Accessibility Policy: Providing Goods and Services to People with Disabilities
1. Our mission
The mission of St. Augustine’s Seminary of Toronto is :
St. Augustine's Seminary is the Major Seminary of the Roman
Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto. It also welcomes candidates from
elsewhere. Its primary purpose is the preparation of candidates for
ordained priesthood in the Catholic Church. This preparation for
diocesan ministerial leadership embraces and promotes spiritual and
human formation, theological education and field training. The Seminary
is also mandated to form men and women aspiring to other ministries in
the Church.
The Seminary pursues its calling to form candidates as
responsible and apostolic persons for the service of the Church and
world by fostering
- faithful love for Jesus Christ, his Church and all people
- commitment to hand on faithfully the tradition, teachings and history of the Church
- commitment to the exploration of the mysteries of faith through sustained scriptural and theological inquiry
- communal life through sharing faith, prayer and wisdom
The Seminary's mission is undertaken in the context of
committed ecumenical engagement as a founding member of the Toronto
School of Theology, affiliated with the University of Toronto.
2. Our commitment
St. Augustine’s Seminary of Toronto [SAS] aims to foster an atmosphere of understanding and mutual respect for the worth, dignity and independence of all persons.
SAS will strive to provide support for, and facilitate the
accommodation of individuals with disabilities, so that all may share
the same level of access to the goods and services provided by St.
Augustine’s Seminary. SAS will work to eliminate or minimize the adverse
effects of barriers, including physical, environmental, attitudinal,
communication and technological barriers, which may prevent the full
participation of individuals with disabilities in the SAS community. SAS
will seek to provide integrated services whenever possible.
The SAS will provide its employees with education and access to
information regarding disability and the SAS’s policies on disability.
At the same time, the SAS will endeavour to protect the individuals' privacy, confidentiality and autonomy.
The SAS affirms that all individuals are expected to satisfy
the essential requirements of their program of studies or employment,
while recognizing that students and employees with disabilities may
require reasonable accommodations to enable them to do so.
St. Augustine’s is committed to acting conscientiously and in
keeping with its own policies and existing legislation related to
disability. These include:
- The Toronto School of Theology’s policy on Accommodations for Students with Disabilities (Paragraph 12 of the Basic Degree Handbook);
- Ontario’s Ontarians with Disabilities Act
- Ontario’s Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act
- Ontario Human Rights Code
3. Providing goods and services to people with disabilities
SAS is committed to excellence in serving its
community including people with disabilities and we will carry out our
functions and responsibilities in the following areas:
3.1 Communication
We will communicate with people with disabilities in ways that take into account their disability.
We will train staff members who communicate with the public on
how to interact and communicate with people with various types of
disabilities.
3.2 Telephone services
SAS will make reasonable efforts to provide accessible
telephone service to the students and other members of the public. We
will train staff members to communicate over the telephone in clear and
plain language and to speak clearly and slowly. We will also make our
staff members familiar with telephone technologies intended for people
with disabilities. We will offer to communicate with people by regular
mail or email if telephone communications is not suitable to their
needs.
3.3 Assistive devices
We are committed to serving people with disabilities who use
their own assistive devices to obtain, use or benefit from our goods and
services. We will ensure that our staff members are trained and
familiar with various assistive devices that may be used by persons with
disabilities while accessing our goods or services.
We will continue our relationship with the University of Toronto’s Accessibility Services to provide accessible services to our student community.
3.4 Billing
We will make reasonable efforts to provide accessible invoices
to all students and members of the public. For this reason invoices will
be provided by email on request. We will answer any questions about the
content of the invoice in person, by telephone or email.
4. Use of service animals
We are committed to welcoming people with disabilities who are
accompanied by a service animal on the parts of our premises that are
open to the public and other third parties. We will also ensure that all
staff, volunteers and others dealing with the public are properly
trained in how to interact with people with disabilities who are
accompanied by a service animal.
5. Support Persons
We are committed to welcoming people with disabilities who are
accompanied by a support person. Any person with a disability who is
accompanied by a support person will be allowed to enter the SAS
building with his or her support person. At no time will a person with a
disability, who is accompanied by a support person be prevented from
having access to his or her support person while on our premises. Fees
will not be charged for support persons for admission to any event
hosted by SAS for which a fee is charged.
6. Notice of temporary disruption
SAS will provide a public notice in the event of a planned or
unexpected disruption in the facilities or services usually used by
people with disabilities. This notice will include information about the
reason for the disruption, its anticipated duration, and a description
of alternative facilities or services, if available.
The notice will be placed on our website and at all public entrances and service areas on our premises.
7. Training for staff
SAS will provide training to all employees, volunteers and
others who deal with the public or other third parties on their behalf,
and all those who are involved in the development and approvals of
accessibility service policies, practices and procedures. All SAS
employees and persons who volunteer for SAS will be trained:
This training will be provided for each staff member within a month of his or her commencement of duties.
Training will include the following:
- The purposes of the Accessibility for Ontarians with
Disabilities Act, 2005 and the requirements of 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;
- What to do if a person with a disability is having difficulty in accessing SAS ’s goods and services;
- The accessibility services available to SAS students through the University of Toronto;
- SAS ’s policies, practices and procedures relating to the accessibility service standard.
8. Feedback process
St. Augustine’s welcomes feedback on our accessibility
services. Comments can be made to Theresa Kelly, Registrar and
Administrative Assistant to the Dean of Studies, in the following ways:
- in person or by regular mail addressed to:
St. Augustine’s Seminary of Toronto 2661 Kingston Road Scarborough, ON M1M 1M3
- by telephone at: 416-261-7207 x230
- by email to: t.vicioso@utoronto.ca
Students and other members of the public can expect to hear back within ten business days of our receipt of the feedback.
9. Modifications to this or other policies
The SAS is committed to developing accessibility service
policies that respect and promote the dignity and independence of people
with disabilities. Therefore no changes will be made to this policy
before considering the impact on people with disabilities. SAS will make
reasonable efforts to modify or amend any policy that does not respect
and promote the dignity and independence of people with disabilities.
10. Questions about this policy
This policy exists to achieve service excellence to those
members of our community with disabilities. If anyone has questions
about this policy, please contact Theresa Kelly by telephone at
416-261-7207 x230 or by email to t.vicioso@utoronto.ca .