AODA Alliance’s Video Series on Accessibility Barriers that Still Plague People with Disabilities in the Built Environment

Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance Update

United for a Barrier-Free Ontario for All People with Disabilities

Website: www.aodaalliance.org

Email: aodafeedback@gmail.com

Twitter: @aodaalliance

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aodaalliance

TikTok @AODAAlliance

 

AODA Alliance’s Video Series on Accessibility Barriers that Still Plague People with Disabilities in the Built Environment

 

SUMMARY

 

What accessibility barriers obstruct people with disabilities who want to get around in the built environment, inside and outside buildings? Why do these barriers persist? Most think it violates the Ontario Building Code to build a building that has accessibility barriers. Sadly this is not true.

 

The AODA Alliance has been campaigning for years to achieve an accessible built environment. This campaign has included creating videos that document accessibility blunders in the built environment.

 

Here is a list of all the videos that the AODA Alliance has publicly posted, and that are open to anyone to view, regarding recurring accessibility barriers that face people with disabilities in the built environment. This video series will help anyone who wants to learn about this issue and do something about it. It is especially important since design professionals, such as architects, landscape engineers, interior designers and urban planners don’t need to know how to design an accessible built environment to be qualified to work in those fields. That is a systemic problem that should have been corrected decades ago.

 

 

Below, you will first find a quick guide to the video series. It lists the titles of all the videos. Next, we give you a detailed video-by-video guide. For each video, we give you the title, a description of it, the link to the video, and a list of helpful resources for those who would like more information about it.

 

You can enjoy and use these videos, whether or not you are in Ontario or even in Canada, and whether or not you know much about disability issues.

 

These videos will interest you if:

 

• You work in any capacity in the area of designing the built environment, such as architects, facilities departments of public or private sector organizations, urban planners, interior designers or landscape engineers.

 

• You want to learn about disability rights, disability advocacy or the history of our disability rights movement.

 

• You want to advocate on disability rights, or on the rights of people with disabilities, and want to see this advocacy in action, to learn how it is done.

 

• You are a member of a municipal Accessibility Advisory Committee.

 

• You are a lawyer, law student, or future lawyer or law student, who wants to learn about disability rights legal issues.

 

• You work in the field of disability accessibility.

 

• You work at a disability community organization of any sort.

 

• You are involved in social justice or Equity, Diversity and Inclusion work, and want your efforts to fully include people with disabilities as an equality-seeking group.

 

• You teach architecture, interior design, urban planning, landscape engineering or any other built environment design field, law, politics, public or social policy, disability issues, human rights and discrimination, social justice, social work, history, or political science.

 

Some of our videos have been used in schools, and in college and university courses. We invite anyone teaching in schools, colleges, universities or any continuing professional education to use all or part of these videos, in courses you teach. If you are looking for added reading materials for a lesson, check out the related resources we identify for each video.

How You Can Help

 

• Watch any of these videos that may interest you and encourage others to do so.

 

• Circulate this list of our video series to any organization, politician, or media that you think would benefit from them. Encourage teachers and professors to use them in courses.

 

• Send us your feedback. We always like to hear what people have to say, and how they use resources like these. Write us at aodafeedback@gmail.com

 

• These videos are just part of the much larger collection of online videos in which we have been involved, and which, in combination have been viewed over 100,000 times. Look for them, for additions to this video series, and for future video series as we release them, by visiting the AODA Alliance website’s videos page.

 

Additional Useful Resources

 

In addition to the additional resources listed after each video, here are general resources that can help in this area:

 

• The AODA Alliance website’s built environment page

 

• The second episode of Disability Rights and Wrongs — The David Lepodcast, featuring an interview with accessible built environment expert Thea Kurdi, available wherever you get your podcasts, such as Apple Music and Spotify.

 

• Thea Kurdi’s 2019 TEDx article: Top insider secrets about what’s stopping full inclusion in design and how you can help fix them. An in-depth examination of how well we’re actually doing on accessible design and what’s getting in the way of progress.

 

• Thea Kurdi’s LivABLE Design conference presentation: What is Adaptable, Visitable, and Universal Housing? And why this kind of housing is the best investment and most sustainable design solution we need. Content rich with practical tips and many free resources.

 

• Thea Kurdi’s 2020 guest lecture webinar at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture: Applying Accessible Design Beyond Checklists. This lecture focuses on practical tips to creating usable design because accessible checklist compliance just creates islands or pockets of access, not actual inclusion. 

 

• Thea Kurdi’s a11yTO Conference webinar presentation, Dec 2020: Designing Functional Usable Accessibility. This presentation covers materials still not included in design education or required by building code legislation. Full of practical tips and experience informed strategies that also address the attitudinal barriers that too often sabotage successful accessibility from the start.

 

• Thea Kurdi’s Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) Accessibility in Urban Planning webinar, Dec 2020: How do we create usable connections between accessible housing and workplaces, healthcare, shopping, education, and community? This free resource was made to help not only urban planners and landscape designers, but also policy writers, accessibility advisory members, activists and regular people. Too often our streets, transit, recreational paths create or include barriers that are easy to avoid and far less expensive to prevent.

 

• Thea Kurdi’s free webinar: Understanding Canadian Legislation Accessibility History and the Built Environment Jan 2021. This covers the timeline of building legislation and reviews the problems and misunderstandings that got in the way from delivering what was promised.

 

 

Quick Guide

 

1. Tackling Disability Accessibility Barriers in the Built Environment February 7, 2017

 

2. The Agenda with Steve Paikin – Fighting for a Barrier-Free Ontario

 

3. Accessibility Problems at the Centennial College Culinary Arts Centre November 29, 2016 (6 Minute Version & 18 Minute Version)

 

4. Accessibility Problems at Ryerson University’s New Student Learning Centre October 29, 2017 (12 Minute Version, 30 Minute Version & 5 Minute Version)

 

5. Accessibility Problems at New Toronto Area Public Transit Stations (Short Version)

 

6. Accessibility Problems at New Toronto Area Public Transit Stations (Long Version)

 

7. Accessibility Problems at New Toronto Area Public Transit Stations (2 Minute Version)

 

8. Accessibility Problems at New Toronto Area Public Transit Stations (4 minute Version)

 

9. Billion Dollar Accessibility Bungle: Accessibility Problems at the New Toronto Courthouse: Long Version

 

10. Billion Dollar Accessibility Bungle: Accessibility Problems at the New Toronto Courthouse: Short Version

 

11. Billion Dollar Accessibility Bungle: Accessibility Problems at the New Toronto Courthouse: 4 Minute Trailer

 

12. Toronto’s New Dangerous Bike Path on a Midtown Sidewalk Inexcusably Endangers Blind Pedestrians

 

13. Introduction to the Duty to Accommodate People with Disabilities

 

 

Detailed Guide

 

Video 1) Title: Tackling Disability Accessibility Barriers in the Built Environment February 7, 2017

Link to video: https://youtu.be/ZuxMCH6KY5Y

Description: In this captioned lecture to architecture students at the University of Waterloo Faculty of Architecture, David Lepofsky, along with accessibility specialist Thea Kurdi of DesignABLE Environments, address the pressing and too-often unmet need to ensure that those who design the built environment to ensure that full accessibility is designed in for people with disabilities. Practical examples are given. It would be great if all design professionals and all those studying to be design professionals would watch this video.

Related resources:

• The AODA Alliance videos on accessibility problems in the Centennial College Culinary Arts Centre (link here), and the Ryerson University Student Learning Centre (link here), included in this video series.
• The October 4, 2012 AODA Alliance brief on improvements needed in the Public Spaces Accessibility Standard to be enacted under the AODA, available at this link.
• The March 25, 2013 AODA Alliance brief to the Ontario Government on needed improvements to the #accessibility provisions of the Ontario Building Code, available at this link.
• The July 31, 2017 AODA Alliance/ARCH Disability Law Centre brief on needed improvements to the 2011 Transportation Accessibility Standard, part of the 2011 Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation, available at this link. That brief recommended, among other things, the enactment of requirements for the built environment in transportation stations and stops.

 

Video 2) Title: The Agenda with Steve Paikin – Fighting for a Barrier-Free Ontario

Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8MDvJ3cGUE

Description: On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the birth of Ontario’s non-partisan grassroots movement campaigning for accessibility legislation Ontario’s flagship public affairs TV program, TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin, interviewed Osgoode Hall Law School visiting professor and AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky and Thea Kurdi, an accessibility consultant specializing in making the built environment accessible to people with disabilities (with DesignAble Environments). This interview focused in large part on disability barriers in the built environment.

Related resources:

• AODA Alliance December 3, 2019 Queen’s Park News Conference to Mark the 25th Anniversary of the Birth of Ontario’s Non-Partisan Grassroots Movement Campaigning for Disability Accessibility Legislation
• Speeches at Dec 3 2019 Queen’s Park Birthday Party Marking 25 Years of Ontario’s Grassroots Movement
• AODA Alliance Built Environment web page.
• Accessibility Problems at Ryerson University Student Learning Centre (Short Version).
• Accessibility Problems at New Toronto Area Public Transit Stations (Short Version).

Video 3) Title: Accessibility Problems at the Centennial College Culinary Arts Centre November 29, 2016

Link to the 6 minute version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRmVBmOy6xg&t=28s

Link to the 18 minute version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgfrum7e-_0&t=87s

Description: In this widely viewed captioned video, AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky narrates a tour of significant accessibility problems in the brand-new Centennial College Culinary Arts Centre. This shows why Ontario needs strong accessibility provisions on the accessibility of the built environment in the Ontario Building Code and AODA accessibility standards. This video has secured great media coverage.

Related resources:

• The November 29, 2016 AODA Alliance Update, unveiling this video, on the 22^nd anniversary of Ontario’s grassroots accessibility movement, available at this link.
• Media coverage of this video in the Toronto Star (link here), and on CBC national TV news (link here).
• The February 7, 2017 lecture by David Lepofsky and Thea Kurdi, later in this video series, at the University of Waterloo Faculty of Architecture, on disability barriers in the built environment (which included this video), available at this link.

 

Video 4) Title: Accessibility Problems at Ryerson University’s New Student Learning Centre October 29, 2017

Link to the 12 minute version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oe4xiKknt0&feature=youtu.be

Link to the 30 minute version: https://youtu.be/uqUZ6gK9N9k

Link to the 2.5 minute version: https://youtu.be/O9gCG33icCA (Edited by the Toronto Star)

Description: In this widely watched captioned video, released on October 29, 2017, David Lepofsky takes viewers on a narrated tour of serious accessibility problems at h Ryerson University’s new Student Learning Centre. This video, along with the video described earlier in this video series regarding the accessibility problems at the new Centennial College Culinary Arts Centre, shows that Ontario needs to strengthen the accessibility provisions regarding the built environment in the Ontario Building Code and AODA accessibility standards. This video has secured great media coverage and a great number of views on the internet.

Related resources:

• The October 29, 2017 AODA Alliance news release, announcing this video on the 19^th anniversary of the Ontario Legislature’s landmark October 29, 1998 resolution, available at this link. That resolution unanimously adopted the disability movement’s 11 principles for a strong Ontario accessibility law.
• CITY TV’s October 29, 2017 news report on the AODA Alliance video on the Ryerson Student Learning Centre, available at this link.
• The Toronto Star’s November 2, 2017 article on the AODA Alliance video on the Ryerson Student Learning Centre, available at this link.
• The November 3, 2017 Global TV news report on the AODA Alliance Ryerson Student learning Centre video, available at this link.
• The AODA Alliance’s November 29, 2016 video on disability accessibility barriers at the new Centennial College Culinary Arts Centre, included earlier in this video series, and available at this link.
• The February 7, 2017 lecture, earlier in this video series, by David Lepofsky and Thea Kurdi at the University of Waterloo Faculty of Architecture on designing an accessible built environment, available at this link.

 

Video 5) Title: Accessibility Problems at New Toronto Area Public Transit Stations (Short Version)

Link to video: https://youtu.be/za1UptZq82o

Description: AODA Alliance chair David Lepofsky guides you through accessibility problems in a series of new and renovated public transit stations in Ontario. These show Ontario’s accessibility laws and Building Code are too weak and that design professionals need better accessibility training. This video has been used to alert senior public officials in Government and public transit, and design professionals, about the need to design the built environment to be fully accessible, well beyond what is required under the Ontario Building Code and current inadequate Ontario accessibility standards. This 16 minute video is also available in very condensed 2 minute, 4 minute versions and in a much more detailed 30 minute version.

Related resources:

• 2 minute teaser – Accessibility Problems at New Toronto Area Public Transit Stations
• 4 minute version: Accessibility Problems at New Toronto Area Public Transit Stations
• Accessibility Problems at New Toronto Area Public Transit Stations (Long Version)
• The AODA Alliance website’s Transportation web page
• The AODA Alliance website’s Built Environment web page
• Lecture 1: A personal Perspective on the 1980-82 Advocacy to Amend the Canadian Charter of Rights to Protect Disability Equality
• Lecture 2: History of the 1994-2005 Grassroots Campaign to Win the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act
• Lecture 3: Designing the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act from 2003 to 2005 – What Regulatory Powers Should a Strong Disability Accessibility Law Include?
• Lecture 4: From 2005 to 2014, What Progress in Ontario Towards Full Accessibility for People with Disabilities?
• Lecture 5: Ontario’s Slow Progress Toward Fully Accessible Transportation for People with Disabilities -The Challenge of Getting Accessibility Barriers in Ontario’s Transportation System Removed and Prevented
• Brief of the AODA Alliance to the Ontario Government on its September 2, 2010 Summary of the Proposed Integrated Accessibility Standard
• July 31, 2017 – Brief to the Ontario Transportation Standards Development Committee on Revisions to the 2011 Ontario Transportation Accessibility Standard Enacted under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act

 

Video 6) Title: Accessibility Problems at New Toronto Area Public Transit Stations (Long Version)

Link to video: https://youtu.be/2VZLGGfFg1g

Description: AODA Alliance chair David Lepofsky guides you through accessibility problems in a series of new and renovated public transit stations in Ontario. These show Ontario’s accessibility laws and Building Code are too weak and that design professionals need better accessibility training. This video has been used to alert senior public officials in Government and public transit, and design professionals, about the need to design the built environment to be fully accessible, well beyond what is required under the Ontario Building Code and current inadequate Ontario accessibility standards. This 30 minute video is the most detailed version. It is also available in very condensed 2 minute, 4 minute versions and in a 16 minute version.

Related resources:

• 2 minute teaser – Accessibility Problems at New Toronto Area Public Transit Stations
• 4 minute version: Accessibility Problems at New Toronto Area Public Transit Stations
• Accessibility Problems at New Toronto Area Public Transit Stations (Long Version)
• The AODA Alliance website’s Transportation web page
• The AODA Alliance website’s Built Environment web page
• Lecture 1: A personal Perspective on the 1980-82 Advocacy to Amend the Canadian Charter of Rights to Protect Disability Equality
• Lecture 2: History of the 1994-2005 Grassroots Campaign to Win the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act
• Lecture 3: Designing the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act from 2003 to 2005 – What Regulatory Powers Should a Strong Disability Accessibility Law Include?
• Lecture 4: From 2005 to 2014, What Progress in Ontario Towards Full Accessibility for People with Disabilities?
• Lecture 5: Ontario’s Slow Progress Toward Fully Accessible Transportation for People with Disabilities -The Challenge of Getting Accessibility Barriers in Ontario’s Transportation System Removed and Prevented
• Brief of the AODA Alliance to the Ontario Government on its September 2, 2010 Summary of the Proposed Integrated Accessibility Standard
• July 31, 2017 – Brief to the Ontario Transportation Standards Development Committee on Revisions to the 2011 Ontario Transportation Accessibility Standard Enacted under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act

 

Video 7) Title: Accessibility Problems at New Toronto Area Public Transit Stations (2 minute Version)

Link to video: https://youtu.be/y7111_apq48

Description: AODA Alliance chair David Lepofsky guides you through accessibility problems in a series of new and renovated public transit stations in Ontario. These show Ontario’s accessibility laws and Building Code are too weak and that design professionals need better accessibility training. Longer versions of this video have been used to alert senior public officials in Government and public transit, and design professionals, about the need to design the built environment to be fully accessible, well beyond what is required under the Ontario Building Code and current inadequate Ontario accessibility standards. This video is also available in 4 minute, 16 minute and 30 minute versions.

Related resources:

• 2 minute teaser – Accessibility Problems at New Toronto Area Public Transit Stations
• 4 minute version: Accessibility Problems at New Toronto Area Public Transit Stations
• Accessibility Problems at New Toronto Area Public Transit Stations (Long Version)
• The AODA Alliance website’s Transportation web page
• The AODA Alliance website’s Built Environment web page
• Lecture 1: A personal Perspective on the 1980-82 Advocacy to Amend the Canadian Charter of Rights to Protect Disability Equality
• Lecture 2: History of the 1994-2005 Grassroots Campaign to Win the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act
• Lecture 3: Designing the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act from 2003 to 2005 – What Regulatory Powers Should a Strong Disability Accessibility Law Include?
• Lecture 4: From 2005 to 2014, What Progress in Ontario Towards Full Accessibility for People with Disabilities?
• Lecture 5: Ontario’s Slow Progress Toward Fully Accessible Transportation for People with Disabilities -The Challenge of Getting Accessibility Barriers in Ontario’s Transportation System Removed and Prevented
• Brief of the AODA Alliance to the Ontario Government on its September 2, 2010 Summary of the Proposed Integrated Accessibility Standard
• July 31, 2017 – Brief to the Ontario Transportation Standards Development Committee on Revisions to the 2011 Ontario Transportation Accessibility Standard Enacted under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act

 

Video 8) Title: Accessibility Problems at New Toronto Area Public Transit Stations (4 minute Version)

Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrk5jRYpmfA&feature=youtu.be

Description: AODA Alliance chair David Lepofsky guides you through accessibility problems in a series of new and renovated public transit stations in Ontario. These show Ontario’s accessibility laws and Building Code are too weak and that design professionals need better accessibility training. This video has been used to alert senior public officials in Government and public transit, and design professionals, about the need to design the built environment to be fully accessible, well beyond what is required under the Ontario Building Code and current inadequate Ontario accessibility standards. This video is also available in a very condensed 2-minute version, as well as more detailed 16 and 30 minute versions.

Related resources:

• 2 minute teaser – Accessibility Problems at New Toronto Area Public Transit Stations
• 4 minute version: Accessibility Problems at New Toronto Area Public Transit Stations
• Accessibility Problems at New Toronto Area Public Transit Stations (Long Version)
• The AODA Alliance website’s Transportation web page
• The AODA Alliance website’s Built Environment web page
• Lecture 1: A personal Perspective on the 1980-82 Advocacy to Amend the Canadian Charter of Rights to Protect Disability Equality
• Lecture 2: History of the 1994-2005 Grassroots Campaign to Win the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act
• Lecture 3: Designing the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act from 2003 to 2005 – What Regulatory Powers Should a Strong Disability Accessibility Law Include?
• Lecture 4: From 2005 to 2014, What Progress in Ontario Towards Full Accessibility for People with Disabilities?
• Lecture 5: Ontario’s Slow Progress Toward Fully Accessible Transportation for People with Disabilities -The Challenge of Getting Accessibility Barriers in Ontario’s Transportation System Removed and Prevented
• Brief of the AODA Alliance to the Ontario Government on its September 2, 2010 Summary of the Proposed Integrated Accessibility Standard
• July 31, 2017 – Brief to the Ontario Transportation Standards Development Committee on Revisions to the 2011 Ontario Transportation Accessibility Standard Enacted under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act

 

Video 9) Title: Billion Dollar Accessibility Bungle: Accessibility Problems at the New Toronto Courthouse: Long Version

Link to Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvo9jYIUvSc

Description: The new Toronto Armoury Street Courthouse, which opened in the first half of 2023 and which cost almost 1 billion dollars, has serious disability accessibility problems, as this video reveals. Said to be Canada’s largest courthouse, this mega-courthouse, which includes some 63 criminal courtrooms, totally or partially replaces 6 criminal trial courthouses around Toronto. Narrated by blind Toronto lawyer and disability rights advocate David Lepofsky, Chair of the non-partisan Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance, this video shows that this is a billion dollar accessibility bungle. This video will interest anyone concerned with disability rights, architecture, design of the built environment, equality or social justice. This long version provides detailed explanations of just some of this courthouse’s disability accessibility problems. A short version of this video more briefly summarizes these disability accessibility problems.

Related resources:

• Video: The Billion Dollar bungle – Serious Disability Barriers in the New Toronto Courthouse 14 minute version
• 4 minute trailer.
• The AODA Alliance’s August 8, 2024 news release, making this video public.
• Video: The August 20, 2024 Global News report on disability barriers in the new Toronto Courthouse.
• The AODA Alliance website’s courts accessibility page.
• Video: Making Courts and Mediations Accessible for People with Disabilities
• Video: Introduction to the duty to accommodate people with disabilities
• The Weiler Committee Report: “MAKING ONTARIO’S COURTS FULLY ACCESSIBLE TO PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES”
• September 13, 2024 column by AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky in the Toronto Star’s Metroland publications about the disability barriers in Toronto’s new Armoury Street courthouse.
• Front page news coverage of the AODA Alliance’s video about the new Toronto courthouse in the September 17, 2024 edition of the Toronto Star.

 

Video 10) Title: Billion Dollar Accessibility Bungle: Accessibility Problems at the New Toronto Courthouse: Short Version

Link to Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6XNVMoUmB8

Description: Toronto’s new Armoury Street courthouse, which opened in the first half of 2023 and which cost almost 1 billion dollars, has serious disability accessibility problems, as this video reveals. Said to be Canada’s largest courthouse, this mega-courthouse, which includes some 63 criminal courtrooms, totally or partially replaces 6 criminal courthouses around Toronto. Narrated by blind Toronto lawyer and disability rights advocate David Lepofsky, Chair of the non-partisan Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance, this video shows that this is a billion dollar accessibility bungle. This video will interest anyone concerned with disability rights, architecture, design of the built environment, equality or social justice. This short version is a summary of just some of this building’s accessibility problems. A long version is also available, which provides a more detailed description of just some of this building’s accessibility problems. This is a 14 minute summary of the long version of this video.

Related Resources

• Video: The Billion Dollar bungle – Serious Disability Barriers in the New Toronto Courthouse long version.
• 4 minute trailer
• The AODA Alliance’s August 8, 2024 news release, making this video public.
• Video: The August 20, 2024 Global News report on disability barriers in the new Toronto Courthouse.
• The AODA Alliance website’s courts accessibility page.
• Video: Making Courts and Mediations Accessible for People with Disabilities
• Video: Introduction to the duty to accommodate people with disabilities
• The Weiler Committee Report: “MAKING ONTARIO’S COURTS FULLY ACCESSIBLE TO PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES”
• September 13, 2024 column by AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky in the Toronto Star’s Metroland publications about the disability barriers in Toronto’s new Armoury Street courthouse.
• Front page news coverage of the AODA Alliance’s video about the new Toronto courthouse in the September 17, 2024 edition of the Toronto Star.

 

Video 11) Title: Billion Dollar Accessibility Bungle: Accessibility Problems at the New Toronto Courthouse: 4 Minute Trailer

Link to video: https://youtu.be/hViGUVoj_iM

Description: The new Toronto Armoury Street Courthouse, which opened in the first half of 2023 and which cost almost 1 billion dollars, has serious disability accessibility problems, as this video reveals. Said to be Canada’s largest courthouse, this mega-courthouse, which includes some 63 criminal courtrooms, totally or partially replaces 6 criminal trial courthouses around Toronto. Narrated by blind Toronto lawyer and disability rights advocate David Lepofsky, Chair of the non-partisan Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance, this video shows that this is a billion dollar accessibility bungle. This video will interest anyone concerned with disability rights, architecture, design of the built environment, equality or social justice. This long version provides detailed explanations of just some of this courthouse’s disability accessibility problems. A short version of this video more briefly and a longer version more extensively reveal these disability accessibility problems.

Related resources:

• Video: The Billion Dollar bungle – Serious Disability Barriers in the New Toronto Courthouse 14 minute version or 50 minute version.
• The AODA Alliance’s August 8, 2024 news release, making this video public.
• Video: The August 20, 2024 Global News report on disability barriers in the new Toronto Courthouse.
• The AODA Alliance website’s courts accessibility page.
• Video: Making Courts and Mediations Accessible for People with Disabilities
• Video: Introduction to the duty to accommodate people with disabilities
• The Weiler Committee Report: “MAKING ONTARIO’S COURTS FULLY ACCESSIBLE TO PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES”
• September 13, 2024 column by AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky in the Toronto Star’s Metroland publications about the disability barriers in Toronto’s new Armoury Street courthouse.
• Front page news coverage of the AODA Alliance’s video about the new Toronto courthouse in the September 17, 2024 edition of the Toronto Star.

 

Video 12) Title: Toronto’s New Dangerous Bike Path on a Midtown Sidewalk Inexcusably Endangers Blind Pedestrians

Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJuF8-EbOME

Description: A new sidewalk was built on a busy midtown Toronto street, with a dangerous bike path on the sidewalk, not at road level. This endangers blind pedestrians and others, flying in the face of the right to equality which several laws guarantee people with disabilities. AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky shows why this sidewalk is so dangerous, and what must be done to fix it.

Related Resources:

• AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky’s May 2, 2024 deputation to the City of Toronto Infrastructure and Environment Committee, calling for a ban on building bike paths on sidewalks.
• The AODA Alliance’s October 15, 2024 news release on Ontario’s proposed bike path legislation.
• The AODA Alliance’s October 28, 2024 news release on Ontario’s bike path legislation.
• AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofskys October 23, 2024 column in the Toronto Star’s Metroland publications.
• The AODA Alliance’s April 30, 2024 brief to the Toronto Infrastructure and Environment Committee
• The AODA Alliance website’s built environment page

 

 

Video 13) Title: Introduction to the Duty to Accommodate People with Disabilities

Link to video: https://youtu.be/y32XvjWmDAQ

Description: Osgoode Hall Law School Visiting Professor of Disability Rights and Legal Education and AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky provides this one hour, captioned presentation that explains the content, meaning, and limits of the duty to accommodate people with disabilities in employment, goods, services, and facilities, under human rights/anti-discrimination legislation and under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This is aimed at people who don’t know much if anything about the details of the duty to accommodate people with disabilities.

Related resources:

• The Ontario Human Rights Code.