Accessible Canada Act

1. Many Canadians with disabilities are unemployed or underemployed.
   
   
2. There are 645,000 Canadians with disabilities who have the potential to work in an inclusive labour market and are not currently working. [1]
   
   
3. Statistics Canada’s 2017 Canadian Survey on Disability found that 15.6 per cent of the Canadian workforce (aged 25 to 64) is made of up by persons with a disability.[2]  
   
   
4. However, in the 2017 to 2018 fiscal year:
   • only 5.3 per cent of public servants self-identified as a person with a disability.
   • 2.9% identified as a person with a disability when applying for a position
     
     

[1] https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/campaigns/hiring-persons-disabilities.html 
[2] https://www.canada.ca/en/government/publicservice/wellness-inclusion-diversity-public-service/diversity-inclusion-public-service/accessibility-public-service/accessibility-strategy-public-service-toc/accessibility-strategy-public-service-employment.html

Persons with disabilities often report challenges in their workplaces, such as a lack of automatic door openers and poor signage and wayfinding. Also, in the first survey on the development of the Federal Accessibility Strategy, several respondents noted that the physical workspace does not account for invisible disabilities, such as:[1]

1. environmental sensitivities
2. chronic pain
3. anxiety
4. autism
   
   

Communication barriers exist because not all people read or understand in the same way. For instance, some information or communication barriers are:

• Audio-only fire alarms
• Lack of large print and Braille on elevators, signs, or room numbers
• Live events or public meetings without captions or Sign language interpretation
• Forms, pamphlets, or menus offered only in standard-sized print
• Telephone-only contact information
• PDF documents made from images instead of text
• No audio-visual announcements on public transit
• Websites that do not comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, Level AA

Information or communication barriers happen when organizations offer information in only one way. This type of barrier most often affects people with sensory or print disabilities. For instance, these barriers impact people who are:

• Blind
• Visually impaired
• Deaf
• Hard of hearing
• Deafblind

In addition, these barriers also impact people who have:

• Learning disabilities that affect how they process writing
• Physical disabilities that prevent them from holding or turning pages.[1]
  
  

Public Service and Procurement Canada manages much of the Government of Canada’s procurement. It aims to ensure that the goods and services purchased are accessible by design, where possible, so that Canadians with disabilities can use them without adaptation.

Departments and agencies such as the CER have a role to play within their procurement activities also. Some questions that should be asked at the beginning of the procurement cycle are: 

• Can the product/technology be used by someone: 
  1. In a seated position? 
  2. Using one hand, with limited upper body strength? 
  3. With limited fine motor skills? 
  4. With vision or hearing loss? 
• Does the product have ergonomic features? 
• Are there environmental irritants associated with the particular product (e.g. smells, flashing lights, toxins)?
• Can the supplier communicate with and accommodate people with different types of disabilities? 
• Is the site accessible by different modes of transportation and by persons with disabilities? 
• Will attendees have a direct line of sight to a sign language interpreter?
• Does the facility have emergency procedures to assist people with disabilities?
  
  

The CER has no direct mandate for transportation. However, some of our work may involve transportation. For example, most staff must use some form of transportation to get to work. Other staff may be required to travel for work.