The Establishment of Accessibility Standards to Prevent and Remove Barriers

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act emphasizes developing, implementing and enforcing standards for accessibility to promote inclusivity and reduce the potential for discrimination. Developing accessibility standards helps to reduce or eliminate barriers that students with disabilities may encounter.

Accessibility describes the extent to which all intended populations are able to use a product, device, service, facility and physical environment.

Identified barriers to accessibility fall in to five categories.

• Attitudinal
• Organizational
• Technology
• Information & Communications
• Architectural/Physical

These barriers to accessibility can impact the learning environment.