http://www.carleton.ca/accessibilitysummit/
If anyone is interested to know more about the Canadian Centre on Disability Studies, here is their website: http://disabilitystudies.ca/. You can also visit their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/visitablehousingcanada.
As a resident of Ontario, I would like to share my concerns about our government's continued exemption of houses from any form of accessibility regulation. The Ontario Building Code has a section that deals with barrier-free design (section 3.8) but it begins this section by identifying which areas are exempt, which includes homes. The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, which has the goal of an accessible Ontario by January 1, 2025, also exempts houses because they are focusing the legislation on the Design of Public Spaces. Whether it be the Ontario Building Code or the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, the public needs to realize that there already is a significant shortage of housing options for individuals with mobility challenges, and this will only get a worse as we deal with the aging of our baby boomers (between 2011 and 2031), which number in the millions (9.6 million in Canada according to Statistics Canada). I think it's time that we all realize that current construction techniques create barriers instead of removing them, and this needs to change. VisitAbility is one of those options which would offer an inclusive approach to the design and building of new homes, and it would also fulfill our obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which Canada signed in 2010. It would also support Ontario's promotion of aging at home, which is being funded with hundreds of millions of dollars per year (330 million in 2010).
I don't want to imply that there are no options, because there are. The CoOperative Housing sector has been offering barrier-free apartments and townhomes for decades; some affordable housing is either VisitAble or barrier-free (Ottawa is an example); some custom homes have these features; and since 2006, new apartment buildings in Ontario have been required to offer some VisitAble and barrier-free units. But more needs to be done. And this is why I'm promoting VisitAbility in new housing, as a minimum, in order to address our current housing concerns. Ample research has been done to prove the merit and cost-effectiveness of VisitAbility, and it's quite popular in States like Illinois, Georgia, Arizona and Texas and it's now gaining momentum in Winnipeg. My hope is that developers and builders catch up with what's already happening in order to offer more options than currently exist. There needs to be a cultural shift away from thinking that universal design and/or barrier-free design are only for people with disabilities and move toward thinking that realizes that it benefits everyone: parents with young children, moving and delivery companies, emergency services, and our ability to welcome anyone into our homes, as examples.
If anyone is interested in the topic of aging in place, please have a look at my Facebook page, which I feel should offer information: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Accessibility-and-Aging-at-Home/551546931542954. I could talk about this topic for hours so I'll direct you to my Facebook page as an introduction to this topic that I'm very passionate about; there are a number of albums that will substantiate my statements in this blog.
It's about being proactive about our current and future needs, in order to avoid stress and cost over-runs when a crisis happens. I've seen the devastation of poor planning and my hope is that others can avoid it.
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