Save the Date! June 18, 2026 10 AM to 12 Noon EDT A Virtual Town Hall on Disability Barriers in Schools Around Ontario

Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance

Ontario Autism Coalition

 

Save the Date! June 18, 2026 10 AM to 12 Noon EDT A Virtual Town Hall on Disability Barriers in Schools Around Ontario

 

May 30, 2026

 

Mark your calendars and save the date! On Thursday, June 18, 2026, from 10 AM to noon EDT, the AODA Alliance and the Ontario Autism Coalition are co-hosting an online virtual Town Hall to hear from parents of students with disabilities and students themselves on the disability barriers they face in Ontario schools. We will invite them to log in and answer two questions:

  1. What disability barriers have you or your child faced in Ontario-funded schools, whether public or Catholic?
  2. What needs to be done to remove and prevent these disability barriers?

 

We’ll ask everyone to respect a few basic guidelines: Please don’t mention your child’s name, or their school or any teaching staff. We’ll just introduce you online by your first name. We will ask you to mention which school board you are speaking about, if you are agreeable to do that.

 

Once On April 27, 2026, Ontario’s Minister of Education Paul Calandra said this when addressing the Legislature’s Standing Committee on Social Policy:

 

“The level of special education across the province is different from school board to school board. I’m frankly unhappy with that. I’m unhappy with the disconnect between the three ministries that are responsible. I certainly think we can do a better job. I will be spending a significant amount of time over the next number of months seeing how we can better perform when it comes to special education.”

 

This is an online-only event. There is no in-person event to come to. The public will be able to watch the event via livestream.

 

We will make public all the login details closer to the date of the event.

 

In holding this Town Hall, We are volunteering our time and effort to help the Minister with this work. We will invite the Minister to attend the Town Hall, to hear what parents and students have to say, and to speak to attendees. We hope he will agree to attend and take part.

 

To ask to be put on the speakers’ list, email townhall@ontarioautismcoalition.com please tell us

  • Your name.
  • A phone number we can reach you at before and during the Town Hall.
  • The school board you are connected to, whether you are a parent of a student with disabilities.
  • One or two sentences about the problem or barrier you will talk about.

 

 

We will accept speakers on a first come first served basis. We will accept speakers who are parents of a student with disabilities, or a student with disabilities themselves. After we see how many people will be speaking, we’ll let you know how much time each speaker will get.