Reviews and new standards

AODA reviews

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) is reviewed every four years, and it has gone through three reviews since its enactment in 2005.

On March 7,2019 the Ford government made public former Lieutenant Governor David Onley’s report of the third review of the AODA that labelled Ontario as a mostly inaccessible province. University-relevant recommendations to the Ontario government included:

directing the standards development committees for K-12 and post-secondary education to resume work as soon as possible
revamping the Information and Communications standards to keep up with rapidly changing technology
creating a comprehensive website that organizes and provides links to trusted resources on accessibility

AODA standards are all included in the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation. The five standards are reviewed individually every five years following their enactment date. Standards that have a completed review, or are currently under review include:

Customer service:

first review completed; amendments added to this website

Information and communications:

Initial Recommendations Report made public with October 11, 2019 response deadline
- amendments added to website when enacted

Employment:

Initial Recommendations Report made public, no deadline set
- amendments added to website when enacted

Transportation:

the final proposed recommendations for the Transportation Standard were presented to minister responsible for accessibility, Tracey MacCharles, in January, 2018
- amendments added to website when enacted

New AODA standards

Accessible education:

It is especially important for the post-secondary education sector to become accessible to students with disabilities. A good post-secondary education is very important for getting a good job, or indeed getting a job at all. This is even more important for people with disabilities.

People with disabilities chronically face a substantially higher unemployment rate than the public does as a whole. Barriers in the post-secondary education system can only make this situation worse.

A strong and effective post-secondary Education Accessibility Standard is therefore an important measure for increasing employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

November 21, 2016: AODA Alliance releases initial discussion paper on what Education Standard could include
December 5, 2017: Premier Kathleen Wynne commits to creating Education Standard
- commitment includes establishment of two Educations Standards Development Committees (SDCs) to make recommendations on what Education Standard should look like:
  - K-12 public sector schools
  - post-secondary public sector schools
February 2018: Premier Wynne makes SDC directions public, first meetings begin
May 8, 2018: Education SDCs stop work when provincial election campaign officially begins
after June 7, 2018 Ontario election: Ontario government successive Premier, Doug Ford suspends work of SDCs
October 2019: K-12 Education Standards SDC back to work
- AODA Alliance submits final proposed framework for promised Education Standard to committee

Update:

Post-secondary SDC is back to work.

March 11, 2020: The AODA Alliance has drafted a Framework of ideas on what the SDC should recommend. This draft has gone public for feedback. Once feedback is completed, the draft will be presented to the SDC

Where can I learn more about the AODA and its standards?

AODA: AODA resources; guide to act; news articles; etc.
Accessibility Laws: provides regular updates to keep you current on AODA happenings
Council of Ontario Universities (COU) Accessible Campus: understanding accessibility; reference library; tools and resources
AODA Alliance: information about campaigns to support full and effective implementation of accessibility standards in Ontario; work to advance full participation of persons with disabilities in Ontario, through effectual accessibility standards development; latest news on AODA and Accessible Canada Act