With Asha Rampersad

Child cares, private schools, school boards, and those in the child sector have a legal duty under the Ontario Human Rights Code to accommodate children with disabilities up to the point of undue hardship. As parents become more informed about their rights, there has been a significant increase in litigation as more parents have either been filing complaints to the College of ECE and/or Human Rights Tribunal arguing their child’s disability has not been accommodated when decisions have been made to either modify, condense hours of services, suspend, or withdraw a child from care. The expectations placed on child care operators and their staff to find suitable accommodations for children with disabilities has never been more challenging. As organizations struggle with staffing shortages and limited funding to meet the needs of the individual child, they also find themselves caught between competing obligations from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labour, and the Ontario Human Rights Code to protect the safety of staff and other children in the program. This practical and interactive course will provide participants with a better understanding of their legal obligations to accommodate children with disabilities in an inclusive manner from the perspective of a parent with a child with special needs. The perspectives of a parent who has a child with special needs will be provided, as well as the challenges faced by child care in meeting their duty to accommodate will be discussed.