By Mona Harb
A growing number of people with disabilities and new laws are forcing Centretown businesses to rethink accessibility.
“Certainly access to buildings is still an issue,” says Terry Gilhen, a community developer for the Ottawa-based non-profit organization Disabled Persons Community Resources.
“There are still a lot of physical barriers, some very simple to fix.”
Gihen says people don’t need to look very far to find the service gaps in Centretown. Many accessibility issues could be corrected with small, inexpensive ramps, he says.
Statistics Canada predicts that disabled persons will account for 20 to 25 per cent of the recreation, retail, entertainment, workplace and housing markets within the next 10 years.
Currently laws are being set out to have business owners rethink their building layout and services, but some are seeing the need for changes now.
When Ottawa West-Nepean MPP Jim Watson was mayor, a frustrated disability activist had convinced him to explore the downtown area in a wheelchair.
“I was quite surprised at the sheer number of buildings we weren’t able to get into.”
“I’m not sure why any business would want to turn away customers, when it comes down to something as simple as one step,” Watson says.
According to some, Watson’s experience in the downtown core could easily happen among Centretown’s many business venues, but representatives are starting to get the message.
“I don’t think you’d find a Canadian that would say a person with a disability doesn’t have a right to enter a business,” says Gerry LePage, executive director Bank Street Promenade business association, which represents about 250 retail and restaurant businesses.
“It’s wonderful to put forward an ideal world, but the fact is it’s not quite that clean cut.”
Sometimes it’s not a matter of time, money, or principle – it’s spatially impossible, says LePage.
“This isn’t one size fits all. If they want it to be implemented there are going to have to be exemptions where there are physical barriers,” LePage says.
With disabled consumers already spending $21 to $25 billion dollars yearly, the Liberal government introduced an act in 2005 hoping to address the obstacles these consumers face.
The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act is meant to remove barriers for people with physical, sensory, mental, developmental, and learning disabilities.
Businesses have 18 more years to make themselves fully accessible.
The specific regulations are still being developed by a committee and will be released and enforced as early as this summer, but Centretown business associations are already concerned that it won’t be possible to comply.
LePage says that south of L’Esplanade Laurier, the sidewalks are narrowed and encumbered which will make it difficult to renovate.
“Where’s the cut off?”, he says.
“You can’t put down a ramp that blocks a sidewalk, or you’d have another issue.”
Lori Mellor, executive director of the Preston Street business association, also says it’s a matter of space, not a lack of interest by store owners.
Many businesses are in homes, have street level issues, or are just too tiny.
The association represents about 55 retail and restaurant stores, many of them family run “mom and pop shops,” Mellor says.
There is no full-scale accessibility plan in effect on Preston Street, and Mellor says she did not know the accessibility legislation existed.
“Frankly we’re just being legislated to death,” she says.
The market should be pushing this, not the province, she adds.
As Ottawa’s population ages, the number of people with disabilities will continue to grow.
In 2001, about 37,000 citizens were disabled, and about 6,600 more by 2011, a city funded study called Partnering for Participation and Inclusion predicts.
“You can be darn sure that these businesses don’t want to turn away customers,” Mellor says.
The federal government says it will appoint someone to assess the effectiveness of the act and recommend any necessary changes.
Mellor says if no allowances are made, some of these businesses will have to shut down, and most will need a lot of help if they are to comply with these laws.
For now, renovations and alterations are tax deductible, and many community clubs offer financial support for accessibility initiatives.
Businesses can take an accessibility test to find out where they stand and how to improve access through the Ministry of Community and Social Services’ website, http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca.