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
Read AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky’s December 2024 Monthly Disability Rights Column in the Toronto Star’s Metroland Online Publications
December 15, 2024
SUMMARY
We invite you to read AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky’s December 2024 monthly disability rights column in the Toronto Star’s online Metroland publications. We set it out below.
This column explains why we can and should be optimistic about the future of our non-partisan grassroots campaign to make our society accessible to people with disabilities. This column comes right on the heels of Metroland publishing its amazing “Restricted Access” series of articles. They report on disability barriers at the local level all over Ontario, and wonderful disability advocates working to do something about this.
How You Can Help
- If you haven’t already looked through them, take some time to review the fantastic Metroland “Restricted Access” series of articles. You can find the entire excellent series in one place on the Metroland website. We have previously shared three of the articles in this series in AODA Alliance Updates: The November 25, 2024 report announcing the AODA Alliance’s event to take place that day at Queen’s Park celebrating the 30th anniversary of the grassroots accessibility movement, the November 29, 2024 report on our community public hearings at Queen’s Park, and the November 29, 2024 Metroland report on the timeline of the 30 years of this campaign.
The first 7 articles were included in the December 12, 2024 AODA Alliance Update. The second 8 articles were included in the December 13, 2024 AODA Alliance Update. The final 8 articles were included in the December 14, 2024 AODA Alliance Update.
- Share this guest column, as well as the Restricted Access series, with family and friends. Spread the word about them on websites and social media.
- Send a letter to the editor, 300 words or less, to Metroland at thenewsroom@metroland.com Thank Metroland for producing this ground-breaking series. Tell them about disability barriers you face!
Forward this column and the Restricted Access series of articles to your MPP. Tell them you want the provincial government to take swift and strong action to fix Ontario’s accessibility crisis.
Only 17 days remain until the start of 2025, the deadline which the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act set for the Ontario Government to become accessible to 2.9 million Ontarians with disabilities. On June 6, 2023, 558 days ago, the Government-appointed Rich Donovan AODA Independent Review’s final report declared that Ontario is in an “accessibility crisis.” Do you think it’s time the Ford Government announced a bold new plan of action to address this crisis?
MORE DETAILS
December 2024 Metroland Monthly Disability Rights Column by AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky
Inside Halton December 15, 2024
Columnists
Opinion
‘Tenaciously optimistic’: 8 reasons why this Ontario disability advocate has a positive outlook
David Lepofsky writes he is invigorated by unstoppable young people with disabilities, who won’t settle for a world full of barriers.
By David Lepofsky
David Lepofsky is chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance.
You’d think I’d be discouraged. After 30 exhausting years of our grassroots advocacy to make Ontario accessible to 2.9 million people with disabilities, we’re far from our goal.
In 2005, we got the Ontario Legislature to unanimously pass the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). It requires the Ontario government to lead this province to be disability-accessible by 2025. That unmet deadline is days away.
Successive governments, including Premier Ford’s, promised that they’d meet that deadline. Each boasted that they were leading Ontario by example on tearing down disability barriers. Each failed us.
I was 37 when this campaign started. Now I’m 67. Yet I’m tenaciously optimistic.
We are making progress. We’re positioned to make even more despite the protracted lack of the political leadership we deserve. Here are eight reasons why.
First, Ontario would have had even more disability barriers had people with disabilities not waged our campaign. AODA Alliance Updates give them easy-to-use action tips. They swing into action on a moment’s notice. You can sign up for them at www.aodaalliance.org.
Second, rapidly emerging technologies even more effectively empower people with disabilities. As a blind law student in the 1970s, I had people read my law books aloud. Now my portable laptop on my iPhone does that.
When I go for a walk using my white cane, iPhone apps tell me what street I’m on, what stores I’m passing, and what intersection I’m approaching. The latest tech sweeping the blind community are Meta smart glasses that snap photos on command and use AI to describe in detail what is in front of me. I cannot guess what’s coming next.
Third, I’m invigorated by unstoppable young people with disabilities. The new generation won’t settle for a world full of barriers. They consider themselves rights-holders, not charity recipients. They readily launch into action using the latest tech.
Fourth, doing grassroots advocacy is far easier than ever before. Want to start a new accessibility blitz? Set up a new Facebook group. Blast invitations out on email and social media. Hold an inaugural Zoom meeting, even in dreadful winter weather. I’ve been invited to offer tips at these across Canada and from places half-a-planet away.
Fifth, more politicians, public servants and business leaders are alive to accessibility issues. We need more to stick out their necks with bold leadership. I’ve had the privilege of working with shining examples who did, and who made a huge difference for us.
Sixth, as our population ages, our numbers keep swelling. No politician dares ignore the disability vote!
Seventh, disability legislation is being passed around the world. The longer Ontario takes to seriously implement its legislation, the further behind it slips. We cannot afford to lose out on 2.9 million Ontarians with disabilities and a potential international customer base of another billion people with disabilities.
Finally, media outlets increasingly cover disability barriers. Three decades ago, getting coverage was extremely difficult. A new generation of reporters are now far more ready to see the newsworthiness of our stories.
A shining example of this is Metroland. It invited me to contribute this monthly column on disability issues.
It just published a fantastic groundbreaking series on the state of accessibility barriers around Ontario. It did this on the eve of the mandatory 2025 deadline that the province failed to fulfil.
Let other news outlets be inspired by Metroland’s visionary leadership.
Jan. 1 will confront Ontarians with disabilities with a huge broken promise. Jan. 2 will see us rolling up our sleeves with determination, gearing up for the next round!
David Lepofsky is a retired lawyer who chairs the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance, and is a visiting professor of disability rights at the law schools at Western and the University of Ottawa.