Accessibility Policy

Providing goods, services or facilities to people with disabilities

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) helps reduce and remove barriers in everyday life, including those of our employees, clients, customers, and visitors to our physical office. The purpose of the act is to make Ontario accessible to people with disabilities by 2025. ECW is committed to achieving this goal and to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace.

ECW understands that obligations under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA) and its accessibility standards do not substitute or limit its obligations under the Ontario Human Rights Code or obligations to people with disabilities under any other law.

Assistive devices

We will ensure that our staff are trained and familiar with various assistive devices we have on site or that we provide, that may be used by visitors with disabilities while accessing our goods, services or facilities.

Communication

We will communicate with individuals in ways that best accommodate their needs.

Service animals

We welcome people with disabilities and their service animals. Service animals are allowed on the parts of our premises that are open to the public.

Support persons

A person with a disability who is accompanied by a support person will be allowed to have that person accompany them on our premises.

Accessible Books Consortium Charter for Accessible Publishing

ECW Press has agreed to uphold the commitments required by the Accessible Book Consortium's Charter for Accessible Publishing. The commitments that the Charter requires are:

  1. stating our accessibility policy on our website, including adherence to the Charter;
  2. nominating a senior manger who will be responsible for accessibility;
  3. raising awareness among, and provide technical training for, relevant staff;
  4. designating and publicizing a point of contact in our organization to assist persons with print disabilities to access our publications;
  5. testing our digital publications for accessibility, incorporating appropriate feature descriptions and metadata;
  6. monitoring our progress in this area;
  7. promoting the adoption of accessibility standards throughout the supply chain; and
  8. supporting national and international collaboration with organizations representing persons with print disabilities so as to increase the availability of publications in accessible formats.

You can find all the signatories of the ABC's Charter for Accessible Publishing at their website.

For a list of websites offering Accessible Books for sale, please click here.

Published materials

Published learning materials will be available in accessible formats. Where possible, all other published materials will be made available in accessible formats.

Logo for Benetech's Global Certified Accessible certification. Reads, 'Accessible Publisher, Benetech Certified'.

ECW Press has earned Benetech’s Global Certified Accessible™ (GCA) certification. Ebooks published under ECW’s trade catalogue are created through our certified Born Accessible production process and include features such as structured navigation and headings, embedded print book edition page numbering, described images, and built-in discovery data to describe each book’s accessibility features. 

 You can find all of our ebooks that have been published in an accessible format here. 

Office design

Two emergency exits on each floor are indicated with visible ceiling signage and an audible signal to indicate evacuation due to smoke or carbon monoxide.

Gender neutral restrooms are available in the ECW office.

The first floor is wheelchair accessible. The second floor is accessible by a set of stairs. Improvements to the design of the first-floor restroom and accessibility to the common areas for employees on the second floor will be made where and when possible.

Notice of temporary disruption

In the event of a planned or unexpected disruption to services or facilities for people with disabilities, ECW will provide prompt notification. This clearly posted notice will include information about the reason for the disruption, its anticipated length of time, and a description of alternative facilities or services, if available.

The notice will be made publicly available in the following ways:

A physical notice will be displayed at:
665 Gerrard Street East, Toronto, ON M4M 1Y2

A web-notice will be posted on:
https://ecwpress.com

Training

ECW will provide accessibility training to:

  • a designated accessibility officer
  • anyone involved in developing our policies
  • anyone who provides goods, services or facilities to customers on our behalf.

Training will include:

  • Purpose of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 and the requirements of the customer service standard
  • ECW’s policies related to the customer service standard
  • How to interact and communicate with people with various types of disabilities
  • How to interact with people with disabilities who use an assistive device or require the assistance of a service animal or a support person
  • How to use the equipment or devices available on-site or otherwise that may help with providing goods, services or facilities to people with disabilities
  • What to do if a person with a disability is having difficulty in accessing ECW’s goods, services or facilities

The aforementioned persons will also be trained when changes are made to our accessibility policies.

Feedback process

ECW welcomes feedback on how we provide accessible service. This will help us identify barriers and respond to concerns.

Those who wish to provide feedback on the way ECW provides goods, services or facilities to people with disabilities can provide feedback in the following way(s):

Mailing Address:

Attention of ASCS Officer
ECW Press
665 Gerrard Street East
Toronto, ON M4M 1Y2

 E-mail:

Attention of ASCS Officer
ascsofficer@ecwpress.com

ECW will make sure our feedback process is accessible to people with disabilities by providing or arranging for accessible formats and communication supports, on request.

Modifications to this or other policies

Any policies of ECW that do not respect and promote the principles of dignity, independence, integration and equal opportunity for people with disabilities will be modified or removed. 

Access to alternate formats

If you are interested in purchasing one of our books but require the content in a particular format for accessibility purposes, please reach out to us. We will accommodate any requests for alternative file formats that we are able to.

Mailing Address:

Attention of ASCS Officer
ECW Press
665 Gerrard Street East
Toronto, ON M4M 1Y2

 E-mail:

Attention of ASCS Officer
ascsofficer@ecwpress.com