Useful Articles

Accessibility Standards for Customer Service - A Student Perspective

By Kayla Preston-Lord, first-year student, Faculty of Art Sat, Mar 6th, 2010

Five years ago, the Government of Ontario passed the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), which will update accessibility standards across the province. The act rolls out in five parts, with 2025 as the goal for a fully accessible Ontario. The first part, Accessibility Standards for Customer Service, came into effect on January 1 of this year, and requires every service provider to take part. This includes the faculty, staff and student monitors here at OCAD.

As a student monitor for the Marketing & Communications department, I too am required to be brought up to AODA customer service standards. My supervisors, Sarah Mulholland and Larissa Kostoff, approached me last week to let me know I had to complete an online training module. I readied myself to begin, excited to learn something new about accessibility, but also half-expecting a dry hour filled with detailed building codes for ramps and elevators. When I opened up the training file, I was at first amused by the user-friendly design of the module, complete with smiling and blinking Flash-animated characters designed to guide you through the training. As I progressed through the modules, however, I realized that my notions of what "accessibility" truly encompasses couldn't have been more outdated.

Full article.