Community News

BRIDGING THE GAPS TO ACCESSIBILITY

THREE-PART SERIES SHOWCASES THOSE STRIVING TO BOOST INCLUSION, WRITES STEVE LEBLANC

Column Steve LeBlanc is news editor of the Metroland community newspapers in Halton. He can be reached at sleblanc@metroland.com. We welcome your questions and value your comments. Email our trust committee at trust@metroland.com.

It's about trust. Our relationship with our readers is built on transparency, honesty and integrity. As such, we have launched a trust initiative to tell you who we are and how and why we do what we do. This column is part of that project.

As many of our readers are already aware, Metroland newspapers — including those here in Halton — have committed themselves to shining more of a light on inclusion and diversity in recent years.

To that end, Halton's papers have dedicated March to a three-part series on accessibility, which wrapped up this week.

The series finale can be found in today's Halton papers, or online at insidehalton.com. Search "Focus on Accessibility" on our website for the first two instalments in the series.

To say our region has changed over the past few decades would be something of an understatement.

Our communities have become far more diverse, and as such, the roadblocks to accessibility are much more complex than ever before — whether for our loved ones, friends, colleagues or neighbours.

Thankfully, there are many in Halton who not only recognize these obstacles, but are dedicated to eliminating them.

The Focus on Accessibility series showcases the efforts — and successes — of some of these groups and individuals, though there are many others striving to make a difference.

At the risk of stating the obvious, what we once associated with the term "accessibility" has greatly evolved, and will continue to do so.

As it well should.

All Halton residents should be able to live their best possible life based on their age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity and faith.

For some, that can be quite difficult, as we can only walk through doors of opportunity that are open to us.

Our community is filled with people who take that notion to heart, and are making it their mission to figure out exactly where those doors need to be and how to build them.

But there's more work ahead.

Allowing all Halton residents to feel connected to their community can't happen without accessibility — which must be a neverending pursuit.

Opinion

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2023-03-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://communitynews.pressreader.com/article/281535115235955

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