Executive Director of Disability Organization makes things worse for disabled students at UPEI

The Guardian
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR July 11, 2008
Editor:

Marcia Carroll, Executive Director PEI Council of the Disabled, re-writing the National Building Code to exclude the disabled from UPEI campus

The letter in The Guardian from the executive director of the P.E.I. Council of People with Disabilities is misinformed to the extent it sanctions the discriminatory behavior of UPEI towards persons with disabilities.

Accessible parking means adjacent to where the person with the disability needs to go, not 70 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.

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.

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 P.E.I. 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-metre 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. All of the chains put the accessible parking right next to the door.

Stephen Pate,

P.E.I. Disability Alert