Edmonton woman lobbies city for better wheelchair-user parking access

Sandy Saunders wants the city and businesses to give wheelchair users priority when it comes to using disabled parking spots. (Connor Hogg/CTV News Edmonton)

It can be difficult to find a good parking spot in the city these days, but it’s even more of a challenge for one Edmonton woman.

Sandy Saunders needs to find a spot big enough to get herself and her wheelchair out of her car.

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Saunders says finding a spot is increasingly difficult as Edmonton expands and is pushing for change.

She has been in a wheelchair for more than 45 years.

Saunders has a lot of experience getting herself around -- despite her disability -- using accessible parking stalls.

In the last few years, she’s noticed those parking spots can be at a premium, with more people needing an accessible parking placard.

“Our increase in population of persons with disabilities who require a variety of mobility aids. It may be a wheelchair, a walker, a cane, a scooter, a power wheelchair.”

If all the spots are taken, Saunders is forced to drive to the back of the parking lot and take up two stalls to have enough room to get in and out of her vehicle.

That distance can also create danger.

“The vehicles that are backing up that can’t see me,” she said. “It’s scary.”

Saunders says she’s been through some close calls navigating the lot from her height. It’s motivated her to push for the city and private businesses to switch the sign on their closest accessibility stall from its current blue placard to one reserved for wheelchair users only.

“Just to safeguard and provide that safe parking stall for persons in wheelchairs,” Saunders said.

“I won’t be around forever, but there will be others in wheelchairs. So I hope that, for them, they won’t be facing the same barriers that we’re facing today.”

Local disability advocate Zachary Weeks, who is also a wheelchair user, says he welcomes Saunders’ efforts to promote safety.

“There’s a lot of action going on in parking lots, so it’s always better to be cautious,” he told CTV News Edmonton, adding he’s not surprised the city is seeing an increase in wheelchair users given the ever-increasing population.

“We’re harder to see in parking lots,” Weeks said. “Having to wheel across a big, long parking lot can be challenging as well.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Connor Hogg