‘Now’s the time’: Advocates urge more accessible builds as Canada ramps up housing

Five-year-old Beau starts each day being carried by one of his parents to the family's living room, where his wheelchair awaits in their Beamsville, Ont., home.

Five-year-old Beau starts each day being carried by one of his parents to the family’s living room, where his wheelchair awaits in their Beamsville, Ont., home.

Diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy at 17 months old, Beau is unable to walk independently due to the disease, which damages nerves and leads to severe muscle weakness.

Beau’s day-to-day living comes with barriers most would never think about when raising a child, said his mother, Rachel O’Hagan. The doorways in their home aren’t wide enough for a wheelchair to fit through, meaning Beau has to be carried from room to room, including the bathroom.

He can’t access the sink to wash his hands or brush his teeth on his own, nor reach the light switches. As he gets older, O’Hagan said she and her husband Bryce know these challenges will only compound, especially as he gets too heavy for them to lift.

“These are all things that he absolutely could do on his own if the house could accommodate him,” she said.

“He very much wouldn’t need our support … He could freely move around.”

Amid a housing crisis that has Canadian policymakers and developers scrambling to bolster supply, those living with disability are urging leaders to enshrine accessibility into more newly built homes than the country has historically seen.

“It just really seems like an impossible situation for us, I won’t lie,” said O’Hagan.