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| 5. Changing Attitudes and Raising Awareness |
Accessibility Achievements in 2008
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While many barriers to accessibility are visible and can be overcome with ramps, better lighting or larger fonts, there are also invisible barriers, such as negative attitudes or misinformation about people with disabilities. York Region has worked to change attitudes and raise awareness about people with all types of disabilities, including those that are not so obvious.
Community and Health Services is creating a resource library in each Ontario Works office to help staff better serve clients with mental illness, learning disabilities and chronic diseases. We held a Community Partners Open House to inform staff of community programs and services available to people with disabilities.
Corporate Services developed a question to be included in the Employee Satisfaction Survey, designed to measure satisfaction with workplace modifications. Human Resources launched "Mental Health Works," a program to help managers with employees experiencing mental illnesses, such as depression or anxiety.
Transportation Services is reviewing training content and materials to identify any gaps in meeting the requirements of the Customer Service Regulation under the AODA. With a goal to improve the information exchange between social/health agencies and stakeholders, YRT Mobility Plus will hold meetings twice per year with service agencies to discuss transportation needs.
York Regional Police is providing officers and dispatchers with training through the Canadian Hearing Society to better help them serve citizens who are deaf, deafened or hard of hearing. Officers at risk of hearing loss are receiving preventative education.
In 2008, York Region departments collectively enrolled over 160 staff in "Just Ask," York Region's inclusivity and accessibility training. So far, over 590 staff have participated in this training. |
Barrier Identification for 2009
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York Regional Police will review hiring and volunteer selection practices to identify barriers that exclude people with disabilities, and will review the composition of the Equity Advisory Committee to identify additional opportunities for inclusion.
All departments, including York Regional Police, will review internal policies, practices and procedures to ensure they comply with AODA Customer Service Regulation's core principles of independence, integration and equality of opportunity. |
Barrier to be Addressed in 2009
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To raise awareness of staff's knowledge of the new Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005(AODA), Community and Health Services will add an AODA component to the annual mandatory Long Term Care core in-services training program, improving customer service to people with disabilities.
To meet the requirements of the Customer Service Regulation under the AODA, the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), as the departmental lead, will develop and implement a corporate training strategy for providing York Region's goods and services to people with disabilities. The Office of the CAO will also create an accessible process for responding to feedback about how well we provide goods and services to people with disabilities.
York Regional Police will meet the requirements of the Customer Service Regulation (AODA) by ensuring all staff members receive Customer Service Regulation training in providing goods and services to people with disabilities. To help change attitudes and raise awareness among recruits, YRP will invite agencies serving people with various types of disabilities to participate in the Recruit Community Insight Program. |
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