Accommodating Children with Disabilities

Accommodating Children with Disabilities.

Description:

The Ontario Human Rights Commission released a new policy on “Accessible Education for Students with Disabilities” on August 29, 2018 regarding accessible education for children with disabilities. Under the Code, education providers including child cares, private and public organizations have a legal duty to accommodate the needs of students with disabilities to the point of undue hardship. This training session will discuss what these legal obligations mean for child care organizations.

The duty to accommodate has both a procedural (inquiry, analysis, investigate) and a substantive (reasonable accommodations to meet the need of the child) component that as part of due diligence child cares must follow. The expectations placed on child care organizations can be challenging in trying to provide alternative learning techniques, supports and resources, positive behavioural intervention and modifying the delivery of the program.

Objectives:

• Understanding legal obligations under the Human Rights Code and AODA.
• How far do you have to go in the accommodation process?
• What does undue hardship look like for childcare?
• What happens if a Centre cannot accommodate a child?
• Dealing with health and safety concerns related to other children and staff.
• Balancing accommodating the needs of children who face sensory challenges related to a disability in the classroom and meeting your health and safety obligations.
• What do we need to document to protect our organization?
• When do we need to consult with a lawyer?

About the Presenter: Asha Rampersad

Education

B.A. Hons. Political Science & Law and Society, York University, 2002

M.A. Political Science, University of Western Ontario, 2004

LL.B. University of Windsor, 2007

Call to the Bar: Ontario, 2008

Asha’ s main areas of practice include human rights litigation, accommodation issues, labour relations, and conducting highly complex workplace investigations, including cases involving sexual harassment, race-based complaints and cases involving systemic allegations of discrimination and harassment.

Asha is a highly sought-after speaker who has been selected to speak at a number of employment and labour conferences across Canada and has significant expertise in the areas of diversity and inclusion, human rights disability management, accommodation issues and conducting workplace investigations. She has also been part of the faculty for the Osgoode mental health and labour law certificate programs and teaches constitutional law at Wilfrid Laurier University.

For more information about this training and other professional development and training opportunities offered by York Region, please visit our Eventbrite Page or email capacitybuilding@york.ca.

York Region Children’s Services