Old News Redux

PC MLA ordered to comply with accessibility rules by June 20

Dear Ms. Paon,

How is it that a duly elected representative could be so ignorant of democracy? A team effort made accessibility a requirement in 2013 and you're flouting the law.  While you've been busy claiming reimbursement for your illegal constituency office, voters with disabilities have been treated with contempt. Your ludicrous defense:

•  "Paon said no one has ever told her or her staff they could not get into the building because of the gravel space. We've received absolutely no complaints, we have a high percentage of seniors in my constituency and my brother is a paraplegic, so I'm very cognizant of accessibility issues." - Jean LaRoche, CBC

is so tiresome and condescending that it is almost beneath a response.

• The biggest Catch-22 for wheelchair users is that they are often prevented from having a voice simply because they can't get in to complain.  "I can't hear you, shouting out there in the parking lot."  Maybe that explains why you have discriminated in employment as well.
• And of course your paraplegic brother makes you a world-class authority on disability.  When your brother is a paraplegic, you should know better.

Time to get with the program.  People with disabilities make excellent employees.  They are loyal voters.  Not facts a politician can afford to ignore.

Gus Reed

The Parallax View

par·al·lax

n.
A change in the apparent position of an object relative to more distant objects, caused by a change in the observer's line of sight towards the object.

I've been very critical of The Federal Government's foot dragging on a range of issues facing people with disabilities.  So I was nearly blown away by yesterday's list of cabinet appointments.  The idea that there is now a Ministry of Sport and Persons with Disabilities is a very good sign and should be the new beginning we have sought for so long.

The long list of cabinet members shows a willingness to rethink government that well might restore Canada's reputation for fairness and equality.  We will all be watching carefully (and critically), but change is in the air and we're hopeful.

The name 'Sport and Persons with Disabilities' reflects a basic tension.  I like the association and feel strongly that sport has provided one of the few opportunities for excellence.  But therein lies the heart of the issue - are limitations inherent or caused by arbitrary barriers?  Should government be thinking about my disability or the barriers that cause it?  So 'Sport and Access' or 'Sport and Equality' would have been more to my liking, but a distinction without a difference for most people.

In any case, the full realization of equality will take the participation of many ministries - Labour, Justice, Transport, Health, and others.

Carla Qualtrough, the new minister, surely gets it.  I'm not a big fan of BC's accessibility efforts - accessibility is a matter of right, not subject to negotiation - and their timeline is ridiculously long. But Qualtrough has the right credentials and if Trudeau follows through on his promises, the stage is set.

Trudeau's answer to the question "Why gender balance in cabinet?", "Because it's 2015" says it all in seven syllables.

Canada has compared badly with the US in the area of disability rights, but now that we've got:

• A Sikh Minister of Defense
• A  First Canadian Justice Minister 
• A  gay President of Treasury Board
• A Sikh Minister of Economic development
• An astronaut(!) Transport Minister
• A wheelchair-using Minister of Veteran's Affairs
• An Afghan-born Minister of Democratic Institutions
• A scientist Minister of Science
• A Paralympian Minister of Sport and Disability
• A thing called the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change
• And other breathtaking choices

we've shown the world what Canada is and wants to be.  Expectations are high.

Out-of-touch and proud of it

In response to our recent survey on Constitueny Office accessibility, we received a response so breathtakingly condescending and ignorant that it deserves special attention.  People with disabilities are used to patronizing attitudes, but not from government officials.  This person is a Constituency Assistant, paid by the people he or she she disparages.  And this person should be fired, but you will not learn their name here.

His or her remarks in blue, my response in red.

It was good to chat with you and I wish you the best on your project for the Society.

While our office is quite willing to participate. Based on what you recorded it does not put things in perspective and misleads.

- Gravel parking area with no designated wheelchair parking spots

Wheel chair movement in the area at the office-front is easy. It is not loose gravel but more of a packed“crusher-dust”. We have been here for almost 7 years and it is a non issue. Therefore I will state there is plenty of wheelchair parking in front of our door.   Your statement above does not describe the area accurately when it comes to designated parking spots or condition of the base in front of our office. You lead people to believe that this is a negative to those with impairment. It is not. 

Parking

Wheelchairs are not good on gravel, mostly for lack of traction, and even worse on crusher dust, mostly for its tendency to turn soupy in inclement weather.  Asphalt or cement pavement is really the only satisfactory solution for reliable traction and for the purpose of staying relatively clean.  People who are attending a business meeting have a reasonable expectation of cleanliness, and I expect your MLA might be unenthusiastic about shaking my chalky, clay covered hand.  When I return home, my partner is always after me about tracking in residue from my daily appointments, and common courtesy would mandate that your dirt not mess up my clean house.  

Most wheelchair users require some sort of extra wide parking to deploy a ramp or at least to position their wheelchair next to an open door.  This is why 'van accessible' spaces have room for a regular car and those diagonally striped areas beside, often leading directly to a curb cut.  These areas are not for the convenience of motorcyclists, although you might be excused for thinking so based on casual observation.  If you do not have designated accessible spaces, of course spaces near your office door would be occupied first by people whose need is less. 

Businesses with extensive gravel lots sometimes just pave a few spaces and designate them as accessible.

You conclude your section on parking by saying "You lead people to believe that this is a negative to those with impairment. It is not"  Let me be perfectly clear.  No one here is impaired.  Banish that word from your vocabulary.  We are talking about ways for citizens, taxpayers and voters to interact with the government that is elected to represent them.  Please keep your prejudices to yourself.

- No automatic door operator on the front door
 
Our automatic door is a human being.  It is the best solution of all and does not increase the carbon footprint. Our front-desk is  three-t0-five feet from the door and great visibility of the door and parking area.  You make the lack of an automatic door a negative. It is not…nor would an automatic door improve accessibility. So…yes we have an automatic door because we are always there to open it!

The Door Button

After 20 years of wheelchair use I have become pretty adept at doors, even heavy ones.  Getting through a tricky door is like dekeing a goalie - a complicated maneuver with multiple feedbacks.  As you say, you have a polite person at your front desk who will unfailingly leap to open the door.  Perhaps your human is better at this than most and always at their post.  Yet people with disabilities value their autonomy as much as anyone else and prefer to participate without having to ask for help.  

That aside, the button is a symbol, a bit of advertising that a person using a wheelchair (or pushing a stroller, or carrying a package) is welcome.  Low-power door openers use 2 amps, which at 120 volts is 240 watts.  To reduce your carbon footprint, you might choose to work in the dark, but it seems unkind to begrudge a few seconds use of the equivalent of four 60-watt bulbs.  Your neighbourhood supermarket has even more elaborate automatic doorways on their premises, and they know how to make customers feel welcome.  Are constituents customers, or merely carbon dioxide generating inconveniences?
-
 Level entrance into the office

It is not perfect but one of the best in this Town.  Several occupants of wheelchairs have had no issue with the entrance.

Level Entrance

We credited you with a level entrance.  I see from Google Street view that your office has a half door.  Your receptionist would need to be vigilant indeed to see my 48" person above the bottom of the window.  There is a post located very inconveniently for wheelchair passage.  The geometry of wheelchairs dictates that obstacles, even small ones, be taken at right angles.  They simply will not go over a threshold at an angle, where one caster is up and one is down.  So a person using your door would need to position themselves orthogonally, allowing for a little momentum to get over what appears to be a small lip.  That would require a minimum 36" straight shot.

- A washroom that wouldn't be considered wheelchair accessible

Yes this is true. However we have done our best to acquire this leased space in the town and paraplegics have been able to use it despite the size.

Washroom

Is it a civil right to be able to pee while at a meeting with your MLA, or just a courtesy?  Either way, it can be a matter of urgency.  For most wheelchair users, the issue is safety.  Those grab bars aren't just spiffy towel racks and the 17" toilet isn't just taller for show.  Using properly placed grab bars, an adept person can make the transfer unassisted.  A wheel under sink allows a person to wash hands soon to be used in shaking with their MLA or CA. Hygiene is the expectation.

I have the option to sue you when I fall in your inadequate washroom, and I would expect to win a settlement that would make you pay attention.  The larger issue, of course, is employment discrimination.  Have you ever had a wheelchair user apply for a job?  Perhaps you might if you had modern facilities.  Another lawsuit I would surely win.  

PUBLIC TRANSIT QUESTION

... your question does not apply in our rural setting as there are no public transit routes period.

Public Transit

For the reasons you state, we do not factor availability of public transit into the final score.  It is simply for the information of readers.
   
If you are using the info I gave you in the manner of your previous email, it does not apply and does reflect the reality. Therefore unless you provide more detail I do not think we want to participate in your survey.

Conclusion

I can only imagine the irritations that come with operating a rural constituency office. Perhaps we hit you on a bad day. Whatever the reason, your response was both condescending and ill-informed. That citizens who use wheelchairs can not access, let alone work in, the offices of their elected members on an equal basis with other Nova Scotians is a disgrace, especially when the opportunities to improve this deplorable situation are inexpensive, easy, well documented, and require only a little will.  Frankly, I am baffled that you defend the indefensible.  When the alternative is to perpetuate barriers or to remove them, it seems to me that there is only one choice.

For now, I am inclined to say that our score for your office - 1 out of 6 - is generous.

Gus Reed
The James McGregor Stewart Society

Constituency Office Survey

Updated and Complete June 11.

Our excellent summer intern, Kelly McKenna, called or emailed all 52 constituency offices and reached 51*.  This is the result. We asked 5 simple questions and scored as follows:

Parking

• 0 for gravel or none
• 1 for paved 
• 2 for paved & designated accessible

Power door Button

• 0 no 
• 1 yes

Entrance

• 0 step or stair
• .5 for portable or questionable ramp 
• 1 for level, ramp, elevator

Transportation

• 0 for not on accessible bus route
• 1 for on accessible bus route

Washroom

• 0 for none
• 1 for big enough for a wheelchair
• 2 for accessible (grab bars, wheel-under sink)

Added together, the scores give a general measure of accessibility.  Our scoring is generous and reflects what the occupant said.  We double-checked results with a confirmatory email and received 35 responses, all in agreement.

Because access to public transportation is largely beyond the control of the MLA, we have left the transportation score out of the calculation.  Thus  the maximum score is 6 and MLAs in the rural parts of Nova Scotia are not penalized.

The mean score of 51 offices is 3.2.

The mean score of members of the House of Assembly Management Commission, which makes the rules bout MLA expense allowances is 2.7. Two of them scored zero.  They recently punted on a chance to change the rules to mandate accessibility

The distribution of scores is:


The distribution of improvements is:

Many offices have ramps or level entrances, but few have commonly accepted features like accessible washrooms, designated parking or low-power doors.

Here is a map showing results.  Click a balloon for details.  A blue balloon (score -1) represents those who have not responded to an email or who just haven't answered the phone.  As you can see, the rural ridings don't fare so badly....


*Cape Breton South is vacant
Rent:
Our 51 respondents paid an average rent of $936.33 in March.  Here is a chart comparing rental cost with accessibility:


You can argue that, on average, the most accessible offices have the highest rent.  On the other hand, the average difference between offices with the lowest score (0) and the highest (6) is $228 - just $50 more than we guesstimated in a previous post.

Gus Reed

Disclaimer:  Good reader, please forgive any errors or omissions.  I believe the data to be entirely correct, but I am transcribing by hand some information that the province makes hard to gather.  As you might guess, we are trying to do in a few weeks what the Disabled Persons Commission and the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission have failed to do in many years....

email me with concerns.

The price of democracy: $177.25/mo

Yesterday, the House of Assembly Management Committee, which sets the rules for MLA expenses, passed up an opportunity to affirm democratic rights for up to 28,000* Nova Scotians who use wheelchairs.  

The HAMC was presented with a plan for requiring constituency offices to meet the barrier-free standards of the province's own building code.  Timed to coincide with the upcoming election and the expected large turnover, the proposal also made the case for renovating existing offices, with landlords recapturing the costs in increased rent.

Alas, the price of democracy was too high for the HAMC, which decided further study was needed.

Chris d'Entremont, Progressive Conservative MLA for Argyle, says he has been searching for accessible office space for 10 years.  He pays $1,182.44 a month to rent his constituency office, which has a gravel driveway, a step at the entrance and no accessible washroom.  Becky Kent, Cole Harbour/Eastern Passage pays $1,130.44 for slightly more accessible space.

In ten years, that totals $141,892.80 transferred from the taxpayer to Vaughne Holdings, d'Entremont's landlord.  A tidy and reliable income.

Assuming $69.99 for a portable ramp is too much of an expense for d'Entremont, let's do a hypothetical.  I don't have a picture, but let's figure he has 3 steps for a total of 20 inches.  That would require a 20 foot ramp.  Here's a spiffy one for $1682.00 US.

For an accessible bathroom renovation Fixr.com reports:

• To do a bathroom "update" which replaces the tub, toilet, vanity, and flooring would cost approximately $9,020. 
• This pricing structure assumes that carpenters charge an average of $70 per hour, electricians between $65 to $85 per hour, and plumbers between $45 and $65 per hour.  (Hmmm)

d'Entremont doesn't need the bathtub, but we'll let him have it.  36" doors are a must.  One outside door, and one inside for the washroom.  This handy guide says they can be done for under $1000 each.  

2" asphalt paving is $1.80/sq ft.  Guessing the driveway is 100' long and 15' wide, that's $2700.

So the total cost of democracy is $15,402.  At a usurious 6.8% a ten year loan will run $177.25 a month, with cumulative payment of $21.269.44

Who should bear that expense?  The landlord?  So Vaughne Holdings would get $120,622.56, some writeoffs, an accessible space, and a 10 year tenant.  They'd be dumb not to do it.

The taxpayer?  In the last six months we paid d'Entremont's cell phone bill, averaging $229.16, most of which immediately leaves the province.  The $177.25 would mostly stay in Tusket and serve the good people there.  Taxpayers can afford it, landlords can afford it - just make a rule, willya?

By the way, since d'Entremont lives so far away, he gets $1285/mo to rent an apartment at Garrison Watch.  We taxpayers pay for that because we want him to do a good job representing his constituents.  You'd think it might be worth a tenth that amount to get to know all his constituents.

Chris!  We're generous to you, be generous to us.

Gus Reed

*based on a 2006 survey by Statistics Canada

Disabled not welcome in Constituency Offices

Constituency Matters do matter

The regulations of the Legislature Internal Economy Board pursuant to
the House of Assembly Act set out the expenses Nova Scotia MLAs can be reimbursed for maintaining an office in their riding and other constituency matters as follows

Admittedly, this is not a lavish sum. A secretary or administrator would cost $1,500 maybe, the rent on the office in the stripmall another $1500. Heat, light, stamps, copying – it adds up.

There are no strings to this allowance, so MLAs are free to have offices wherever they want.

We surveyed the 52 Constituency Offices maintained by MLAs. We visited a few, but most were telephoned. We were polite, and on the whole, respondents were polite. It is fair to say that the idea of accessibility does not figure prominently in the choice of location.

We asked about 6 categories of accessibility

• Parking
• Barrier Free approach
• Doors and entrance – power doors or doors with a 2kg opening force
• Washrooms
• Information – Braille, visible alarms, etc.
• Meeting Space

Each category got a “1” if present in any way, and a “0” if absent.
We were generous.
The ratings were totaled for each office
38 surveys were completed by phone or visit – 73%

This chart shows the frequency of accessible services

• So most offices represented that meeting rooms were accessible, although we did not press this question in detail
• Few offices could meet the commonly accepted standard of door pressure
• 9 offices had accessible washrooms

This chart represents the distribution of the totals for all offices surveyed

• For example, 17 offices had 2 accessible services
• The average number of services is 2.47
• One person made the case that access wasn’t needed because the MLA made home visits, forgetting that a person with a disability might be qualified for a job at the office

It is indefensible to use taxpayer money in a way that physically excludes a large proportion of voters. Disabled employees are, as in all locations with poor accessibility, openly disqualified.

Therefore, the James McGregor Stewart Society proposes that the legislature institute a few simple requirements for constituency office accessibility:

Parking

• Paved Lot
• One van accessible space with signage

Barrier Free approach

• Curb cut
• Ramp
• Sidewalk

Doors and entrance

• Level threshold
• 1000mm width
• Sized and spaced for accessibility
• 2 kg door opening pressure or power door

Washrooms

• Raised toilet
• Accessible sink
• Sized and spaced for accessibility
• Grab bars
• Appropriate dispensers
• Installed at correct height
• Braille signs

Meeting Space and general accessibility

• Braille signs
• Sized and spaced for accessibility
• TTY access
• One computer optimized for access
• Audible and visible alarms

The government is in the enviable position of being a desirable and reliable tenant. Accessibility can be accomplished by giving landlords the list and saying “make it so”, or by shopping for suitable space.

It may cost a bit more, so we propose that the constituency allowance be increased by an appropriate amount per month, provided the MLA files a declaration of compliance. Without the declaration, none of the stipend is allowed. The new regulations are in force as of January 1, 2009.

This small effort will be a symbol of government’s commitment to meaningful access for all Nova Scotians.