Tips on Wheelchair accesibility

Hello! I'm very excited right now because soon I go to Fernie to visit Grace for a week! I'm going to ride the community bus and meet Graces mom in Cranbrook and then she will drive me to their house in Fernie. I've been using the community bus for a few years now. It runs every Monday and Friday. We didn't have that sort of transportation in town before. Now, people can have more options to get to their destinations. I've used the bus a few times before to go to Fernie and for trips with patti, going to Fort Steele and stuff like that. They have a wheelchair ramp and wheelchair tye downs so I can bring my chair with me when i go places in it whitch is awesome. We just have to book it early because my chair takes up a seat, so that means one less person can ride the bus because there wouldn't be room. Even though, I have moms help getting on, ther bus does make me feel a bit more independent because no one has to ride with me. Hopefully I will get to do it all by myself one day! That would be awesome! So, yes, the community bus has definetly opened up my world a bit more. I love being able to travel loke that! Thankyou bus driver for making everything so accomodating for me and for getting me where I need to go! It fees great! So, today, I'd like to do some advocating for some wheelchair acessibility, not just for my town, but everywhere. My town still has a ways to go but has come a long way in the past couple of years. I won't complain much because I love that I can go downtown myself and do things. My town is certainly improving on accessibility, but it can always get better. Like I motioned in a previous blog,, I belong to the group A.C.E ( Access in the Community for Everyone). They have done soome great work in advertising accesibility so far. I'm not the best advocator myself, so this blog is good practise for me. Here are ten ways you can make your community more accesible to all. As for my advocating skills, here goes nothin! ha ha! Just kidding! It's worth a shot! Here we go! 1. Ramps Instead of Steps- This is a big one for a lot of people in wheelchairs. The first thing that make the store accesible is a flat entrance or a ramp going up to the building. I know people that always have to depend to ramps when they go out, or else they cant get inside stores. I'm lucky because I can walk. Ramps make things a little easier for me though because I dont have to do steps. Although I'm told steps are good for me. Anyway, thats besides the point. I know a lot of people who have to have a ramp. Ramps can be used for wheelchsirs, walkers and strollers. They just make things a little easier. I know, it can be hard with some places, but if you are a business owner who wants to build a new restaurant or store, and make it wheekchair acessible, ramps are an excellent place to start! 2. Wheelchair Van Parking- This is an issue for people in wheelchairs travelling or using a vehicle down town. My family has always used the wheelchair parking, even before i got my wheelchair, just because they are a little bit more closer to our destinations and I don't have to walk as far. Whenever we have our van with us though, and I have my chair with me, I need the parking for more space. My ramp comes out on the back of the van, so that is an advantage for me. Grace, though has a wheelchair has wheelchair ramp that comes on the side, so she has to make sure there is enough space for her to get get out and there has to be two parking spaces left open for her. So, wheelchair parking is a huge savour for a lot of people I know. it kind of gives me and my mom a break too, because I don't have walk as far. We can get to where we need to be a bit faster. If you can help out with making someones time at an event last a little longer, because they don't have to struggle finding an alright place to park, you'd be doing them a great favour. It makes the trip that much smoother and enjoyable. 3. Buttons to access doors- I've noticed these have come up more and more over the years, whitch is awesome. Buttons make people with wheelchairs or walkers that much more independent. Some people can't use their hands to open a door so by flinging there arms at buttons, they can get into a place without assistancew. I can sort of manage to open doors when I'm in my chair but it's little tricky. I have to grab the door and then race in the doorway before it closes. Ofcourse, I could always ask for help, but buttons just make things a little bit easier and they make me more independent, witch is what I strive to be. With buttons, the ride into stores and buildings goes so much smoother for us. We're in and we're out. We don't have to waste time with doors. We can just do what we came to do. Yes, buttons do indeed make life one smooth ride. 4. Wheelchair accesible washrooms- it's always nice to have wheelchair accesible washrooms on hand. I can walk into washrooms with assistance, but bigger stalls are nice because I have a litlle bit more space and there are bars to hold on to. In a lot of stalls the bars on the other side of the stall from where the toliet is. There good for standing up and getting in and out, but a bar by the toliet would be nice as well,so peaople don't have to reach far over to hang on. The bar would be right there. When I little I had trouble balancing on a toliet so a bar to hold onto would have been nice. Washrooms are always important wherever people go, so it's great when they can be accesed quickly and easily for everyone. 5. Yellow lines painted on sidewalks- This one is for the visually impared. I have an older friend who is legally blind and likes to go for walks downtown. She has quite a few obstacles to overcome while wakking down there. One of them is not being able to see steps properly. So, she would be walking along and run into a sidewalk curb or a step. She said the thing people can do to help her in that way is to paint a bright yellow line on the step so they are more visable to her. This will prevent injuries and make things a bit more smoother and safer for her. Everyone knowsthat safety comes first! 6. Sidewalks- Oh my gosh! Last summer we had paving down to our road and sidewalks put in on our street. Let me tell ya, that sidewalk was like the love of my life that summer. Ha ha, Just kidding! No, but seriously, it made things go a whole lot smoother for me and my chair. Before the sidewalks, I had to go on this gravel area and it wasn't good for my chair because the gravel got stuck in the wheels and wrecked the bearings. I had to sneak through someone elses yard because their was a sidewalk there. With OUR sidewalk now, I am not an illegal trespasser anymore. No, just kidding. They were very generous to let me go through that way but having a sidewalk by where we live is a lot more handy. A good, smooth sidewalk is so much better than gravel. Just make sure that there is a lip for a wheelchair to get on and off. Sidewalks are also a safety thing for everyone. It keeps kids away from traffic. Another thing that just keeps everyone safe and sound. 7. Lots of space in stores- When I am in a store or a mall in Cagary with my family, sometimes I have to stay outside and wait. Either my wheechair can't fit in the store or it's a little to crowded for me to walk around in. I have to be careful lefty doesn't hit anything as well,but that's my resposibility. It'd be nice though if things were kind of spread out. It would just make things a little easier. 8. Buses- Just like I talked about at the beginning blog, the community bus has been a huge advantage to me, especially with the rammp that comes down. I wish school buses had these ramps so people could take their motorized wheelchairs to feidtrips and stuff. It 's amazing what my van and this community bus does for me. I don't have to hold my moms hand in town and I don't have to out of town either. These buses make life very handy for people in wheelchairs. It's one more thing that makes us feel like we can conqur anything! 9. Bigger Print- Thkis is another thing requested by my legally blind friend. When she gets bills or things in the mail, somtiimes she can't read the font. She always asks they type it out in a bit bigger size of font. This way she won't have to struggle to see the print. Things like this just makes a whole lot of things go much smoother for her. I think my friend would really appreciate it if she could get through something like this withot frusteration. 10. Wheelchair Entry Way- Aside from a ramp for wheelchairs to get into buildings, what makes it even more easy is a wide doorway. This gives a wheelchair room to enter a building without it being so squishy. We don't want our weelchairs to scrape the walls or anything like that. Doorways just give us a bit more room. We get in. The room isn't wrecked! Everyones happy! I know its hard to think of all these things to do when you are a buissness owner, but I feel, being in a wheelchair, it is my duty to make the the world a more acessible place for everyone. When I advocate for my own needs sometimes it leads way to make greater for a next person who comes along! When we start thinking of more things like this, we will start to make a community more enjoyable to everyone! Like I said, inclusiveness is our goal, so let's get going on it!