How Hamilton candidates with disabilities get the message out when they can't go door-to-door

It can be hard to knock on doors if you use a wheelchair to get around – so two Hamilton candidates in the upcoming municipal election are running their campaigns a little differently.

Anthony Frisina (Ward 8) and Ian MacPherson (Ward 1), who both use wheelchairs, plan to run their campaigns largely without door-to-door canvassing, relying on in-person events and online engagement in their attempts to secure seats on city council. 

Frisina, who is running a campaign largely centred on improving accessibility, says he isn't focused on the aspects of the race that pose a challenge, such as door-to-door canvassing. He's hopeful he can reach Ward 8 voters through social media, virtual meetings and public meet-and-greets such as his campaign launch Thursday night at Turtle Jack's on Upper James Street. 

"I've done a lot of work through social media, and been able to cultivate relationships with people in the ward," said Frisina, who lives on Limeridge Road West, and works at Mohawk College, which is also in Ward 8. 

He has been a longtime advocate for inclusion and accessibility, including hosting a show on the matter on Cable 14, and is part of city council's advisory committee for persons with disabilities. He was awarded the Order of Hamilton in 2020 for his volunteer work and advocacy. He's hoping his efforts have led to some name recognition that will help earn votes.

"People have also known me and understood my work in the community over the years," he says.

If he wins, he'd like to help push Hamilton forward on accessibility issues, helping the city become a leader creating an accessible city well beyond what he calls the "bare minimum" of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, which mandates accessibility of services in the province but does not require retrofits for numerous types of businesses and public spaces. Areas of focus for him include safer street crossings, with more audible and visible signals, and better transportation options for people with disabilities.

"Our autonomy and our agency is equally as important as everyone else," he told CBC Hamilton, noting he's not unhappy with the job done by current Ward 8 councillor John-Paul Danko, but thinks more could be done on accessibility and inclusion issues.

"[The disability community has] the representation by way of population, but a lot of the infrastructure tends to be a miss [thanks to] the ableism that continues to exist both subconsciously and consciously." 

MacPherson, who's running in Ward 1, says he's spoken with Frisina about the need to build everything in an accessible way from the start, rather than having to waste money later on retrofits and fixes.

His decision to run for office partially stemmed from his discontent with the two-way Main Street proposal successfully pitched by current Ward 1 councillor, Maureen Wilson. 

He agrees the street is unsafe – particularly its intersection with Dundurn Street, near his home – but says he thinks the proposed solution is expensive, takes too long to implement, and that the city also needs to do more to address the dangerous intersection at nearby Dundurn and King streets. (That intersection is one of those the city is currently studying in a safety review.)

He has created his own proposal, which he says he sent to the city clerk before the Main Street vote, that would see a five-second pause between each phase of traffic.

"This will cost virtually nothing, can be done tomorrow and will stop the majority of accidents in such dangerous intersections because if someone runs the red everything else is stopped for five seconds, [there will be] no pedestrians crossing or cars passing through the intersection to interfere with the vehicle running the red light," he wrote in a Facebook post announcing his candidacy.