Marcia Carroll, PEI Council of the Disabled OKs removing disabled parking
By Stephen Pate – The CEO of PEI Council of the Disabled not representing people with disabilities
The letter in the Guardian from Marcia Carroll, the executive director of the PEI Council of People with Disabilities, is misinformed to the extent it sanctions the discriminatory behaviour of UPEI towards persons with disabilities. Accessible parking means adjacent to where the person with the disability needs to go, not 75 meters or more away.
The fact that someone has a mobility disability means they have trouble walking and need to reduce walking as much as possible. The order of a UPEI Committee does not make it acceptable to push those with disabilities off campus.
Fancy words won’t help a person with a mobility disability get from the outer parking lot in the rain, snow or ice by foot, cane, walker or wheelchair. I would like to see those officials and officials of the Council try one winter on UPEI campus in a wheelchair. I suggest they would change their tune.
It’s unconscionable that officials have no empathy for people with disabilities, let alone appreciation for modern concepts of accessibility and accommodation.
It is not relevant if the parking spaces were for staff or students. Any person with a disability deserves the same treatment. As to the Main Building, there were more parking spots there in the past; however, management took them away, over the protest at the time of several students.
The definition of designated parking at 75 meters is an ancient rule that does not fit in today’s world of disability.
In California, one merely has to have a doctor certify they have a permanent disability or condition like heart disease and they can get a permit. This gives them access to the University of California system of campus.
Of course, in the United States designated parking spots are sacrosanct, unlike on PEI where they are taken away at the whim of a bureaucrat.
Closer to home in Ontario, permits are issued when a person “cannot walk without a brace, cane, crutch, a lower limb prosthetic device or similar assistive device or who requires the assistance of a wheelchair or is severely limited in the ability to walk due to an arthritic, neurological, musculoskeletal or orthopedic condition.”
There is no 70 meter rule. And they don’t put the parking spots 70 meters from the building if they can help it.
If one wants to see enlightened attitudes about disability parking, look at the shopping malls. Wal-Mart, Home Depot, SuperStore, Future Shop – all of the chains put the accessible parking right next to the door.
The Council is wrong. Ms. Carroll should get in touch with modern accessible parking policies and stop agreeing with people who abuse Islanders with disabilities.
The more they come off as apologists for the establishment, the less the Council represents Islanders with disabilities.
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