BARRHEAD – The community of Barrhead has a way to go until it becomes truly accessible to people with physical limitations.
However, there is a group that hopes to lessen those barriers, in large part by raising awareness among the able-bodied about the challenges people with disabilities face in accessing services and activities that many take for granted.
On May 5, the Barrhead Accessibility Coalition held its first-ever accessibility challenge.
Town of Barrhead councillor and accessibility coalition member Dausen Kluin told the Barrhead Leader that the idea behind the event is to have able-bodied people — prominent leaders of the community — take part in a series of challenges simulating the experiences of those with physical disabilities, including mobility, vision, and hearing impairments. About 20 people participated in the inaugural challenge.
"It is all about increasing awareness. A lot of people who don't have physical disabilities don't see where there are barriers," he said.
Kluin, who has cerebral palsy, uses a walker for mobility.
The event was patterned after a similar event put on by the Westlock Disability Coalition in 2019, which invited then-county reeve Lou Hall and town mayor Ralph Leriger, among several others, to participate in a series of challenges, including travelling from the Pioneer Museum to a business about three blocks away, crossing Highway 33 in the process.
To simulate a person with a disability, Leriger used a wheelchair while Hall donned a pair of vision-impeding glasses.
Once at the business, the coalition asked the pair to find and purchase selected items. Hall was also given an additional restriction when he was at the till, as he had to communicate only through gestures or sign language.
In the Barrhead version, participants were put through similar challenges during tours of the elementary school, Pembina West Co-op's food store, and the splash park, as well as by extending the challenges while going into individual businesses on Main Street. Unlike the initial Westlock challenge, participants switched roles each time they switched venues.
Participants in the Barrhead challenge included representatives from the Barrhead Family Community Support Services (FCSS), Blue Heron Support Services Association (BHSSA), Pembina West Co-op, Barrhead Regional Fire Services, Barrhead Composite High School, Pembina Hills School Division trustees and administration, Barrhead municipal councillors, and Town of Barrhead administration.
Although the school division recently renovated the library's bathrooms to include hardware for people with disabilities, Smith still found it challenging to use the facilities.
"I'm still pretty able, even in this wheelchair, which is narrower than some. I can imagine how difficult and frustrating it could be with someone who might have other physical challenges than just being in a wheelchair," he said.
He also added that he had difficulties navigating his wheelchair down the hallway to the washroom. In preparation for a library program, staff used the hallway for temporary storage.
BRFS firefighter Jonathan Hynes noticed the new adventure playground would have been inaccessible for someone in a wheelchair or scooter due to a two to three-inch retaining box around the playground. Once in the playground, he said, it would have been challenging for anyone to manoeuvre as the wheels of his wheelchair kept spinning in the woodchips.
Another participant, while shopping at the Co-op using the store's motor scooter, noted how difficult it was to reach higher-up items.
"We were told to ask staff or other shoppers, but no one was around," she said.
Other participants commented that many businesses were difficult to access and often lacked standard features such as automatic door-opening buttons or ramps.
Several others commented on the lack of mobility-challenged parking downtown.
Something Kluin has noticed, saying most of the accessibility-challenged parking stalls are in one area, at the four-way stop intersection on 51st Avenue.
There are two handicapped parking stalls on either side of 52nd Avenue adjacent to the post office and St. Anne's Catholic Church, and two more on 51st Avenue — one next to Tim Hortons, the other next to Rocky Mountain Roots. There are also two on 50th Avenue, one by Servus Credit Union and the other by the Town of Barrhead municipal office. All the stalls are parallel to the curb except the angled one at the municipal office.
He said in Alberta, to get a disability placard, "is that you have difficulty walking 50 metres or about 164 feet.
"Eventually, I would like to see two more in the middle of each block [on Main Street, one on each side of the road]," Kluin said.
In future years, Kluin said the coalition would like to take the challenge on the road, visiting locations in the County of Barrhead such as Thunder Lake or Neerlandia.
"Maybe different people as well. I would like more youth and students to participate," he said.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
