The Seated View

“ "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. " — Margaret Mead Do you live in Ontario? Then we need your help! A few months ago, I became involved in t he Older Women's Network's "Living in Place" campaign . It’s calling for the Ontario Building Code to be changed to require that ALL new residential buildings be 100% universal design or easily adaptable, so that anyone of any age or ability can live there.  Toronto City Council has endorsed this campaign. How does this affect you? As I wrote in my post about the day Living in Place went to Queens Park , disability increases as we age. In fact, as former Lt. Gov. David Onley once said, disability is the only minority group that anyone can join at any time. But accessibility isn’t just important because of how your body might change, either temporarily or permanently. It also affects your social l...

How’s that for a click-bait title? As I was having my breakfast this morning, I read an article in the Toronto Star called Moving from Religious Accommodation to Religious Acceptance . The topic itself is something that interests me, and I thought there might also be some good points that I could use for a post about moving from disability accommodation to acceptance. And then steam started coming out my ears. The article is about anti-Muslim paranoia and its prevalence in Canadian society. The writer makes the point that in order to move past the fear and negative stereotypes that exists in connection to Islam and Muslims, we must “rehabilitate people who probably do not have many personal relationships with Muslims” and engage in “ongoing dialogic work directly with racists, bigots and Islamophobes.” All right, so I’ll give them that. I don’t think the point is made very well that they are talking exclusively about people who have an irrational fear of Islam ...

Earlier this week, I attended a mayoral debate on disability issues. For those not familiar with the Toronto political scene, we have a municipal election coming up in about a month and the candidates have been debating up a storm. The main contenders for mayor are John Tory , Olivia Chow , and Doug Ford ( taking the place of his brother, Rob Ford ). Doug was a no-show on Monday, which was no surprise considering his past statements about people with disabilities . Or maybe this particular part of his constituency just isn’t important to him. Which is a mistake. Given the under-and unemployment of people with disabilities, these are people who have a lot of time to sit around and think. And talk to others. Making a good impression here could make a difference. Not that I’m opinionated or anything.  The debate was moderated by Helen Henderson , freelance journalist and writer on disability issues.    There were ASL interpreters, deaf intervenors, augm...