Accessible Event Planning Checklist: 25 Things to Get Right (Canada, 2026)

Accessibility at an event is decided long before the doors open: on the ticket page, in the registration form, in the venue contract and in the staff briefing. Most of what makes an event usable costs nothing and is a decision somebody made in advance, which is the good news. This is a twenty-five item checklist for Canadian organizers, ordered the way an attendee experiences your event: finding it, buying a ticket, getting there, getting in, being there, and getting help when something goes wrong. Ontario organizers have legal obligations under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act; other provinces are at different stages, and the federal Accessible Canada Act covers federally regulated organizations. This is general guidance, not legal advice, and your province's accessibility directorate publishes the authoritative rules.

Key takeaways

• Ask about access needs at registration, then actually do something with the answers. Collecting and ignoring them is worse than not asking.
• In Ontario, service animals must be admitted, support persons must be permitted, and if you charge admission you must publish in advance what a support person pays.
• Publish an access page before tickets go on sale: it is the cheapest accessibility work you will ever do and it answers the questions your inbox would otherwise get.
• Most accessibility failures on the day are staff training failures, not building failures.
• Notice of disruption is a legal requirement in Ontario and simple good practice everywhere: if the lift is broken, say so before people travel.

Finding and buying

1. Publish an access page before the on-sale

One page, linked from the event page and the ticket page, covering step-free routes, accessible washrooms, seating, parking, transit, quiet spaces, captioning or interpretation, service animals, support persons and who to contact. Write it in plain language and be honest about what you do not have.

2. Say what a support person pays

If you charge admission, state in advance what, if anything, a support person is charged. In Ontario this is a requirement under the customer service standard; everywhere else it is the difference between someone buying a ticket and someone giving up. Most organizers make the support person free and say so on the ticket page.

3. Make the ticket page and checkout usable

Real text rather than text baked into an image, adequate colour contrast, labelled form fields, keyboard navigation that works, and a checkout that does not time out in sixty seconds. Test it with your phone's screen reader for ten minutes; you will find something.

4. Offer accessible seating as a ticket type, not a phone call

If you have accessible seating or a wheelchair space, sell it in the same checkout as everything else, with companion seating beside it. Making someone phone you during office hours to buy a ticket everyone else buys at midnight is the most common accessibility failure in ticketing.

5. Ask about access needs on the registration form

One optional field: "Do you have any access needs we should know about?" plus a free-text box, or a short checklist (wheelchair space, seating near the front, ASL interpretation, dietary, quiet space, companion). On Eventist these are registration questions attached to the ticket, so the answers arrive with the order and appear in the attendee report rather than in a mailbox somebody forgot.

6. Tell people what you will do with the answers

"We will contact you two weeks before the event to confirm arrangements." Then do it. A collected need that nobody acts on is the failure attendees actually remember.

Getting there

7. Publish real transit and parking information

The nearest accessible transit stop, the actual walking distance and surface (gravel, hill, cobbles), where accessible parking is, how many spaces, whether they are reserved, and what the drop-off arrangement is.

8. Reserve and mark accessible parking properly

Count the spaces, mark them, and put a staff member near them at peak arrival. Accessible parking that has been taken by a delivery van is a barrier you created.

9. Map the step-free route from parking and transit to the door

Walk it yourself, with a cart, and time it. Publish it on the access page. If it involves a different entrance, say which one and make sure that door is staffed and unlocked.

Getting in

10. Staff the accessible entrance for the whole time it is open

Not just at doors. Anyone who arrives late through the accessible entrance should not have to knock.

11. Do not make the accessible queue the long queue

If the main entrance has a queue, have a way for people who cannot stand in it to get in without an argument at the front.

12. Train the door team before the event

Three things: never touch a wheelchair or mobility aid without asking, service animals come in, support persons come in. Two minutes at the shift briefing prevents most complaints; the security hiring guide covers how to write this into the brief.

13. Admit service animals

In Ontario, a person with a disability accompanied by a guide dog or other service animal must be permitted to enter and keep the animal with them, unless the animal is excluded by another law. If an animal is lawfully excluded, you must find another way to serve the person. Brief the door and the bar staff on this specifically, because it is where the conversation usually goes wrong.

14. Admit support persons

Permit a support person to accompany someone on your premises, and honour the admission arrangement you published.

Being there

15. Keep aisles and routes clear, and keep them clear all night

Cable ramps taped down, chairs not creeping into aisles, merch queues that do not block the route to the washroom. Assign one person the job of walking the routes twice an hour; the run of show is where that task belongs.

16. Provide real accessible seating with a view

Wheelchair spaces with companion seats, sight lines that survive a standing crowd, and seating options that are not only at the very back or the very front. Reserve a handful of seats near the front for people who need to be close to see or hear.

17. Provide seating for people who cannot stand for long

Even at a standing event. A row of chairs along a wall costs nothing and keeps people at your event for hours longer.

18. Check washrooms during the event, not just before

Accessible washrooms unlocked, not used as storage, with a clear route to them, and signed from the main space. At outdoor events, accessible portable units placed on firm level ground near the main route, and serviced.

19. Make stages and platforms reachable

If a performer, speaker, award winner or volunteer might need to get onto the stage, there is a ramp or a lift, and someone knows where it is. Many events discover this when the award winner cannot collect the award.

20. Plan for sensory needs

A quiet space away from the sound system, signposted; advance warning of strobe lighting, pyrotechnics and loud effects on the event page and at the door; and lighting that does not make lip reading impossible.

21. Offer captioning or interpretation where it matters

For speeches, panels and ceremonies: live captioning on a screen, or ASL or LSQ interpretation booked in advance. Book interpreters early; good ones are scarce in December and in conference season. If you cannot provide it for everything, provide it for the main stage and say so.

22. Make wayfinding work without asking

Large, high-contrast signs at decision points, a map at the entrance, and staff who know the answers. If you publish a digital site map, make it work on a phone; Eventist maps mark accessible routes, washrooms and quiet spaces alongside everything else.

23. Think about food and drink

Lowered service points or staff who will come around the counter, allergen and dietary information published, and a way for someone who cannot carry a plate and use a mobility aid at the same time to be served.

When something goes wrong

24. Give notice of disruption

If a lift breaks, an accessible washroom closes or the accessible entrance changes, post it at the venue, on the event page and to ticket holders, with the reason, the expected duration and the alternative. In Ontario this is a legal requirement; everywhere else it is the difference between an inconvenience and a wasted trip.

25. Publish a way to give feedback, and read it

An email address or a form on the access page, an invitation in the post-event email, and someone who owns the answers. Most accessibility improvements come from attendees telling you what went wrong, once.

What the law says, briefly

Ontario: the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and its customer service standard require, among other things, admitting service animals, permitting support persons, giving advance notice of what a support person is charged where admission fees apply, providing notice of temporary disruptions, and training staff. Organizations with 20 or more employees also file accessibility compliance reports, with the next deadline December 31, 2026.

Federal: the Accessible Canada Act covers federally regulated organizations, which must identify barriers, publish accessibility plans and report on progress.

Other provinces: British Columbia (Accessible British Columbia Act), Manitoba (Accessibility for Manitobans Act), Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador (2021) and New Brunswick (2024) have accessibility legislation at varying stages of standard-making; several provinces have none for private organizations yet. Venue leases, municipal permits and funders often impose their own requirements regardless.

This is a summary, not legal advice. Check your province's accessibility office and your venue's obligations, and put the requirements into the permit and approvals tracker with the rest of your compliance deadlines.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should be on an accessible event planning checklist?

An access page published before the on-sale, accessible seating sold in the normal checkout, access needs collected at registration and acted on, real transit and parking information, a staffed step-free entrance, service animals and support persons admitted, clear routes maintained during the event, seating for people who cannot stand, accessible washrooms checked during the event, stage access, a quiet space, captioning or interpretation for the main stage, good signage, notice of any disruption, and a feedback channel someone reads.

What are the legal accessibility requirements for events in Ontario?

Under the AODA customer service standard, organizations must permit service animals and support persons, give advance notice of any admission charged for a support person, provide notice when accessible facilities or services are temporarily disrupted, and train staff on serving people with disabilities. Larger organizations also file compliance reports. This is general guidance, not legal advice.

Do I have to let service animals into my event?

In Ontario, yes: a person with a disability accompanied by a guide dog or other service animal must be allowed to enter and keep the animal with them unless the animal is excluded by another law, in which case you must provide another way to serve them. Brief your door and bar staff specifically, because that is where this goes wrong.

Should support persons get a free ticket?

You decide, but you must say so in advance where admission is charged, and most organizers make the support person free. Publish it on the ticket page and the access page so nobody has to ask.

How do I collect accessibility needs at registration?

Add one optional question to the ticket or registration form, with a short checklist and a free-text box, and tell people when you will follow up. Use a platform that puts those answers on the order and in the attendee report, so the person building the seating plan can actually see them.

How much does it cost to make an event accessible?

Most of the list is free: publishing information, keeping routes clear, training the door team, adding chairs, checking washrooms, signage. The costs that are real are interpretation and captioning, accessible portable washrooms at outdoor sites, and occasionally a ramp or a lift. Budget for those three; the rest is planning, not money.

Accessibility is not a separate project bolted onto an event; it is twenty-five decisions made in the normal course of planning one. Publish the access page, ask the question at registration, brief the door team, and keep the routes clear. If you want the access needs to arrive with the ticket and land in the report the seating plan is built from, the Eventist events platform does that, and the venue questions list covers what to confirm before you sign the room.