In Ontario, there are millions of students attending schools at the elementary, secondary and post-secondary levels. Ontario’s education system aims to build foundations that will allow these students to succeed once they exit the school system. So it’s no wonder that schools from across the province are making changes, both physical and academic, to ensure that every student, regardless of ability, has equal access to their education…and an equal chance for success.

At St. Mary’s Elementary School in Campbellford, Ontario, students with developmental disabilities are integrated into mainstream curriculum and classes with their appropriate age group. Principal Steve Egan says that having an inclusive system fosters a sense early on with students that everyone belongs and deserves the same treatment.

“They don’t see the difference,” he explains. “And that’s the great thing about it.”

St. Mary’s has also worked hard to remove physical barriers at the school for students and staff with disabilities by installing an elevator and several ramps.

“Every student is able to succeed,” says Steve. “But we have to get rid of those barriers.”

The same revelation has recently occurred at Brockville Collegiate Institute (BCI) in Brockville, Ontario. The high school, which is located in a heritage building, decided to improve their physical accessibility by installing a ramp at the front entrance, accessible washrooms, an elevator and accessible seating in their auditorium. And like St. Mary’s, BCI has also developed an inclusive education program where students with developmental disabilities are learning, and graduating, right alongside their peers.

“Essentially all of us have certain needs,” explains Principal Don Lewis. “It might be a physical need, it might be an educational need, it might be a learning challenge.”

But regardless of those needs, Don says that every student deserves the right to have the same access to their education that any other student would have.

And at Durham College and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa, Ontario, accessibility and inclusiveness are present everywhere you turn — from campus buildings to academics to attitude.

“It is everyone’s job to build accessibility into the work we do,” explains Margaret Greenley, Vice President of Student Affairs for the college and university. “So if you are the person responsible for construction, you will have a focus on accessibility around physical barriers for our students. If you’re in charge of curriculum development, you will develop universal design for any new curriculum that you’re introducing.”

And if you’re full-time, part-time or contract staff, you will also have the skills and knowledge to meet the needs of anyone on campus — thanks to customer service training that all elementary, secondary and post-secondary school staff across Ontario underwent as part of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act’s Accessible Customer Service Standard.

The advantages of this training are proving universal for everyone across Ontario’s schools.

“When you talk about addressing people respectively,” Margaret explains, “asking them what they need, listening to them — I don’t know anybody that isn’t going to benefit from that kind of customer service.”

Allan Angus, a Durham College student who is blind, says he has seen the benefits firsthand.

“All of the full-time staff here at the college are just terrific,” he remarks. “It’s just unbelievable the attitudes they have and their understanding of students with disabilities.”

But Allan believes it needs to be that way for students with disabilities to succeed, and Ontario’s schools are working hard to ensure that it is.

“Disabilities have no gender, they have no race, they have no ethnicity,” explains Allan. “People with disabilities come from all walks of life. And so it’s the right thing for schools to do — to be able to accommodate people with disabilities and provide them with a forum where they can achieve their goals.”