Some accessibility advocates say they’re concerned barriers going up not coming down By Philip Lee-Shanok, CBC News Posted: Jun 19, 2017
Maayan Ziv, founder of Access Now remembers Arruda for his warmth but also his contrasting sharp jokes about living with a visible disability.
As the city seeks to renew its accessibility plan, those who want to eliminate barriers say some Toronto small businesses are putting them up instead of tearing them down.
Maayan Ziv is the founder of AccessNow, an app that finds and rates accessibility of restaurants and stores, found out a place where she used to buy shawarma on Spadina Avenue is no longer barrier free.
She says she was shocked to find that the entrance to the Paramount Fine Foods on the corner of Spadina Avenue and Richmond Street West suddenly has a step.
“There used to be another Middle Eastern restaurant there and in renovating they built over and existing ramp and created a step,” said Ziv. “They went in the wrong way in terms of accessibility.”
It turns out there is indeed a secondary entrance that is accessible off Richmond Street, though not always used or consistently open, and that the restaurant now has a StopGap ramp to help make its main entrance barrier-free.
Public consultations begin
But other businesses in her neighbourhood have also added steps where there used to be a barrier free entrance, Ziv says. The renovation of the Pizzaiolo at 123 Spadina Avenue also included the addition of a step.
Manager Anik Gosh says the store did have a sloped entrance before but that steps had to be put in to create a stairway to the second floor. He says his store is also looking into putting in a StopGap ramp.
Paramount after
While the front entrance of this Paramount Fine Foods now has a single step, the location has put in a StopGap ramp to make it more accessible. (Google Maps)
But Ziv says that “to have business invest in additional or new barriers is absolutely ridiculous.”
Ziv voiced her concerns to CBC Toronto ahead of Monday’s public consultations on how it plans to meet the standards of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) in the areas of employment, transportation, information and in acquiring goods, services or facilities. The law, passed in 2005, aims to have all government, non-profit and private businesses accessible and fully barrier free Ontario by 2025.
But her recent experience with eateries in her neighbourhood have left Ziv skeptical.
‘It needs to be a priority’
“The risk when we hear the city is consulting is that it sounds like genuine interest it sounds good. But it needs to be a priority.” she said. “What I’d like to see is that the same way we can invest millions in a new park, that we address accessibility with the same seriousness.”
Ziv hopes the city’s accessibility plan emphasizes that addressing accessibility should be not be an afterthought, but something that helps create a more inclusive fruitful economy.
She adds that after the access problem was brought to the attention of Paramount they have since installed a Stopgap ramp.
Luke Anderson, co-founder of Stopgap Foundation, came up with the idea for the plywood ramps so “single-step storefronts” can become accessible. But like the name suggests, it’s a temporary solution.
‘How valuable it is to live in a world that is barrier free’
He says the colourful ramps are a way to “create conversations about the importance of designing spaces that everyone can enjoy.”
Pizzaiolo after
The renovation of the Pizzaiolo at 123 Spadina Avenue also included the addition of a step. (Google Maps)
Anderson says that for stores to be creating new barriers during renovations is unacceptable.
“It’s completely regressive… it make absolutely no sense,” said Anderson. “We kind of operate with blinders on. We don’t realize how valuable it is to live in a world that is barrier free.”
He says even though the AODA requires stores to be accessible to all customers, there are exemptions to those rules, such as, for workplaces under 20 employees.
“When I am told, ‘No we don’t need a ramp because we don’t have customers who use wheelchairs,’ at that point I just let them figure out why,” said Anderson. “It makes economic sense to become barrier-free, but at root of it is the human right of equal access.”
Anderson says to make matters worse, provincial and municipal rules are sometimes at odds.
‘Human rights code should trump the bylaws’
He brings up the case of Roncesvalles deli, Stasis Preserves, which has had a Stopgap ramp since 2013. In March, the city ordered it torn down because it encroached on public space in violation of a municipal bylaw.
Luke Anderson
Luke Anderson’s StopGap Foundation builds ramps for single-step storefronts and raises awareness about barriers in our built environment. (Luke Anderson)
“We’ve been working with the city and the province… policymakers from both have been communicating on accessibility issue,” said Anderson.
“The keys to a barrier-free Ontario really lie in the municipalities’ hands. The province sets the rules, but municipalities need to update their bylaws,” he said. “The human rights code should trump the bylaws.”
And while in the case of the ramp at Stasis, the city is enforcing the right-of-way bylaw, the province has not been as diligent in enforcing the AODA.
Anderson says pushing for a barrier free society has been a “a slow and painful process. Up until the early 70’s we didn’t have curb cuts at intersections,” he said.
Toronto’s public consultation on its accessibility plan begins Monday night at 8 p.m. at Metro Hall.
Philip Lee-Shanok
From small town Ontario to Washington D.C., Philip has covered stories big and small. An award-winning reporter with two decades of experience in Ontario and Alberta, he’s now a Senior Reporter for CBC Toronto on television, radio and online. He is also a National Reporter for The World This Weekend on Radio One.
Original at http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/public-input-needed-to-help-meet-accessibility-rules-1.4165906