Canadian Accessibility Standards Development Organization

Accessibility Act Canada is responsible for creating and reviewing standards that apply to:

  • Federally regulated entities and

  • The federal government

Those barriers that prevent accessibility are identified and eliminated by Canadian accessibility standards. Accessibility standards can also be submitted to the workforce development and minister of employment so that they can be adopted into regulations.

Priority areas:

While carrying out consultation activities related to Accessible Act Canada, the government has understood that there are certain areas that are important to Canadians for improving accessibility:

·       Disabled persons and other experts

·       Industry representatives and

·       Those stakeholders that have been impacted by standards.

Accessibility Canada Act has identified the following seven priorities that should be taken into consideration:

1. Communication and information technologies

2. Employment

3. Communication (other than communication and information technologies)

4. The built environment

5. The procurement of facilities, services and goods

6. The design and delivery of programs and services

7. Transportation.

 

Work Program:

The work program enlists all the completed and in-progress standards at Accessibility Standards Canada:

  • All the standards that are currently being prepared by accessibility act Canada

  • All those standards that have been published in the preceding period

  • The classification relevant to the standard’s subject matter using the International Classification for Standards “ICS” code(s)

  • The start date and the development-stage code that is in line with the ISO International harmonized stage codes

  • The start and end dates of the public review comment period.

The role of technical committees:

  • The code of conduct is upheld by the Technical committee members

  • A national standard or a suite of standards can be developed so that barriers can be eliminated

  • Identify those areas where disabled people may have issues.

Following are a few crucial agendas on which the technical committees are working upon:

  • Technical committee on emergency measures

  • Technical committee on employment

  •  Technical committee on outdoor spaces

  • Technical committee on plain language

  • Technical committee on wayfinding and signage

  • Technical committee for a model standard for the built environment

  • Technical committee on accessibility requirements for Communication and Information technology products

Location: Brampton, ON, Canada

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