LCO Release of Consultation Paper in Disabilities Project

Last Friday, July 3rd, the Law Commission of Ontario released our first consultation paper in our project to develop a coherent approach to the law as it affects persons with disabilities. You can also see a video that turns the tables on able-bodied people (or, in recognition of the reality that many people develop serious physical or mental challenges as they age or for other reasons, “not yet disabled people”).

This initial paper, available in pdf and html, seeks input on the meaning of “disability”, exploring the ways in which it has been defined in various domestic and international documents and applied in various programs. The purpose of the project is to develop a frame of reference for laws affecting persons with disabilities, as well as checking how well “general” laws meet the requirements of persons with disabilities. What we mean when we say “persons with disabilities” is therefore crucial to the whole project.

There has been much recent activity in this area and in that sense, our project has the advantage of some recent attempts to address the needs of persons with disabilities as a way of assessing some practical ways of redefining the “norm” by which society is organized, such as the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005.

The head of this project, Lauren Bates, our Staff Lawyer, is engaged in an extensive consultation for this project and Roxanne Mykitiuk, our Osgoode Hall Law School LCO Scholar in Residence, is preparing a significant background paper we expect to release early in the fall. We anticipate releasing a final report later in 2010.