The Town of Altona has updated its Accessibility Plan for the coming year, and much of the focus will be on information, communication, and signage.
Accessibility officer Sarah Cail said over the last number of years the town has increased accessibility on several fronts, including training staff to reduce attitudinal barriers.
“We’ve broadened our scope of what accessibility means. Accessibility is required under Manitoba legislation. We’ve had an accessibility plan since 2013 and has been updated every couple of years since then. Within this year’s plan we’re highlighting our achievements under the legislation that are based on standards that have come up so far, and how we intend to meet the next standards.”
Accessible customer service is one of the things that have been highlighted by the Equal Access Altona committee.
“This committee includes people from the community who experience disabilities or support people who experience disabilities, as well as members of our own team internally, so that we can really take a holistic approach in making the town more accessible for everyone.”
Cail said, “Our staff are all fully trained in accessible customer service. There is some training we used to do in-house but is now provided by the Accessibility for Manitobans website. We make sure our staff are trained in that to ensure they’re aware of how to offer service in different ways to accommodate different individuals who are looking for assistance.”
The town website was also redesigned with accessibility as a major focus.
“Our previous website was not very accessible in general via mobile and other tools as well,” noted Cail. “Now it’s up to date so that we’ll be well prepared to be meeting our requirements for accessible communication.”
After the Walk and Roll events of recent years, many physical obstacles around the community have been addressed, including the installation of three crosswalks, with the most recent located on 10th Avenue Northwest connecting the large residential development in that corner to the park and the pathway network.
These improvements reflected feedback from the community, Cail noted.
“These exercises enabled a wide cross-section of community members to gain a new perspective on accessibility to amenities around town.”
This summer’s Walk and Roll focused on the community’s recreation areas. One of the most obvious issues that came to light was a lack of truly accessible washroom facilities in the park.
Cail said that addressing that issue may look like one accessible washroom being established so that instead of improving every single washroom, they can make sure that there is one that is truly accessible.
“Something we need to remember is when something becomes more accessible to someone who is experiencing a barrier, it becomes more accessible to everyone. The whole community benefits from these improvements.”
But accessibility involves more than removing physical barriers. Providing accessible services is also vital, she says.
“We have some guidelines from the province, and we have some training internally to work on that. Thankfully, we have a lot of guidance from members of the community who experience disabilities or those who work with those who experience disabilities.”
Cail says that type of guidance is a core part of their committee, helping them make informed decisions about improving access for everyone.
Many of the town’s new accessibility goals will focus on communication.
“We’ve done a lot of work on employment and on customer service and now we’re doing a lot of work on the way we communicate information. Things around websites, online access, how we share documents, how we share information and what our processes look like internally and things like that. Signage will also be a major focus for the next two years.”
Mayor Harv Schroeder notes that we often look past accessibility for people who struggle with even basic things such as entering a bathroom or getting onto a sidewalk.
“I was part of the Walk and Roll last summer, and I think until you actually do something like that, you take things for granted very quickly. I wore a welding helmet and used a cane to find my way around the local recreational facilities. I could see a bit, as someone who is visually impaired, but I realized how tough it can be. So, I think anytime we do a project in town, we want to make sure we can make this as accessible as possible to everybody. This committee has pointed out many areas, where we just look past it.”
This not only includes physical barriers, he says, but also access to information.
“Even the new crosswalk on 10th Ave., is verbal. One of the best things the committee has is people who deal with obstacles every day. We have learned that we can do better, and I think that is our key information because they’re living it, every day.”
