The Accessibility Toolbox

The Accessibility Toolbox offers tools that developers can use today to make the homes they build more accessible, without waiting for building codes or legislation to catch up to the current and evolving needs of the Canadian population.

The toolbox highlights the work and best practices of participating coalition partners including standards, certifications, expert services, and connections to organizations representing people with disabilities. If you have a tool or tip for the toolbox, we want to hear from you! Write to [email protected] with Accessibility Coalition in the subject line

AccessNow

AccessNow is a mobile app and website that shares information about the accessibility status of places around the world. Designed to empower people with disabilities, the platform crowdsources reviews and works with business owners to publish aspects of accessibility like accessible parking and washrooms, elevators, ramps, scent-free and quiet spaces, and much more. For more information, visit www.accessnow.com.

Tools:

1. MapMissions: These exercises are a great way to engage employees and stakeholders to learn about accessibility issues, create awareness and generate empathy through experiential learning. The MapMissions are also a concrete and actionable way to begin dialogue with the community/communities of people with disabilities and result in measurable outcomes with a geographic focus.

2. AccessNow Verified: Our Verified Program is a way we engage businesses to assess their existing accessibility and publish those results on AccessNow to then begin a feedback loop/open channel of communication with people with disabilities on the AccessNow platform.

Contact Information:

Accessibility Standards Canada

People with disabilities lead Accessibility Standards Canada to create a Canada without barriers. We work with people with disabilities to:

  • create modern accessibility standards in priority areas;
  • revise current accessibility standards;
  • lead research; and
  • support society to reach the highest level of accessibility.

Tool: Draft Model Standard for the Building Environment – Accessibility
Public Review Form: Draft – A Model Standard for the Built Environment – Accessibility

Accessibility Standards Canada is creating a Model Standard for the Built Environment – Accessibility. This standard aims to remove and prevent barriers in the built environment for everyone, including persons with disabilities. It contains technical requirements to be applied to the design of buildings and building sites to promote an inclusive environment. The standard is at the draft stage and is open for the first of two public review periods.

Like all of Accessibility Standards Canada’s standards, this standard is designed to contribute to the realization of a Canada without barriers by 2040. It supports the goals of the Accessible Canada Act and Accessibility Standards Canada’s mandate and is based on the disability community’s philosophy of “Nothing without us.”

This is the first version of the standard, which was developed by a technical committee that included experts with disabilities. It was developed to support a memorandum of understanding between Accessibility Standards Canada and British Columbia’s Attorney General and the Ministry Responsible for Housing. It will be shared for reference in whole or in part in the British Columbia Building Code.

Contact information:

CNIB Frontier Accessibility

At CNIB Frontier Accessibility, we value the importance of sharing knowledge, expertise and lived experience when it comes to accessibility. As part of the CNIB Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1918, we have the unique knowledge and experience to assist you in achieving your accessibility goals.

In 2019, after celebrating its hundredth anniversary, CNIB Foundation acquired CNIB Frontier Accessibility (then called Frontier Computing) to strengthen its business-to-business relationships, with the goal of making Canada as accessible and inclusive as possible.

One hundred percent of the revenue raised by CNIB Frontier Accessibility goes towards funding the CNIB Foundation and its charitable mission to provide innovative programs and powerful advocacy that enable Canadians impacted by blindness to live the lives they choose. For this reason, we actively partner with many other pioneering organizations both in Canada and worldwide, including Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada, the Royal National Institute for the Blind, the American Printing House for the Blind, and Vision Australia.

Tools:

  • Products and technology: We work with you to develop a personalized solution that fits your organizational needs.
  • Workplace accommodations: We’ll help you hire and work with the best candidates and integrate accessible technology and resources into your workplace.
  • Digital platforms: We provide audits and work with you to perform lived experience user testing, to ensure all your digital platforms meet global accessibility standards.
  • Navigation and wayfinding: We help integrate technological solutions to ensure that everyone can safely navigate your business and its surrounding environment.
  • Support and training: We provide comprehensive accessibility training to fit your unique organizational needs.
  • Communication materials: We support your organization to create accessible content.

Learn more about what CNIB can offer.

Contact:

City of Toronto

Message from the City of Toronto: The City released its updated Toronto Accessibility Design Guidelines in 2021. This is a living document that will adapt to the changes of Toronto’s diverse society, and is an important step towards achieving the City of Toronto’s commitment to a barrier-free city. Based on the principles of respect, dignity and inclusion, these Guidelines – first introduced in April 2004 and updated in 2021 – support the City’s Statement of Commitment to Creating an Accessible City, and are a key component of the Multi-year Accessibility Plan and Corporate Accessibility Policy.

The Guidelines enable City buildings, parks and open spaces to adhere to universal design, ensuring that City properties provide accessible, equitable, and barrier-free access to services for all people, especially people with disabilities. We’re also pleased to share these Guidelines with businesses and organizations from all sectors. It is our hope that they too can use these Guidelines to proactively plan to build or renovate their properties and spaces to be accessible and free of barriers.

Learn more about Toronto Accessibility Design Guidelines.

Rick Hansen Foundation

The Rick Hansen Foundation (RHF) offers a range of Accessibility Advisory Services designed to support organizations on their journey towards increased accessibility and inclusion for people of all ages and abilities. Whether you’re looking to promote disability awareness within your organization, improve access within your current facilities or ensure new buildings are designed to meet best practices in Universal Design, we can help.

Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification (RHFAC) is a national rating system that measures and certifies the level of meaningful access of buildings and sites. Get an RHFAC rating to better understand your physical accessibility, how you can improve, and identify barriers for your community, customers, or employees.

RHF also offers accessibility training and education which allows built environment professionals to obtain the RHFAC Professional designation, qualifying them to conduct RHFAC ratings within existing buildings and pre-construction plans. Tuition Grants are currently available to residents of Ontario and BC as well as people with disabilities across Canada.

Tools:

  1. Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification Brochure
  2. Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification Training Brochure
  3. Accessibility Advisory Services

Contact Information:

StopGap Foundation

StopGap Foundation is helping create a world where every person can access every space. The Foundation helps communities discover the benefits of barrier-free spaces and provides support in creating them through fun and engaging programs.

StopGap works with different community leaders across Canada delivering education and resources that inspire societal perspective shifts, the removal of barriers in the built environment, and policy change. Their iconic brightly painted ramps can be found in more than 60 communities all over Canada, helping ensure our society’s collective understanding about the importance of accessibility and inclusion continues to advance and grow.

Tools:

1. Corporate Teambuilding: StopGap staff facilitate a 4-5hr experience involving up to 12 participants at StopGap’s shop location at 192 Spadina Avenue in Toronto. Corporate groups collaborate on painting ramps and enjoy a ‘lunch and learn’ style presentation on the topics of disability, inclusive vs. universal design, empowering language use, unconscious bias, and the StopGap story. This engaging program is designed to raise awareness, build community, and foster a sense of togetherness. All program fees are directed towards supporting StopGap’s education and awareness raising in elementary schools.

2. Ramps on Request: Help remove a barrier to access by ordering a custom built, colourful, deployable ramp for your single-stepped entryway. Each ramp is custom designed to fit step heights between 2” and 9”. The ramps are made of wood and an average-sized ramp for a 6” step height weighs around 30 lbs. The ramps are treated with high-grade exterior paint with a non-slip additive and come with two rope handles so they can be easily transported. StopGap ramps are made to have a 1:6 rise to run slope ratio, so for every 1” of step height the ramp design length increases by 6”. The design has gone through years of trial and error and results in a ramp that most find comfortable to deploy and use. The ramps are not intended to be a permanent solution, they are to be used on an as-needed basis to not only remove access barriers but also assist in raising awareness about many barriers in our communities.

Contact Information: