5 minute read
Ensuring accessibility for every body
By Rob Johnson
As an abled body person, I take many things for granted. I recently observed a woman in a wheelchair struggling to open a door to the Public Washroom on First Avenue in Ladysmith. This was not the first time I have observed people having difficulties here. Others include people with electric scooters and parents with strollers.
I have long been frustrated by the accessibility problems in this town, dating back to when I was first on Council in the 1980s. That was when I noticed people in wheelchairs had to go to the back door of City Hall and ring a buzzer for service. I raised the issue then, and although it was 1981 and the Year of the Disabled, nothing was done then and still today, people with mobility limitations are still required to use the backdoor. To me, this is unacceptable.
City Hall is not the only Town-owned building that is difficult for some to utilize. The Town-owned museum building is no longer wheelchair accessible, as the town dismantled the ramp donated by the Ladysmith Kinsmen Club 10 years ago because of some rot. The museum is launching an Accessibility Fund Drive to support the cost of a new ramp and visual and hearing aids, hoping that enough will be raised to enable the Town to proceed.
Therefore, on July 24, 2023, when the Town announced it would create an Accessibility Advisory (AAC) Committee, I was delighted.
According to Chair Diane Hobelaid the AAC is charged with putting together guidelines for the city council to consider when creating public spaces to ensure that people with disabilities have equal access to those facilities along with peers. “While we have looked at some of the projects needed and helped the city prioritize their spending of what monies they have for projects, the role of the committee is primarily to make it possible for the city to do long-term and short-term planning with their eyes open to the needs of those members of the community who have disabilities so that they can participate fully in the life of the town.”
At the September meeting, Councillor Jacobson presented information about an accessibility grant opportunity from Sparc BC. This grant would provide funding for accessibility projects. The committee discussed many suggestions for potential projects. Suggestions included improving sidewalk entry points, adding automatic door openers to the downtown washrooms, creating a pathway to the Kinsmen Shelter at the Transfer Beach, improving the lower parking lot at FJCC to increase accessibility, adding more braille and tactile signage to key areas in the Town and adding grab bars and folding down chairs in the changerooms at FJCC.
Some of these items focused on the FJCC, have been completed, including the use of moveable handicapped parking signs that allow for peak use at the community centre’s parking lot.
But there is much more work to be done.
Hobelaid, an occupational therapist, knows challenges firsthand -- an accident left her husband in a wheelchair permanently. Her husband has been unable to visit the museum or go with her and their dog for a stroll at Slack Point. Because of the erosion, he can’t get past the gate safely anymore.
One of the projects Hobelaid would like to see is improving accessibility to the ocean at Transfer Beach Park by offering special wheelchairs that can go in the water. She saw this firsthand when vacationing in New Zealand. It was the first time in 17 years that her husband went into the ocean. The cost is approximately $5000 for a unit.
Having a historic downtown is picturesque, but it can be a mobility challenge. Some store entrances require a step up, the lack of power assist doors, and while renovations are expensive, there are some grant options for businesses available.
Some of the sites to explore are:
* Workplace Accessibility Grants through Small Business, BC—for businesses that need to remove barriers to benefit staff with disabilities but which could also assist the public in access.
* Accessibility Project Grants through the Disability Alliance, BC.
* About Enabling Accessibility Fund through the federal government
For individuals wanting to age in place yet needing adaptations to their homes to make that possible, there is the BC Rebate for Accessible Home Adaptations (RAHA) for lowerincome households, through BC Housing.
“It would be more profitable for the businesses and the business community if there wasn't a deterrent to go shopping there,” says Hobelaid.
Grants are excellent; they can provide money needed for special projects. It's too bad we didn’t use part of the $400,000 grant the Town received for improving our downtown to install pressure-activated openers in the Public Restroom.
Grants or no grants, let's do what is right and address these problems now, not later. At least, that's as I see it.
