Accessibility standards

Under the Accessible B.C. Act, the B.C. government is drafting accessibility standards. The first two standards are Employment Accessibility and Accessible Service Delivery.

On this page:

• Employment accessibility
• Accessible service delivery
• Our progress
• Next steps

These standards help to:

• Identify barriers experienced by people with disabilities
• Remove those barriers
• Prevent the creation of new barriers

Employment accessibility

People with disabilities often encounter barriers to employment. Accessibility barriers may occur:

• In the job posting
• During hiring
• While onboarding
• Throughout training
• At the workplace

The goal of the Employment Accessibility standard is to address barriers in:

• Hiring
• Training
• Retention

Accessible service delivery

Sometimes accessing goods and services can be harder for people with disabilities. Accessible Service Delivery standards aim to make services more inclusive to everyone. Accessibility barriers may occur due to:

• Attitudes
• Lack of training
• Ineffective communication
• Inaccessible technology

The Accessible Service Delivery standard aims to ensure accessibility in:

• Events
• Activities
• Advice
• Buying goods and services

Our progress

The Provincial Accessibility Committee (PAC) developed draft standards in these two areas. The Accessibility Directorate and technical committees supported their work.

Under Employment Accessibility, PAC proposed draft standards and recommendations for:

• Training
• Support
• Other employment materials

They focus on:

• Hiring
• Workplaces
• Inclusive organizations

Under Accessible Service Delivery, PAC proposed draft standards and recommendations for:

• Guides
• Training
• Other service delivery materials

The standards require organizations to actively:

• Remove barriers
• Share information
• Honour people with disabilities as the experts in their own experience

The Directorate shared these proposals with people across B.C.

Members of the public provided their feedback. They represented many groups, including:

• People with disabilities
• Indigenous Peoples
• Families, friends and allies
• Organizations
• Employers

You can learn more by reading the What We Learned report.

Next steps

Next, the PAC will use the What We Learned report to revise the draft standards. They will present their final version to the Minister in 2025. The Minister may then choose to recommend some or all the standards for regulation.