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economist suntribune social issues thursday nov 7 2002 townshospitals scramble to increase accessibility the uman factor a series exploring the struggle to provide services for a growing population from page 1 however if progress for people with disabilities has long been like slow faltering steps in york region a curb cut here an audible traffic signal there it may soon become like a steady march there is now a great movement to listen to people with disabilities the ontarians with disabilities act proclaimed sept 30 requires it the new law says regions towns and cities of more than 10000 as well as all school boards transit agencies and hospitals need plans to make their buildings and services fully accessible the municipalities must form accessibility committees with half the members being people with some form of disability for once there is a law said nadia temple director of the provinces accessibility directorate you have to listen and you have to look at your community local politicians and staff dont yet know what the committees or their plans which must be ready by next september may actually have power to do the oda is fairly vague on issue of retrofitting buildings its definition of disability is broad and what accessible really means is uncertain said john leach vaughans city clerk the whole thing raises more questions than it does answers business groups just as baffled are said to be worried about costs staff photosjoerd witteveen even buildings that are supposed to be accessible to the disabled right now sometimes arent says thornhill resident martha shultz the act may bring there is a lot of fear said diane humeniuk regional councillor for newmarket and cochairperson of the regions interim accessibility committee a lot of people are very nervous theyre not realizing there are resources out there to do these modifications ms temple said the oda has regulationmaking authority for businesses once voluntary stan dards are taken up by a sector but the governments attitude is one of cooperation in an interview she acknowl edged changes wont happen overnight asked whether the act will force municipalities to install elevators in all their multistorey buildings ms temple said they may choose to look at it in their first year of the plan or in following years ms humeniuk said shes satis fied that with the public sector leading by example businesses will follow eventually many municipal buildings par ticularly older ones do not seem to meet the requirements of the new law or even standards set by munic ipalities themselves vaughan richmond hill and markham agreed on a thick set of joint accessibility guidelines in 1998 detailing precisely how out door or indoor barriers to people with disabilities could be removed but as recently as last year ms shultz proved to town staff an accessible washroom at a markham library actually wasnt she has also inspected wash rooms at the towns civic centre including the mens and i found only a couple of them were acces sible i hope itll have some teeth in it ms shultz said of the oda because if you have to rely on peo ple voluntarily to do these things theyll never do it see even page 8 york region businesses residents can make life easier for the blind when carol hollanders sight vanished two years ago she learned to live in a world of shad ows- was fine on a monday night and i woke up blind tuesday morning the thornhill woman recalled a blood clot had destroyed her optic nerve and the damage was irreversible but the iocal canadian national institute for the blind taught ms hollander to walk down a sidewalk without fear of garbage cans or bumps on the head it taught her how to hold her cane sweeping it in front of her to let drivers know she is about to cross a street you have to learn how to read the flow of traffic by listening very carefully said ms hollander she has grown accustomed to navigating supermarkets and rid ing public buses by asking drivers to call outstops i wanted to know how to get around and not be stuck at home all the time the cnib gave victor bear the magnifiers he needed and let him borrow from its large collection of talking books most people who are losing their sight flounder they dont know where to go what to do how to go about doing it said mr bear also from thornhill its important their friends and relatives make them aware of these facilities a condition called macular degeneration limits mr bears sight ms hartin expects the cnibs client base to double by 2015 when he arrived in york region 10 years ago the south african emigre was no longer able to drive a car and his vision has steadily worsened a person of 70 in ontario has a one in four chance of having the same condition as mr bear said penny hartin the institutes exec utive director for the province and though the cnib self- funds twothirds of the services it provides from kitchen utensils and largenumber telephones to mobility training and eyetests it will soon be straining to meet the needs of the aging babyboom generation ms hartin expects the cnibs client base to double by 2015 i think we will need gov ernment support she said last week people can help by providing large welllit signs and street numbers and by adding yellow markings to steps cnib clients say c avoid cutesy kinds of designs for signs on washroom doors because they can confuse people with vision problems said ms hartin she noted glass doors can be dangerous without identifying marks such as yellow dots some one with low vision can walk right through them she explained improvements that benefit the blind need not be expensive ms hartin insisted groceries or other large stores can provide shopping assistants websites can be improved and restaurants can have braille or large print menus available she said where to go for help here are some organizations providing services for local people with disabilities or their families you can find others by searching york regions yorklink directory at wwwregionyorkoncanryorklinksearchasp canadian national institute for the blind 9057316307 adapt the association of differentlyabled people together 9058689523 alzheimer society of york region 9058951337 ontarians with disabilities act this longanticipated legislation is explained on the provincial governments accessibility directorate website wwwgovoncacitizenshipaccessibility york region through its website at regionyorkonca is also seeking comments this week on the formation of its accessibility advisory committee accessibility committees at the region and your local municipality will identify and elimi nate barriers to people with disabilities yorks school boards hospitals and transit authority also must plan to remove barriers after consulting people with disabilities