The 23rd annual Accessibility Day took place at City Hall on Friday to recognize the importance of accessibility and the contributions of those in the community living with disabilities. The City of Ottawa partnered with Wheelchair Basketball Canada for a friendly competition in which Ottawa councillors were challenged to a game of Wheelchair Basketball against the Ottawa Carleton Wheelchair Sports Association. “[It’s] really important I think for all of us to understand how people experience recreation in a way that’s different than we experience it on a day-to-day basis,” said Coun. Marty Carr. “It is extremely important to teach people about adaptive sports because not all sports are meant for able bodied people,” said Sabrina Di Maso, player for the Ottawa Carleton Wheelchair Sports Association. “It is very important to teach people about sports so there’s more awareness and it becomes more common both for people with disabilities and for other people. Di Maso first started playing wheelchair basketball in 2022, when she was no longer able to play able bodied. “I played soccer before and wheelchair basketball was really just a gateway for me to open a door of other type of sports because there wasn’t a lot available in Ottawa at the time,” Di Maso said. The event brought together Ottawa councillors, community members, advocates and residents from across the city to celebrate accessibility. “It’s a great opportunity for the city to showcase ourselves as leaders in accessibility and, again, that push to keep doing better and keep doing more,” said Megan Richards, program manager of the Accessibility Office with the City of Ottawa. “A lot of people think wheelchair basketball is maybe easy, but you get them in a chair and it’s very humbling sometimes — learning a new sport can be that. It’s going to be really cool to show them our world and what it’s like to even wheel around in a wheelchair, let alone compete on the court.” said Tyler Miller, wheelchair basketball coach. Ottawa mayor Mark Sutcliffe proclaimed May 29th Accessibility Day in Ottawa. “We want Ottawa to be a livable city for everyone, and we don’t want anybody to feel like they’re experience is less than someone else’s experience,” Sutcliffe said. “It’s really important that we make Ottawa as accessible and as inclusive as possible. To work with our accessibility advisory Committee and to work with other advocates to do everything we can to make this city as accessible as possible is a huge priority for us right now.” The day included a panel discussion about inclusion in the community and in sport, as well as multiple city departments and services showcasing how they support accessibility in the city. Ottawa will host the Wheelchair Basketball World Championships in the fall. Miller and Lee Melymick will play for team Canada in the championship games. “Wheelchair basketball is an amazing, inclusive sport. I play wheelchair basketball because it’s fun, keeps us active and honestly, there’s nothing like going out there and competing,” Miller said. “I love it more today than I did back then. Every day it gets more fun to go out and compete.” Miller has been playing wheelchair basketball for almost 19 years. “Wheelchair basketball is a great sport because it includes different people of all abilities from certain disabilities — cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury to amputations and even able-bodied athletes can compete. It’s a great inclusive sport,” said Melymick. The Wheelchair Basketball World Championships will feature 28 international teams and will take place from Sept. 9 to Sept. 19.
