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Employment and Accessibility Services for Ontarians with a Spectrum of Abilities

We are a not for profit organization focused on accessibility and inclusion. We support persons with disabilities in finding their future by connecting them with opportunities in employment, education or training.

Our Employment Services for Job Seekers

Career Counselling
Pre-Employment Training
Job Coaching
Job Retention
Career Counselling
Finding the right career isn’t always easy! Our highly skilled Employment Counsellors will assist you with the career decision making process to find the right career for you. We take your disability into consideration, and focus on strengths and abilities in your chosen career path. Your dream job is just a click away!
Pre-Employment Training
We offer personalized pre-employment training to prepare you for job interviews and to secure gainful work opportunities. You may request assistance with developing a targeted resume and cover letter, job search strategies, how to disclose your disability to an employer, and interview preparation. We can also connect you with local services to address issues such as housing, financial assistance, and child care.
Job Coaching
Job coaching services are available to assist you with starting your new job. We offer up to 10 hours of job coaching where we can assist you with the onboarding process and on-the-job training.
Employment Services
Once you start your new job, we can provide job retention support to assist you to keep your job. Job retention support may be conducted weekly, bi-weekly or monthly to address any issues that may arise at work. Job retention Involves respectful and effective discussions and resolutions of issues.

Inclusive Services for Employers, Businesses, & Community Groups

Customized Recruitment Services for Employers
AODA Customer Service Training
Web & Built Environment Accessibility Audits
Inclusive Business Services
Customized Recruitment Services for Employers
We offer a variety of free services to employers and employer organizations that simplify the recruitment process. Services include pre-screening of candidates from our extensive labour pool, hiring incentives to offset the initial costs of training a new employee, accommodation training plans to increase inclusion in the workplace, and job coaching to assist with on-the-job training.
AODA Customer Service Training for Businesses
Under the Customer Service Standard of the AODA, service providers must give workers and volunteers AODA customer service training. AODA customer service training teaches workers how to provide goods and services to customers with disabilities. The requirement to train workers applies to all organizations in Ontario with one or more employees. We offer AODA Customer Service training to all businesses. This virtual or in-person training is a vital component of your AODA Compliance Checklist!
Accessibility Audits
We will work with your organization so that it can become a leader in accessibility. We are prepared to address your accessibility needs, implement strategies and create best practices so that your organization can achieve exceptional accessible workplace design, thus re-enforcing safety, accessibility and inclusion.

‍Audit benefits include:‍
  • Employee retention
  • Reduce employee safety risk
  • Inclusive work environment
  • Forecast budget and needs per the AODA
  • Reduction of insurance claims
  • Decrease of insurance premiums (content, liability)
  • Property value increase
*We are excited to announce that Website Accessibility Audits will be coming soon!
Inclusive Business Services
For Ontario’s 1.8 million people with disabilities, it means being able to actively participate in our communities, workforce and economy. For our economy, it means up to a $600 a year per capita increase in the gross domestic product. For business, it means tapping into an underused talent pool, creating new products and services based on universal design, and harnessing the buying power of more people, both in-store and online. That makes becoming accessible and promoting accessibility not just the right thing to do, but also the smart thing to do for businesses and organizations of all sizes.

Our Employment Programs

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Two people looking over a resume

Empower Abilities Life Skills Program

The Empower Abilities Life Skills Program is a highly effective initiative that focuses on developing and enhancing the life skills of individuals with disabilities.

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Employment Ontario - Peel Region

Finding a job can be life changing – especially if you have barriers like a disability, a lack of experience, are new to the area or have been out of the workforce for a while. We provide jobseekers with access to resources, services, and programs to help reduce those barriers.

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Employability Health Support Services (EHSS)

The program will assist participants to secure Work Experience Placements to start or resume on-the-job training in the health sector. Participants will feel confident in their skills and abilities to successfully retain work upon completion

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Two women on a virtual meeting

Employment Ontario - Kitchener-Waterloo-Barrie Region

Employment Ontario can help you get training, build skills or find a job. We also help employers train their staff and find the talent they need.

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"The Abilities to Work staff supported me with facing obstacles in my way, challenging myself and finding my strengths. [The staff] are very organized and have skilled work ethics to assist individuals with accepting themselves and building confidence"
- L.M

Applying to our Programs & Services

1. Get in Touch

Reach out to us through your preferred method of contact to set up an appointment with one of our Intake Counsellors. During this meeting we will get to know a bit about you and see which of our services will best suit your goals for employment.

Contact

2. Meet with A Counsellor

Following your intake appointment, you may be assigned an Employment Counsellor who will work with you through various one-on-one sessions and workshops to help prepare you for your future career.

Contact

3. Connect with Employers

Our Accessible Employment Advisors work to find suitable employers with the ability to accommodate our employment needs.

Contact

Our Blog Posts

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Reconciling with Indigenous Communities – Where to Start

On Thursday, May 27, we learned of the horrific discovery of preliminary findings from a survey of the grounds at the former Kamloops “Indian” Residential School that uncovered the remains of 215 children buried at the site. We collectively held our breaths, impacted by the sorrow of this discovery.

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The benefits of Hiring Deaf or Hard of Hearing Individuals

One of the reasons that Deaf or Hard of Hearing individuals are excluded from the hiring process is that employers lack knowledge in the benefits of hiring someone who is Deaf or Hard of Hearing. This untapped labour pool has skills, knowledge, and expertise which can fill the employment shortage gap in Ontario.

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Terminology in the Deaf Community

It can be difficult to know the best way to address a person with a disability, or how to acknowledge their disability. However, it is important that the terms used accurately portray diversity in the community experiencing hearing loss.

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COVID NOTICE

Due to COVID-19 restrictions our office os closed to the public, only those who have an appointment and have successfully completed our COVID screening will be allowed to enter.

Otherwise, our service will also be fully available online.
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Thank you for your understanding!

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