Rapid Transit Not Very Accessible, Riders with Disabilities Find

In Montreal, a human rights complaint was recently filed over the inaccessibility of the city's Metro subway system. Most of Montreal’s Metro stations are in deep tunnels underground, and so far only 7 of the 68 Metro stations are accessible to people with mobility devices. The lack of accessible Metro stations forces users to take adapted transit (which is not generally an option for visitors to the city), or wait for alternative surface routes which generally run far less frequently. In addition, maintenance and other issues often mean that riders with disabilities are left behind when attempting to ride surface routes: two thirds of buses surveyed in Montreal in September could not take on riders with disabilities due to issues such as inoperable ramps.

Accessibility issues are not unique to Montreal’s Metro, although accessibility improvements are generally progressing at a faster rate elsewhere. In Toronto, for example, 30 of the TTC’s 69 subway stations in Toronto are now fully accessible, and more stations are being retrofitted with elevators every year in order to meet the TTC's goal of making every station accessible by 2025. However, TTC riders are still struggling with the new “Toronto Rocket” trains on the Yonge-University-Spadina subway line that are not always level with the platform, which can create an insurmountable barrier for users with mobility devices, forcing these riders to wait until an older train comes along.

In a survey of subway systems around the world, Montreal’s metro ranked last in terms of accessibility. In comparison, London, which has one of the oldest subway systems in the world, provides step-free access to the platform at 63 of the Underground's 270 stations, with 100 stations slated to be fully accessible by 2020, while 89 of New York’s 468 MTA stations are accessible.

Despite the various accessibility issues faced by public transit riders, there are also plenty of examples of good public transit accessibility practices. In the Greater Toronto Area, both Toronto and Mississauga have recently retired their last non-accessible buses, while Toronto has also ordered new accessible streetcars and light-rail vehicles for delivery over the next few years. In Vancouver, the entire transit system, including the SkyTrain, is fully accessible. Another success story is the metro in Washington D.C., which is 100% accessible. In addition, when elevators are out-of-service for repairs in Washington, shuttle buses are deployed to ensure that riders with disabilities can easily get to the next closest metro station and board a train towards their destination.

New Technology May Curb Illegal Parking in Accessible Spaces

Despite the steep $450 fine for illegally parking in a designated accessible parking space in Toronto, misuse of these spaces is still a major problem, given that only a handful of spaces are typically available in any given parking lot. In July, for example, the Mayor noted that he saw drivers illegally parking in these spaces almost every day. However, if new technology that is currently being tested in the U.K. becomes widespread, the frustration of pulling up to designated accessible parking spaces only to find them occupied by illegally parked vehicles may soon be a thing of the past. Using technology similar to that found on modern electronic toll highways, a company from New Zealand has developed an electronic system to monitor accessible parking spaces. This system works by issuing drivers with disabilities electronic tags that are automatically read by sensors in each parking space. Should a driver park in a designated accessible space without a tag, parking officers are automatically notified and a ticket can be issued.

Other not quite as “high tech” solutions to the accessible parking problem are being proposed in jurisdictions around the world. In Alabama disability advocacy groups and the state’s Office on Disability are pushing for the state to introduce new measures to curb the practice of parking illegally in a designated accessible space, both by people who misuse state-issued accessible parking hang tags, and those who park with no hang tag at all. Suggestions include printing a photo of the applicant on hang tags, noting disability statuses on drivers’ licenses, and allowing trained volunteers to ticket illegally parked vehicles. In Chicago, high fines are the tool of choice, as the Chicago City Council recently approved a plan to charge up to $4,000 in fines plus vehicle impoundment for vehicles illegally parked in designated accessible parking spaces.

AODA Customer Service Standard Now in Effect

Happy New Year! SPH would like to remind everyone that the AODA Customer Service Standard is now in effect for all Ontario businesses as of January 1. This means that businesses must now establish policies and procedures for providing goods and services to people with disabilities, train employees based on these policies and procedures, and create a process for feedback from customers, among other requirements.

Businesses with more than 20 employees have additional requirements under the Customer Service Standard. In addition to creating a written copy of their customer service policies and procedures, these businesses must submit a report to the Ontario government in order to let them know how they are doing, however, this does not need to be done right away. In fact, businesses with more than 20 employees have until December 31, 2012 to file their accessibility compliance report. The reporting tool is now online with more information available at: http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/en/mcss/programs/accessibility/customerService/report_online.aspx

While your business may currently be focused on complying with the Customer Service Standard, don't forget that some of the requirements of the new Integrated Accessibility Regulation (IAR) have also begun to take effect. In particular, businesses that provide information on emergency procedures and plans must now also provide that information in accessible formats, on request, and businesses must also work with their employees to determine what information they might need in case of an emergency.

A full list of AODA requirements and additional information is available at the AccessON portal.

Architect & universal designer Michael Graves wins Driehaus Prize

Since becoming paralyzed from the waist down in 2003 after a serious infection, architect Michael Graves has not only continued his architecture practice but has gone on to design and develop a stylish and well-designed line of products intended for people with disabilities, such as innovative shower heads, bath seats and heating pads

Recently, Graves was awarded the 2012 Driehaus Prize in classical architecture, for devoting his life to architecture that “enhances the user experience”, and will be presented with a $200,000 prize in March 2012. This architecture includes his own home, which Graves has adapted to include a barrier-free shower and elevator.

"Architect, Inventor, and Famous Designer Michael Graves overcomes disability to focus on what he loves."

FaceMaze Game Helps Children with Autism

Advances in technology are changing the lives of people with disabilities, including people with autism. Recently, a “hackathon” was held where smartphone app developers created over 400 ideas for new applications to assist people with autism, ranging from apps that help teach life skills to others that help students with autism visualize information in different ways. Other smartphone apps have also been in the news recently, to help people with disabilities use these now ubiquitous devices.

However, not all autism technological advances are via smartphone. Researchers at the University of Victoria have developed a new software program called FaceMaze, a game which aims to help children with autism improve their facial recognition skills and learn to “speak” the language of smiles and frowns. In the game, children must match their facial expressions with the ones shown on virtual characters on the screen in order to advance through the game. The goal is to help children with autism learn how to participate in and react to social situations, and so far in clinical trials it seems to be working, with improvement found after only 20 hours of game play.

For more information about FaceMaze, or if your child is interested in participating, visit: http://web.uvic.ca/~carte/research.html

Accessible Tourism in Toronto, Canada and Worldwide

As the baby-boomer generation ages, more and more seniors find themselves looking to travel while simultaneously struggling with loss of mobility and other disabilities. Fortunately, accessible tourism is a thriving industry, in Canada and around the world, and there are a multitude of options for seniors, as well as all other tourists with disabilities.

In Canada, 2010 Legacies Now aims to establish British Columbia as a leader in accessible tourism, and has developed a rating system to allow visitors to find businesses, attractions, restaurants, and accommodations that are accessible for users with mobility impairments, vision loss, or hearing loss.  Worldwide, similar initiatives include the European Network for Accessible Tourism, which aims to study and promote accessible tourism, and Australiaforall.com which bills itself as a one stop shop for tourist information for visitors with disabilities to Australia.

Here in Toronto, most local attractions offer at least basic accessibility accommodations, such as wheelchair access, while others go further and provide accessible tours and alternative sensory exhibits. For example, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), offers guided Tactile Tours as well as ASL interpreted tours, in addition to interactive exhibits that can be explored by touch by visitors with vision loss. The museum is also accessible for visitors with mobility devices, including washrooms and drinking fountains, and provides a variety of portable descriptive audio devices. The Art Gallery of Ontario offers similar multi-sensory and ASL-interpreted tours and is also fully accessible.

The Ontario Science Centre is barrier-free and offers an Access Guide for people with vision loss to identify exhibits that can be experienced through taste, hearing and smell, including wayfinding directions. Most of Toronto’s other major tourist attractions also offer accessible features, including the CN Tower, Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto Zoo, Casa Loma, and the many theatres downtown.

Further information on accessible tourist attractions in Toronto can be found at Tourism Toronto.

New Smartphone Accessibility Technology for People with Disabilities

Smartphones, such as Android-powered devices, iPhones, and Blackberry’s, have become ubiquitous over the past few years. These phones, which typically embrace large touch screens over physical buttons and keyboards, are now replacing traditional cell phones, having accounted for 1/3 of all phones sold this summer. But what about people with disabilities, whether visual, auditory, or others? Can a person with a visual disability use an iPhone, despite the lack of a physical keyboard? Or how about a user with limited dexterity who cannot easily move their fingers around a touch screen, especially when completing an action like zooming in and out on a webpage typically requires the use of more than one finger? The answer is a resounding yes, they can!

The latest generations of smartphones, such as the new Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” devices, Apple’s iPhone series, and BlackBerry's all come with accessibility features built in. For example, iPhones let you turn the screen off entirely and navigate by touching the screen and receiving voice feedback, or navigating entirely by using voice control. Android 4.0 has a similar feature that lets users slide their fingers across the screen while providing voice feedback. A wide range of accessibility features for BlackBerry phones are also available, including everything from customizable notification vibrations to support for TTY devices.

Other options like magnification and different contrast settings are readily available for smartphones. For users with limited dexterity, Apple’s AssistiveTouch software lets you replace gestures (pinching with two fingers to zoom in, etc.), shaking the phone to undo typing, and other physical buttons (volume up and down, power off, etc), with a finger or stylus tap on the screen. Third party applications (“app”) are also readily available to solve problems for users with various disabilities. One example is an app that scans barcodes on products and reads the product name back to the user.

Software developers are just getting started on creating new and innovative ways for users with disabilities to use their smartphones. As these devices become even more popular, it will be interesting to see how accessible smartphones continue to evolve over the coming years.

International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 3 December 2011

Since 1992, the United Nations has proclaimed December 3 of each year to be the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD). These days are held each year with a different theme as a way to raise awareness and promote global disability issues.  This year, building on the inclusive mainstreaming disability themes from 2009 and 2010, the theme is “Together for a better world for all: Including persons with disabilities in development” with various sub themes on issues such as including women, children, and youth with disabilities in development, barrier removal and inclusive development, and including a disability perspective in all aspects of development processes. In previous years, themes of the IDPD have included various other topics, including "E-Accessibility" and "Independent Living and Sustainable Livelihoods".

Events are being held to commemorate the IDPD at the UN Headquarters in New York City, including panel discussions and an accessibility film festival, and around the world as well. In Toronto, the City will be recognizing the IDPD by holding an event on December 8 at City Hall to present the Access Award, which is “given to a person, group or organization that has made a significant contribution towards improving access for people with disabilities in Toronto.”

Further information on the IDPD can be found at: http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=1561

For more information on the City of Toronto's IDPD event and to RSVP, visit: http://www.toronto.ca/diversity/intl_day_disabilities.htm

STOPGAP: Helping to Create an Inclusive City

Last week, the SPH team had the opportunity to attend an exciting discussion held by the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) titled “Accessing Toronto: How Can We Create A More Inclusive City.” The featured speaker of the event, the first in the Jane Jacobs discussion series, was Luke Anderson, a Toronto engineer and founder of STOPGAP, an initiative that aims to help transform the built environment of Toronto “into a place where everyone has access to what they desire through art, design, discourse and community action.”

Over the course of the evening, Luke told the group about his life since a mountain biking accident in B.C. changed his life. Since then, one issue that has continually frustrated him was the inability to access many local businesses, including stores, coffee shops, bars, and restaurants while out and about due to the prevalence of Toronto storefronts with a single step at the entrance.

While the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act aims to transform Ontario’s built environment by 2025 into a fully inclusive environment that is accessible for all, unfortunately, that is still 14 years away. As a way to bridge the gap between now and 2025, STOPGAP has initiated The Ramp Project, which builds and provides temporary ramps to local businesses for free, until more permanent accommodations can be made in the future as part of renovations or reconstruction. The result so far is a dozen brightly coloured ramps, which have been constructed for local businesses in Toronto’s Junction neighbourhood. This has been made possible by generous sponsors who donate the building materials and volunteers who have provided their time to construct the ramps.

Since the ramps that STOPGAP installs are temporary, they do not fall under the requirements of the building code, and as such, while they are a bit steeper than typically permitted, they are still comfortable for use by users with mobility devices due to their short length.  The ramps are designed with a slip-resistant surface and can also be brought inside each night to help prevent damage from the elements.

During the discussion, Luke also told us about other interesting accessibility features that he has come across in his travels. These include counters that raise and lower in Stockholm, Sweden’s convenience stores, which allow for each reach by all users, and elevators with a second set of buttons at foot-level, allowing users with mobility devices to activate them with their foot rests. The audience was also involved throughout the discussion, and included prominent community members, such as Barbara Hall, former mayor of Toronto and current Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

The next event in the Jane Jacobs discussion series, “Diverse and Equal: How can Toronto Thrive in all senses?” will be held this Wednesday at 6:00pm. Registration is free, but space is limited, so visit the CUI to sign up today!

For more information on STOPGAP, visit: http://stopgapblog.blogspot.com

Accessible Parking and Sustainable Transportation

Controversy has recently sprung up at the University of British Columbia (UBC) over the university's efforts to promote sustainability on campus. One key component of UBCs Climate Action Plan is to reduce the number of parking spaces on campus in an effort to promote a pedestrian friendly campus, while supporting alternative forms of transportation instead, such as cycling and public transit. Unfortunately, this also means reducing the number of accessible parking spaces available on campus. As 24 Hours recently reported, one student who cannot use public transportation due to his medical condition is no longer able to park close to the building where he attends classes due to the removal of accessible parking spaces. While the student has since been able to negotiate to reserve the closest spot available in an alternative parking lot, this still remains an issue for all other UBC students, staff, and visitors with disabilities.

An alternative approach to the same issue was taken by Montreal's McGill University, which recently banned parking almost entirely on its lower campus roadways in order to create a more pedestrian friendly environment. One of the only exceptions is parking for students, staff and visitors with disabilities, which continues to be available in the same locations, with no existing spaces lost.

In Toronto, where parking is always an issue, the best way to avoid having to search for a space is to take the TTC instead. Unfortunately, this is not currently an option for mobility device users who want to travel across downtown, as the city's streetcar fleet which provides the only public transit surface on many of Toronto's downtown streets is currently not accessible to users with mobility devices due to the high floor vehicles used. However, that will no longer be the case in just a few years.

This week, the City of Toronto and the TTC are showing off a detailed, life size mock-up of their new light rail vehicles (LRVs), which will eventually replace the city's existing streetcar fleet. These LRVs, the TTCs first new streetcars since 1988, will be 100% low floor and fully accessible to all users, which will be a welcome change for passengers with mobility devices. These vehicles will also benefit parents with strollers, cyclists, shoppers, travelers with heavy luggage, seniors and anyone else who has difficulty climbing stairs. Existing streetcar stops will also be modified with the addition of curb cuts to ensure easy and safe access for passengers with mobility devices. The new light rail vehicles will start rolling off the assembly line in 2013 and are scheduled to begin service in 2014.

The new light rail vehicles can be viewed until Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at the TTC’s Hillcrest Yard, 1138 Bathurst Street, Toronto from 10am to 7pm each day. No parking is available on site, so the best way to visit is to take the TTC. Accessible shuttle buses will be running to Hillcrest from both Bathurst and St. Clair West subway stations.

Additional background information and photos of the new light rail vehicles are available at the TTCs LRV website and at Torontoist.

Municipal Voting Made Accessible in Toronto

Voter Assist Terminals will be available for the Toronto Municipal Elections happening on October 25th, 2010.

The AutoMARK Voter Assist Terminal (VAT) is a break-through paper ballot-marking technology that allows voters with disabilities and other special needs to mark their ballot privately and independently.

The Voter Assist Terminal (VAT) will only available in one location per ward on Election Day, eligible electors who would like to use the Voter Assist Terminal (VAT) must call Toronto Election Services at 416-338-1111 (press 6) to make the necessary arrangements. Voting places with the Voter Assist Terminal on Election Day can be viewed here: Election Day Voter Assist Terminal Locations (PDF).

For more information please visit the City of Toronto's website at: http://www.toronto.ca/elections/accessibility/voting-equipment-vat.htm

For more information on the City's Municipal Election's Accessibility Plan visit: http://www.toronto.ca/elections/accessibility/plan.htm