Accessibility for People with Disabilities Policy

The City of Edmonton’s Diversity and Inclusion Policy was approved by City Council in 2008. It is currently under review for an update and will remain a separate policy from the Accessibility for People with Disabilities Policy.

Words can often have differing interpretations. For this Policy work, the City has adopted the following definitions to create a common understanding:

Accessibility
A concept integral to human rights that refers to the absence of barriers that prevent individuals and/or groups from fully participating in all social, economic, cultural, spiritual and political aspects of society. The term is often linked to people with disabilities and their rights to access. It also refers to universal design characteristics of products, devices, information, programs, services and infrastructure that enable independent use or support when required, and access by people with a variety of disabilities.

Disability
Disability means any impairment, including a physical, mental, intellectual, cognitive, learning, communication or sensory impairment - or a functional limitation - whether permanent, temporary or episodic in nature or evident or not, that, in interaction with a barrier, hinders a person’s full and equal participation in society (Accessible Canada Act, 2019).

All Edmontonians, visitors and City employees. The  Policy  is a shared direction and way of working, influencing how we plan and make decisions in areas that affect people with visible or invisible disabilities. The work supports both the City’s corporate promise of enabling a better life for all Edmontonians and several policies of the City Plan. The Corporate Accessibility Plan includes actions aimed at identifying, preventing and reducing barriers to accessibility to make Edmonton a more accessible city.

The Policy is expanded in scope to identify and remove accessibility barriers in all areas of work at the City including: technology, information, communication, transportation, recreation, open spaces, civic engagement, programs and services. The Policy states the City’s commitments. The City is taking a well thought out, strategic approach to fulfill the commitments. The Corporate Accessibility Plan identifies priority actions to remove barriers.  The Plan is incremental in nature with a phased-in approach.

The City worked with various external groups representing different disabilities, including the Accessibility Advisory Committee, to develop the Policy.

The City also engaged people with disabilities for feedback on actions in the Corporate Accessibility Plan.

The City continues to engage with Edmontonians with disabilities and disability organizations to share progress updates and understand the barriers they experience when accessing City programs, services and spaces. The 2025-2029 Corporate Accessibility Plan is based on this feedback.