Disability advocates urge Toronto, province to plan ahead for winter accessibility challenges
CBC
With city crews still working away to clear the snow buildup from Thursday and more flurries in the forecast for this weekend, disability advocates in Toronto say there’s not enough support during winter weather events.
Snowstorms lead to natural and human-made barriers that impact how people with disabilities navigate the city, said David Lepofsky, chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) Alliance.
Accumulated snow on sidewalks, bus stops and at the edge of roads are examples of human-made barriers that people often overlook, he said.
Stepping over a pile of snow to get onto a bus is simple for those who can walk, but that's not the case for people with mobility aids or wheelchairs, said social worker Emily Chan.
“The bus ramp can't even go down over that pile of snow, so that also renders that form of transportation inaccessible,” she said.
Lepofsky said the province is way overdue to create a regulatory accessibility standard for all municipalities, as agreed upon through the creation of the AODA in 2005.
He's also calling on the city to plan ahead by creating a registry of people with disabilities and how best to help them during winter storms.
“[A registry will] ensure that [the city] either doesn’t create these barriers in these particular locations or that they move rapidly to remove them,” he said, adding right now people are able to call 311 to get snow clearance support, but that it’s not always done properly.
The province did not respond to requests for comment.
This year Toronto is prioritizing the clearance of sidewalks, right after roads and bike lanes, a city spokesperson told CBC Toronto Friday.
“We have over 1300 people working around the clock to clear roads, sidewalks, bike lanes and transit stops in a prioritized sequence,” they said, adding urgent snow clearing requests to 311 will be addressed as quickly as possible.
Toronto is expecting a chance of flurries Saturday with a high of 1 C and a low of -10 C overnight, which will feel closer to -20 with wind chill. Sunday’s forecast shows signs of snow with a high of -4 C that will feel more like -17.
In a news release Friday, the city said snow clearance of roads and sidewalks is expected to take several days due to the forecast and “significant” accumulation this week.
In an updated news release Saturday, the city said crews will focus on "enhanced sidewalk clearing, plowing and salting" and removing snow from prioritized areas, such as hospitals, throughout Saturday. The city also said snow removal work began earlier than usual on Friday evening.
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