Disability Law Primer (PDF) - ARCH Disability Law Centre

The duty to accommodate persons with disabilities means accommodation

must be provided in a manner that most respects the dignity of the person,

if to do so does not create undue hardship. Dignity includes consideration

of how accommodation is provided and the individual’s own participation

in the process.

Human dignity encompasses individual self-respect and self-worth. It is

concerned with physical and psychological integrity and empowerment. It

is harmed when people are marginalized, stigmatized, ignored or

devalued. Privacy, confidentiality, comfort, autonomy, individuality and

self-esteem are important factors as well to show whether an

accommodation maximizes integration and promotes full participation in

society.

Different ways of accommodating the needs of persons with disabilities

should be considered along a continuum from those ways that are most

respectful of privacy, autonomy, integration and other human values, to

those that are least respectful of those values.

Perhaps the most common example of an accommodation that

demonstrates little respect for the dignity of a person with a disability is a

wheelchair entrance over a loading dock or through a service area or

garbage room. Persons with disabilities should have the same opportunity

as others to enter a building in a manner that is as convenient and

pleasant for them as it is for others.^96

C. Harassment and Poisoned Environment

The Code prohibits harassment, which is defined as engaging in a course of vexatious
comment or conduct that is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome.

(^97) Harassment is a form of discrimination that includes behaviour or comments that
insult or offend another person based on a ground set out in the Code.^98 It can be
overt, taking the form of jokes, rudeness, physical intimidation, or threats. It can also be
subtle, involving social ostracism and exclusion.
(^96) Policy and guidelines on disability and the duty to accommodate, supra note 12 at 10.
(^97) Code, supra note 4 atss. 2(2), 5(2) and 10.
(^98) Ibid. at s. 5.2.