Attention Ontario Parents!

Our Students With ADHD Need You!

Take This Once In A Lifetime Opportunity To Make Your Views Known.

The Ontario Government, after years of advocacy work by the AODA and other disability organizations, has committed to enact an Education Accessibility Standard under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).  An advisory committee, the K-12 Education Standards Development Committee, which includes representatives from the government and the disability community, was assigned to develop recommendations on what the Education Accessibility Standard should include.

The committee’s initial recommendations report, a 185-page report, was made public on June the 1^st (summaries below). The public has been given until September the 2^nd to send feedback on the initial recommendations. This may be your only opportunity to have your voice heard.  

The report’s recommendations are focused on eliminating barriers that students with disabilities (including those with ADHD) face in accessing education. Currently Ontario’s special education system is designed to only meet the needs of students who have a condition that falls within the Ministry of Education‘s definition of “exceptionalities”. ADHD is excluded from all 5 categories. This report recommends the removal of the term “exceptionality” and extending these rights to all students with any kind of disability as defined in the Charter of Rights, the Ontario Human Rights Code, and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.

How can you make your voice heard?

There are two ways for you to send in your feedback:

1. E-mail: educationSDC@ontario.ca (Strongly Recommended)
2. Survey: Consultation: Initial recommendations for the development of proposed Kindergarten to Grade 12 (K-12) education accessibility standards | Ontario.ca.

 (The survey is confusing, will take some time to complete, asks questions on a wide variety of topics and will not allow you to choose your areas of focus.)

To assist you, CADDAC has developed Feedback on the Main Themes of the report, as outlined by the AODA, that we feel will affect students with ADHD.

You can:

• Cut and paste CADDAC’s key messages on the themes of your choice into your e-mail,
• Cut and paste all the key messages into your e-mail,
• Develop your own comments, and/or
• Add personal comments and experiences which will give depth to the key messages.

CADDAC suggests that if you would like to comment on only some of the themes, these are themes of the most significance to students with ADHD: 1,2,4,5,6, 8 and 10.

For more detailed information please access the AODA Alliance’s 15-page summary, their 55-page condensed and annotated version  as well as their 49 minute video https://youtu.be/yjQgOjRTZJ8.