Disability Employment Awareness Month 2024
As a part of the university’s core values to foster inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility (IDEA), we proudly celebrate our second year of Disability Employment Awareness Month (DEAM) at Ontario Tech University. DEAM takes place nationwide every October to promote and celebrate the inclusion of people with disabilities in the workplace and to recognize all individuals who live with a disability, whether visible or invisible.
During DEAM, we ask all university members to complete the appropriate mandatory accessibility training modules for their respective roles. Below are links to the training modules, policies and procedures, and resources available within our university community.
Please let us know if you have any questions or comments using the Accessibility Feedback Form or contacting aoda@ontariotechu.ca.
- Mandatory AODA Training
- October 17 - Show Your Purple and Blue Colours
- Phone It Forward Program
- Representation through Media & Art
- New Assistive Tech Site
- DEAM Weekly Report
- Hiring the Right Talent
- All full-time and limited-term faculty and staff, Board of Governors, volunteers, and individuals who develop policies or provide goods and services either directly or indirectly to the university (third parties) MUST complete the AODA Training Modules.
- The following 5 modules MUST be successfully completed for compliance requirements to be met: General Requirements, Customer Service, Employment Standards, Information and Communications Standard, and Working Together: The Code and the AODA.
- Employees of the Office of Campus Infrastructure and Sustainability, the Board of Governors, and those that have the authority or the approval to build on or make planned significant alterations to the university’s public spaces are required to complete the Design of Public Spaces and Transportation Standard Modules. These groups are also required to complete the mandatory 1-5 modules.
- All faculty members (including Full-Time, Limited-Term Teaching Faculty, Sessional Instructors, Teaching Assistants, Research Assistants, and Postdoctoral Fellows) MUST complete the Accessible (AODA) Instruction Training for Educators modules.
As we proudly celebrate our second year of Disability Employment Awareness Month (DEAM) at Ontario Tech University, let’s show our support and strengthen awareness by wearing purple and blue on October 17.
How did the DEAM initiative begin? Originally started from an initiative called Light It Up! For NDEAM in 2020 by the Ontario Disability Employment Network (ODEN). Light It Up! For National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) became nationwide in 2021, showcased through many buildings, landmarks and signs. If organizations were unable to participate by lighting a building, individuals would wear purple and blue.
Why purple and blue? Purple symbolizes creativity, harmony and cooperation. Many organizations have a common goal of increasing employment opportunities for people who have a disability, with the spirit of cooperation in mind. Blue represents trust, dignity, authority, professionalism, intelligence and loyalty. Blue is a colour used by many businesses for their corporate identities and speaks to business.
On the evening of October 17, both Shawenjigewining Hall and Bordessa Hall buildings will be lit up in purple and blue lights in support of Disability Employment Awareness Month.
We ask that individuals who would like to participate in a group photo shoot on October 17, with purple and blue gear meet us at the Shawenjigewining Hall Building, Tribute Communities Lobby at 1 p.m. If you are unable to meet us but would like to still participate, please feel free to take a photo and send it to aoda@ontariotechu.ca inbox.
DEAM Purple & Blue Group Picture- Who: All individuals can participate
- What: Wear purple and blue in support of DEAM
- When: October 17, 2024 at 1 pm
- Where: Shawenjigewining Hall Building - Tribute Communities Lobby
- Who: All individuals can see
- What: See the buildings lit up in purple and blue
- When: October 17, 2024 - evening
- Where: Shawenjigewining Hall and Bordessa Hall Buildings
Phone it Forward is a new CNIB Foundation program that provides smartphones to Canadians with sight loss. Donations of modern smartphones are used to fuel this transformational program.
Canadians with sight loss have an unemployment rate that is three times the national average. Recent studies show that only 28% of Canadians with sight loss have a full-time job. High unemployment rates make it very difficult for Canadians with sight loss to afford and access a smartphone.
Since November 2022, approximately 20 phones have been donated by members from the university community.
Please visit the Phone It Forward website for further details.
Awareness and conversations to encourage an environment for individuals with disabilities in the workplace will always continue outside the month of October. We should never forget to integrate accessibility when creating or starting any project, course, event, document, etc. As members of the university, we will always keep the university’s core values of inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility (IDEA) in all our work.
Outside work and school, we appreciate the representation of accessibility and disability through media and art. Books, articles, movies, podcasts and more, there are amazing content and resources that discuss the topic of accessibility and disability. Our Ontario Tech Campus Library team has put together some of our accessibility and disability content and resources into collections linked below which you can add to your watch, listen or read list. We encourage you to visit our Campus Library to see all the resources we have. Enjoy!
Special thank you to Catherine Davidson, Chelsie Lalonde & Cathie Griffin.
