AODA standards mandate how organizations must make themselves accessible to people with disabilities. Moreover, the standards outline organizations’ responsibilities, and the deadlines they must meet. AODA Standards development committees are responsible for creating and maintaining the standards. For example, each committee consults extensively with the public to make recommendations to include in its proposed standards. The committee then submits its final recommendations to the minister in charge of the AODA. Finally, the minister must recommend to the Lieutenant Governor that the standard be accepted in whole, in part, or with modifications. The AODA Kindergarten to Grade Twelve (K-12) Education Standards Development Committee submitted its final recommendations to the government in 2022. However, the government has taken no more steps toward enacting AODA K-12 education standards.
Enacting AODA K-12 Education Standards
For instance, the Committee makes direct recommendations for preventing specific types of accessibility barriers in school:
- Attitudinal barriers
- Technology barriers
- Physical barriers, including for students with environmental sensitivities or autism
Furthermore, the Committee recommends implementing technical requirements for physical accessibility in schools, regardless of mandates in other codes. Likewise, The Committee recommends policies to increase funding for construction of accessible schools.
Recommendations for Curriculum Accessibility
In addition, the Committee makes recommendations to ensure that students with disabilities can access all aspects of curriculum, including:
- A barrier-free curriculum for students of all abilities and cultures
- Learning resources
- Face-to-face and online learning
- Instruction on disability and human rights
- Physical education programs
- Mental health education
- Indigenous education
- Curriculum based on universal design for learning (UDL) and differentiated instruction
- Assessments
- School-sponsored activities and events on and off school property
- School social activities
- Experiential learning programs
Training Recommendations
Moreover, the Committee recommends teacher training in a variety of areas, such as:
- AODA and human rights training for educators
- Assistive technology training, including:
- Professional development for educators of students with disabilities
- Advanced qualifications for teachers of visually impaired students
Recommended Accessible Programming and Placement of Students with Disabilities
Furthermore, the Committee makes recommendations to support students in all school programs and placements:
- Person-directed learning, including modified or alternative curriculum expectations
- Reducing streaming of students with disabilities
- Accessible education for students with all disabilities
- Creating and implementing individual education plans (IEPs), and distributing IEPs accessibly
- Assessments to ensure early accommodation
- Improvements for identification, placement, and review committees to align with human rights
Similarly, the Committee also recommends policies to support students’ access to education, including:
- Processes for consultation and training to implement requirements in the Standards
- Processes to transport students with disabilities, and to ensure the high quality of this transportation
- Procedures for allowing service animals in school
- Processes for enhancing engagement of students with disabilities
- Disability coach programs in school boards
- Workshops to stop bullying in school
- Policies for training and working with specialized professionals who support students with disabilities
- Limiting school exclusions of students with disabilities, and ensuring fair procedures for exclusions
- Policies to limit seclusion and physical restraint of students with disabilities
- A dispute resolution process
Communication and Accountability Recommendations
Furthermore, the Committee recommends mechanisms to promote communication and accountability within and between all parties in the school system:
- School board networks of staff and students with disabilities
- Human resources policies to enhance school accessibility
- Accessible communication within and between school boards
- Accountability in accessible education
- Collection of data about accessible teaching and learning
- School and school board accessibility committees
- Accessible resources on curriculum design
Recommendations for Emergency Preparedness and Response
Finally, the Committee makes recommendations promoting preparedness for and response to the impacts of large-scale emergencies on education:
- Accessible large-scale emergency response plans in education
- School board accessible large-scale emergency response plans
- Accessible large-scale emergency response review in education
- Preparing for emergency transitions to online learning, and for maintaining accessible education
- Debriefing large-scale emergency response in education
Currently, there are only five (5) AODA standards. Consequently, the government must enact standards in many more sectors, including K-12 education. In other words, enacting AODA K-12 education standards is a crucial step toward meeting the AODA’s goal of an accessible province by 2025. In contrast, if the government does not implement these recommendations, it will not meet the deadline mandated in its own law.