On October 21st, 2020, Donna Jodhan was interviewed by Joeita Gupta of Accessible Media Inc’s On the Pulse program to mark the 10th anniversary of a landmark victory.
This landmark victory came down on November 29th, 2010, where the Canadian Government was mandated to make its websites accessible to all Canadians, especially so to Canadians with Disabilities.
In 2012, Donna and her team were victorious at the Court of Appeal after the Federal Government lost their challenge to the lower Court’s decision.
The following is a list of questions that Joeita asked Donna during the October 21st interview:
- Your reflections on the actual legal victory – where were you and what stood out for you?
- Why were you fighting this legal case?
- What did the actual decision say?
- Tell us about the importance of having a legal team rather than being just one person.
- What role did the community play and how important is community involvement in cases like this?
- How has the federal government responded to the legal decision?
- What has changed in the last 10 years. Are federal websites accessible?
- What needs to be improved?
- How do you feel about the Accessible Canada Act? Is it a turning point?
- How do you advocate for yourself and the disability community in a sustainable way?
- What role does changing the law play in broader grassroots efforts to make positive change for people with disabilities?
- Do you think we need to move away from rights-based approaches and look at models that examine systemic forms of oppression, i.e. ableism?
- What are you working on at the moment?
- What advice do you have for other disability activists?
- How important are stakeholder relations and coalition building?
- What did you learn from your journey fighting the legal case?
To learn more, visit ami.ca/onthepulse.