John Prazak stands outside the Plante Recreation Centre on Preston Street, the site of a yellow tactile indicator to help the blind access city facilities.
Ruth Munro and her husband are residents at Lord Lansdowne, a retirement home at Holmwood Avenue and Bank Street. Munro is unable to walk because of osteoporosis, arthritis and a broken hip.
“Accessibility is extremely important,” she says. “It lets you keep on going with your life.”
Barriers that prevent accessibility have been removed in Centretown, but Ottawa has a long way to go in becoming a barrier-free municipality, says an Ottawa official.
John Prazak, an accessibility inventory officer, identified 23,000 barriers inside and outside Ottawa’s buildings that need to be removed, but only half the buildings have been audited. Barriers can be anything from a too-high mirror to the inconvenient placement of a flushing handle on a toilet.
The cost to remediate the barriers comes to $40 million, Prazak says, but the 2008 city budget granted only $1 million.
“Council deliberates on a budget and we put in a request for money. We have to get started somewhere,” Prazak says. “I think we’re just starting to gear up now in trying to become accessible, and I think funding levels definitely have to be increased in the future.”
The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act is a provincial legislation that was passed in 2005. It aims to achieve full accessibility throughout the province by 2025. However, no standards in regards to accessibility have yet been made.
“The province will eventually set up their own standards,” says Prazak, adding that the standards can’t deviate much from two building guidelines, the Ontario Building Code and the Canadian Standards Association. Both will be considered when the province creates its standards.
Barrier removal is part of Ottawa’s accessibility plan that aims to satisfy these building guidelines. It is submitted to the province about the barriers that have been removed the previous year, along with suggestions for upcoming years.
He says his department labels buildings “high priority” based on public usage, how many months of the year it’s open, and whether or not the facility has special-need programming.
Plante Recreation Centre, located in the heart of Centretown West, is one of them. One accessibility renovation can be seen outside the entrance. The curbs are depressed on both sides with yellow tactile indicators, which are grooved to warn the visually impaired that they are about to enter into traffic.
“If there’s a flush transition for a wheelchair to be able to go out on the road, someone [who’s blind] might not be able to tell that there’s a different surface between the sidewalk and the road, so it becomes a dangerous condition,” explains Prazak.
Jacques Morissette, manager of the recreation centre, says barrier removal inside and outside the facility has been a necessity.
“Being a recreational facility, it’s very important that it’s accessible for everyone so all activities can be enjoyed,” says Morissette.
One of the two pools in the recreation centre starts at a depth of zero feet, so wheelchairs have access too. Family change rooms are built larger to equip those who have accessibility concerns.
The Ottawa Public Library on Metcalfe Street is another high priority building, says Prazak. A unisex, barrier-free washroom is currently being built.
Devin Froislie, marketing coordinator for Lord Lansdowne, says the building is 100 per cent wheelchair accessible. Other accessibility initiatives include an emergency call system. Residents, like Munro, have a call bell that they wear around their neck on a blue lanyard. It can be used as a tracking device as well.
“Let’s say a resident comes up to the lounge by themselves and they’re too tired to go back on their own,” he says. “They just press their button and our staff can come and help.”
The retirement home has also recently purchased a car called the London cab which has a retractable ramp for wheelchairs.
The 2009 City of Ottawa Municipal Accessibility Plan will be presented to council Nov. 18.
Prazak adds that barrier removal is in transition between what municipalities are doing and what kind of standards Ontario is deliberating on.