If you are confused about your schedule, here's a summary. The PDF schedules provided by the City of Toronto and Circular Materials are both correct. Some map areas have changed their pickup schedules: for example, Parkdale used to be Wed Day 2 and they have now switched to Wed Day 1. The PDF versions of the maps show these changes correctly. But the mobile app and website lookup function don't.

Folks affected by Day switches should have received special printed mail notices about these changes, but some didn't.

One disappointing note about the PDF calendars: while those on the city's site are visually identical to those on Circular Materials site, the ones used by Circular Materials are inaccessible and untagged. Why don't they use the same tagged versions that are on the city site? Who knows! Does Circular Materials even know about the AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act)? No they don't.

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#Accessibility #AODA #a11y #TaggedPDF #recycling #calendars #Toronto #CircularMaterials

What's the solution? I don't know. Listen to accessibility advocates for a start. I also think that Ontario needs to look seriously at the lack of enforcement and penalties associated with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). Is that why it failed? Is there a way to implement stronger, ongoing enforcement and monitoring, instead of waiting on long complex human rights cases to wind their way through the courts?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/aoda-ontario-accessibility-enforement-1.7053294

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#AODA #Accessibility

One particularly controversial move was the Ontario decision to outsource building accessibility assessments to the Rick Hansen Foundation.

That new court building with accessibility issues? It received a "Rick Hansen Foundation Gold Accessibility Certification". Rather than fix the obviously broken design and planning process for public infrastructure, the government points to the certification and says it met the standards.

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#AODA #Accessibility #RickHansenFoundation #RHFCertified

When the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) was passed unanimously in 2005, it promised that Ontario would become accessible for everyone by January 1, 2025. Now less than 4 months away, it's clear that we won't meet that goal. And we're not exactly making decisions that will set us on a better path either.

https://toronto.citynews.ca/2024/08/21/accessibility-requirements-ontario-disabilities-aoda-ttc-stations/

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#AODA #Accessibility

Before that, the TTC needed to be taken to court in order to implement audio announcements for all bus and subway stops. And before that, it was the new Culinary Arts Centre at Centennial College that was inaccessible.

As with the new court house, these problems only became news after being called out by David Lepofsky of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance.

Why aren't standards being enforced?

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/lawyer-crusades-against-accessibility-problems-caused-by-inadequate-laws/article_fb01606f-ee67-5871-98f7-58ac510b6a06.html

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#Accessibility #TTC #AODA #AODAAlliance