From the CBC:
“'If there's a fire, I'm dead':
Quadruple amputee battles condo board for access to her own building”
Verna Marzo says she'll never
forget the embarrassment of being stuck outside her Calgary condo building — in
the cold for almost two hours, waiting for someone to let her in — because as a
quadruple amputee she can't open the doors on her own, and her condo board has
refused to install automatic doors she can use. "Someone helped me [get]
out, but when I wanted to go back in, there was no one to open the door,"
said Marzo, 46. "It was cold. I
called my sister but my sister was at work … so I waited until my caregiver arrived."
She says none of the other doors in the building is an option. "That means
I get stuck behind the doors. If there's an emergency … if there's a fire, I'm
dead, there's no way I can get outside." According to an advocate for
people with disabilities, situations like Marzo's are "all too
common," because weak building codes and a lack of provincial
accessibility laws are causing a "chronic and pervasive shortage" of
accessible housing. "Imagine that you're in a building where you paid good
money to live … and you can't get in or out without having someone there,"
said David Lepofsky, chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities
Act Alliance. "Imagine you go to sleep at night knowing — God forbid — if
there's a fire, you can't let yourself out. No one would want to live that way
and people with disabilities shouldn't have to live that way."
Homebound and frustrated
Two years ago, after having
emergency abdominal surgery, Marzo contracted sepsis — a reaction to a severe
blood infection that leads to organs shutting down. Doctors amputated both legs
and arms to save her life. Earlier this year, she started shopping for a condo
that would allow her to get around with her wheelchair or prosthetics. She says
she knew the place she bought wasn't perfect, but it was one of the few she
could afford. She hoped to deal with issues as they came up, but never expected
to be fighting for a door. In May, a few
months after she was locked outside in the cold, she asked the building manager
if automatic doors could be installed. She was told the condo board decided not
at this time. Marzo's social worker tried again, contacting the board on her
behalf. She was told the board already had a plan for new doors but there would
be no automatic push-button system due to security concerns of the doors being
open too long. That explanation is "a total red herring," according
to Lepofsky. "You could design doors with optical sensors to protect
against that. But even a manual door, with a lock, there's no guarantee that
requires it to be held open only long enough for the person with the key to get
through." Meanwhile, Marzo remains homebound and frustrated. "I don't
want to only benefit me. I want people who have lesser mobility to benefit as
well. Because it's not easy to just be staying at home and be depressed,"
she said. The property management company declined to answer Go Public's
questions, claiming it was a legal matter and referring us to the condo board.
'Get with the program'
Automatic doors would cost
between $2,500 to $7,500, depending on the design, according to Sean Crump from
Universal Access, a Calgary company that provides advice to businesses on how
to make buildings more accessible. Crump says there is public funding available
to qualified candidates to help pay for building modifications, though it's not
clear if Marzo's building qualifies. "There are a few resources. The
federal government has an Enabling Access Fund that allows funds to be put into
accessible design for spaces and buildings — and it's done a lot of good."
More than three million people over the
age of 15 have at least one physical disability according to the most recent
Statistics Canada numbers from 2017. On July 11, the Accessible Canada Act came
into force. Lepofsky says it's a well intentioned effort at mandating
barrier-free access, but it, too, falls short by covering only sectors within
Ottawa's jurisdiction like banking, telecommunications and the federal government.
He says that leaves a mish-mash of accessibility laws — or none at all — at the
provincial level. Ontario, Manitoba and Nova Scotia are the only provinces with
that kind of legislation. "We need
the seven provinces in Canada that don't have a provincial accessibility law to
enact one — to get with the program," Lepofsky said. But even in those
provinces, Marzo would have little or no recourse. Manitoba and Nova Scotia's
legislation don't address the responsibilities of condo boards. Ontario's does,
but since it was implemented in 2005, it's done little to help people with
disabilities, according to a review released in January by former lieutenant
governor David Onley. "We are almost 14 years later," Onley, who was
Canada's first lieutenant governor with a physical disability, wrote, "and
the promised accessible Ontario is nowhere in sight." "For most
disabled persons, Ontario is not a place of opportunity but one of countless,
dispiriting, soul-crushing barriers." Changing the building codes could
also help, according to Lepofsky. But, though national and provincial codes
cover new buildings and major renovations, older buildings like Marzo's are
under no obligation to renovate. All of this, Lepofsky says, leaves people with
disabilities to deal with problems "one battle at a time" through
human rights complaints. The national and provincial human rights codes say
buildings used by the public need to be accessible. Marzo says everywhere she turned
no one could — or would — help. She says her call to the Alberta Human Rights
Commission wasn't returned and the City of Calgary told her there is nothing it
can do. "They just keep [telling me] call this person or this person and
eventually someone from City of Calgary called me and said they cannot force
the condo board to put the door in because it's not the law."
She was told she'd likely never
walk again
Jennifer Dagsvik, spokesperson
for Alberta's Ministry of Community and Social Service, says the province is
"monitoring" the new federal and existing provincial laws. She says while Alberta lacks an accessibility
law, people with disabilities can seek help under the Alberta Human Rights Act
and the Premier's Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities. Ottawa's
most recent minister of public services and procurement and accessibility
didn't answer Go Public's questions directly. Instead Carla Qualtrough sent a
general statement, referring to the Accessible Canada Act and the accessibility
review board — the Canadian Accessibility Standards Development Organization
(CASDO) — it created. "While CASDO
is still in its early stages of development, it has been made evident by
Canadians and members of the disability community that standards in new and
existing buildings is a priority," Qualtrough said. Marzo says she won't give up, saying it's
"hideous" she's had to fight this hard to be able to enter and exit
the building she lives in. She's
planning to talk to a lawyer for advice on what to do next. "They will get
old too," she says, referring to members of her condo board. "And
they will lose their strength. And they will thank me for that door if they
will do it now."
^ This is one of the problems
that face disabled people every single day. Not only do they have to do with
their disabilities every day, but they also have to deal with ignorant and
discriminating people, companies and organizations. The majority of non-disabled
people (whether in Canada or any other country) like to believe they are
open-minded with regards to an accessible world, but when it comes down to it
most are not. They may believe in the idea on paper, but not in practice
(especially when they would be required to do something themselves.) ^
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