City of Ottawa - Accessibility Spotlight - April 2024

 

Register for the 2024 AccessAbility Day Event

You are cordially invited to celebrate the City of Ottawa’s 21st annual AccessAbility Day event, held each year as part of National AccessAbility Week. This event will be in-person at Ottawa’s City Hall. The morning event will be livestreamed via the City’s YouTube channel.  Date: Thursday, May 30, 2024  Time: 10 am to 2:30 pm     Location: Ottawa’s City Hall – 110 Laurier Ave. West With the AODA’s goal of becoming a fully accessible Ontario by 2025 fast approaching, this year’s theme will be: “Looking towards 2025 and the future of accessibility.”  Please join Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, City Councillors, senior leaders, staff and residents as we mark this important day.    During the morning opening ceremony, Mayor Sutcliffe will provide remarks and proclaim AccessAbility Day in Ottawa. The event will also feature a keynote address from Phillip B. Turcotte, advocate, disability champion, and former chair of the City’s Accessibility Advisory Committee. In the afternoon, attendees will have the opportunity to provide feedback on accessibility at the City during consultations on the new City of Ottawa’s Municipal Accessibility Plan (COMAP), launching in 2025. Please register online.  Registration will be open until Monday May 20. If you are unable to attend in-person, you can watch a live stream of the morning ceremony on the City of Ottawa's YouTube channel.   To promote the inclusion of all participants, the following supports are in place for the event:     American Sign Language (ASL)     Langue des signes québécoise (LSQ)     Continuous real-time captioning in English and French     Simultaneous French audio translation     Personal Support Workers     When registering, please let us know if you require any additional accommodations to participate.     We look forward to celebrating with you!

Accessibility During Construction - Site Assessments

With the start of a new construction season, the Standards Unit in the Quality Management Branch of the Infrastructure and Water Services department will be performing assessments at multiple construction sites to ensure accessibility.   An accessibility assessment is an important tool to evaluate measures in place, as required under the contract, and to ensure that construction sites remain accessible by any pedestrian, regardless of their abilities.    The assessment consists of a walkthrough of the construction site, noting accessibility features, such as: characteristics of material underfoot (What type of surface is provided? Is the grading acceptable? Are transitions smooth?) signage provided barriers provided (Are barriers cane detectable?) While the assessment is performed by a member of the Standards Unit, representatives from the project team are encouraged to walk through the site as part of the assessment. This not only results in the quick resolution of any issues noted, but also provides an opportunity to educate project teams. After an assessment is complete, a report is prepared detailing what was noted and sent out to the project team, including the City Project Manager, the Contractor, and the Contract Administrator. Assessments and input are well received by on-site construction staff as they assist them in making the necessary changes to ensure an accessible site and make continued improvements related to site accessibility.   To choose which sites will be visited, the Standards Unit typically selects from the City’s list of active capital construction projects, with an emphasis on sites that are likely to have more of an impact on pedestrian traffic.  Site assessments are mostly conducted from April to October. Members of the community can provide valuable input based on their lived experiences. The Standards Unit looks forward to that involvement as part of the 2024 construction season, and would encourage anyone interested in participating to contact StandardsSection@ottawa.ca. A site visit may take a couple of hours to complete, and a hard hat and vest are provided to volunteers.

Jordan Danger - Electric Sheep: AI & Human Collaboration for Creativity

From the artist: “With AI touted as a threat to human-driven creation, I wanted to question that assumption. Through text-based conversation with AI, I have sought collaboration on concepts, and then applied my human hand to these ideas. The result: a surreal collection of works made possible through communication with this new entity.” Jordan Danger is an emerging Canadian queer-identified artist. The challenges of living with an invisible disability have incited an exploration of feminism as well as functionality: the divide between art and craft, function and form. Her early career in animation and illustration inform her dynamic sculptures and paintings. March 28 to May 28, 2024 Vernissage: Thursday, March 28, 2024, 5:30 - 7:30 pm For more information, please visit the Gallery 112.