Accessibility legislation covers employment, delivery of goods and services
Manitoba has introduced new accessibility legislation to prevent and eliminate barriers for people with disabilities.
Nearly 200,000 people in the province identify as having a disability. And in 2011, 51 per cent of complaints lodged with the Manitoba Human Rights Commission related to disability discrimination.
Bill 26, the Accessibility for Manitobans Act, received first reading April 24. It takes into consideration accessibility for people with long-term physical, mental, intellectual and sensory impairment.
“We are using the term ‘accessibility’ in a very broad and inclusive sense. It’s not just for those with mobility issues, it’s accessibility looking at all kinds of different issues,” said Yvonne Peters, vice-chair of the Manitoba Accessibility Advisory Council in Winnipeg.
The act defines a barrier as “anything that interacts with that impairment in a way that may hinder the person’s full and effective participation in society on an equal basis.”
There are several types of barriers outlined in the act, including physical, architectural, information or communication, attitudinal, technological or a barrier established or perpetuated by a policy or practice.
“We’re looking for anything that has to be done… with the identification and removal of barriers — and that is very broad, and it is the intention of the legislation to be as broad as possible so it does take into account all the various organizations with the province,” said John Wyndels, policy analyst for the province’s disabilities issues office in Winnipeg.
The act states the intent to develop a variety of accessibility standards in various areas, including:
• employment
• delivery and receipt of goods and services
• information and communications
• design, operation and management of the built environment
• transportation.
The standards would be developed through extensive consultation with all stakeholders, including employers.
The employment standards would offer a number of tools for educating employers on what to do and how to do it, along with providing many opportunities for collaboration, said Peters.
“There’s a gap in understanding by the business community, by employers how to proactively implement those rights. We have them on paper, but what does it mean very practically to do the right thing, to implement, to acknowledge, to act on those rights?”
Employers would be required to provide accessibility across the various stages of an employment life cycle, said Wyndels. For starters, they would have to consider accessibility during the recruitment, assessment and selection process, such as making sure there are accessible formats for written tests.
These standards would also extend to existing employees such as developing individual accommodation plans, if required, and taking the various disabilities into consideration when developing workplace emergency information and plans, said Wyndels.
The legislation would not require employers to hire people with disabilities. Rather its goal is to “remove barriers that will help employers find and keep workers in a tight labour market,” according to the act.
People with disabilities have a very high rate of unemployment and this isn’t because they are unwilling or unable to work, but because there are structural barriers in place preventing access, said Patrick Falconer, a consultant to the Barrier-Free Manitoba steering committee in Winnipeg.
“The 20,000 Manitobans with disabilities who are able to work and not working are the largest untapped pool of labour,” he said. “In a broad sense, the employment opportunities and removal of barriers will provide very real advantages to the economy overall, to most employers.”
The delivery of goods and services standards would require organizations to establish policies and programs that would welcome persons with disabilities into their environment.
A customer service standard is something the accessibility council would like to see put in place fairly quickly, said Peters. This would act as an educational tool for employers and lay out the basics around serving customers with a disability.
“Some people are very uncomfortable and don’t know how to approach a person. Don’t yell at a blind person, they’re not deaf; don’t yell at a deaf person because they will not hear you. And there are still negative attitudes in terms of believing people with disabilities are less capable, less worthy, or not priority customers,” she said.
The information and communications standards would require employers to have accessible formats and communications supports available. For example, restaurants may be required to have menus available in brail for blind customers or employers may need to provide documents in plain language for those with developmental disabilities.
There would also be a standard that covers websites. There are internationally recognized guidelines for accessible websites that companies should adopt, so the 42,000 Manitobans with seeing disabilities can access the information, said Falconer.
The built environment standards would be in conjunction with the Manitoba Building Code and would address access to and within buildings and outdoor spaces, such as counter height, aisle and door width, parking and way-finding signage, said Wyndels.
The legislation outlines a variety of compliance measures that would be put in place. A person who is guilty of an offence under the act would be liable for a fine up to $250,000.
And if a corporation commits an offence under the act, a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation who authorized the offence is also guilty of the offence.
The act does not include any call to action for private sector employers at this time, but does ask public sector organizations to prepare an accessibility plan for 2016. The plan would report on the measures the organization has taken and intends to take to identify, prevent and remove barriers that disable people.
“We will be asking public sector organizations to be a leader in this way,” said Wyndels. “We will ask them to look at the policies, programs and services they already have in place and to ensure they are consistent with not only the principles of the legislation but where there are barriers for persons with disabilities that there are measures in place to change that.”
GUIDELINES Accessibility principles Access: Persons should have barrier-free access to places, events and other functions that are generally available in the community. Equality: Persons should have barrier-free access to those things that will give them equality of opportunity and outcome. Universal design: Access should be provided in a manner that does not establish or perpetuate differences based on a person’s impairment. Systemic responsibility: The responsibility to prevent and remove barriers rests with the person or organization that is responsible for establishing or perpetuating the barrier.
