On Monday, outgoing Lieutenant Governor David Onley announced a new provincial award for excellence in accessibility.
The David C. Onley Award for Leadership in Accessibility will be presented annually in four categories, recognizing employers, employees, role models, and youth achievement.
“Since the time of Lieutenant-Governor
Lincoln Alexander, the province of Ontario has created a legacy award that they establish in recognition of the Lieutenant-Governor’s term of office,” His Honour David Onley says. “Lincoln Alexander’s legacy award is for one of racial harmony, there are three young people each year selected for their contributions to creating greater racial understandings. Mr. Jackman declined on the offer, but Ms. Weston accepted one, she has one in her name, as does Mr. Bartleman.
“When it came time for my term to come to a close, the government approached me and said what would you like the award to be about, and I said leadership in the whole area of accessibility that spoke most closely to what I’ve been trying to accomplish over the past seven years.”
On the surface, it would seem that Ontario, and Toronto in particular where his honour lives, has been doing pretty well in this area. Curbs are lowered at seemingly every corner, ramps are commonplace, and the
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), passed in 2005, would seem a model of its kind.
“By and large, Toronto has done a fairly good job,” His Honour says. “I qualify that because I am still amazed, sometimes stunned at brand new restaurants that will have a single step of an entrance into their facility, which they only see as a single step, but for a person with a disability can be the difference between coming and and not being able to use it at all. There’s still a way to go. it’s particularly surprising to me, while there’s 16 per cent of the population who have a disability, and when the immediate family members are taken into account, the percentage of the population affected by disability is 53 per cent.”
His Honour says physical disabilities account for half of all disabilities in Ontario.
“Who establishes a business plan that seeks to deliberately exclude a significant proportion of the population?”
The deadline for
nominations for the first awards in Dec. 3, which is the International Day for Disabled Persons. Onley will be handing the prices out in May during Accessibility Awareness Week.
In addition to a plaque, the winners in every category but employers will receive $5,000.
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: David Onley