AODA Alliance
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
New Grassroots Service to Help Job Seekers with Disabilities is a Good Step, But the Ford Government Still Must Strengthen the Weak 2011 AODA Employment Accessibility Standard
December 20, 2025
SUMMARY
A very good December 20, 2025 CBC News report described a great new grassroots option aimed at helping people with disabilities seek employment. It is especially important in light of the many workplace disability barriers still facing employees and job seekers with disabilities as well as the Ford Government’s ongoing failure to effectively live up to the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act’s requirement to lead Ontario to have barrier-free workplaces by 2025. Read that CBC article below.
The Ford Government has sat on the final report of the Government-appointed Employment Standards Development Committee for over six years since receiving that report on January 22, 2019. The Government has not enacted any revisions to strengthen the weak 2011 AODA Employment Accessibility Standard.
Moreover, as AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky’s December column in the Toronto Star’s Metroland publications explains, the Ford Government has also failed to take long-overdue action to fix the many problems at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. It should not take five years or more to get a disability discrimination case to a hearing at that Tribunal.
How You Can Help
- Send this Update and the earlier December 17 2025 AODA Alliance Update on employment disability barriers to your member of the Ontario Legislature. Urge them to push for an independent review of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and for dramatic reforms to this process. Ask them to strengthen the weak and limited 2011 AODA Employment Accessibility Standard.
Check out the online video: “Introduction to the Duty to Accommodate People with Disabilities under Human Rights Legislation and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
- Learn about the AODA Alliance’s efforts to achieve equal opportunity for employees and job seekers with disabilities in the workplace by visiting the AODA Alliance website’s employment page.
MORE DETAILS
CBC News Sudbury December 19, 2025
Originally posted at https://www.aodaalliance.org/whats-new/catching-up-on-recent-media-reports-on-accessibility-barriers-that-still-plague-people-with-disabilities/
Platform for job seekers with disabilities to expand to northern Ontario
Amandipp Singh started Enabled Talent because of his own experience as someone with vision impairment
Jonathan Migneault CBC News
A smiling man wearing a black hoodie.
Amandipp Singh is the founder of Enabled Talent, a job search platform for people with disabilities. (Jonathan Migneault/CBC)
As a person with partial vision impairment, Amandipp Singh has firsthand experience with the barriers disabled Canadians face when applying for jobs.
“If I ask you or your colleagues to use Indeed LinkedIn with your eyes closed, is it something they’ll be able to do, even with the screen reader?” he asked.
When Singh was applying for jobs, he said he was surprised to learn a large number of applications don’t even reach recruiters because they are filtered out by human resources software that searches for specific keywords in resumes.
“And that time the thought came in mind that there could be a better way of doing things,” he said.
“And that is what led to the idea of this vision of Enabled Talent.”
Two years ago, Singh started Enabled Talent, a job platform meant to connect job seekers with disabilities with employers.
The site uses new technologies, including artificial intelligence, to make searching for a job more accessible for people who are neurodivergent or have vision, hearing or speech impairments.
“One example being a tool which uses audio, something like Siri, for people with vision impairment to communicate with the platform or the app instead of using a screen reader,” Singh said.
His hope is that Enabled Talent will help close the employment gap between Canadians with and without disabilities.
According to Statistics Canada, the unemployment rate for Canadians with disabilities ages 15 and up was 7.6 per cent in 2023. For Canadians without disabilities, the unemployment rate was 4.6 per cent that year.
Stats Can also reports that employees with a disability earned $31.95 an hour on average compared with $33.86 for employees without disabilities.
Singh started Enabled Talent in the Toronto area but is now expanding to northeastern Ontario.
The company plans to launch a Sudbury-specific platform for local job searchers and companies by February or March, and set up an office in the city by the summer.
Singh said he believes more support for job applicants with disabilities could help at least 500 people with disabilities in the Sudbury area enter the workforce. At the high end, he believes removing barriers could help up to 2,000 people in the region find work.
A man in a puffy jacket stands on the sidewalk with a walking stick in his hand.
David Lepofsky is an advocate for people with disabilities and chairs the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance. (Paul Smith/CBC)
Barriers not yet eliminated, says advocate
David Lepofsky, chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance, said those barriers continue to be significant in the province, despite legislation meant to address them.
The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (ADOA) set a target date of Jan. 1, 2025, for Ontario to be fully accessible.
But Lepofsky said it has fallen short in multiple areas, including employment.
“The provincial government has severely dropped the ball,” he said.
“It passed a very weak employment accessibility standard in 2011. It has never updated it.”
Lepofsky said creating a more accessible workforce in Ontario goes beyond employment standards.
High school students with disabilities, for example, should be better accommodated when they apply to do co-op placements.
Students who participate in those programs, he said, are able to get references early on, which helps them get their first jobs.
Lepofsky said services geared toward people with disabilities, such as Enabled Talent, can help bridge the employment gap, but more work is needed from the government to eliminate barriers.
In an email to CBC News, a spokesperson for Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development said “our government is providing more training for workers than ever before, directly connecting to real jobs in high-demand industries across the province.”
The email listed examples such as a program in the Ottawa area that prepares students with disabilities for successful entry into the workforce, and grants of up to $35,000 to cover disability-related supports such as assistive technology under the Employment Ontario and Better Jobs Ontario program.
“Our approach is focused on results: reducing barriers, expanding access to skills training, connecting people to good jobs, and helping employers find the talent they need,” the email read.
“We will continue working with community organizations, training partners, and employers to strengthen labour force participation for Ontarians living with disabilities and ensure opportunities are open to everyone.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jonathan Migneault is a CBC reporter/editor based in Sudbury. He is always looking for good stories about northeastern Ontario. Send story ideas to jonathan.migneault@cbc.ca.