By Lindsey Parry and David Kolbusz
When Lani Fairchild needs cigarettes or bus tickets, she only has to go around the corner to Elgin Street. But because she is in a wheelchair, shopping near her home is never that easy.
Fairchild, 49, says that although she could get through the inclined front entrance of the Zesty Market on Elgin, there are newspaper stands blocking her way.
After speaking with the store manager, she returned days later to find flowers and other products further blocking the aisles inside.
“He said there was no other place for produce,” she says. “Now it seems that whenever I complain, there’s more stuff in the way.”
Store management refused to comment.
Judy Lux of the Disabled Persons’ Community Resource centre says accessibility to businesses on Elgin is a major issue for people in wheelchairs.
“The whole Elgin Street is a problem,” Lux says. “The sidewalks are too low and the buildings just don’t meet with them.”
Lux, who is also co-ordinator of the centre’s Barrier-Free Environment Program, says that even though there are ways for wheelchairs to get into most businesses, she has noted concerns amongst the disabled.
“When a person is lifted in, they’re the centre of attention,” she says. “It’s not a pleasant situation. And there’s also the possibility of being dropped.”
Fairchild agrees.
“Sometimes I will ask someone I know to lift me into a store,” she says. “But why should I try to break my neck or my wheelchair? I don’t want a hole in my head.”
Generally, there is a six-inch step from the sidewalk to the entrances of older buildings on Elgin Street. According to the Ontario Building Code, these buildings do not necessarily have to be made accessible to wheelchairs, providing they were built before the code came into effect.
If the owners of these buildings decide to change their entrance ways, the code will only recommend, and not enforce, making them accessible. But changes to an entrance don’t necessarily make a business wheelchair-friendly if its washrooms and aisles aren’t large enough.
The general manager (who wishes to remain unnamed) of Dunn’s Restaurant says that accessibility is definitely a problem at his establishment.
“I would be one of the worst abusers on Elgin Street,” he admits. Because of the way the building was initially built, there is a large step in the front, and no ground-floor washrooms.
“But this is a problem which I hope to fix,” he adds. Still, he would have to temporarily close his business down for renovations.
Some stores have already had some work done to ensure accessibility to people in wheelchairs. Dave Clost, owner of the Second Cup on Elgin and Gladstone, says there is a lot of room for mobility at his shop.
“The store is well-laid out,” he says. “Our washrooms are also wheelchair-accessible, and we have a number of handicapped patrons who come in regularly.”
Clost says he’s never heard any complaints regarding his establishment, although there is still a strip of wood lining the ground outside the building. Because of this, Clost says people in wheelchair must be lifted.
“But we will be addressing this problem early in the summer,” he adds. “We have plans on building a lip over the wood, for easier access.”
Although some businesses on Elgin are considering making changes to accommodate the needs of disabled people, this doesn’t satisfy Lani Fairchild’s immediate needs. She says she will take her business elsewhere.
“At least at the Rideau Centre, all the stores are level with the floor,” she says. She adds that the bus ride to the mall is a little longer from her home near Elgin, but making the trip makes her shopping a lot easier.