Accessibility Design Guidelines

What are the City of Toronto’s Accessibility Design Guidelines?

By Anjuli Solanki

The City of Toronto’s Accessibility Design Guidelines is a resource to help private and public developers build spaces which are accessible and friendly to all people. The guidelines are rooted in the human rights principles of respect, dignity and inclusion for all members of society. The orientation of these guidelines is to ensure that people with sensory and mobility disabilities can easily access facilities with greater ease and safety.

These guidelines are important because they work towards making Toronto a more accessible and inclusive city. Although these guidelines focus on people with disabilities, their recommendations positively impact the accessibility of a broad demographic of people. With Canada’s aging population, proactively addressing accessibility challenges has become increasingly important. According to Statistics Canada, between 2001 and 2006, the percentage of the population with disabilities rose from 13% to 14% (Statistics Canada, A Profile of Disability in Canada 2001; Participation and Activity Limitation Survey 2006). There are numerous social, cultural, recreational, economic, and political, advantages that a more disability accessible city can provide. The Guidelines are especially useful in illustrating how to make spaces more accessible through providing physical dimension and practical guiding principles …. (more)