ORFA News

ORFA President and Chair of the Board of Directors, Ed Greer is "extremely pleased to announce the creation of a new Accessibility and Inclusion Award." Ed shares that "the award came for Board approval at the recommendation of ORFA's Awards and Recognition Committee and continues to demonstrate leadership and recognition for those who are striving to address accessibility and inclusion deficiencies". 

Karen Cooke as Chair of the Awards and Recognition Committee, acknowledged her other committee members Cathy Seguin and Amy Gangl and further added that "this award will be presented to a recreation facility, or recreation-related business/organization who have significantly included accessibility and/or inclusion elements into the design, build, or retrofit of indoor/outdoor recreation facility infrastructure and/or the provision of related service(s)."

The award submission must be made by a current ORFA member in good standing and the submission will be considered against the following criteria:

• Be a recreation facility or recreation-related business/organization
• Accessibility and/or inclusion improvements must exceed minimum Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) standards and have been completed/implemented within the last three years
• Design, build, or retrofit of indoor/outdoor recreation facility infrastructure, and/or provision of service, must have been done in consultation with, or reviewed by, user groups
• Accessibility and/or inclusion project must highlight the elimination of barriers, inclusion, and independence for people with disabilities

The awards submission, which must include the (a) nomination form, (b) photographs of the project, and (c) letter(s) of support from the user groups, must be submitted by October 31st to be presented at the ORFA Annual General Meeting held on the first Wednesday of December each year.

NOMINATION FORM: Online Nomination Form