HI Steven – I wrote an article comparing the AODA in Ontario (and soon to be Regulated on Manitoba) and the ADA in the US. We are very familiar with the ADA as many clients here in Canada ask about it relative to their operations south of the border.
Where the ADA is more of a complaints driven model the one in Ontario is the first of its kind in the world whereby all businesses of all sizes, both public and private must comply with the standards.
There are 3 phases of standards to be met;
1. Customer Service Standards CSS which has a large educational component to it
2. Integrated Accessibility Standards or IASR which includes Employment, Communication and Transportation and
3. Built Environment where by the Ontario Build Code will now have specific Accessible Design Codes added as an addendum.
All of Ontario businesses are to be accessible by 2025 which will allow for new buildings and renovated spaces to become compliant over time.
The model is great but the roll out from our Provincial government has been abysmal such that many business are not complying until forced to. They have not communicated the AODA to small businesses at all and as such they are not even aware in most cases the AODA exists.
The business incentive and ROI for accessibility is being communicated by private firms such as ours but this is a slow process and the usual 20% of top employers are the ones who “get” the benefits.
It is truly astounding how countries and communities who say they are diverse (and Canada talks about this to the point of arrogance over other countries) in fact are not really diverse and inclusive until they include all persons of various abilities and disabilities and age.
There is my 2 cents worth and hope this helps.
Jane