Conclusions

Official title: Federal Accessibility Legislation - Technical analysis report

Overall, there is a lot of commonality and consistency in the experiences of consultation participants, in their opinions and in their suggestions for how to move Canada forward on the path to full accessibility.

Detailed analysis of the online engagement results, for example, showed very few differences in views based on respondent characteristics such as age, gender or region, although we did learn that respondents who identify as having a disability showed a higher level of support for a more prescriptive approach to legislation.

Compared to the online engagement, which looked at the full range of issues, other consultations (such as roundtables, sessions, the Youth Forum) addressed a smaller set of issues. Many also had a particular focus (such as transportation, built environment, youth leadership). Even with these differences, we see consensus on a number of major issues:

• Raising awareness and changing attitudes is fundamental to achieving real and lasting progress. Employers and children/youth are key audiences. Although outside of federal jurisdiction, elementary and secondary schools were frequently identified as ideal channels. Bold campaigns, sustained over time, are required. Messaging and content should aim to “normalize” people with disabilities to help Canadians think inclusively.
• The Government of Canada is seen as being in a key position to lead on accessibility. Consultation participants assign it a number of key roles, including as a model employer and service provider, funder, champion, communicator and national coordinator.
• Canada’s accessibility-related legislation and regulations are seen as a complex “patchwork” allowing significant jurisdictional and sectoral gaps in accessibility to exist. This makes it difficult for people with disabilities to understand their rights and for organizations to understand their responsibilities. This situation resulted in loud calls for clarity and consistency, including the desire for a national accessibility framework, either via negotiation, collaboration and/or by establishing model standards and approaches.
• The goal of federal legislation, as explained in the Discussion Document, is viewed as appropriate, but a fully accessible Canada is the ultimate goal on which most are focused. From this point of view, federal legislation is a means to an end.
• We learned from the online engagement that if a single area can be viewed as a priority for improving accessibility and removing barriers, it is probably employment. This is because a pay cheque helps remove barriers in other areas and can be key to independence. More importantly, however, we learned that many people don’t look at the issues in terms of relative priorities, in part because prioritization can create winners and losers and pit people against each other. Instead, participants prefer a holistic perspective that sees all areas tightly interconnected, in the sense that barriers in one area, such as transportation, can affect access in others, such as employment and recreation.
• People with disabilities are ready and eager to continue to play a central role in the development of legislation and related policies. They also want to help implement the law, monitor compliance and evaluate its effectiveness. In fact, they insist on it.
• Issues around compliance monitoring, program evaluation, results reporting and, especially, complaints/recourse mechanisms are all viewed as very important, in part because they have been generally weak in the past. Going forward, a well-resourced, independent and powerful office or position needs to be created to lead in these areas. This is viewed not only as sound policy but also as a sign of respect and a clear signal to Canadians about the importance and relevance of accessibility for all.

We also learned that the majority of participants want to see monitoring, compliance, complaints and redress all take a much more proactive approach so that individuals have less need to start and fight their own battles.