Young man in a wheelchair, wearing a red shirt and glasses, smiling on the cover of a guide titled

‘Guide to Accessible Festivals & Outdoor Events’

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) from 2005 is a law that sets out a process for developing and enforcing accessibility standards in the Canadian province of Ontario. People with disabilities and industry representatives worked together with the Ontarian government to develop them. The goal was to reduce barriers to make it possible for people of all abilities to be part of their communities every day. The vision is to make Ontario accessible by 2025. 

To help festivals comply with these accessibility requirements, the government of Ontario developed the “Guide to Accessible Festivals & Outdoor Events.” It is supposed to make festivals more enjoyable for everyone by improving the events’ accessibility and help attract guests with disabilities. It covers all areas from planning and running an outdoor event to gathering feedback and improving it afterwards. The guide explores some relatively simple accessibility solutions to make your event accessible.

The guide was initially developed to help create more accessible community festivals and events that celebrated the countdown to the 2015 Toronto Pan American/Parapan American Games, the up to this date largest multi-sport event ever held in Canada. Many easy-to-follow tips have made this guide a valuable resource of lasting relevance for festival and event planners across Ontario, but it can be easily applied to events anywhere in the world.

Check out the Accessible Festival Planning checklist of all the things that you need to do before the festival!

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