Feed Ontario is raising awareness for the need for accessible spaces, in-person and online.
Making food bank services accessible to those who need it has always been a priority in Feed Ontario’s work, but recent data shows that it is becoming more essential than ever before. Last year alone, 1 in 3 people who visited a food bank relied on the Ontario Disability Support Benefit (ODSP) to get by, and nearly 1 in 2 of the people surveyed identified as having a disability.
October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and Feed Ontario is highlighting the need for accessible spaces, both in and out of the workplace. This month, we’re featuring three ways we’re actively working to improve accessibility for everyone that engages with our organization.
Supporting Physical Accessibility Through Feed Possibility! Grants
Through our Feed Possibility! Grants, we assist members in our network with removing physical barriers in their food banks through projects like adding ramps or automatic doors to entrances and acquiring vehicles to deliver food to those who cannot visit a food bank in person. These changes make food banks more accessible to everyone that uses the space, whether it be a visitor, a member of staff, or a dedicated volunteer.
However, physical barriers are not the only consideration when it comes to improving accessibility.
Removing Online Barriers
Another key area where accessibility can be improved is in communications, to make sure that everyone is able to access the information they need. That’s why we recently undertook an update of the Feed Ontario website, with the support of a grant from Food Banks Canada. This grant enabled the website to be aligned with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) through a more consistent logging of alternative text on images, creating a clearer contrast between text and background colours, and removing automatically triggered elements like drop-down menus.
This project will more readily allow food bank employees and managers to access essential information on our organization, and people in the community to find their local food bank, further strengthening our ability to work toward an Ontario where everyone is food secure. We thank Food Banks Canada for supporting this important work!
Advocating for Change
Along with our commitment to making changes to ensure our services are as barrier-free as possible, Feed Ontario is also a part of the Defend Disability Coalition, an Ontario-based organization that advocates for poverty reduction for people with disabilities. Feed Ontario has long been advocating for making improvements to ODSP, and in our work we strive toward removing barriers to inclusion for people with disabilities.
Through continuing to make our network physically accessible and our communications more barrier-free we hope to put our ideals into practice and raise awareness about making our communities more inclusive. If you’d like to find out more, check out Feed Ontario’s advocacy work here.