An accessible Ontario by 2025? Here's where the province stands on its goal

CBC Toronto is breaking down accessibility in Ontario in four stories: the progress made so far, how legislation is enforced, if the province can reach its 2025 goal and what accessibility looks like in cities, zooming in on Toronto.

On a spring day in 2005, Ontario's Legislative Assembly was filled with applause.

In a rare moment of unanimity in politics, legislators celebrated their vote to make the province accessible to people with disabilities by 2025. 

The Accessibility for Ontarians With Disabilities Act (AODA) was created to help people with disabilities fully participate in society, bring them to the table in crafting regulations and build mechanisms to enforce standards. Advocates and experts hailed the legislation as groundbreaking and progressive.

That's how David Lepofsky remembers it. Lepofsky, who is blind, worked for years with other advocates to make the legislation a reality.

But 18 years later, he says the province is nowhere near its goal.

"We've been warning about it for years," said Lepofsky, the chair of the AODA Alliance, the main consumer advocacy group monitoring the legislation's implementation. He says his group has been actively trying to meet with the Progressive Conservative government on the file to no avail.

"Government after government, minister after minister makes nice speeches and then does nothing."

WATCH | The moment the AODA unanimously passed third reading: 

Advocates and people with disabilities say the slow pace of current and previous Ontario governments in implementing the AODA has hindered the bill from reaching its full potential, leaving roughly 2.9 million Ontarians wanting. Their disabilities range anywhere from physical and developmental to mental health and mobility, and are often invisible to others.

They're concerned not only that the province will miss its deadline, but there won't be any way to make government answer for the potential failure. And, they worry, there will be no renewed push to keep accessibility issues at the forefront after 2025. 

Anthony Frisina, the spokesperson for advocacy group Ontario Disability Coalition, says the lack of prioritization of the file is putting people with disabilities at risk.

"We're more vigorously keeping track of it ... we want to hold people accountable," he said. Frisina has spina bifida, a condition that occurs when the spine and spinal cord don't form properly, and uses a wheelchair.

"I find that people with disabilities, the perception is like we're asking for so much and then we're coming off as complainers ... And that's an attitude barrier that needs to change."