An Interesting Accommodation!
Monday, April 4, 2011
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I just phoned the Elections Canada office in Kingston to ask about applying for a job.
They said I must apply in person. By a stroke of good luck I was on the bus within 20 minutes of them telling me this. Kingston Access Bus is very good at accommodating if they can.
The Elections Canada office said that when I arrive I would have to be transferred into a 'very nice' manual wheelchair so I could fit through the door. I said where do I park my power wheelchair? The answer was, leave it outside and they will watch it (get wet in the rain).
I was flabbergasted. Fortunately I thought to ask enough questions and discover the source of the problem. The door width is 31". This is less than the published width of 32" that is required in the building code so they didn't think the majority of wheelchairs would fit through the door. Providing a manual wheelchair for one to transfer into, was their way of accommodating. It's obvious they didn't think about the fact that a lot of people are not capable of independently transferring into another wheelchair. They often need the appropriate grab bars, the help of another person, or a mechanical lift, to accomplish this goal.
URGH, more education is obviously needed. I have, what many would consider, is a standard width wheelchair. This means I need a minimum of 26" because, if I take my armrest off, I can fit through the door. A door width of 30" will accommodate a good many of wheelchairs, and the building code has added a little extra to broaden the extent of coverage.
What I found, when I arrived, was I could get through the door easily enough as long as someone held open the door. The application took less than 5 minutes to fill out. Apparently other details about the selection process, training, and learning more about the accessibility of the election, will have to come later.
What's really sad is that people simply don't know what to do and the new Integrated Standard that's about to be released under the Accessibility For Ontarian's With Disabilities Act (AODA), won't fully tell them.
Please read my other Blogs:
Transit: http://wheelchairdemon-transit.blogspot.com
Health: http://wheelchairdemon-health.blogspot.com
They said I must apply in person. By a stroke of good luck I was on the bus within 20 minutes of them telling me this. Kingston Access Bus is very good at accommodating if they can.
The Elections Canada office said that when I arrive I would have to be transferred into a 'very nice' manual wheelchair so I could fit through the door. I said where do I park my power wheelchair? The answer was, leave it outside and they will watch it (get wet in the rain).
I was flabbergasted. Fortunately I thought to ask enough questions and discover the source of the problem. The door width is 31". This is less than the published width of 32" that is required in the building code so they didn't think the majority of wheelchairs would fit through the door. Providing a manual wheelchair for one to transfer into, was their way of accommodating. It's obvious they didn't think about the fact that a lot of people are not capable of independently transferring into another wheelchair. They often need the appropriate grab bars, the help of another person, or a mechanical lift, to accomplish this goal.
URGH, more education is obviously needed. I have, what many would consider, is a standard width wheelchair. This means I need a minimum of 26" because, if I take my armrest off, I can fit through the door. A door width of 30" will accommodate a good many of wheelchairs, and the building code has added a little extra to broaden the extent of coverage.
What I found, when I arrived, was I could get through the door easily enough as long as someone held open the door. The application took less than 5 minutes to fill out. Apparently other details about the selection process, training, and learning more about the accessibility of the election, will have to come later.
What's really sad is that people simply don't know what to do and the new Integrated Standard that's about to be released under the Accessibility For Ontarian's With Disabilities Act (AODA), won't fully tell them.
Please read my other Blogs:
Transit: http://wheelchairdemon-transit.blogspot.com
Health: http://wheelchairdemon-health.blogspot.com
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