- What do you feel is the #1 accessibility issue facing the city of London?
First of all, I don’t think we should assume, as councillors, what the number one accessibility issue is without first listening to the people who experience barriers every day. Our job is to represent Londoners as best we can, and that means hearing directly from people with disabilities, seniors, caregivers, accessibility advocates, and others about the barriers they face and what improvements would make the greatest difference in their lives. We need to listen first, and then take action.
Having said that, I believe one of the most important accessibility issues facing London is the ability for people to move around our city safely and independently. That includes accessible and well-maintained sidewalks, reliable snow and ice clearing, accessible transit connections, and making sure construction or road work does not create unnecessary barriers.
Accessibility also needs to be considered at the beginning of every major city project, not added as an afterthought. Whether we are building a road, park, community centre, transit system, or public space, we should be asking from day one: can every Londoner use this safely and independently?
2. How will you commit to improving accessible housing opportunities in our city?
Accessible housing needs to be part of how London grows, not an afterthought.
First, we need to understand whether London has enough fully accessible housing, where the gaps are, and what people actually need. Particularly through new affordable housing and City-owned or funded developments.
The City should also lead by example. When we build or substantially renovate, we should look at making universal design features like step-free entrances, wider doorways and accessible bathrooms standard wherever practical. Building accessibility in from the beginning is often much easier than retrofitting later.
We also need to listen directly to Londoners who face accessibility barriers and use their experiences to identify what needs to change.
I’m also glad the City administers Ontario Renovates, which helps eligible low-to-moderate income seniors and people with disabilities make accessibility improvements to their homes. Programs like this help people remain independent in their own homes, but we should also look at whether the eligibility requirements or application process are preventing people who genuinely need help from accessing it.
Ultimately, we should identify the need, listen to the people affected, and do what we reasonably can to improve accessible housing and remove barriers within the resources available to us.
3.How will you work to improve accessible transportation including conventional transit, Paratransit, taxis and ride sharing?
Accessible transportation must be reliable, safe and practical. There should be regular monitoring of specialized transit wait times, on-time performance, missed or denied trips and availability, and we should use those results to identify where service needs to improve.
We also need to consider the entire journey. Sidewalks, curb cuts and transit stops must be accessible and properly cleared of snow and ice.
With the Bus Rapid Transit project originally budgeted at $281 million and skyrocketing to $454 million due to mismanagement, you would think accessibility would have been more strongly considered. Yet centre-median BRT platforms can require seniors, wheelchair users and people with limited mobility to cross multiple lanes of traffic, while greater distances between rapid-transit stops mean people with mobility challenges need to travel a much greater distance to reach a stop and is even more challenging during London winters.
I think it would also be worthwhile to work with taxi and ride-sharing companies to increase accessible vehicle options and pursue provincial and federal partnerships and funding.
Ultimately, we should measure success by real results: shorter waits, fewer denied trips, safer connections and a transportation system that people with disabilities can depend on.
- What do you feel is the #1 accessibility issue facing the city of London?
I would say that an issue that is often overlooked is the accessibility of public events. My response to this was inspired by something I saw at Rock the Park during the Three Days Grace concert. There was an ASL interpreter all decked out in rock gear interpreting the music for a group of hearing-impaired guests and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. It also got me thinking about how challenging it would be to attend an event like that with a disability. As someone who does not experience disability, I think we often take for granted the ability to participate in concerts, festivals, sports events and other events around the city, and those community events are really important for Londoners’ morale, mental health and sense of belonging. If I could only focus on one aspect of improved accessibility, I would pick this one. I would like to partner with London’s disability community to determine where accessibility at community events falls short and to work on meaningful improvements so that all Londoners can participate in our community fully. I understand that this may seem like small potatoes compared to other issues such as housing and transit, but the ability to socialize and participate in our community is incredibly important. An inability to do only furthers isolation and the inability to live a full life.
2. How will you commit to improving accessible housing opportunities in our city?
I understand there is a lengthy waitlist for accessible housing primarily due to low stock that does not meet demand. Addressing this issue would require coordination with multiple stakeholders including social housing providers, specialized housing providers, developers, property managers and the disability community to determine how many accessible units are needed, the different features of these units that are needed to address different needs and how they can be blended into both the current housing stock as well as future projects. I would commit to having these conversations as a starting point and then to work with all stakeholders to increase the stock of accessible units.
3. How will you work to improve accessible transportation including conventional transit, Paratransit, taxis and ride sharing?
The LTC has made progress with respect to specialized transit in the past 4 years. As the former chair of LTC, I would continue to build on that progress to improve the number of trips accepted as well as improved mechanisms for payment acceptance. With respect to conventional transit, the LTC has been chronically underfunded for decades. Increased funding would allow for additional service improvements to conventional transit that would include more frequent buses on main routes to cut down on congestion to increase the likelihood of a bus having the space to accommodate a wheelchair or scooter, as well as new routes to facilitate movement around the city. Other ways to improve the service including working with the LTC senior leadership to ensure information is available in different ways to ensure AODA compliance. With respect to taxis and ride-sharing, I believe it is important to work with our local operators to improve compliance with the AODA. For example, education as part of a requirement to obtain license to operate such a vehicle could assist with issues such as ensuring rides are not rejected due to a service animal.
Candidate did not respond to our questions.
- What do you feel is the #1 accessibility issue facing the city of London?
There has been a general lack of attention given to accessibility issues in designing elements of the city; its infrastructure, its buildings, its services, its amenities, and its enforcement activities across the board.
A significant problem is a general lack of appreciation of the full extent of the mobility challenges many people face. Accessibility is not limited to, and it should not be thought of as simply a special consideration made for persons with visible disabilities. This common misconception results in a large population of persons with various degrees of limited mobility and various degrees of limited perception from being considered and given the equitable treatment they deserve.
Mobility challenges are not an all-or-nothing dichotomy but are present in various degrees in different people and these shift over time. An example would be in the design of a crosswalk with a signal. There would be a curb cut as it understood that is needed for people using wheelchairs. But is the signal timed to allow a slower person to safely cross without being stranded in traffic? Is a button or other operating feature within the comfortable reach of all people? Is status information clearly conveyed to persons with limited perception?
These are common, every-day design issues … not exceptional cases that can be pulled out for special treatment.
- How will you commit to improving accessible housing opportunities in our city?
We need to encourage all new construction, and all major redesign projects, to anticipate how the dwelling unit will be used by persons with a variety of different mobility challenges. This should also anticipate that the mobility needs of residents will change over time.
It is not enough to set aside a few specially designed units which are labeled “accessible” as an afterthought. Going back again to the issue of visibility, there is more to an accessible dwelling unit than a special entrance ramp. The various stages and levels of accessibility challenges should be built into standard designs so the units are highly adaptable over time as the residents and their needs change. This consideration is especially relevant in a city that claims to be “age-friendly” and where “aging-in-place” is encouraged.
- How will you work to improve accessible transportation including conventional transit, Paratransit, taxis and ride sharing?
While recent changes to London’s paratransit services are cause for some optimism, there is still much to be done, and the general state of accessible transportation remains in need of improvement. It is not simply a question of increasing funding or vehicle capacity to deliver more units of the same service. We need to rethink how accessibility works from the point of view of the passenger and how their mobility challenges change over time.
With respect to the new paratransit operator, there needs to be much better training, monitoring and rider feedback. This feedback needs to get to decision makers in a timely and regular manner.
With respect to taxis and ridesharing, we need to go beyond requiring a limited number of special vehicles and think about the types of mobility challenges that many riders routinely face.
Many of the mobility problems faced by riders take place before and after the trip in the vehicle. Is the path to the entry accessible and free of snow, puddles and other debris? Who is responsible for maintenance and snow-clearing? Where will the passengers be able to access the vehicle, especially relevant as we transition to more over-sized buses? Is there adequate seating and lighting? These are all questions that go to the overall mobility experience of passengers, and they are all dependent on adequate funding and understanding jurisdictional roles.
Concerns can also be raised about the ability of persons with various mobility challenges to be able to fully use and enjoy our parks and ESAs.
