Entry tags:	disability, disability: disability fail, disability: disabled people don't exist, totally accessible toronto
Crossposts:	http://troubleinchina.livejournal.com/698610.html

As most people who know me already know, Don is a full-time wheelchair user. In addition, he is a regular user of our medical system - he needs to have regular tests to ensure that his heart is still healthy, for example, and he needs to have various levels of things checked regularly in order to ensure that his thyroid replacement drug is working properly and his blood pressure isn't wonky. These are the sorts of tests he needs to keep him alive.

Since moving to Ontario, Don has been referred to two different medical clinics for evaluation of these. He was referred to both of these clinics by doctors who were aware he was a wheelchair user since they physically saw Don in his wheelchair when referring him, and also because they were referring him for things that need to be checked because of his Marfan's Syndrome, which is why he uses said wheelchair.

Don has been to two different medical clinics in Toronto, exactly zero of which have been wheelchair accessible.

A few months ago he needed to get into one clinic for a blood test and urine test. Most people can complete them both in the clinic. Don had to take things home and pee in a cup here because the washroom was completely unsuitable for people with mobility issues or people using wheelchairs, which meant Don had to make two trips - trips that take far more out of him than they would out of a non-disabled person.

The clinic today, which was ultrasound for his aorta, was not only clumsy in dealing with people who have unusual heart conditions (like, say, someone with Marfan's Syndrome), but their washroom was inaccessible to people with mobility-related issues or using wheelchairs, as well as having narrow hallways and doors that made navigating very difficult for someone in an electric chair.

The common response of people who are afraid of the Access for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and similar legislation in the US is that if there's a need, things will be taken care of. Everyone "knows" that people want to be accessible they just lack the knowledge or ability or something that will make this happen. You just need to ask nicely and it will be provided.

Medical clinics serve people with disabilities on a regular basis and they can't even get it together on accessibility. That's why we need these sorts of laws, because frankly it's too long to wait.