Directorate of Ontario
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- Background and Context
- Objectives and Scope of the Engagement
- Methodology
- Jurisdictional Scan and Analysis
- Literature Review
- Emerging Trends and Issues
- Industry Leaders and Experts
- Leading Practices
10Introduction
The purpose of this Final Report is to summarize and analyze the results of secondary research gathered by KPMG LLP for an engagement with the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario (ADO) on accessibility in the transportation, healthcare and education sectors. This research will serve to support upcoming reviews of accessibility standards. The research and analysis included in this Final Report is focused on the education sector. Please see corresponding Final Reports on the transportation and healthcare sectors. In producing this Final Report, KPMG has summarized publicly available web information. KPMG has not independently verified the accuracy or completeness of the information. The research and opinions presented in the jurisdictional scan and literature review are attributed to the organizations, entities, authors and stakeholders cited and not the opinions of KPMG. As much as possible, terminology and definitions related to accessibility and disability used in this report is based on guidance from the ADO. However, KPMG has maintained the terminology for regulations, policies, and programs used by other jurisdictions, even if it differs from ADO guidance. Moreover, different terminology may also have been used to enhance search results as needed. The ADO is responsible for any and all decisions based on the findings from this Final Report and for considering their effects. Implementation of any resulting actions may require the ADO to plan and test any changes to ensure that the ADO will realize satisfactory results.
The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA) provides accessibility standards for both private and public sectors, with a goal to make Ontario accessible by 2025. With an ambitious agenda, standards are organized into Customer Service, Information and Communications, Employment, Transportation and Design of Public Spaces and have been implemented incrementally. The Accessibility Directorate of Ontario (ADO) was established to manage the implementation of the AODA by developing and enforcing the current accessibility standards. As part of the functions of the ADO and implementing the AODA, legislation requires that the effectiveness of the regulations, standards and policies be reviewed every four years and that all the standards be reviewed by a Standards Development Committee within five years of being enacted in regulation. The ADO intends to begin the review of the Transportation Standard in 2015. In order to meet current commitments and ensure accessibility for all Ontarians is achieved by 2025, the Ontario government has begun to shift focus to areas where the current standards can be improved, e.g. transportation, and areas where new standards need to be assessed and developed in order for barriers to be removed and the overall goals of the AODA reached, e.g. Healthcare and Education. Supported by the Minister’s 2014 Mandate Letter, developing new standards in the areas of Healthcare and Education was identified throughout the Moran review’s consultation process and serves as one of the report’s final recommendations.
The ADO engaged KPMG to undertake research services, including inter-jurisdictional scanning, identification of trends and emerging issues and identification of industry leaders and academic experts. The research questions guiding this project are:
This engagement included the following project deliverables: 
*In scope for the healthcare and education sectors only In May 2015, KPMG submitted Interim Reports for each sector, which included the first four deliverables listed above. Based on feedback from the ADO, additional research areas for all sectors as well as priority issues in transportation were identified. This Final Report includes the following: Summary and analysis of inter-jurisdictional research, including analysis of Ontario’s relative position Summary and analysis of industry trends and emerging issues Summary and profile information of industry leaders and experts Summary of literature review of barriers to accessibility (healthcare and education sectors) Detailed analysis of priority issues (transportation sector) The following is a list of jurisdictions examined during this engagement.
The methodology used for each of the deliverables in this Final Report is described below. “Accessibility” for the purpose of this research is defined as a measure of enabling access and removing barriers in the design of products, government services, built environment, day-to-day activities etc. for the people with disabilities or special needs. The definition of ‘Accessibility’ has been designed to fulfill the scope as per the project requirements for this engagement with the ADO. Jurisdictional Scan and AnalysisInformation related to the topic was researched on academic institutions, public services, and government websites etc., through general internet searches on Google. Further, information related to the topic was searched through a combination of keywords including (but not limited to): List of Jurisdictions (Alberta / British Columbia / Quebec / Canada / Germany / US / New York / Arizona / California / UK / Sweden / Spain / Germany / Australia) AND government education program for disabled Education programs for disabled AND List of Jurisdictions (Alberta / British Columbia / Quebec / Canada / Germany / US / New York / Arizona / California / UK / Sweden / Spain / Germany / Australia) List of Jurisdictions (Alberta / British Columbia / Quebec / Canada / Germany / US / New York / Arizona / California / UK / Sweden / Spain / Germany / Australia) AND Grants for students with disabilities List of Jurisdictions (Alberta / British Columbia / Quebec / Canada / Germany / US / New York / Arizona / California / UK / Sweden / Spain / Germany / Australia) AND regulations OR legislations OR acts OR law OR policy AND education sector OR schooling OR teaching AND Accessibility OR disability OR handicap List of Jurisdictions (Alberta / British Columbia / Quebec / Canada / Germany / US / New York / Arizona / California / UK / Sweden / Spain / Germany / Australia) AND Government education program for disabled OR Education programs for disabled OR Grants for students with disabilities AND education sector OR schooling OR teaching Grants OR Programs OR Initiatives AND List of Jurisdictions (Alberta / British Columbia / Quebec / Canada / Germany / US / New York / Arizona / California / UK / Sweden / Spain / Germany / Australia) AND education sector OR schooling OR teaching AND disabled OR Handicap OR accessibility Education legislation for students with disabilities AND List of Jurisdictions (Alberta / British Columbia / Quebec / Canada / Germany / US / New York / Arizona / California / UK / Sweden / Spain / Germany / Australia) Special Needs Education in AND List of Jurisdictions (Alberta / British Columbia / Quebec / Canada / Germany / US / New York / Arizona / California / UK / Sweden / Spain / Germany / Australia) Building / Web AND Accessibility regulations AND List of Jurisdictions (Alberta / British Columbia / Quebec / Canada / Germany / US / New York / Arizona / California / UK / Sweden / Spain / Germany / Australia) Transition of Students With Disabilities AND from primary to secondary / secondary to post-secondary school AND List of Jurisdictions (Alberta / British Columbia / Quebec / Canada / Germany / US / New York / Arizona / California / UK / Sweden / Spain / Germany / Australia) Regulations for transition of disabled students in AND List of Jurisdictions (Alberta / British Columbia / Quebec / Canada / Germany / US / New York / Arizona / California / UK / Sweden / Spain / Germany / Australia) After the collection and analysis of the jurisdictional research, comparisons were made to Ontario, which have been categorized into regulations and standards, policies and strategies, and programs. This included evaluating how Ontario fares relative to other jurisdictions, what gaps exist, what themes emerged and identification of unique or noteworthy practices. Literature ReviewThe literature review details the barriers to education encountered by people with disabilities, including accessibility and equity of service barriers. Sources from academic literature, as well as a range of organizations including advocacy groups, policy institutes, government committees and panels, industry organizations, and human rights and disability organizations are explored. The review is meant to be a literature review of materials published since 2008, rather than a comprehensive review of all material published on accessibility barriers. Priority has been given to materials published since 2008, however, earlier publications have been included, based off of their importance to the subject as a whole. The barriers identified are meant to be mutually exclusive and exhaustive from the material reviewed. Emerging Trends and IssuesThe analysis of emerging trends and issues was informed by jurisdictional research, literature and other publically available documents. Themes were identified based on common trends across all research methods or gaps between findings in the literature and the regulations, policies and programs in place in the jurisdictions examined. To supplement the trends and issues, specific examples were provided to give colour to the findings. Industry Leaders and ExpertsThis section of the report includes industry leaders and experts in accessible education. These profiles were compiled using secondary web based research. Leaders, experts, academics, institutes, consumer groups, associations, consultants and corporations were in scope for this section. These individuals or organizations should be further validated to better understand skills, experience and knowledge of access and equity in the education sector. Preference was given to entities/people who are not part of a Government of Ontario’s public accessibility related council/committee. Leading PracticesFinally, leading practices on enhancing accessibility in the education system for people with disabilities were identified based on the jurisdictional research, literature review and analysis of emerging trends and issues. A mix of regulations, policies and programs have been included, as well as notable practices that could warrant further investigation by the ADO. Directory: strong-effective-aoda strong-effective-aoda -> Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance Download 1.92 Mb. Share with your friends:
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