Would a physically challenged student be able to freely navigate and take part in the same activities the rest of the schoolmates do? If not, how would that make them feel?
Those are just two of the questions Susan Littlechilds, a Busby resident who is visually challenged posed to Dunstable School students on Tuesday, Feb. 7, as part of a Rick Hansen Foundation presentation. Littlechilds suffers from Retinitis Pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease that causes severe vision impairment due to the progressive degeneration of the rod photoreceptor cells in the retina.
The foundation’s purpose is to develop programs and initiatives that raise awareness, change attitudes and remove the physical and social barriers for people with disabilities.
She joined the organization about a year ago, after finding out about it, through her work with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB).
Littlechilds was diagnosed with the disease after six months of testing in 2012.
“It attacks my peripheral and eventually I will go blind,” she said, adding her vision is at 23 degrees, which means basically she can see what is directly in front of her as long as it is above her nose and not to the sides. “I’m still able to read, or ride horses, as lack of vision has impacted what I can do.”
To learn how to cope with her lack of vision, Littlechilds has taken a number of courses through the CNIB. Currently she is also enrolled as a full-time student at Athabasca University in an effort to find a new career. Littlechilds owns and operates Hide Away Farms with her husband, and used to work full-time at Busby School.
“Through all of this I have done a tremendous amount of soul searching to find my purpose and path in life,” she said. “It seems silly to say, but without my disability, I wouldn’t be where I am today. It doesn’t define me and because of it I am a better person.”
However, that doesn’t mean life doesn’t have its challenges for Littlechilds, many of which are due to accessibility. Issues that will only increase as her vision decreases.
This is why, in large part, she decided to become involved with the Rick Hansen Foundation, whose founder which it is named after, becoming a paraplegic after receiving a spinal injury when he was 15 years old as a result of a motor vehicle accident.
After his accident, Hansen went on to compete in the 1980 and 1984 Summer Paralympic Games in volleyball and basketball before going on his Man in Motion world tour during which he pushed himself around the world in his wheel chair in 1985.
“We all have to play our part to help people with accessibility issues and be as inclusive as we can be,” she said, then adding the Canadian government along with the Rick Hansen Foundation, are providing Barrier Buster grants of up to $30,000 for infrastructure projects that improve accessiblilty to public spaces and buildings to celebrate Canada’s 150.
Littlechilds then challenged students to look for ways they could improve accessibility at their school.
“We are all different in lots of ways from the way we look, how we dress to the food we eat,” she said, adding inclusion doesn’t mean everyone has to be the same. “Inclusion is about enjoying the things that make us different and making sure those differences don’t stop us from caring for one another and one of the ways we can do that is by ensuring accessibility.”
