Improving School Residence Accessibility
September 27, 2019 Greg Thomson
In our last article, we covered how new and renovated school buildings need to be accessible to students, educators, parents, and visitors with disabilities. We also outlined why an education standard should mandate more accessibility in older school buildings. In this article, we focus on residence accessibility.
Residence Accessibility
Like other school spaces, school residences must follow the rules in the Design of Public Spaces Standards and the Ontario Building Code. Under the Design of Public Spaces Standards, new and redeveloped residence spaces must have accessible features. For instance, all new or reconstructed residences must have accessible:
- Parking spaces
- Service counters, fixed queuing guides, and fixed waiting areas
Moreover, all residences of schools in the public sector, and all residences of private-sector schools with fifty or more workers, must have accessible:
- Outdoor paths, such as sidewalks
- Playgrounds
- Outdoor public eating areas
Similarly, under the Ontario Building Code, all new and redeveloped buildings open to the public, including school residences, must follow accessibility standards. These standards include:
- Ramps, lifts or elevators whenever there are stairs
- Automatic doors
- Wide doorways at entrances to buildings and common areas
- Accessible public washrooms
- Barrier-free paths of travel into and through buildings
- Visual and audible fire alarms
- Accessible seating in auditoriums
- Assistive listening systems in meeting [...]