'Like a jail': Advocates say a disability can make rural Alberta unlivable

A wheelchair user can be seen on a road in wintertime. (Pexels/Efrem Efre)

A vast majority of people with disabilities in Canada face accessibility barriers, according to new data from Statistics Canada. For rural Albertans with disabilities, these hurdles can make their hometowns unlivable.

Fifty-nine per cent of Albertans with disabilities reported barriers to accessibility in public spaces, slightly higher than the national average.

Within this group, the degree of inaccessibility is tied to the severity of disability. About one-third of people who reported having a mild disability experienced accessibility barriers, compared to 87 per cent of people who said their disability is very severe.

Zachary Weeks, a disability consultant and advocate, said these barriers can make anything from housing to health care harder to attain.

"Some facilities aren't even wheelchair accessible, for example. I'm just speaking from my own experience, because I have (cerebral palsy) and use a power wheelchair full time. But, accessing health care is a human right, and a lot of people can't do that," Weeks said.

Alberta is one of only two provinces with no existing or introduced accessibility legislation.

Having such a law in place would "really move the needle on making Alberta reach its full potential. I think it would be fair to say that the rural areas would benefit the most," Weeks said.

Living in Edmonton, he said there may be limited options for transportation and housing, but outside of major cities those options may not exist at all.

Until recently, Allison Johnson and her family lived in Westlock. Johnson’s teenage daughter has cerebral palsy and an intellectual developmental disorder.

The lack of local programs and services, from physiotherapy to fostering social connections, was a deciding factor in their move to Edmonton "to get a better life."

"I couldn't get access to anything my child needed by myself. Like, if I wanted to take her to the theatre, there was no way," Johnson said.

Because she has epilepsy, Johnson is unable to drive. From trying to run errands to travelling out of town for medical appointments, limited transportation is a key barrier that keeps people with disabilities from living fully in rural communities, she said.

"Once you lose your ability to transport yourself anywhere, you've given up a lot," Johnson said. "You can't go anywhere. It's almost like a jail if you've got a place that doesn't provide anything."

Whether it happens when you are 20 or when you are 75 years old, virtually everyone ends up with mobility issues and loses the ability to drive, Johnson observed.

And the same barriers that bar people with disabilities from living and working in a town today set limits on who can stay in their community as they age.

"In the long term, that's going to affect their community. Nobody's going to want to be in a place that they can't get around," she said.

As with the example of public transportation, Weeks said making Alberta accessible doesn’t require "reinventing the wheel," but often just properly funding and building on the infrastructure already in place.

"Instead of waiting for folks to file a human rights complaint and go through the motions and then essentially throwing money at them to pay away the problem, invest that money in solving the problem," he said.

Weeks also said as the conversation around accessibility moves forward, it’s important to "raise the voices of those with disabilities in the rural communities, because so often they're forgotten and are not given the priority to weigh in on things."