For Murray Barker, his wheels are his legs.
For Murray Barker, his wheels are his legs.
After a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis left him wheelchair bound in 2002, he has been dependent on his family, the city's public transit and wheelchair friendly roadways and trails to get him from point A to point B.
“I get around St. Albert pretty good and it's getting better all the time. There is still a long way to go, but it all comes down to dollars and cents,” says Barker.
Back in 2004, Barker gave St. Albert a passing grade for wheelchair access, but a lot has changed since then, he recognizes.
The city has become much more accessible, but there are still trouble spots.
Intersections
Curbs are always a problem, says Barker.
The main issue the mobility-impaired face on roadways is a lack of lowered curbs, which ease the steep drop between the sidewalk and the road.
Ice, snow and windrows – that oftentimes block the lowered curb when streets are plowed – make roads in the winter especially difficult to navigate for wheelchair users or pedestrians.
The city, as well as several private businesses have replaced sidewalks and intersections with lowered curbs, notes Barker, but sometimes they miss the mark.
During an interview with the Gazette, Barker flips through countless photographs on his iPad of places in St. Albert that illustrate accessibility as an afterthought.
A lowered curb is constructed in front of a storefront for instance, but a parking bumper blocks any way for a wheelchair user to use it. The sidewalk in front of a business becomes blocked entirely when the front door opens, so patrons have to step off the walkway or wheel around to the other side of the door if they want to get in.
A flowerpot placed in front of the pedestrian walk signal button at a marked crosswalk makes the button out of reach for those with mobility issues. And the list goes on …
Barker wishes city departments would further consult with people with disabilities, because accessibility design guidelines don't always translate to complete barrier-free usability.
"You don't realize until you actually have to do it," says Barker, recounting a trip to Starbucks that required him to wheel along a couple of extra blocks because no sidewalks led up to the establishment. The street is just too risky to travel along in his wheelchair.
"I was able-bodied all my life and I never paid that much attention to it."
Making the city more accessible for pedestrians and the disabled is one of the main objectives of the new transportation master plan that will be rolled out by 2016.
The recent installation of protected left-hand turns at intersections along St. Albert Trail and several side streets has taken pedestrian safety into account, says Dean Schick, the city's transportation manager.
Traffic signals have been re-timed to accommodate protected left-turns and increased pedestrian walk times. The city now bases timings on a walk speed of 0.9 m/s, compared to the Canadian standard of 1.2 m/s, giving "vulnerable road users" more time to cross the road, explains Schick.
The city is also working on implementing more "advanced pedestrian movements" – where traffic will be stopped in all directions – in areas where there are higher pedestrian volumes. This will allow for greater pedestrian visibility and a couple of extra seconds for them to clear the roadway.
Shopping centres
Having a disability has limited where Evelyn Presisniuk can shop.
The retired school teacher has been living with multiple sclerosis for more than 30 years. She still has use of the right side of her body, but her left side "is like trying to drag around a log made from cement," she describes.
Presisniuk enjoys shopping at the Hudson's Bay Company at St. Albert Centre, but requires a shopping cart for stability, and to store her purchases.
"I like nice clothing, but the places that have nice clothing are limited to those who are mobile. I would love to shop there, but I can't," she says.
The Bay phased out their shopping carts several years ago and does not allow patrons to bring in carts from other stores in the mall. Since she is still mobile, Presisniuk does not wish to use a walker or wheelchair. She wants to maintain her independence.
"She feels not only that she is disabled, but also unable to look fashionable," says Presisniuk's daughter, Mallory Razin. "When she goes shopping there, she is absolutely reminded that there is something wrong with her."
Razin says accessibility in stores is not just limited to the disabled.
"I have a three-year-old and I can only purchase what I can physically carry in one arm. It's not just people with disabilities, it's people with kids too."
Shopping malls receive a lot of business from wheelchair users, notes Barker, but they are notoriously deficient as barrier-free environments.
Private property owners need to take more of an interest in making their businesses accessible, he says.
One of the city's businesses that Murray and Presisniuk both applaud for handicap accessibility is The Enjoy Centre. They note the wide handicap spaces on both levels of the parking lot, entrance ramps, elevator and wide aisles inside, make getting around a lot easier.
Accessibility was of high importance during the design of The Enjoy Centre, said owner Jim Hole.
"If you're building a facility and the people you're working with aren't bringing those issues up – that is a fundamental problem."
Transportation
Barker takes public transit over to the Steadward Centre at the University of Alberta for exercise therapy three times a week.
He says he has nothing but high praises for St. Albert Transit.
The city's entire fleet is now low floor buses. Last November, the city also expanded the handibus service to 12 locations in Edmonton. The replacement of 31 bus stop pads around the city to improve safety and access is earmarked for completion by September.
"Transit service has greatly improved," says Paul Fujishige, executive director of Transitions. "But it could never be as convenient as a car."
Part of the problem with making St. Albert more accessible is that the city is not designed for pedestrians or the disabled, he explains.
"As a society we continue to focus on the automobile as our means of transportation. If people had less reliance of their cars, there could be more improvements to the (transit) system including those for lower income and those with mobility," says Fujishige.
Improvements could mean more routes that are serviced more frequently, he adds.
Our vehicle-driven society is a consequence of something bigger that St. Albert, says Fujishige, and that is urban sprawl.
"If you're in a wheelchair or you're having problems getting around, you need access to a vehicle. How do people access what they need in an ever-expanding circle of support?"
