Getting around Squamish is difficult enough if you’re able-bodied, due to the wind and the steep grades of some hilly and mountainous regions of town.
But for people with disabilities, it can be a nightmare.
Try to imagine yourself in a wheelchair on your next walk around town and you’ll see what we mean. Everywhere you look, obstacles are in the way.
As a society, we have a duty to make things easier for those who want to move around independently but have challenges. It’s the right thing to do, and as we age, we may find ourselves in their situation as well, having to wheel around or walk blindly with a white cane.
But we are not coming close to making things easy. Progress has been slow.
Even some of the new developments in Squamish have obstacles planted right in the middle of sidewalks. Cement pillars interrupt a sidewalk on one of the newest streets downtown where townhouses were built just this year. A wheelchair can’t possibly get through.
Also, in many of the new neighbourhoods, townhouse residents have garages where they can park, and there is limited street parking. So what do people do? They load their garages with toys – bicycles, kayaks, ATVs and powertools – then they park on the sidewalk in front of their townhouse.
This unfettered sidewalk parking is not only annoying for people forced on the road while walking their dogs or children, it’s also dangerous to many. It blocks the path for those who need space to roll a wheelchair and makes life dangerous for those who are visually impaired. People are forced onto the road, where they hope that a vehicle doesn’t suddenly swing around a corner and hit them.
For people with disabilities, this is much more than an inconvenience. It limits their lives and their independence. If they need others to help wheel them back and over steep curbs, they can no longer leave their homes on their own.
Other regions of Canada are ahead of Squamish in terms of mandating accessible features such as ramps and curb step-downs. Here, although a consultant provides advice to the district, it seems officials are not following up to see if advice is followed; the proof is in the obstacles. And no one seems to be ticketing the cars that clutter the sidewalks.
We can do better to create a community that is safe and accessible to all.
– Editor Christine Endicott
