CAN/ASC-1.1:2024 – Employment
8. Definitions and abbreviations
Information
Table of contents
The following definitions shall apply in this Standard.
Ableism – individual and societal discrimination and exclusion in the form of attitudes, prejudices, and actions that devalue and limit the potential of persons with disabilities.
Source: Ontario Human Rights Commission’s Policy on ableism and discrimination based on disability.
Note: Ableism, like other forms of discrimination, can be conscious, unconscious, intentional, unintentional, blatant, or casual, and can be embedded in institutions, systems, or the broader culture of a society.
Accessibility – enabling persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life, having access to all aspects of society on an equal and equitable basis with others.
Source: United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Article 9 – Accessibility.
Note: This includes but is not limited to employment, physical environment, transportation, information, communications (including information and communications technologies and systems), financial security, social services, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public.
Accessibility Policies – those supporting systemic and environmental approaches (including technical and human supports) to identifying, preventing, and removing barriers in the work environment.
Note: Accessibility policies can include existing policies, stand-alone policies, or language integrated into existing policies (Refer to Clause 10.5).
Accessible Format – documentation presented and provided in a way that meets a worker’s accessibility needs.
Accommodation – adjustment to rules, policies, workplace cultures, and physical environments to ensure that they do not have a negative effect on a person with a disability within the employment life cycle.
Anti-Ableism – an active approach that includes strategies, theories, actions, and practices that challenge and counter ableism, inequalities, prejudices, and discrimination of persons with disabilities.
Note: Discrimination against persons with disabilities is often linked to prejudicial attitudes, negative stereotyping, and the overall stigma surrounding disability.
Attitudinal barriers – lack of understanding, awareness, and knowledge that reinforces stereotypes, dehumanizing behaviours, and discriminatory practices.
Bona fide occupational requirement – a requirement that meets the following three-step test:
- Was adopted for a purpose or goal that is rationally connected to the function being performed;
- Was adopted in good faith, in the belief that it is necessary to fulfill the purpose or goal; and
- Is reasonably necessary to accomplish its purpose or goal, in the sense that it is impossible to accommodate the worker without undue hardship.
Source: The Supreme Court of Canada
Communications – information that an organization shares with its workers, including but not limited to:
- policies;
- organizational updates;
- health and safety information;
- job aides or training materials;
- multimedia presentations; and
- workplace activities.
Consultation – the process by which an organization, in a planned and coordinated manner, seeks the input and feedback of workers and other workplace parties before it makes decisions.
Continual improvement – recurring activity to enhance performance.
Note: Continual does not mean continuous, so the activity does not need to take place without interruption or in all areas simultaneously.
Discrimination – an action or a decision that results in the unfair or negative treatment of a person or group because of their disability, race, age, religion, sex, etc.
Note: Some types of discrimination are illegal under federal human rights legislation (see prohibited grounds in the Canadian Human Rights Act).
Employer – a person or organization that employs or engages a person to perform work arising in and out of the course of employment.
Employment accessibility strategy – a framework of policies and practices that establishes a vision for, and a roadmap towards, a workplace that is accessible and inclusive by design.
Note 1: An employment accessibility strategy is not limited to only accessibility-specific policies and practices, but also ensuring that all policies and practices are inclusive and barrier-free.
Note 2: The employment accessibility strategy will inform an organization’s accessibility plan if an accessibility plan is required by a particular jurisdiction or industry.
Equity – when workers receive treatment that is fair, just, and necessary to achieve the same outcome in the workplace. Individual workers are provided with what they need to access resources and workplace opportunities.
External Experts – individuals outside the organization who can be consulted or contracted at any stage of the employment life cycle to address third–party (or insurance) provisions, medical, accommodation, accessibility, or any other employment-related needs.
Gig work – employment that includes non-standard work arrangements, which are often temporary and involve a pay-per-service relationship that is often mediated through a digital platform.
Interested party – a person or organization that can affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision or activity.
Internal experts – individuals inside the organization who are involved in informing or managing components of the inclusive and accessible employment system within the employment life cycle.
Intersectional Accessibility Lens – the analytical framework that starts with/centres on experiences of persons with (a) disability(ies) and that examines the complex, cumulative ways multiple forms of discrimination and oppression overlap, interact, or intersect with persons with (single or multiple) disabilities’ experiences of ableism at the same time.
Intersectionality – a framework that explains the cumulative way in which a person or group of people are affected by multiple forms of discrimination and disadvantages.
Source: Adapted from Crenshaw, Kimberlé Williams. 1994. “Mapping the Margins”. In The Public Nature of Private Violence, ed. Fineman, M. and Mykitiuk, R. New York: Routledge. Google Scholar.
Note 1: The effect of multiple characteristics of diverse groups can exist within a single person.
Note 2: Systems of oppression such as ableism, racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, and transphobia combine, overlap, or intersect, especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups.
Lived experience – personal knowledge gained by persons with disabilities.
Performance management – encompasses all activities related to assessing and improving worker performance, productivity, and effectiveness with the goal of facilitating worker success.
Person-first language – language and expressions that emphasize the individual first, rather than the disability.
Note: Not every disability group uses person-first language.
Plain Language – wording, structure, and design that are so clear that the intended audience can easily find what they need, understand what they find, and use that information.
Source: Plain Language Association International
Practice – a commonly accepted method, formal or informal, of completing a procedure or an action within a work environment.
Procedure – a documented way to carry out an activity.
Retention – an organization’s ability to keep its workers through policies and practices that meet diverse worker needs and create an environment that incentivizes workers to remain with the organization.
Worker – a person who performs work or work-related activities that are under the control of the organization.
Note: Includes paid or unpaid workers, supervisors, managers, leaders, contractors, service providers, volunteers, students, and others engaged in performing activities for the benefit of the organization.
Worker representative – a person who is authorized by the worker to represent the worker.
Note: a person who is authorized by the worker to advocate on their behalf may include a labour representative, a legal representative, disability service provider, or other representative as relevant.
Work-integrated learning – practical learning opportunities in a work environment which may be part of formal or informal education.
Workplace party – an interested person who has a role in identifying, removing, or preventing barriers within the workplace and may include human resources staff, workers, managers, clients, worker representatives, student interns with disabilities, etc.