Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance Update United for a Barrier-Free Society for All People with Disabilities
Web: https://www.aodaalliance.org Email: aodafeedback@gmail.com Twitter: @aodaalliance Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aodaalliance/
June 24, 2021
SUMMARY
We today unveil another new video! This video gives you helpful information on how and why to give feedback on the disability barriers that face students with disabilities in Ontario schools. The Ontario Government is conducting a public consultation this summer, ending on September 2, 2021. It is gathering feedback from the public on the initial recommendations in this area that have been prepared by the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee and posted for public comment. This new video is available at https://youtu.be/yjQgOjRTZJ8
This public consultation is the first time in a generation or longer that the Ontario Government has taken a good look at Ontario’s school system from the perspective of students with disabilities. The AODA Alliance wants to help you have your say. This video will be helpful for you if you are: * a student with disabilities;
* a family member of students with disabilities;
* a teacher or other education staff;
* a school principal or vice principal, or school board administrator;
* a member of an Accessibility Advisory Committee or Special Education Advisory Committee; * connected with a disability community organization;
* teaching in a Faculty of Education, or
* studying in a Faculty of Education or Early Childhood Education.
The video is recorded by AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky. He is also a Visiting Professor of Disability Rights and Legal Education at the Osgoode Hall Law School. He is a member of the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee, and a member and past chair of the Special Education Advisory Committee of the Toronto District School Board.
We hope this video helps you decide whether to give feedback to the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee, and helps you think about what feedback to give. You could use all or part of it as part of a public forum to gather input for the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee. If you are part of a committee or group that is going to collectively give feedback, such as a Special Education Advisory Committee, your members might find it helpful to watch this video before going to a meeting to discuss the feedback that you wish to give to the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee.
This video is 49 minutes long. Some might only want to watch part of it. To help with this, we set out below links to each major heading or topic in the video. You can just jump right to the part that you find most helpful to you.
In the video, Lepofsky refers to various helpful resources for you to read, if you want more information. Below is a list of these resources, with links to them.
Please encourage others to watch this video. Publicize it on social media.
This video is now in the process of being captioned. This captioning (and not just Youtube’s automated captions) should be available in the next few days.
As this video makes clear, it was not produced by the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee. Did you find this video helpful? Write us at aodafeedback@gmail.com
MORE DETAILS
1. How to Jump Directly to Each Topic in This New Video
1. Start of the video: https://youtu.be/yjQgOjRTZJ8
2. What is the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act? What is an accessibility standard? (3:30: minutes) https://youtu.be/yjQgOjRTZJ8?t=210
3. What is the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee? (5 minutes): https://youtu.be/yjQgOjRTZJ8?t=285
4. What is the current public consultation? (6:50 minutes): https://youtu.be/yjQgOjRTZJ8?t=405
5. What can an accessibility standard include? (7:35 minutes): https://youtu.be/yjQgOjRTZJ8?t=455
6. Why do we need an Education Accessibility Standard? (8 minutes): https://youtu.be/yjQgOjRTZJ8?t=490
7. How to have your say. Different ways you can give your feedback to the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee up to September 2, 2021 (11 minutes): https://youtu.be/yjQgOjRTZJ8?t=660
8. What did the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee recommend in its initial report? Review of the 20 major themes in the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee initial recommendations (13:20 minutes): https://youtu.be/yjQgOjRTZJ8?t=800
9. Tips on what you can do right now to use the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee’s initial report, to get action to help students with disabilities (43 minutes): https://youtu.be/yjQgOjRTZJ8?t=2580
10. Conclusion and Further resources for more information and to help you give feedback (46:50): https://youtu.be/yjQgOjRTZJ8?t=2810
2. Key Background Resources
1. The entire 185-page K-12 Education Standards Development Committee initial report and initial recommendations on what the promised Education Accessibility Standard should include to make education in Ontario schools barrier-free for all students with disabilities.
2. The AODA Alliance’s 55-page condensed and annotated version of the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee initial report and recommendations.
3. The AODA Alliance’s 15-page summary of the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee initial report and recommendations.
4. The AODA Alliance’s action kit on how to give public feedback on the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee initial report and recommendations.
5. The June 16, 2021 AODA Alliance Update, setting out the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee’s recommendations for designing a barrier-free school building.
6. A captioned video of tips for parents of students with disabilities on how to advocate at school for their child’s needs. 7. For general background, the AODA Alliance website Education page.