Paradigm Shift: Extending thinking about accessibility beyond specific built environments and assistive technologies

Why the Considerations Should be Part of a Truly Progressive Society at Every Level


 
 
Society often thinks of and understands accessibility as being only necessary for the demographics of the population that need it, being those individuals who are part special populations. Individuals that comprise special populations are those who have visible and invisible disabilities, which are physical, or intellectual in nature. The types of accessibility considerations and complexity of assistive devices are numerous and nuanced, but what is even more important to understand is why establishing and garnering a knowledge base and system or framework of compliance is important for the larger society as a whole, whether one is a business owner, employee, or anyone in society. It is relevant to anyone because its parameters and stipulations allow for anyone to actively participate in and contribute to how the world progresses forward.

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) was mandated by the Government of Ontario in 2005 to ensure that all aspects of government and businesses both in the public and private sector have a framework that is grounded in underpinnings of accessibility. The Act relates to the following standards of: customer service, communication and its various applications and tools, transportation, built environment of public spaces and employment. The standards of the AODA Act are part of a larger stipulation called the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation (IASR) which requires that all companies, non-profit organizations, corporations and government organizations with more than 20 employees have an accessibility policy and plan in place and update it every 5 years, and make accessible considerations to procurement and customer service.  One of the most important realizations for companies/ corporations and employers to see, is the value add of individuals with disabilities to company culture. There are currently numerous courses and education modules available for all Canadian employers to implement to help adopt policy and practices related to accessibility and why and how it applies to facets of society, such as communication and resource development, for example.  Individuals with both visible and invisible disabilities represent a largely untapped pool of potential, and hiring them brings a strong and diverse skillset, high level of integrity and commitment to their work and willingness to learn new skills along with applying theirs to varying situations and team scenarios. According to Accessibility Services Canada and the Bank of Canada the increasing population of individuals with disabilities which is broad in its nature has an estimated spending power of 25 billion annually. The individuals who comprise this population are required to invest large amounts of money for their livelihoods which include tending to diverse daily and health needs, but also, they contribute to the overall improvement of society in every way. The Accessible Canada Act, which was instituted in 2019, coincides with AODA and both were mandated to establish the country as barrier free by 2040, and the goal is for it be this way, by establishing avenues to identify, remove, and prevent barriers. The Act relates to societal aspects of governance, employment, public built environments, and methods of transportation.

With legislation instituted to regulate accessibility, it is commonly assumed that it is enforced, and there are few barriers and misunderstandings of its importance, however this is not the case. Numerous businesses, both of which are privately held as well as larger corporations fall behind in maintaining, adhering to, and updating both the policies and practices that constitute an accessible workplace and employment culture. The gaps that exist in the adherence of accessibility standards exist often because employers and companies or social jurisdictions are missing the person-first informed perspective of an employee or someone who is a consumer of their services with a disability. It’s crucial to understand that an organization, small business, corporation, and any public entity should prioritize becoming and adhering to accessible policies, procedures and practices, not for the purposes of checking a compliance box, but to ensure that they serve all individuals equitably and are aware of changes that need to be enforced and/ or made to built environments such as for example, ramps to access entry ways, wave to open door switches, wider door frames, lower counter tops to serve customers and clients, and grab bars, for example. Another aspect of accessibility to comply to, is communication. There should be mechanisms such as enlarged computer print/ text on documents, captions on Social Media content and person- centered communication that doesn’t identify an individual as being defined by a physical or intellectual challenge within companies and any public space.
 


Societal culture operates in such a way where its consumers, patrons, leaders, and all citizens, need to be alerted to a problem for some form of change to occur. What must occur in relation to the understanding of accessibility in its meaning, importance, and implementation of practices and creation of environments that uphold its true standards, is a paradigm shift. A call-to-action that leads all to understand accessibility not as only necessary for specialized environments such as hospitals, medical centres, clinics, recreational facilities that are solely for the demographic that has visible physical disabilities, and adapted parks and other environments but where it includes all public spaces, locations where daily necessities are performed, such as grocery shopping, and banking for example, and where assistive technologies create a sense of comfort and ease of use, and empower both those with varying needs as well as their neighboring citizens, peers, and colleagues. As a society that hungers for innovation and consistently looks to create conditions where nothing stagnates, we need to perceive accessibility as the mechanism for progressive policies, fundamental procedures, and attitudinal innovation.