Nominations open for the 2024 Accessibility Awareness Award

Accessibility awareness awards 2023 recipientsKawartha Lakes - While you are going about your day, be mindful of those who face accessibility challenges and those who make the extra effort to help mitigate those challenges.

Currently, one (1) in four (4) people in Ontario have a disability. Disabilities can be both visible and invisible and span physical, mental and neurological conditions. In Kawartha Lakes, many unsung heroes are doing their part to level the playing field to create equal access to community life. To shed light on the challenges and recognize the community's Accessibility Champions, each spring the Kawartha Lakes Accessibility Advisory Committee (KLAAC), a group of volunteers that advises Council, seeks out the accessibility leaders of our community — employers, program designers, service providers, shopkeepers, friends and families — to celebrate them in a special award ceremony. These are the people who go above and beyond the casual helping hand, who thoughtfully initiate improvements to overcome barriers to inclusion.

You might cross paths with an accessibility champion today. Read more about the awards and see the 2023 recipients by visiting our news lease (Link: https://www.kawarthalakes.ca/en/news/accessibility-awareness-recognition-awards-2023.aspx) or the Kawartha Lakes Accessibility webpage (Link: https://www.kawarthalakes.ca/en/living-here/accessibility.aspx) . Nominate someone by completing an Accessibility Awareness Recognition Award Form. (Link: https://forms.kawarthalakes.ca/Clerks-Office/Clerks-Office/Nomination-Accessibility-Awareness-Award)

Nominations are welcome all year round; the deadline for 2024 nominations is Friday March 15, 2024.

There are a variety of categories to nominate for:

A business, group or individual: A person or group that has made an outstanding contribution in the past year to improve or promote awareness around accessibility.
New building or modification: An innovative infrastructure project followed the design principles and removed barriers for individuals with disabilities.
Barbara McArthur Memorial Award of Distinction: In memory of Barbara McArthur, the founder and first Chair of the KLAAC, the nominee has devoted time and energy beyond normal expectations and promoted public awareness and education.
The pandemic has seen even more accessibility challenges than usual, with limitations to services, access to groceries and essentials, barriers to communications and the need to social distance and isolate. There are countless ways you may have crossed paths with an accessibility champion. Take a moment to reflect on and recognize someone you know that's helped those struggling with a disability during the pandemic.

We are all just an event or an illness away from disability, so awareness about barriers and solutions helps everyone.