The Seated View

We have an accessible housing crisis. This will get worse as the population ages — not in some far-off future, but rather immediately so when the silver tsunami hits in a few years. Despite this, developers exclude accessibility in their design, continuing to build barriers to people with disabilities. This exclusion is in violation of human rights law. Quite a mouthful, isn’t it? I recently was involved in a fantastic advocacy campaign at Queen’s Park (the Ontario provincial legislature) and more that moment. First, a bit of background John the accessible housing crisis. Building Code basics The Ontario Building Code requires a minimum of accessibility in common areas, such as turning radiuses, an automatic door opener on the front door, and a few others. Unfortunately, the standards are based on a fairly compact manual chair, not on the larger chairs and powered mobility aids that are more common now. The 2012 version of the Code finally included more than ...

There are days where you hardly notice you have a chronic illness or disability. You move through your day effortlessly a, whatever accommodations you’ve made are by now second nature and hence unnoticeable. Wherever you go, people are helpful, removing barriers to make sure you are included Last Saturday was the opposite of one such day. Insurance Battles I’d submitted a claim to my private insurance company for hospital cash for last year’s medical adventure. Trying to limit the amount of back and forth, I first checked what supporting documentation was needed. Oh, the agent said, just a letter from the hospital confirming admission and discharge date. I got this ($30 fee) and sent it in. Nope, not enough. They also wanted to know how many days I’s spent in a private or semiprivate room (they don’t pay for this). New letter, another $30. No again. Now they wanted a letter from my doctor with the diagnosis that led to the admission. To ensure (I assume) i...