Wheelchairs an eye-opener for mobility issues: city director
After traversing downtown in a wheelchair, Troy McLeod wanted to share with his staff what navigating city sidewalks felt like for people with limited mobility.
So, the director of roads at the City of Calgary had his department purchase two wheelchairs, which are now helping roads employees build a more accessible city.
“It was an eye-opening experience for me ... so I wanted staff to have that experience as well,” said McLeod, of getting around in a wheelchair more than a year ago, as part of an event that coincided with International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
“I was really surprised at just how difficult it was,” he said.
McLeod still remembers how tired his right arm felt after pushing himself up a tiny slope on a sidewalk, one that able-bodied pedestrians may not even notice.
He recalls being stared at, struggling to steer through doors and tight spaces, how it felt to always be eyeing the next obstacle, and just how sore his arms were after only an hour in a wheelchair.
Shortly after McLeod’s accessibility tour in 2015, which included Coun. Druh Farrell and representatives from the city, construction industry and non-profit organizations, the roads department purchased two wheelchairs at $530 each.
McLeod developed a program allowing employees to experience first-hand the physical barriers people with disabilities face every day, and build a city that’s easy for citizens with walkers, people pushing strollers, seniors with mobility challenges and wheelchair users to move around in.
“We opened it up to all roads staff, and any new staff that do join us, we have it as part of an orientation,” McLeod said.
“I think it’s really helped our design staff that do implement pedestrian realm (changes) in our roadways. They can experience first hand what the challenges are and some of the obstacles.”
In 20 years, as the population ages, it’s estimated one out of five Canadians will live with a disability.
“Every Calgarian at some point in their life will have a disability, whether it’s visible or invisible,” said Coun. Farrell, who has long championed accessibility and urged the city to do a better job.
During a committee meeting Wednesday, councillors including Farrell heard an annual update from the city’s Advisory Committee on Accessibility, which is working to make Calgary more accessible.
Jack Smart, a longtime member of the advisory committee, told the committee the major snowfall that blanketed the city in February made it challenging for people with mobility devices or vision loss to manoeuvre city streets.
“Persons with disabilities do face more issues and challenges related to snow plowing and removal, which does limit their ability and opportunity to function in normal winter weather conditions,” Smart said.
Smart specifically placed blame on windrows, which he defined as “nasty continuous piles of snow.”
McLeod said next winter, the roads department will be trying nine $10,000 “grader gates,” which are levers that attach to a grader and stop the piling of snow at driveways or crosswalks, where windrows can be a nuisance to pedestrians.