Ontario’s 2025 accessibility goals impossible without urgent action

Tyler Griffin, The Canadian Press, Global News, March 10, 2023
People with disabilities still consistently face barriers in their everyday experiences, from navigating city streets, to applying for jobs, to accessing public transit and government services, wrote report author Rich Donovan. Donovan, who was appointed by the province in early 2022 to conduct a legislative review of the act, said little progress has been made since the law was passed in 2005. That stems from design flaws in services, products, technology, buildings, infrastructure, careers, processes and human imagination, he said. The report examined the implementation of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and said a lack of basic leadership, accountability and data will make meeting the 2025 target difficult, if not impossible to achieve. Donovan’s scathing report asserts the government has failed the roughly 2.9 million Ontarians with a disability, more than one-fifth its population. The report called the Ford government’s lack of a plan to implement the accessibility law utterly shocking and also criticized opposition parties, private sector organizations and the media for failing to hold the province accountable.