Important events that impact people with disabilities in the news
Starting in 2015, rather than using a fixed date, we invite you to help us mark GAAD on the third Thursday of May Join us on Thursday, May 16, 2019, and mark the eighth Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). The purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital (web, software,…
Erica Johnson, British Columbia CBC News, April 29, 2019 Stearn Hodge says he’s had enough of airport security agents and airlines trying to take away the batteries for his portable scooter; a disability violation. He’s fighting to take United Airlines, WestJet and the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority to the Canadian Human Rights Commission. Stearn…
David Lepofsky, AODA Alliance Opinion, The Star, April 29, 2019 When it comes to ensuring accessibility for 5 million Canadians with disabilities, Canada lags far behind the U.S., which passed the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act 29 years ago. Canadians with disabilities still face far too many barriers in air travel, cable TV services, and…
Greg Thomson, AODA Alliance’s Commentary on the Minister’s Key Answers, April 23, 2019 In our comments, set out below, we respectfully disagree with some of the minister’s statements, and explain why. In other cases, we identify key comments she has made which support the narrow package of amendments to Bill C-81 that we placed before…
Ms. Catalina Devandas-Aguilar, OHCHR, Ottawa, April 12, 2019 In my capacity as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, I conclude today my first official visit to Canada, which took place from 2 to 12 April 2019. I am an independent expert who reports to the United Nations Human Rights Council…
Caroline Alphonso, Education reporter, The Globe and Mail, March 13, 2019 The Ontario government will examine the issue of students with complex needs being excluded from school after demands from disability advocates that the practice be halted. The issue of indefinite exclusions from school has been top-of-mind for many parents as Doug Ford’s government implements…
Star Editorial Board, The Star, March 12, 2019 Fourteen years ago Ontarians with disabilities might have been hopeful that the barriers that prevent them from fully participating in daily activities, from getting to work to eating in a restaurant, would be dismantled. Indeed, Ontario’s former lieutenant governor David Onley found that for most disabled persons,…
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Ottawa, March 11, 2019 The Commission calls for comments on an application by Bell Media Inc., Corus Entertainment Inc. and Rogers Media Inc., on behalf of their licensees (the Licensees), requesting that the Commission amend their condition of licence that requires prime time programming (7 p.m. to 11 p.m.)…
Francine Kopun, The Star, City Hall Bureau, March 10, 2019 Jessica Geboers steps off a busy subway car at College station, a cane in each hand, and confronts her first obstacle: two flights of stairs, 10 stairs each. The stairwell is narrow and passengers headed down the stairs stop to give her the room she…
Canadian Transportation Agency, Canada Gazette, Part 1, Volume 153, Number 10, March 9, 2019 Persons with disabilities in Canada face barriers that affect their ability to fully participate in activities of everyday living, such as travel. Members of the disability community widely report that they face attitudinal barriers, as well as indirect barriers to participation…
