Survey of the Circumstances of Lawyers and Law Students with Disabilities in Ontario

[FRANÇAIS - FRENCH]

The OBA Equality Committee Needs Your Input

The Equality Committee of the Ontario Bar Association is conducting a survey to obtain information about the circumstances of lawyers and law students with disabilities in Ontario. If you are lawyer or law student with a disability or if your firm or organization employs lawyers or law students with disabilities, we want to hear your stories of your achievements and challenges within the profession.

Law Students with Disabilities

The Equality Committee wants to hear about the experiences of law students with disabilities. We need to know whether you were able to obtain the accommodations you required at law school; were you given equal access to programmes and summer employment opportunities; do you feel your law school understood and met your needs and supported your career aspirations?

Lawyers with Disabilities

The Equality Committee wants to know whether lawyers with disabilities are able to find employment in their chosen fields and whether they are able to obtain the accommodations they require from employers, including during the interview process. We want to know what barriers still exist. Are some disabilities being accommodated more readily than others? We want to know about the challenges lawyers with disabilities face, but we also want to hear about success stories where creative solutions were found to promote inclusion and address issues of accommodation and access for both employees and clients.

Employers

The Equality Committee wants to know what employers are doing to attract and accommodate lawyers with disabilities. What challenges do employers face in providing accommodation? What forms of assistance or support could bodies such as the Law Society of Upper Canada or the OBA offer to employers to help them promote inclusion and meet their accommodation obligations?

Share Your Experiences

The Equality Committee needs to hear from you! Please share your experiences, challenges and success stories with us, so we can better understand what is being done and what remains to be done to ensure the full inclusion of persons with disabilities within the profession.

Submit your experiences anonymously at the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YX7BVZX

There are also electronic versions of the survey available on the Equality Committee Website at oba.org. These can be printed, completed and mailed to:

OBA Equality Committee
c/o Edgar-Andre Montigny at ARCH Disability Law Centre
425 Bloor Street East
Suite 110
Toronto, ON
M4W 3R4

There is no need to put your name or return address on the envelope or survey forms.

If you require further options please contact Ed Montigny at ARCH Disability Law Centre at 416 482-8255.

Please submit your responses by May 30 2012.

OBA Accessibility Subcommittee of the OBA Equality Committee:
Jewel Amoah
Eduardo Cisternas
Ed Montigny
Mark Wells