By Madeline Baker, Times Chronicle
On June 4, British Columbians were invited by SPARC BC to celebrate the 25th annual Access Awareness Day, a time for communities to recognize local successes in the fields of accessibility and inclusion.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of Osoyoos’s Accessibility and Age Friendly Committee (AAFAC), residents have a lot to celebrate.
AAFAC co-chair Mike Stiles has long worked for the cause of accessibility with the BC Mobility Opportunities Society, Accessible Okanagan, and the Adaptive Sailing Association of BC. Stiles has used a wheelchair for 37 years and understands that his needs are not always obvious to those who do not share his disability.
“Often I’ll tell somebody about an issue and if they’re not in a chair, they’ll say ‘oh yeah’,” said Stiles. “But if that person gets injured and then they’re put in the chair, they’ll say ‘I heard you talking and I kind of understood, but I didn’t know how difficult it is.’ People don’t mean to discriminate, they just can’t understand until they walk a mile in my shoes.”
Because of this inevitable gulf of understanding, it falls to people with accessibility needs to advocate for themselves and one another in the interests of creating a community where they can all feel safe and included. This is where Osoyoos’s AAFAC shine.
One of their standout projects is the procurement of a trail rider, a wheeled seat that operates like a rickshaw with two people pushing it forward and maintaining the chair’s stability. Trail riders allow even people with no mobility to experience hikes and views that would otherwise be impossible for them to access.
“The trail rider has been up Mount Kilimanjaro. We had an individual do the West Coast Trail with it. Australia’s park system has acquired quite a few. It’s incredibly versatile and has been bought by individuals around the world,” said Stiles of the unique design.
Along with spectacular views, the lakeside beach experience is another staple of Okanagan life that many people with mobility restrictions would be unable to enjoy without AAFAC’s diligent work to uncover innovations in accessibility and bring them to Osoyoos.
The Mobi-Mat is a non-slip, stable portable pathway that can be unrolled across sand all the way into the water. This allows people in wheelchairs to bask on the beach, dip their feet in the water, or even be transferred into a floating chair for a swim.
Osoyoos’s new Mobi-Mat has been a topic of great interest and curiosity for the whole community, but some of the changes brought about by AAFAC draw less attention from anyone but the people who need them, for whom they can prove to be life-changing.
Audible crosswalk signals allow people with visual impairments to know when they are clear to cross the street, which direction has been given the signal to walk, and how much time remains in the walk signal based on when the sound ends.
They have been ubiquitous in urban centres for several decades and now, thanks to a visually impaired member of AAFAC who made it her top priority, pedestrians in Osoyoos also have this added layer of safety.
A large part of procuring accessibility aids for the community is knowing exactly what the town lacks, which is why SPARC BC provides accessibility audits for businesses and municipalities across the province. Stiles was part of the Osoyoos audit in 2013 and hopes to bring SPARC back to help AAFAC gauge how far they’ve come and where they need to go next.
“I’ve had a disability for 37 years so, you know, I’m quite aware of what needs to be addressed, so they took me through their audit process and I basically shadowed them,” Stiles explained about the 2013 audit. “We went through all the facilities and I made recommendations for their report.”
That SPARC BC report became a working document that AAFAC and council have used to maintain momentum in the process of improving accessibility throughout the town of Osoyoos. With a new report, AAFAC members will be able “to reflect on what has been done, and update it.”
Stiles sometimes feels frustrated by what he calls “the little things that shouldn’t have to be addressed over and over again” during 34 years of advocacy, such as the frequent blocking of accessible parking spots by cleared snow or lack of sidewalk repair in high-traffic areas, but he lets that frustration fuel him instead of slowing him down.
“It’s a learning process, you know? We’re chipping away, we’re making strides.”
Along with his many other committee roles, Stiles is also involved in bringing Fishing Forever, a BC Wildlife Federation event that provides a safe and accessible environment for people with disabilities to fish, to Strohman’s Pond near Osoyoos on June 11.
Information on Fishing Forever can be found at bcwf.bc.ca/fishingforever under the drop-down menu for Osoyoos, which also provides contact information for Stiles in case anyone has further questions about the event.
