A national consultation into new accessibility laws should focus on getting more people with disabilities into the workplace.
That’s the view of Dave Thomson, community outreach coordinator for the Richmond Centre for Disability (RCD), who recently attended the federal government’s Vancouver leg of the country-wide consultation.
The government plans to pass an accessibility act to “make Canada more inclusive” and, until the end of February, 2017, it will be consulting Canadians about the legislation through a survey and in-person consultations.
However, Thomson this week told the Richmond News that the single-most important thing the government could do was make it easier for people with disabilities to become a regular fixture in the workplace.
“We really need to be focusing more on the employment side of things,” said Thomson.
“At the moment, if an employer has a certain amount of employees, they’re encouraged to have a percentage of workers with a disability. But there’s no meat to it; all that happens is that the employer is given a bit of help with raise-able desks and computers.
“If it was legislated that you had to have a certain amount of workers with disabilities, then, I believe, we would all benefit.”
Thomson, who has also filled in the consultation’s online survey, said employees with disabilities could actually improve a business’s bottom line.
“People with disabilities think differently and see things differently, because they have to,” explained Thomson.
“That’s the way they live every day and that can add something new to a business, a fresh perspective that previously wasn’t considered.”
Thomson urged everyone, irrespective of having a disability, to fill in the survey before it closes at the end of February next year.
“You don’t have to have a disability, you could be a care-giver, a relative or just someone who believes in this,” he added.
“And if you don’t have access to a computer or need help in filling in the survey, you can come to our office at RCD.”
In terms of the new legislation, the government is seeking the public’s ideas on: Whom the new legislation should cover; what accessibility issues and barriers it should address; how it could be monitored and enforced; how to raise accessibility awareness more generally and support organizations in improving accessibility.
The online survey is available at Canada.ca/en/Employment-Social-Development/Programs/Disability/Consultations/Accessibility-Legislation.
RCD’s office is at 5671 No 3 Rd. and its phone number is 604-232-2404.
