animal must be identified.
By Susan Gonzalez
April 10, 2018
As a molecular biophysics and biochemistry major, Yale sophomore Brennan Carman has encountered websites and online course materials that relay scientific information via graphs, diagrams, and pictures. For Carman, who is visually impaired and uses screen-reading or magnifying software, accessing that information can take double the time to get through and often longer.
