Education Standard Development Committee
Recommendations to the Minister of Justice
In August 2020, the Accessibility Advisory Board submitted the first phase of recommendations to the Minister of Justice.
These are recommendations for commitments that Nova Scotia’s education system needs to make to ensure students with disabilities have equitable access to education. The recommendations address barriers in areas including:
- capacity building and professional development
- teaching practices
- learning materials
- assistive technology
- accessibility services
- communication
- research
Recommendations for an accessibility standard in education will be submitted to the Minister of Justice in the next phase of work.
First phase of recommendations
- Full recommendations (PDF 287 kB)
- Recommendations – Plain Language (PDF 252 kB)
- Recommendations – American Sign Language (ASL) video
About the committee
The majority of committee members identify as having a disability. Committee members include:
- persons with disabilities,
- representatives from organizations that provide services to persons with disabilities
- representatives from private and public early childhood, primary, secondary, and post-secondary education
- representatives from the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, and Department of Labour and Advanced Education members of the Accessibility Advisory Board
Committee members
Rosalind Penfound, Chair - Vice-President, Organizational Development, Nova Scotia Community College, Dartmouth
Cynthia Bruce, Vice-Chair - Assistant Professor, Department of Creative Arts Therapies, Concordia University, Kentville
Denise Cameron - Department Head, Learning Centre and Resource, Chignecto Central Regional Centre for Education, Truro
Jacqueline Cote - Manager, Accessible Learning, Cape Breton University, Sydney Forks
Alice Evans - Executive Director, Prescott Group, Halifax
Mary Goya - Manager, Policy and Planning, Adult Education Division, Department of Labour and Advanced Education, Dartmouth
Sheila Jamieson - Classroom Teacher, Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority, Halifax
Diane Johnson-Snook - Program Co-ordinator, Achieve Program, Nova Scotia Community College, Port Hawkesbury
Alex LeBlanc – Retired Tradesman, Human Rights Advocate, Wolfville
Chrissi Lynch – Co-ordinator of Student Services, Strait Regional Centre for Education, Queensville
Patricia Monaghan - Executive Director, Nova Scotia Early Childhood Development Intervention Services, Halifax
Adela N'Jie - Student Services Co-ordinator, Conseil scolaire acadien provincial, Dartmouth
Kevin Penny - Equipment Grants Co-ordinator, Post-Secondary Accessibility Services, Department of Labour and Advanced Education, Halifax
Ann Power - Executive Director, Student Equity and Support Services, Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, Halifax
Cornelia Schneider - Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, Mount Saint Vincent University, Porters Lake
David Steele - Registrar, Dexter Institute Private Career College, Lower Sackville
Sue Taylor-Foley - Executive Director, Innovation, Programs and Services, Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, Chester
Matt Walsh - Accessibility Mentor and Advocate, Subway Employee, Upper Tantallon
Barbara Welsford - Assistive Technology Specialist, South Shore Regional Centre for Education, Mahone Bay
Jillian Wood - Classroom Teacher, Chignecto Central Regional Centre for Education, Hastings
Contact
Phone: 902-424-8280
Toll-free (within Nova Scotia): 1-800-565-8280
TTY: 902-424-2667
TTY toll-free (within Nova Scotia): 1-877-996-9954
accessibility@novascotia.ca
Related legislation
Related information
- Access by Design 2030
- Accessibility Act review
- Accessibility Act: compliance overview
- Accessibility Advisory Board
- Accessibility resources
- Government of Nova Scotia Accessibility Plan
- Nova Scotia Post-Secondary Accessibility Framework (PDF)
- Nova Scotia Public Libraries Joint Accessibility Framework (PDF)
- Prevalence of disabilities in Nova Scotia
- Small Business ACCESS-Ability Grant Program
- What We Heard: Accessibility in Nova Scotia