AODA Alliance’s 2025 Year-End Report to Our Many Supporters

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

 

AODA Alliance’s 2025 Year-End Report to Our Many Supporters

 

December 21, 2025

 

Introduction

 

This is the 108th and final AODA Alliance Update for 2025. That is the largest number of updates we have provided in a single year in the two decades since the AODA Alliance was launched in the second half of 2005. Here’s a roundup of some of our issues and activities over the past 12 months and a glimpse into what lies ahead in our non-partisan campaign for accessibility for people with disabilities.

 

Conventional Media and Social Media

 

Our issues got quite a bit of coverage in the media again this year. We fielded an incredible number of calls from news reporters seeking a comment on an issue, an interview with us, or just background on a disability-related story. We also garnered attention on issues that we took to the media as well.

 

Before it wrapped up its incredible run, the flagship Ontario public affairs program “The Agenda with Steve Paikin” included two editions this past year that included AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky as a guest. We posted online a video series of the 22 times we took part in episodes of that and related TVO programs.

 

Each month, an AODA Alliance column on disability issues appeared in the Toronto Star’s Metroland local publications across Ontario. We again pumped out our fair share of social media blasts on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, while taking early steps to add TikTok to our social media repertoire. Both conventional and social media play important roles in our advocacy efforts.

 

This year began with the cold and cruel reality that Ontario was still full of disability barriers despite the Government’s being required by the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act to lead the province to be accessible to people with disabilities by the start of 2025. We secured widespread media coverage focusing on this failure and on what must happen now to live up to the AODA’s ongoing requirements.

 

We kicked off the new year with a January 6, 2025, Queen’s Park news conference. We unveiled a 10-point Accessible Ontario Pledge that we called on the Ontario political parties to make. It details the actions we need as a result of the Government’s failure to fulfil its duty to lead Ontario to become accessible to people with disabilities by 2025.

 

Two Back-to-Back Elections

 

Early in the new year, we had to rally quickly to take active part in two successive exhausting elections, neither of which had been scheduled for this year. In January and February, we were embroiled in raising disability issues in the snap Ontario election which Premier Ford called over a year before his majority government had to go to the polls. Our election blitz was built around our Accessible Ontario Pledge.

 

All the major parties except the governing Conservatives made various commitments on disability accessibility in response to our request for the Accessible Ontario Pledge.

 

The January 10, 2025 AODA Alliance Update provided our assessment of the Ford Government’s record on disability accessibility while in power for six and a half years. We have done the same for previous governments in the past.

 

In March and April, we undertook a campaign in the snap federal election that Prime Minister Carney called shortly after the Ontario election wound up. This time, we promoted an “Accessible Canada Pledge” that we wanted the federal parties to make.

 

In both election campaigns, we drew on our accumulated expertise in non-partisan disability advocacy in elections over three decades, collaborating with other disability organizations. For example, we took active part in planning successful all-candidates debates on disability election issues in the Ontario election and later in the federal election.

 

A Brand-New Podcast on Disability Issues and How to Advocate

 

As a major new addition to our advocacy toolkit, this past September we launched a new podcast, hosted by Accessible Media Inc., called “Disability Rights and Wrongs — The David Lepodcast.” It aims to give listeners practical tips on how to advocate on disability issues in their own communities, especially for those who have never done so. Its lessons from the front lines are designed to also be helpful for anyone who wants to try to do advocacy on any social justice issue.

 

New episodes come out every three weeks on all major podcast platforms, like Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music and iHeart. Each episode is designed to be timely and helpful whenever you listen to them, in any order. They don’t become stale over time. We have already had downloads in Canada, the US, the UK, Australia, Ireland, Germany, New Zealand, Israel, Mexico, Sweden, Czech, El Salvador, Singapore, South Africa, Austria, and the Netherlands. Word of mouth seems to be an important way that people are learning about the podcast.

 

Our seven podcast episodes since September include:

 

  1. “The 12-Year Fight for Automated Stop Announcements on the TTC” about Lepofsky’s long struggle to make transit in Toronto accessible for blind riders” with host David Lepofsky.
  2. “Beyond Building Codes: Designing Spaces for Everyone” with guest built-environment accessible design expert Thea Kurdi
  3. “Smart Strategies, Real Change: Lessons from a Landmark Autism Campaign” covering how targeted advocacy resulted in policy change for autism therapies” with guest autism advocate Bruce McIntosh.
  4. “Turning Barriers into Headlines: Practical Tips from a Veteran News Reporter” with former journalist Michelle McQuigge.
  5. “How to get a Politician’s Attention Part 1” with the Honourable Kathleen Wynne, former Ontario Premier.
  6. “How to Get a Politician’s Attention Part 2” with the Honourable Kathleen Wynne, former Ontario Premier.

 

Advocating on Many Accessibility Fronts at the Same Time

 

We continued our advocacy on several disability fronts, including housing, employment, health care, transportation, education, the built environment, customer service, and the ongoing dangerous blight of electric scooters. As always, we had to be ready to leap into action when unexpected issues arose. After last spring’s federal election, Prime Minister Carney’s new Cabinet had no federal disability issues minister at the Cabinet table for the first time in a decade, an issue that received media coverage in many parts of Canada.

 

We submitted a brief last spring to the Government-appointed Customer Service Standards Development Committee on what its final report should recommend to the Ford Government for revisions to the 2007 AODA Customer Service Accessibility Standard. We have heard no word whether its final report was submitted to the Ford Government. The Government is required by the AODA to make that final report public upon the Government’s receiving it. Despite that clear statutory requirement, the Government has repeatedly delayed making Standards Development Committee reports public.

 

No Chance to Speak to the Ontario Legislature on Pressing Disability Issues

 

We requested opportunities to make oral presentations at the Legislature on important issues such as the Ford Government’s forthcoming budget. Bill 17 raises serious disability concerns regarding housing construction, and Bill 33 gives the Minister of Education more control over local school boards. We never got a chance to speak to the Legislature on these issues. We were not included in the pre-Budget hearings. The Government did not permit any hearings on Bill 17 or 33.

 

A Premier Who Still Won’t Meet

 

Once again over this past year, we had no meetings with the Ontario Premier Doug Ford or any of his Cabinet Ministers. Premier Ford has refused every request to meet since he took office in 2018. His Accessibility Minister has had no substantive meetings with us for several years. As has been the case for several years, his Minister’s office staff do not respond to our emails or phone calls.

 

The Accessibility Minister has not sought any advice or input from us for years. In contrast, we held several meetings with him and had extensive conversations with his Minister’s office staff in the first few years of Minister Cho’s serving in that portfolio. The Ford Government has not implemented the vast majority of reform recommendations in the 3rd Independent Review of the AODA by the late David Onley, released in 2019, or the 4th Independent Review by Rich Donovan, released in 2023.

 

Our Special Focus This Year on Education for Students with Disabilities

 

A major part of the AODA Alliance’s advocacy efforts in 2025 have focused on the recurring disability barriers that still confront students with disabilities in education, both in K-12 schools and in colleges and universities. Ontario’s school system has been all over the news for other reasons. This year, the Ford Government seized control of 6 of Ontario’s 72 school boards, ousting their elected school board trustees.

 

The Ontario Government is now directly running those school boards. It alone is responsible for the ongoing disability barriers impeding many students with disabilities. There is no indication when, if ever, that will come to an end or which other school boards, if any, the Government will also take over. The Government passed Bill 33, which makes it easier for the Education Minister to take over a school board, a power which Minister Paul Calandra swiftly used. The Minister is now micromanaging the boards whose elected trustees have been removed from office.

 

We took part in news conferences at Queen’s Park along with other disability advocacy organizations on January 23, 2025 to address inadequate special education funding and on November 10, 2025 to launch our “Better Call Paul” campaign. In six Ontario school boards, parents of students with disabilities can no longer call their elected school board trustees for help if they cannot get their child’s disability-related learning needs met at school. The Ford Government is considering abolishing elected trustees across Ontario. We therefore are urging parents to call Education Minister Paul Calandra directly to get help for their child. The catchy name of this blitz “Better Call Paul” has generated good public attention and positive feedback.

 

Among other things, our efforts this year on the education issue focused on these problems:

 

  • The Ontario Government’s continued practice of applauding itself for funding the construction of new school buildings while that same Government fails to require that these new schools be designed to be accessible to students, staff and family members with disabilities.
  • The Government’s failure to take action to rein in and regulate the use by schools of isolation or seclusion rooms after the horrific May 2024 death of Trenton High School student Landyn Ferris in one such room.
  • The unregulated, unfair, and arbitrary power of school principals to unilaterally exclude some students, including students with disabilities, from school for all or part of the school day.
  • The increased risks to students with disabilities of second-class educational services and supports in the growing number of Ontario school boards that the Ford Government seized control over, ousting their elected school board trustees.
  • The Ford Government’s actions that made it harder for parents of students with disabilities to have their shared concerns reach the public in school boards over which the Ford Government seized control.
  • The Ford Government’s chronic underfunding of education for students with disabilities and its multi-year failure to enact the promised Education Accessibility Standard under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.
  • The Ford Government’s ongoing refusal to include the voices of the disability community, including parents of students with disabilities, as it plans major restructuring of the school system in Ontario.

Going International Again

 

This year, the AODA Alliance’s message again went international. AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky was invited to give a series of lectures in New Zealand on strategies to ensure that the law, the legal profession, and the court system effectively serve the needs of people with disabilities. He addressed each of New Zealand’s six law schools, as well as giving separate talks for the New Zealand Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of New Zealand.

 

A grassroots coalition is campaigning for national New Zealand accessibility legislation. The AODA Alliance has been giving that coalition action tips for over a decade.

 

A Look Ahead

 

After a much-needed break, the AODA Alliance will again be ready to hit the ground running in 2026. We’re anticipating that we won’t have to face a provincial or federal election this year. However, next fall brings an election for each municipal government and for each school board’s trustees (unless the Ford Government eliminates the trustees all over Ontario as it is now contemplating). There will be important disability issues in those local elections.

 

We are expected to face increased efforts by the Ford Government to revamp the Ontario school system, and we will try to have our say in that, if allowed in the door.

 

With a major new public transit line to open on Eglinton Avenue in Toronto, supposedly next year, we will be ready to take a good look at how accessible it is to passengers with disabilities. This is especially important, since the Ford Government says it is building new transit lines in various parts of the province.

 

To help empower the next generation of disability advocates, our “Disability Rights and Wrongs — The David Lepodcast” will continue to provide new episodes every three weeks or so. Our earliest episodes in the new year will focus on disability barriers in air travel and in getting health care services, with much more to follow. We will work on building a broad audience for that podcast.

 

A Massive Thank You

 

As this year winds to an end, we take this opportunity to thank you. Thanks to all who receive and read our AODA Alliance Updates. Thanks to all who take our “How You Can Help” actions tips and put them into action. Thanks to all who come up with their own action strategies. Thanks to those who use social media or conventional media to spread the word about disability barriers they still face.

 

Thanks to all the volunteers who generously donate their time to help with our AODA Alliance Updates, our growing list of widely watched online videos, and our many other advocacy efforts. Thanks to the community disability organizations who lend their assistance to our efforts and add their voices to ours.

 

Thanks to those who send us feedback of any kind. Thanks to those who share with others our email updates, our social media posts, and our message.

 

Thanks to all those who have listened to “Disability Rights and Wrongs — The David Lepodcast” and to those who have urged others to listen to it. Thanks to Accessible Media, Inc. (AMI) for hosting this podcast, and of course, to our podcast guests.

 

Thanks to all those in all levels of government and the private sector who are trying to get their organizations to take action on accessibility. Too often, they are unrecognized, unsung heroes waging their own quiet, internal, uphill battles.

 

Thanks to the politicians who have spoken publicly in support of our issues, who have raised our concerns in the Ontario Legislature or the House of Commons in Ottawa, and who have convinced their party to let them ask probing questions about our issues in Question Period.

Thanks to all the journalists who have covered disability accessibility stories this year and who have advocated to their editors to give these issues more coverage.

 

Thanks to the community leaders across Ontario who have tuned in to our message, shared it with others, and endorsed it.

 

Our progress each year is thanks to you all. Let’s get ready to do it again next year.

 

We now sign off until January.

 

How You Can Help

 

Please help our cause by relaxing, enjoying a break, and having a wonderful and safe holiday and a barrier-free New Year.