Where’s the outrage over people at risk?

The Guardian
Editor:

On July 3, 2007 I wrote the mayor of Charlottetown, Coun. Stu MacFayden and other city officials about public safety concerns surrounding the Festival of Lights. People in wheelchairs and others with disabilities are at a direct risk, which is why many of them don’t attend such events.

This story was carried in The Guardian and on the Disability Alert Blog. Not one word of response from anyone has been received; not from the mayor nor the fire department.

In the same week the CBC and The Guardian reported that a man in a wheelchair was left behind after a fire alarm sounded at the Atlantic Technology Centre. The man was left for 10 minutes as the building evacuated. The plan to evacuate persons with disabilities was not working.

The fire department was most unhelpful, saying that this man should have his own fire escape plan when visiting buildings in a wheelchair. An official went on to say that people with disabilities should, when entering buildings, alert someone of their presence.

The suggestion speaks to an obvious bias against people living with disabilities. Building owners and tenants are responsible for such plans. There is no building receptionist at the Shaw, Sullivan and Jones Buildings, nor is there one at the National Bank Tower or the BDC Tower.

Contrast this indifference to the amount of energy that is being expended on public cursing by a rock star at the Festival of Lights. The mayor and council discuss it at a council meeting, make statements to the press full of ‘fighting words’ for the event organizer.

Is there similar indignation from the mayor, city council and other city officials that the public safety of people living with disabilities is at risk? Not a word, letter, e-mail, not even a peep.

One in seven Islanders lives with a disability or about 4,500 Charlottetown residents. They probably are less concerned with rock stars and more concerned with ‘staying alive’ Mr. Mayor.