Accessibility Services Canada (formerly Accessibility Ontario) is a training and development organization that helps nonprofits and businesses in Canada to understand and comply with provincial accessibility legislation. We have helped thousands of organizations successfully meet, and exceed, their legal requirements. A trusted and respected provider of training and consultation on accessibility, Accessibility Services Canada brings solutions to your organization’s needs at each phase of compliance. Whether it is risk mitigation, complex multi-year strategies, barrier identification, accessibility audits, or ongoing training requirements, we are committed to meeting the accessibility needs of all organizations.
Constance Exley, CEO
Accessibility Services Canada’s CEO and lead facilitator is Constance Exley. Constance has a Bachelor of Education and a Masters in Urban Planning degree. She has worked has worked provincially, nationally, and internationally with nonprofits, businesses, and local governments. In addition to designing, coordinating, and delivering multi-year education and outreach initiatives, Constance is a frequent workshop and webinar facilitator, conference presenter, and consultant to a wide variety of organization types and sizes. She is known for being able to explain the law in plain language and making accessibility relevant to everyone’s work.
Partnerships
In 2010, Constance began designing and delivering a series of year-long AODA projects, funded by the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario (Ontario Government), in partnership with provincial organizations. The first project was when Constance was the Founding Director of the Ontario Nonprofit Network and that project was so successful that it was extended, running from 2010-2012. Three years later (2015-2016), ONN received a second grant and Accessibility Services Canada was hired as the Subject Matter Expert to design and deliver workshops and webinars around the province.
Other ADO funded EnAbling Change projects we have lead have been with the Alliance for Healthier Communities (formerly the Association of Ontario Health Centres (2013-2014); with the Ontario BIA Association (three projects: 2014-2015, 2015-2016 & 2018-present); and with the Ontario Camps Association (2017-2018).
The third project we are leading for the Ontario BIA Association is an EnAbling Change Project entitled “Accessibility on Main Street”. The project aims to identify the built environment accessibility challenges experienced by OBIAA’s 300 BIAs and their more than 60,000 business members and to offer a range of possible solutions.
This project will:
- Clarify the obligations of businesses and BIAs under the AODA’s Accessibility Standard for the Design of Public Spaces (DOPS);
- Identify the ways in which businesses and BIAs can influence the accessibility of their public spaces;
- Showcase real examples of how businesses in Ontario and elsewhere have made their built environments more accessible to their communities and customers;
- Identify invisible barriers businesses customers may be experiencing and how to reduce/remove/prevent them.
As part of this project, Constance researched and wrote a low-cost, no-cost handbook for businesses entitled “The Business of Accessibility“.