HALTON MARCHING TOWARD UNIVERSAL ACCESSIBILITY

BUT THERE'S STILL MORE WORK TO BE DONE, SAY ADVOCATES

The following is Part 3 of a three-part series titled Focus on Accessibility, which examines issues related to accessibility in Halton. This story focuses on the measures being taken by local municipalities to address accessibility issues throughout the community.

Accessibility is more than just ramps and parking spaces.

At its core, it's about ensuring everyone has equal access to the world around them. Creating that access can be a challenge, as disabilities are incredibly varied.

Milton and other municipalities across the region have spent years working to improve acces

sibility in everything from elections to public transit. While recognizing that significant progress has been made, accessibility advocates say there's always room for improvement.

To help ensure that ongoing progress, municipalities make use of local volunteer committees, audits and full-time staff.

When speaking with officials around Halton, a consistent message is shared; there's still work to be done, but the region is more accessible today than ever before.

Getting around a community is essential to enjoying everything it has to offer.

Navigating the various challenges and social interactions that go along with public transit can be overwhelming for those with certain cognitive challenges. To remedy that, Milton Transit launched a partnership with a company called Magnusmode.

Users are able to download a mobile app called MagnusCards that uses digital guides and game elements to help people with special needs — including autism — access the community. It uses pictures and text to provide step-bystep instructions for various social interactions, situations, behaviours and activities such as using Milton Transit.

Tony D'Alessandro, director of Transit Services at the Town of Milton, said the app is part of the Town's commitment to making the whole community more accessible.

"Accessibility, we believe, is for everybody and not just for people with disabilities. It's for all abilities. We always want to look for ways to reduce barriers, whether it's on the physical environment side or on the administration side or even just kind of touch customer touch points," said D'Alessandro.

ACCESSIBILITY AT THE BALLOT BOX

Being able to vote is an essential right of citizens in a democracy.

However, for many people there are serious physical barriers that have historically prevented them from voting. Those barriers can be an inability to get to the polling station or understand key signage.

For the 2022 municipal election, the Town of Oakville tackled the issue of accessibility for voters with a wide range of strategies that included training for over 700 election officials, physical changes to some voting sites, a braille option, a drive-through voting pilot project and even a Home Vote program for some.

Andrea Coyne, manager of Elections, Policy and Print Services with the Town of Oakville, said that the Town has long been committed to eliminating barriers, and she believes the last municipal election was their most accessible one ever.

"We want to ensure that we do it in a manner that respects dignity and independence. It's our responsibility and it's the town clerk's responsibility to administer a fair and objective election. But we also do have a duty to engage citizens and communicate with all in how they may exercise their right to vote," said Coyne.

ACCESSIBILITY TO RECREATION

Considered by many to be one of the nicest pieces of parkland in Halton, Acton's Fairy Lake is a popular spot for swimming, boating and fishing.

The problem is that for people with mobility issues, there wasn't a good way to get a boat into the water. The solution was to install a adaptive small watercraft launch.

Mark Taylor, senior landscape architect with the Town of Halton Hills, said it was important that people of different abilities be able to make use of the lake.

"We really wanted to make that waterfront accessible and open for people. There's lots of active boating there, whether it's canoeing, kayaking, paddle boarding, and the access that was there to get down to the water was in very poor condition," said Taylor. "So, we looked at a variety of different options on how to replace that and create a really cool dock and a nice, accessible waterfront."

The launch, a moulded plastic cradle alongside the main dock, allows personal watercrafts to remain stationary while the users enter or exit. A dock ladder and an overhead grab rail also make it easier to get in or out.

The installation was a direct result of a request from a member of the public.

IDEAS ABOUT ACCESSIBILITY EVOLVING: ADVOCATES

Beyond physical changes, advocates say there's also been a notable evolution in the way organizations look at and address accessibility. For some municipalities, those ideas are ingrained in the way they conduct business.

Adam Spencer, volunteer chair of the Burlington Accessibility Advisory Committee, said the approach to the issue has dramatically shifted over the years.

"One of the things that I've seen change in the last 10, 15 years is the difference between embarrassing organizations about inaccessibility versus celebrating the wins that we have in accessibility," said Spencer. "We can't do everything all at once, but we make steady progress. Those of us in accessibility want everything to be done tomorrow — I thought I was going to be out of a job 10 years ago. I thought this would be solved, and it's like, no, this is an ongoing engagement."

"Accessibility, we believe, is for everybody." - Tony D'Alessandro, director of Transit Services at the Town of Milton

STORY BEHIND THE STORY: With the roadblocks to accessibility varied and complex, we wanted to explore what Halton municipalities are doing to make the region more accessible to all residents.

SCAN THESE CODES for Parts 1 and 2 of

Focus On Accessibility series.