Whitby, ON, October 1, 2024 — Ontario businesses approaching disability inclusion and accessibility strictly from a narrow “compliance” mindset to meet standards under the 2005 Accessibility for Ontarians With Disabilities Act (AODA), and employment standards and human rights laws — are hindering the ability of their employees to achieve their full potential, and thereby hampering…
Author: Dean Askin
In North America, the disability inclusion conversation — the fight for equity — has been going on for over 50 years. In Canada — more specifically, in the province of Ontario — the name David C. Onley is synonymous with championing disability inclusion in employment, and accessibility. He was the first working television journalist in…
Advertising and disability. There’s a lot of both in North America. Eight per cent of the population in both the U.S. and Canada have a disability. In the U.S. that’s about 87 million people. In Canada, about eight million people. In the U.S., there’s an average of about eight minutes of television ads every hour…
There are over 1.2 million employer businesses in Canada. And almost 98% of them are small businesses, which employ about 5.7 million people. But surveys have shown that over half the small businesses in Canada have never hired someone who has a disability. They’ve never made the disability-inclusive hiring journey. In Episode 25 — the…
If you’ve ever looked for a stock photo portraying disability to use in a blog post or on a website page, you might find yourself thinking they all look the same; they all look contrived; and they don’t authentically portray disability in all its diversity. How disability is broadly viewed and perceived, can depend on…
In part two of our series on The State of Accessibility in Canada, we go from the bird’s-eye view to a closer look at accessibility — in branding, marketing, advertising and social media content created by businesses in Canada. This is an important conversation to have, because the accessibility of content for everyone can affect…
Community Living Ontario and the Ontario Disability Employment Network (ODEN) have published Tangled in Red Tape, a report showing the extent to which Ontario’s Employment Services Transformation has been impacted by underfunding and overwhelming administrative burdens. It has been five years since the provincial government announced its plan to make Ontario’s employment service system “more efficient,…
Accessibility is a single word that can have a lot of impact. Every day in Canada, indeed across North America and in countries around the world, many people — especially people who have a disability — face challenges in their daily lives because the built environment we all live in, generally isn’t all that accessible….
There are more than 200 universities, and more than 200 colleges and institutes in Canada. Certainly no lack of choice for young people looking to pursue post-secondary education. But there’s a problem on campuses across this country. It’s one affecting students, staff and faculty alike — a lack of accessibility and disability inclusion. Statistics show…
Filed under Inclusive Hiring, Youth Success, Youth Success Strategy Reading time: 2 minutes | Posted by Dean Askin Youth who have a disability face significant barriers and discrimination in seeking both the experiences needed to develop important skills and in obtaining paid employment. Common myths can make it difficult for these youth to achieve their…
