Month: May 2025

Participating in the Duty to Accommodate

If you are someone who is asking for accommodations for yourself at work or your child in school, we also have obligations under the Code to follow. If we do not follow this, than our human rights complaints can be dismissed.

Rennie v. BC Ambulance Service, 2025 BCHRT 104

[29] Further, Mr. Rennie obtained a medical letter dated April 13, 2015, from a psychologist. There is no evidence that this letter was provided to BC Ambulance prior to the present complaint proceeding.

[30] In these circumstances, I am persuaded that BC Ambulance is reasonably certain to prove at a hearing that Mr. Rennie failed to participate in his accommodation process by not communicating with BC Ambulance, and its obligation to accommodate came to an end. Therefore, Mr. Rennie’s complaint has no reasonable prospect of succeeding.

This complaint was dismissed.

We have to participate. This falls under the “Duty to co-operate in good faith”

Both parties are expected to do this. Both sides need to communicate.

If the school is ignoring you, keep all those emails that you didn’t get a response to. Those will also be important.

And…

If the school is communicating with you. You can’t ignore them either.

To read about the expectations and responsibilities of the duty to accommodate process read here

Some parents feel that the communication they receive from the school is meant to poke them or bait them. I highly suggest you read 5 Rules on How to be Untouchable. Also keep in mind the communication between the parties needs to be in good faith, so if you feel there is anything sneaky going on, always keep the emails.

The point of the communication and co-operation needs to be focused about figuring out which accommodations work and which ones don’t. Accommodations don’t need to be ideal or perfect, just “reasonable” enough to provide the person with “a ramp”.

So, provide documentation. Communicate in good faith. And one more extension from this topic for parents in education is the Duty to Facilitate. Very similar to this case, but for parents. Failure to facilitate a school decision can lead to your human rights complaint being dismissed.

Knowledge is power.

Know your rights and responsibilities under the Duty to Accommodate.

It’s a two-way street.

National Accessibility Week

May 25th – 31st

This week is National Accessibility Week, which makes me want to highlight the Accessible Canada Act.

Let’s break this down by asking

What?

So what?

Now what?

Let’s begin.

What is this? Well, it is law that is made by the Canadian Government. This is the federal law. There are other Accessible Acts that are provincial. But since this week is National Accessible Week, I am going to start off with the federal Accessible Canada Act.

The goal is to help people with disabilities expereince more equity when accessing services from the government.

The federal act applies to federal government services and larger big private companies like Air Canada, or banks. Smaller businesses or provincial government businesses are under the Provincial Assessibilty Acts, like schools or community centers.

So what? You can file a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commissioner (which is federal). This is different from a Human Rights Complaint.

In December of 2024, The CHRC wrote an Accessibility Plan Progress Report

Accessibility Legislation was only assented in 2019. So we are still in the infancy of all of this. I mean, really….. this only came to be in 2019. I guess better late than never.

Now what? We need to use this!! Providing feedback to companies about their services and what barriers we are experiencing is an important way to advocate for changes which will help other people in the future. This is another way to use law to help us in our advocacy efforts and make our country more accessible.

Accessibility reports are expected to be published for the public to reach and feedback on accessibility should part of websites.

Most of us though will probably be providing feedback on a provincial level.

That is the Accessible BC Act.

Here is the plain language summary of the Accessible BC Act. LOTS of great information in here that is easy to digest. It talks about fines, and what will happen if organizations or services don’t do anything. How it will be regulated, etc. This info is also available in ASL.

So, woohoo!

Cheers, to another avenue, so we can be annoying to other people who don’t want to change! And maybe some who do…

Society is starting to be bend a little.

Every step matters. It all builds. Little by little. We need all of it.

AND

Each School District has an accessibility committee who reports to the Board of Education. They should all have a plan on how to address accessibility issues.

The more visible we are and the more we become part of the education, inclusion becomes more real.

#NationalAccessibilityWeek

Policy – “Soft Policing”

Policy is known as “soft policing”.

Policy is not law.

It is literally a group of people coming together and making stuff up. Sometimes policy is based on evidence, and sometimes it is not.

School districts have a lot of policies. I highly recommend you go to your school district site and find the policies and the administrative procedures. They may not be located in the same area. Some district websites are easy to navigate, others not so much. It’s worth the hunt. Policy will likely become part of your advocacy at some point.

A huge role for the Board of Education in your district is to create, review and revise policy as needed.

When they update or add a policy, they will, or should, be posting it publicly for public feedback. This will not be an announcement that gets emailed to you. It will take parents/guardians to be alert to these kinds of things being posted on the district website and to follow what is happening in board meetings.

Many districts have an online option for attending board meetings. Which I really like. You can multitask while you have it on in the background. Or if you are finding a part particularly boring, you can turn off the volume. Sometimes board meetings are interesting AF. Drama ensues. Showing up in person can also be informative. See who talks to whom, and you can feel the energy in the room that you can’t do over video. There are opportunities to have conversations with the trustees during break or after the meeting that can be helpful.

I HIGHLY suggest you get to know your district’s school trustees. These are the people who are creating these policies, bylaws, approving budgets, making section 11 decisions, and overseeing the superintendent and secretary-treasurer. The board appoints these people to their positions.

If there is a policy that you would like to bring to the board for consideration, you can certainly email them and discuss this with them. Their role is to listen to you. You can suggest amendments to the current policy, and next time they review their polices, you never know, your suggestions might make it in.

By reading up on policy, you may realize there may also be avenues for you to resolve your issues that you didn’t know were an option. For example, the whistleblowing policy. That is for everyone, not just staff. If you have someone in a position of power who is lying to you or being unethical, this is an option for you to consider in reporting it. Especially if you feel that the issues are not being addressed by the district staff. The whistleblowing complaints are reported to the board.

When there isn’t any transparency and people feel untouchable, it can lead to a lot of funky-monkey business in school districts. It is shameful when the system tries to cover it up. I hate to say this to you, especially if you are a new parent to advocacy. Please don’t be naive. This isn’t care-a-lot, and people in education are not sugarplum fairies. Staff have a fiduciary duty to their employers. Some of these people are wolves in sheep’s clothing. As you advocate and navigate the system, you’ll be learning who is who. Some people are genuinely the kindest and most caring people you will ever meet. The others…will become clear.

Something to keep an eye out for…as policy is not law and can be discriminatory.

Get to know your board, their policies, and administrative procedures. If you want to make changes, email away.

The Flaw of Inclusion

There is one part of “inclusion” that worries me.

You can be in a room with 100 people and feel utterly alone.

Depending on the type of disability you have, you may not meet someone with the same disability as you until you are an adult.

Just because you are in the same room with a bunch of people, doesn’t mean you feel like you belong there. That you are accepted. Hell…it doesn’t even mean you’ll be tolerated.

Growing up with other people who don’t have anything in common with you, at the core, and experience life differently… is bizarre. It’s like watching a movie.

People with rare diseases will travel halfway around the world just to be in the same space as someone else so they can talk about everything they are experiencing and have someone say the words “me too!”.

There is a reason humans have such a strong desire to be around other people who mirror similar elements to themselves. We feel seen. Understood. Real.

Inclusion as a concept is great. Fully support it.

However….

This is one flaw that I really don’t like.

The one good thing about grouping people with similar characteristics together is that they get to meet other people just like them, and those friendships and bonds are stronger than anything else.

Kids in gifted programs will report that they finally meet other kids who are just like them, and they feel “normal” for the first time. Educate Deaf children together and we have the learning of American Sign Language, Deaf culture and a community. At stuttering conferences, many report that meeting other people who stutter is soul-saving.

Inclusion spreads people out, and those bonds are not connecting. Under the concept of inclusion, how are we going to meet each other?

If you are neurodivergent, ask yourself… how many of your friends are also neurodivergent?

I can tell you, I already know the answer. Your closest friends, you will say, all of them are neurodivergent. And I bet you, as an adult, meeting other people just like you and talking about your experiences has been part of your healing process and becoming comfortable in your skin.

If kids are spread out like a dropped clump of marbles in the education system, rolling out in all directions, how are they going to meet and have friendships with other kids that they can see themselves in? They won’t.

That makes my heart sink.

So, how can we have both?

How can we connect kids with each other and still give them an inclusive education?

CLUBS!?

What else can we do?

Some districts are closing their gifted programs. Are there other ways we can bring gifted kids together?

We need to figure out something. People with disabilities shouldn’t have to wait until they are adults to meet other people who are just like them. That is incredibly isolating.

The first time I met someone who stuttered, I realized we had more in common than the friends I grew up with. And my friends were the same gender as me, the same age, had the same teachers, grew up in the same neighbourhood. Yet, this person who I just met 5 min ago who stuttered, who was not my gender, not in my generation, from another country, we could say “me too” for the first time.

People who don’t have disabilities or who are neurotypical don’t realize this part. Just how important it is. You all get to see yourselves in another human being every time you leave your home and enter society.

A lot of us connect over the internet, Zoom into support groups, and gather at conferences.

In order for inclusion not to have its dark side, we need to figure out how to still connect kids and not just have them all spread out like a dropped clump of marbles.

More Blogs! More Lived Experience!

Hello Everyone!

I am adding 2 more blogs to my parent blog list.

I love it when people write and share themselves with all of us. There is so much to relate to and learn about.

  1. End Collective Punishment in Schools.

This is an excellent blog about the Appeals Process in Schools.

“You retell the story, often to someone hearing it for the first time—someone who cannot possibly hold the full weight of months of frustration, confusion, and cumulative impact. You must sound nice, since they might judge you, but you’re furious by then. Heart broken for what your child has suffered. They listen, they nod, and then they reiterate policy. Like you’ve never heard about policy:-(

It seems like less of a pursuit of resolution than an institutional ritual. Performative. Lip service.“

2. The Canary Collective

This is written by a teacher advocating for change in the system!!

“I am an educator, an advocate, and a witness to a system in urgent need of change. The Canary Collective is not about any one person. It is about the movement we must build together, a revolution grounded in truth, hope, and justice. It is a space where marginalized voices can speak freely, where silence is broken, and where a different future is imagined. Like the canaries once sent into coal mines to warn against toxic air, we raise our voices to reveal danger, name what is harmful, protect what is precious, and call for transformation before more harm is done. Together, we can reshape education into a system rooted in acceptance, belonging, and care. I believe that future is possible if we are brave enough to challenge discrimination, to dismantle exclusion, and to refuse the comfort of silence. This is a place for those who are ready to stop whispering and start building. Welcome to the Canary Collective.”

You will find these blogs listed on my Parent/Guardian blogs page

A big thank you to the creators for sharing themselves with us.