Accessible Essex

Why is accessibility important?

People with disabilities represent a large and growing part of our population. About 1.8 million or 15.5 per cent of Ontarians have a disability. When we apply these statistics to the Town of Essex this means that over 3,000 of our 20,427 residents live with a disability. By 2026, as the population ages, it is estimated that 16 per cent of people in Canada will have a disability.

Addressing accessibility in the Town of Essex

The Town of Essex is committed to responding to the needs of an accessible community through:

• The Essex Accessibility Advisory Committee which provides advice and recommendations to Council on accessibility issues within our community;
• The Accessibility Policy which ensures equal access and participation for people with disabilities;
• Accessible Customer Service training for all Town of Essex employees and contractors providing services to the Town of Essex;
• A Feedback Form that allows persons with disabilities to provide input on how we have or have not met the needs of persons with disabilities;

• A Multi-Year Accessibility Plan was adopted by Council and describes how the Town will meet accessibility standards over the next five years;
• Fulfilling the requirements set out by the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and completion of the Annual Status Report and the bi-annual Accessibility Compliance Audit;
  *To view the reports, please download  and open in Adobe Acrobat Reader. To request an alternate format of the annual status report, please contact Janice Aloisio @jaloisio@essex.ca 519-776-7336 ext 1124.
• Council agendas provided in an accessible format starting in 2013; and,
• Providing an accessible website.

Engagement on the Disability Inclusion Action Plan

The Government of Canada is consulting Canadians on how to improve the lives of Canadians with disabilities. Your feedback will support the development of the Disability Inclusion Action Plan.

The Disability Inclusion Action Plan will focus on:

• reducing poverty among Canadians with disabilities
• getting more persons with disabilities into good quality jobs
• helping meet the Accessible Canada Act goal of a barrier-free Canada by 2040
• making it easier for persons with disabilities to access federal programs and services
• fostering a culture of inclusion

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA)

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 became law on June 13, 2005. Under this landmark legislation, the provincial government will develop required standards that will identify, remove and prevent barriers for people with disabilities. The vision of the act is to have an accessible Ontario by 2025.

The Accessibility Standards addressed in the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act cover the following five key areas:

• Customer Service Standard
• Information and Communication Standard
• Transportation Standard
• Employment Standard
• Built Environment Standard

Website Accessibility

The Town of Essex is committed to responding to the needs of an accessible community. This commitment extends to our website.

The launch of this website was an important step toward meeting the requirements of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005.

By January 1, 2014, all website content, documents and tools were required to be in compliance with the provincial standard, which is based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 Level A. By January 1, 2014, our website was in compliance with this standard, other than criteria 1.2.4 (captions) and 1.2.5 (pre-recorded audio description). The Town of Essex is making every effort to be Level AA compliant, which is the 2021 requirement.

Whenever possible, documents (PDF, Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint) dated January 1, 2012 or later are posted to the website as accessible documents. An effort has been made to make historical documents dated prior to December 31, 2011 available and compliant with the standard. In the event a document provided on the website contains elements that are inaccessible, an alternative format can be provided by contacting the Town of Essex at 519-776-7336.

The Town is making every effort to ensure that all internal tools are accessible and is working with third-party vendors to make them aware of the provincial requirements. The following third-party tools are available from the Town's website: essexconnect.ca (Active Network/CLASS), Laserfiche WebLink, Geocortex Map Viewer.