Fostering a more accessible city
The City of Vaughan strives to foster a diverse, inclusive and equitable community where all residents, employees, businesses and visitors are empowered to engage and participate. As we celebrate National AccessAbility Week, here are five ways we’re working to build a more accessible Vaughan:
1. The 2023 to 2027 Multi-Year Accessibility Plan
Approved by Vaughan Council in November 2023, this comprehensive five-year plan outlines our strategic approach to advancing accessibility and creating a more inclusive community for all residents, visitors and businesses. The plan was designed following extensive consultations with community members, stakeholders, accessibility experts and government partners at the regional, provincial and federal levels. It also aligns with the principles of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). The plan is organized according to AODA standards, with a focus on how to strengthen inclusion and accessibility in each area where the City has influence: training, procurement, information and communications, customer service, employment, transportation and design of public spaces. For a full overview, read the 2023 to 2027 Multi-Year Accessibility Plan (PDF).
We also created a 2023 Annual Accessibility Status Report to outline our work on the plan throughout last year.
2. The Accessibility Champion Awards
Established in 2019 by the Accessibility Advisory Committee, these awards are presented every other year to businesses, groups and individuals helping to foster an accessible environment in Vaughan. Accessibility Champions are people who advocate for an accessible city, groups working to advance inclusion and businesses that have created an accessible work environment. This year, we honoured five recipients.
3. An accessible website
We recently updated our website, vaughan.ca, to be more accessible. Content is regularly checked to ensure it complies with World Wide Web Consortium – Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, Level AA standards at minimum, and we are working towards Level AAA. Vaughan.ca has enhanced accessibility features, such as captioning for all images and a tool that automatically translates content into 51 different languages widely spoken in York Region.
4. Inclusive Design Standards
Having Inclusive Design Standards (PDF) allow us to advocate for any new development in the community to be built in an inclusive and accessible way. These standards exceed the AODA and Ontario Building Code requirements, and outline examples to make buildings and other areas, like play spaces, washrooms, trails, service counters, offices and places of worship, as inclusive and accessible as possible.
5. Removing accessibility barriers – with your help
Have you experienced a barrier when using a City service? We want to understand the barriers people with disabilities face when using City services so we can work to remove them. If you’ve experienced a barrier or have an idea on how we can be even more accessible, let us know! Complete the online Accessibility Feedback Form, email accessibility@vaughan.ca or call 905-832-2281.
The City’s goal is to create a fully accessible community by 2050 and make Vaughan a model city for inclusion by offering universal access to City programs, implementing new services, creating accessible play spaces, using accessible technology, implementing accessible employment practices and building accessible facilities.
To learn more about our accessibility efforts, visit vaughan.ca/accessibility.
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