Wheelchair access Archives - Nova Scotia Advocate

Open letter: The dangers of Halifax’ signalized intersections for the elderly and people with disabilities

July 28, 2020 1 Comment

Martyn Williams writes a letter to city staff and councillors to plea for safer intersections for old people and people who live with disabilities. “This is not an issue where engineers may balance the cost to vulnerable road user lives against the benefit gained to traffic flow. It is a human rights issue that requires urgent action and intervention by leadership through appropriate policy.”

Letter to the NS Human Rights Commissioners on a failure to enforce the accessible washrooms decision

June 19, 2020 0 Comment

Warren (Gus) Reed: My present complaint against the Human Rights Commission and the ministries of health, environment and justice goes to the heart of government indifference to the needs of people with disabilities. Being disabled in Nova Scotia is no cakewalk. There is discrimination at every turn. Employment, health, income, education, transportation – you name it – people with disabilities face discrimination.

Sidewalk closures must address the needs and abilities of all pedestrians

May 25, 2020 0 Comment

A 3-year construction-related closure of a Robie Street sidewalk will require either a long detour along Agricola, a very dangerous unmarked crosswalk crossing of Robie, or a one-kilometre detour along signalized crosswalks. That’s too hard for many people who are older or who live with disabilities, writes Martyn Williams.

Warren (Gus) Reed: Inclusion and the NS Human Rights Commission

April 20, 2020 0 Comment

Warren (Gus) Reed: “I’m gonna go ‘way out on a limb here and venture to say that none of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commissioners is a person with a transformative disability. The odds are in my favor. Very few people with disabilities are appointed to Nova Scotia’s 135 Agencies, Boards and Commissions (ABCs).”

Warren (Gus) Reed: The need to wash your hands before it became all the fashion

April 3, 2020 0 Comment

Warren (Gus) Reed; “I wonder when Strang got hand washing religion. Four years ago, wheelchair users asked Strang to weigh in on enforcement of the province’s food safety regulation requiring “washroom facilities for staff and washroom facilities for the public available in a convenient location” in restaurants. He was indifferent:”

Warren (Gus) Reed: Waiting 14 months and counting for the simple right to wash my hands

November 27, 2019 0 Comment

Warren (Gus) Reed is still waiting for the province to follow up on the September 2018 NS Human Rights Decision that restaurants must provide wheelchair access to washrooms. A recent case of Norovirus while traveling in the US made the risks wheelchair users are exposed to all the more real.

Warren (Gus) Reed: Hey Environment Minister! It’s about my health, just do your job!

August 12, 2019 0 Comment

Accessibility advocate Warren (Gus) Reed on the importance of not giving up when bureaucrats and politicians feed you a steady diet red herrings.

Restorative injustice: Still waiting for accessible restaurant washrooms one year after human rights decision

July 31, 2019 0 Comment

In a decision issued a year ago a Nova Scotia Human Right Board of Inquiry ordered the Department of the Environment in no uncertain terms to enforce food safety regulations that make it mandatory for restaurants to provide wheelchair-accessible washrooms. Almost a year later plaintiffs are still waiting for actual changes.

Letter to Minister Furey on accessible washrooms in restaurants

February 18, 2019 0 Comment

Gus Reed is not happy about government inaction after the Human Rights Commission decision that Environment must enforce the requirement that restaurants provide accessible washrooms.

Not so accessible democracy: On physical barriers at City Hall and Province House

January 31, 2019 1 Comment

Paul Vienneau is getting tired off using back doors at City Hall and Province House. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and make a statement I haven’t heard anyone make before: The front entrances of Halifax City Hall and of the Legislature should be modified to include ramps,” he writes.