Gwynne Dyer parking was too far away

Plans fell apart when UPEI’s inaccessible parking met my fatigue

I wanted to hear Gwynne Dyer last night lecturing at the AVC building on UPEI campus but I was simply too tired to walk or wheelchair the long distance from the parking lot.

The Atlantic Vet College building is one of the buildings that is more than double the legal distance from the optimistically painted “wheelchair parking.”

The legal limit is 50 meters from the parking to the door. The AVC building is 103 meters.

Most people intuitively understand that people with walking or other disabilities need to be close to the building.

The National Building Code, which is also the law in Charlottetown, stipulates that accessible parking should be as close as possible to the door but not greater than 50 meters.

Frankly, on some days 50 meters is too far to walk for many people with disabilities.

The point is not lost on retailers who want our business like WalMart, Canadian Tire and the SuperStore. 

Yesterday had been a long strenuous day when I got up at 4 AM to prepare a legal filing and didn’t have my usual rest period at 2 pm.

After filing my papers I did get to sleep around 4:30 PM and woke after 6. There was still time to get to UPEI but not the energy to make the trek 103 meters to the lecture and back.

My problem and the problem of every student with a disability who tries to attend UPEI. Students have to move from building to building throughout the day covering distances as high as 300 meters.

The UPEI “fair” solution of moving the disability parking to the perimeter is simply not usable for those living with disabilities.  They haven’t got the energy and neither do I.

CTV coverage of UPEI parking disability parking problem

The prospective student’s choice is to move off Island and go to an accessible campus. Or they could not get an education and live off the taxpayers for the rest of their lives. That seems fair, eh?

UPEI has resisted all efforts to obey the law. Under Wade MacLaughlan’s presidency this will not change. One hopes the new president will be more attuned to the law and disability issues.

The City of Charlottetown is to blame here because they refuse to enforce their own by-laws. Mayor Clifford Lee is a closet bigot and espouses hypocritical support for an accessible city. If you bring up the issues of accessible parking, he will spout platitudes but do nothing.

UPEI has spent tens of millions on new buildings and major renovations while City Planning turns a blind eye to making them meet the 50 meter law for accessible parking.