Author: Jeffrey Preston

The night before hitting the road again. I’m a bit nervous; the driving had gotten so automatic earlier in the trip, but it’s been two weeks since I’ve driven for an extended period of time. Hopefully my shoulder doesn’t get too raw! To make matters worst, it’s suppose to rain again tomorrow and I’ve finally given up trying to look cool wrapped in a giant orange poncho.
I woke up to good news this morning–Natalie must have heard all the well wishes because she woke up this morning on the road to recovery. Apparently she is getting fluids in her again and is home resting comfortably. Keep resting Nat, we’ll be thinking about you tomorrow on the road!

The rest of the day was dedicated to resting up and editing the video blog. You can see what we’ve been up to over the past two weeks at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=zEDWPukeqZU

Now that I’ve crossed the halfway point of the trip I suppose there is value in looking back and evaluate how things have been going as a whole. Thus far I’ve been really happy with how things are going: we’ve put a lot of road behind us, we’ve overcome any adversity we’ve faced, and we’ve made a lot of great allies along the way. While the trip has been physically harder than I expected, progress has come quite readily. The trip began with lots of great media coverage, but now that we’re into the middle of the trip the attention has really dried up (something we expected to happen). At the same time, as the media stopped paying attention, the politicos came flocking. Once we got to Toronto, the stars really aligned for us and I had the opportunity to meet up and broach the transportation issue with some really crucial people. From these meetings I’ve been given a renewed focus on what needs to be done and I’m developing some strategies on how to enact my future plans.

My time on the road so far has been very special. Driving from city to city has given me a chance to think clearly and pragmatically about the issue of transportation and meeting individuals with disabilities and their families along the way has fueled me to continue pushing for change. Before stepping across that breach, into the abyss of the second half of this trip, I am filled with optimism and hope. Soon I will be crossing the city limits of Ottawa and even sooner individuals with disabilities across this province will enjoy the same access to transportation as everyone else.

And what a beautiful day it will be.

So tomorrow we head to Oshawa and once again it looks like we’ll be traveling in the rain. Oh well, Kathy (Natalie’s aunt) will be along for the ride and I’m sure she’d prefer a bit of rain rather than scorching sunshine as she jogs along with me. Having said that, it’ll be tough to impress her with my big orange poncho: she may want to run on the other side of the road. As much as I enjoy the solitude of driving along the open road alone, it is going to be really nice to have a companion out there with me. It’s always nice to know you’re not alone, something so many of you have reminded me of with your passionate and kind emails and comments on this blog. Thank you to everyone for all of your support! I’m doing everything I can to make things better and I promise I won’t let any of you down!

– Jeff

I just got some really upsetting news–my special little friend Natalie is apparently really sick and on her way to the hospital. Natalie was going to be joining me on the road on Sunday on our way to Oshawa. I was really looking forward to seeing her and racing wheelchairs all the way to Oshawa, but it looks like we’ll have to do it another time. Natalie has been having a tough go of it this winter, second time in the hospital recently, and I’m really wishing I could be there at her side to help her pull through. She’s a tough kid and I know she’s going to fight this flu with everything she’s got (which is far more spunk than I had at her age) but it’s still pretty scary and upsetting stuff. My thoughts and prayers are with the McDonald family tonight–take it easy and get well soon kiddo. Don’t worry about the ride on Sunday, you’ve already done more for me than you could possibly know: I couldn’t be where I am today without your help and I need you to get better because it’s just not as fun without you!

Ugh. I really wish I could be there with her right now.

For a day without much touring around, I was really busy today. It was back to the keyboard for me, writing some long overdue emails and letters and begin focusing my attention on the road ahead. We received some very exciting news that I will be speaking at both Howard Jordan Public School and Central Public School while in Port Hope and I totally can’t wait! Soo-hon, my Education liaison, made this happen out of no where and once again has came up huge–good on you buddy.

Later this afternoon I was contacted again by the Minister of Community and Social Services, who is officially my new best friend. Not only did Madeleine take the time to sit and chat with me before tackling a very busy day, not only did she meet up with me later for a photo, and not only did she endure my Maple Leaf diatribes, she has helped us set up our accommodations for our stay in Ottawa. Apparently, the Hampton Inn in Ottawa is renowned for their accessibility and Madeleine thought it would only be fitting for me to finish my trip there. So, she set me up with the manager, Franco, who was more than happy to help us out. This was a huge help and I once again want to thank Madeleine Meilleur for everything she has done, along with Franco Falcucci and the staff at the Hampton Inn in Ottawa.

The rain is beginning to pour down and I can hear the thunder rumbling outside…I should probably get off the computer and go to bed. While I’m pretty sure I’m safe in this big concrete hotel complex, you can never be too safe with a thunder storm! Besides, it’s always safer hiding under the covers, right?

– Jeff

Despite starting early this morning, the sun was already shining warmly as Pete and I made our way to Queens Park–it was definitely a great way to start the morning. We made great time getting to Queens Park and the elevator at Queens Park station had indeed been fixed up, phewf. We began the day with a big meeting with the head hancho of the Ministry of Community and Social Services, the Honorable Madeleine Meilleur (also the Minister of Francophone Affairs). I was a little nervous about this meeting because the last time I saw her she was cutting up the opposition during question period and believe you me, this is one firey and intelligent fighter! The stress level flew through the roof when she came in with an entourage (5 or 6 other people, biggest MPP meeting thus far) and I began wondering if I was prepared for all of this after only getting about 6 hours of sleep last night.

Within seconds of entering the room, Madeleine flashed me a huge smile and offered a firm hand shake, setting my nerves at ease. We had a tremendous meeting and I was thoroughly impressed by her understanding of the issue. One of the best things to come out of this meeting was a request from the Minister to put together a report on what I have found along my journey with the hopes of educating her on what is happening around the province and assist her in making informed decisions on transportation standard legislation that should be coming through the legislature soon(ish). I think this is a huge opportunity and I’m really excited to take part in the process. I think this is also a great idea because it will allow me to consolidate some of my recommendations into a streamlined document that I can then send out to the municipalities I have visited so they too can hear about what I have seen, how the trip went, and perhaps get some pointers on what they could be doing in their own communities. This is a really big opportunity and I can’t wait to tackle this summer project! And who knows, perhaps the Minister would like a hand-delivered copy of the report, giving me another reason to swing by Queens Park (I’m gonna miss that place once I’ve left Toronto!).

After chatting her ear off and having a quick debate on why the Maple Leafs are forever superior to the Ottawa Senators, I was off to another productive meeting over at the Directorate of Disability. We had a tremendous conversation on the current state of AODA legislation and I had the chance to ask some questions about how the policies are working and what I can do to help make things better from within the current structures. Director Weeres is a truly incredible man and I’m pretty sure I have a new role model–this is a man on a mission and I found our perceptions on adaptation and accessibility to really sync. It’s really nice to know someone like Scot is calling the shots at the Directorate. The staff we met were also great: Lisa and Linda are two great champions of the disabled and I pity anyone who comes up against these two! It would be a short conversation indeed.

After checking in on the radio with John at The Beach, I received a phone call from Madeleine’s office expressing an interest for a photo op at the front steps of Queens Park. They didn’t have to prod me too much before this photo–there was no way I could smile any bigger after the morning I just had.

The day really shifted gears at this point, for the awesome. I got a chance to see my dad during lunch, which was much needed as I’ve really been missing home lately. After relaxing with him (and seeing his new Blackberry…I’m way jealous), it was back to Queens Park to see Deb Matthews. This was another great meeting–it was fantastic to see Deb again. I had always been impressed by Deb, seeing her around town during election season, but now that I’ve had a chance to sit and chat with her twice I am just more and more impressed by this woman. She is so strong and charismatic and caring…I honestly cannot say enough about her. It was great seeing her again and was a great way to finish off my political meetings in Toronto.

Tomorrow and Saturday will be a dramatic change of pace, as we begin getting ready for our trip to Oshawa on Sunday. Over our last two days here I’ll be finishing up some paper work and posting the special 2-week video blog of my time in Toronto. So keep an eye on the blog for a flurry of activity over the next few days as I catch up on some things I had wanted to talk about/post but was simply too busy meeting with politicos and pushing our message.

But for now, my bed is calling…mmm…sleep…rest…finally…after a job well done…although honestly it feels like I am already dreaming because this past week has been absolutely incredible.

– Jeff

It’s almost midnight and I’m struggling to keep my eyes open, it’s been an extremely long day, so I’ll try and keep this short. Having said that, I’ve got a pile of stuff to talk about so I’ll try and do my best!

This morning we had a meeting with Deb Matthews, however the transportation gods were not shining on us. We attempted to subway in for the meeting, hoping to avoid rush hour traffic, but unfortunately the subway line was having huge delays due to a broken switch light or some such business. I’m not really sure what it meant, technically, but for us it meant a subway going slower than I can drive my wheelchair. Instead of arriving at Queens Park around 8:30am, as planned, we pulled into the station close to 9:20am…a full 20 minutes after our meeting with Deb Matthews. Luckily, I managed to squeek out a text message to Sam to let her know we were trapped in a tin can below the city and she managed to transmit the message to Deb and reschedule for tomorrow. Getting out of the train, I was excited to see sunshine again but it was not meant to be. The one and only elevator that gets people out of Queens Park station was broken, meaning our only option was to go to the next accessible stop down the line–a full two stops in either direction. Even if we had been on time, we likely would have been late for our meeting anyway because of this broken elevator. What’s even more surprising is that no one in the subway station seemed to know the elevator was broken and no one seemed to be really interested in fixing the problem. After a few strong and carefully chosen words, we were assured the elevator would be looked after immediately. In the meantime, we had to get back on the subway and head down a few stations to escape the underworld that is the Toronto Subway system.

After popping out a few blocks down and walking back, grabbing and bite to eat on the way, it was almost time to meet up with Carol Mitchell, the MPP from my other home Grey-Bruce County, so we decided to duck into Queens Park a bit early and grab a seat. You know you’re spending a little too much time somewhere when the guards begin to recognize you. While there we had several guards recognize us from the other day, all of whom were interested to hear what we’re up to and help us out in any way possible. It’s kind of weird, but I think Queens Park is becoming a bit of a “hang out” for me in Toronto. My goal for the end of this trip is for Queens Park to become like my own personal Cheers, so whenever I enter the building all the guards and employees are like “Noooorm!” with a big smile and wave…except they would say my name…in fact, no, it would be even better if they called me Norm.

Anyway, Carol and I had a really good chat about initiatives she has been involved in and about how to work toward equitable and functional solutions for accessible transportation in rural communities. This was a very productive meeting and I feel like Carol really took a lot of my advice to heart. Our conversation ended up getting a little sidetracked part-way through and we got talking about poverty and disability, an issue directly related to the transportation problem, and I have been asked to put together a letter explaining how the disabled population is affected by programs like the Ontario Disability Support Program and how the lack of transportation is increasing risk of poverty in the disabled population. This is a really important step forward, as the Ontario government is currently focusing heavily on the poverty task force, lead by Deb Matthews ironically enough. The group is currently in the collecting information phase, looking to hear from the public about what is happening in their communities. I’m really excited to have the opportunity to share some of my experiences and some of my ideas on how to overcome these barriers.

In my opinion, transportation is one of the keys to disability and poverty. On top of other barriers, like financial barriers to education, the lack of sustainable and reliable transportation is only compounding the barriers to achieving gainful employment that will allow us to live independent and free lives. By implementing change to the transportation system, in my opinion, we will be able to transition more people off ODSP and into functional and profitable jobs in the community, which will only improve their quality of life while also providing more room to support individuals who cannot get jobs (for a variety of reasons). This way the program is helping those who it is designed to help, rather than being forced to assist people who could be working and living independently, provided they could get to their jobs!

After our meeting with Carol we headed down the street to meet with David Miller, Mayor of Toronto. Albeit a quick meeting, he’s a very busy man…so much so I think I heard he missed his lunch break today, this was an excellent chat. Mayor Miller was brutally honest with us about the transportation system, admitting that there are some serious flaws with the Wheeltrans system. While he would love to see more accessible cabs, that is an area of accessibility that he is not too optimistic about seeing change–there is just too much resistance from the industry, in his opinion. One really interesting piece of information that came out of this meeting, however, was that the accessibility advisory committee in Toronto actually made recommendations on how to design the new Wheeltrans busses, which explains why they look nothing like any Paratransit van I’ve ever seen in my life. This is a really cool idea and I’d recommend City Councils strongly consider this concept. At first, Mayor Miller said the people building the vans were reluctant to take the advice, questioning some of it’s validity, but they drove forward with the plan and couldn’t be happier with the results. In fact, they can’t wait to go into production of the next model, which will replace this fleet eventually–apparently they’re already cooking up some new ideas! Another thing that made me really excited about my meeting with Mayor Miller is that he said his goal is to produce accessible systems that work seamlessly with the current transportation systems–he didn’t like the idea of “segregating” the population and forcing the disabled to do things differently than everyone else. This is a truly enlightened perspective and I think Mayor Miller’s leadership, along with several key councilors and disability advocates in the community, has been critical in breaking down barriers in Toronto.

From my meeting with Mayor Miller, it was back to Queens Park to meet with the Minister of Natural Resources, Donna Cansfield. When we arrived for this meeting there was a lot of confusion, no one really knew why we were there and I couldn’t remember who we had talked to in the office to set up the meeting. For a moment there I thought I was about to become very good friends with the security guards–I swear, I’m not just some weirdo off the street! Apparently their computer systems had gone down, which lead to some scheduling problems, however after a bit of phone calling (and a spot of good luck) we got in and had a great meeting. Once again this was a tremendously informative meeting. As it turns out, before taking on the Ministry of Natural Resources, Donna Cansfield spent some time in the Ministry of Transportation and was able to shed a bit of light on provincial funding of transportation. Slowly but surely, I’m beginning to understand the complicated and intricate dance occurring between the provincial and municipal government to put together and operate transportation in our communities–a weaving web of service and support that is crucial to comprehend in order to work our way through finding solutions.

After dinner I got to meet up with a close friend from Bruce County, the legendary Josh Cassidy. Josh is a professional wheelchair racer who is working his way to a spot on the Canadian National wheelchair racing team. He’s a phenomenal athlete and he will do our country proud if he makes the team for Beijing. It was great catching up with him on old times and hearing about some of his adventures traveling with the wheelchair racing teams–he has logged a LOT of travel miles over the past few years competing around the globe, breaking records, and generally showing people that Canada means business at the ‘08 Paralympics in Beijing. If you get a chance this summer, flip on CBC during the Paralympic day and keep an eye out for Josh–this kid is a real dynamo and he’s going to really turn some heads this summer. Best of luck Josh, we’re all pulling for you!

Anyway, it’s late and I have a bright-and-early coffee meeting with the Minister of Community and Social Services, followed by a big meeting with the Directorate of Disability. Tomorrow is going to be yet another crazy day and I’m totally psyched.

This is coming together! I couldn’t be happier right now.

Oh as a side note, I received several emails from the people of Halton Hills last night and this morning and it sounds like they are committing to moving forward with an even more aggressive accessible transportation plan. I’m excited to see what they are capable of creating with the help of several key community partners who I don’t believe were involved until now.

Good on you Halton Hills and thank you so much for all of your support.

And now…to bed!

– Jeff

Wowza. What a day.

Today began like most but would quickly take a turn for the awesome. As planned, today we headed out to Halton Hills to see a good friend (and closet Leaf fan, I think) Bryan Lewis. Everything was going swimmingly until the clock struck 9am, then cue the insanity.

The cell phone began ringing nearly off the hook with assistants for MPPs calling and scrambling to arrange meetings. It appears Joe Dickson’s email last night made a world of difference. I am going to be unbelievably busy over these last few days in Toronto, which is definitely really exciting. This is another huge step forward! I’ve now heard from the Minister of Health, the Minister of Community and Social Services, the Directorate for Disability and many more to come. So I’m going to be back to Queens Park tomorrow, bright and early, for a meeting with MPP Deb Matthews. It’s going to be great seeing her again and it’ll be nice to have a little slice of home after being away from London for nearly a month now.

Despite answering my extremely active cell phone, we managed to arrive in Halton Hills on time for a 1:30pm meeting with the Mayor. Bryan greeted us at the front door of City Hall and walked us in for a great meeting, despite the fact I was surrounded by Montreal Canadiens fans. After the customary hashing out of rivalry lines we got down to work, explaining to the Mayor my concerns about transportation followed by hearing about what Halton Hills is doing to increase accessibility. One really interesting moment that came in this meeting was when it was explained that Halton Hills council use a closed captioning device to allow citizens with hearing impairments to participate in municipal government. I found this quite remarkable (and commendable), especially considering how difficult it was for the TTC to provide a similar service at the information session run last week.

Following this meeting, Bryan took us out to lunch, which was a lot of fun. By this point I was beginning to think Bryan had set up a bit of a gauntlet of Canadiens fans for me to run through–I swear, for a team who were knocked out by Philly, there were a lot of bold Canadiens fans out and about in Georgetown today! I guess I shouldn’t talk…I don’t even remember what it’s like to have a team in the playoffs…

Luckily, reinforcements arrived during lunch–possibly the only Leaf fan left in Halton Hills. Bryan invited his friend Gerry Gore to join us and show us around Halton Hills, which was fantastic! Gerry showed us his custom car, with hand controls so he can drive it, which he has loaded up with the blue and white. He has even got some custom paint work done under the hood of his car to boast his support for the Leafs. This was my kind-a fellow! As it turns out, Gerry wanted to take us on a sight seeing tour outside of Georgetown, specifically to “The Badlands” located just outside Terra Cotta. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was getting into, but I was excited because one of my favourite songs of all time is “The Bandlands” by a band called Gatsbys American Dream. While I’m reasonably sure this song was not in any way inspired by the Badlands around these parts, it was a pretty incredible sight. Since I’m not exactly able to explain what a “Badland” is, I’ve instead decided to post some photos and let you decide for yourself.

As the information plaque explains at the top of the hill, the Badlands is a clay hill that was formed through erosion, creating these incredible fissures and rolling hills. Apparently this site is incredibly popular during the summer and fall months, with cars lining the road and kids running in and out of the crevices playing tag. This seemed like a perfect backdrop to get some more documentary footage, so Gerry and I found a nice place and began answering questions for Aaron from Azeus7 Studios (www.azeus7.com). The entire time we were talking, all I could think about was driving around the hills in my chair, which most observers thought was likely not a very good idea. Of course, this didn’t stop me. Letting my inner child out, Pete and I took a run down the hill, bobbing and weaving my way through the unlevel and semi-treacherous and wooded paths to the bottom of the mountain. This stop was incredibly fun and exactly what the doctor ordered. Whipping in and out of the forest paths reminded me of my time in Port Elgin, playing in the forest behind my parents house with friends and it was great to feel young and carefree again. After laughing and joking and being left breathless by the view, it was time to pack it in and head back into town for our after-dinner events.

We began at the local Lions Club, who were gracious enough to allow me to come speak. Being the blabber mouth that I am, I used up almost half my time just getting started on my presentation and had to pick up the pace a bit, but the group was extremely receptive. This event, combined with what came next, has only once again affirmed how important this trip is and gives me all the motivation I need to keep going and keep struggling through any obstacles that get in my way.

After our quick chat, Bryan whisked us back to City Hall for a presentation and reception following the town’s Accessibility Advisory Committee’s meeting. This group was actually suppose to meet tomorrow, however they decided to bump their meeting to tonight in order to spend some time with me. I cannot thank them enough for enduring this inconvenience–I cannot say how much it means to me to meet all of you and personally thank you for all of the tremendous work you have done in this community to advance the disability rights movement and actively engage and emancipate the disabled population here. The presentation went off without a hitch and the reception afterwards was tremendous, filled with snacks and cake (they knew the way to my heart for sure!). It was great chatting with this group and as I said earlier, chatting with these wonderful individuals just fills me with so much hope. I owe it to all of them, who have sacrificed so much to make this community accessible, to keep going and do my part to make things better. Furthermore, their dedication and passion only assures me that universal accessibility is within our grasp and much like all great things, strangely enough, it is coming out of rural, small-town Ontario. I cannot thank them enough for this.

I am just brimming with optimism and enthusiasm right now, which is good because I have another super long day ahead of me tomorrow and Thursday. My efforts, and the efforts of the entire March team, over the past 8 months are really paying off–people are learning, politicians are hearing, and change, she be a-comin’.

Thank you again to Bryan, Debbie, Ron, Gerry and everyone else who were so instrumental in putting together this fantastic day. I look forwarding to coming back and seeing you all again.

More updates soon!

– Jeff

I’m gonna warn you right away–a LOT happened today and I likely can’t even begin to encapsulate all of it so if I’ve missed some details I apologize. The readers digest version is that things went amazingly, we met some great people, made some great headway, and now I’m about ready to slip into an over-eating-induced coma.

Now on to the details…

This morning began with a moment of pure and uncontrollable panic. After getting ready (Early for a change! I was so nervously excited I woke up like every 30 minutes after 4am) I flipped on my MSN and got a message from Christina asking “What’s wrong with the website?” I logged in to see what she meant to find everything had reverted to sometime in April–all the blogs gone, all the itinerary information, all the routes. Now the itinerary and route information isn’t a problem because all of that stuff is triple-backed up on my laptop and external hard drive, but all of these blogs (until about 5 minutes ago) were housed exclusively online without any hard or electronic copies existing. Panic began to set in, I had absolutely no idea what to do. Pete calmed me down pretty fast, logically deducing that the service provider who hosts my website likely has back-ups just in case their servers crashed–sure enough, I discovered a note on the host’s website saying they were having server problems and most websites had been rolled back to early April files by accident, but would be back online, right as rain, sometime in the afternoon. Pewf!

It was around this point that Pete and I discovered that I had somehow forgotten to grab my dress shoes–leaving me with only white sneakers to go with my classy dress suit…perfect. After another piece of hyperventilation, we managed to find a pair of my dad’s dress shoes that he had left behind in his condo. Now I know what you’re thinking and no, clown shoes have not come into fashion (that I know of). It’s funny because when Pete first broached the idea of wearing oversized shoes, one of the first things I began to wonder is if anyone would really notice. Do people spend time looking at feet? What about looking at the feet of people in wheelchairs? Is that a social faux pas? As I was debating whether or not people would be too uncomfortable staring at my basically superfluous feet, Pete had already gone to work adjusting the shoes and positioning it cleverly under the seat of my chair, making it nearly impossible to see that I was wearing shoes big enough to fit half of Russia inside. I was totally amazed! Likely these shoes would have been wicked uncomfortable (and totally unusable) if I could walk–score another one for the wheelchair!

So we arrived at Queens Park in really good time: literally. The moment we arrived the skies opened up and rained fiercely for about 5 minutes. It would be the first and last rain shower of the day in Toronto that we saw and finally I got to remain dry. We met up with Lisa and Matt from Leeanna’s office and got a private tour of Queens Park, checking out the Speaker’s office and some of the collectibles scattered throughout the building. I honestly was in no way prepared for how epic Queens Park is. The cavernous hallways lined with portraits of previous Ontario leaders, embedded in deep and rich stained wooden walls and banisters were pretty incredible and I’d advise anyone reading this that if you are ever offered the opportunity to buy Queens Park, do not hesitate, it’s worth every penny!

Before we knew it, it was time to go into the Legislature. I have never been to Queens Park before and as I set wheel in the legislature for the first time I can only assume it would be like to enter Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. Now, I’m not attempting to make the claim that the legislature is a place of ultimate bliss and candy, but the room is not only quite beautiful, but is also unbelievably well light…eye-scorchingly well lit. When the big oak door opened to let us into the Members Gallery (no public Gallery for us! Perfect range for aerial peanut bombardment of the NDP and some of the Conservatives if you have a good throwing arm), I was greeted by a security guard with a huge smile who waved me in, welcoming me to the legislature, with a glittering and overpowering light blazing radiantly behind him. It was one of the most intense things I’ve ever seen.

Just before Question Period began, the Speaker introduced me to the members of government who were in attendance, explaining who I was and what I was doing, followed by lots of applause and smiling faces from the MPPs. After that it was straight to duty, with the two opposition parties taking turns questioning (and interrogating) the Liberals. Honestly, Question Period was really exciting and something I think all Ontarians should see at least once. Whoever said politics is a blood sport was dead on and the MPPs were definitely on their game today, debating their way through some tough (and important) legislation on everything from pesticide use to smoking bans. There was also a large contingent of individuals there today to pressure the government into providing more support for parents with youth with intellectual limitations–interesting but opportune timing.

Immediately following Question Period we were whisked away to the 2nd floor of Queens Park to sit down and chat with MPP Joe Dickson from Pickering/Ajax. Joe was an absolute hoot with a great sense of humour. It was a lot of fun joking around with him and he brought along a special guest with him–the one and only Leeanna Pendergast, who I was yet to meet in person. After snapping some photos and taking a deep breath after some jovial laughter, it was time to get down to business. Joe and I had a great chat about transportation and accessibility and he definitely had some great tips about how to go about working within the mandates of the AODA to push for change. He also was happy to tell us all about the Durham region and what they have been doing about accessible transportation. This was really important for me because leading up to the launch of the March I had been hearing about Durham and some of the unique things they have been doing to get transportation working in their community. Following the meeting, Joe expressed an interest in helping us to link up with some other MPPs while we’re in Toronto and moments before writing this blog I received a mass-transmitted email from Joe to the MPPs letting them know who I am and explaining, quite distinctly, why they should sit down and chat with me this week. I’m excited to see who responds from this personal request. The more people we can talk to the better–education is the first step to making change.

After this meeting we ran a few blocks north to grab some food before meeting with the folks at Baker Law. Baker Law is a tremendous group of lawyers and disability advocates who specialize in disability rights issues. While I have spoken with David Baker on the phone and had extensive conversations with Kate Sellar, it was nice to finally put some faces to names and voices. We had a great chat about what their firm has been doing over the past few years to open doors for the disabled. If there is anyone out there who are in need of lawyers who are well versed on disability rights issues, especially when dealing with the Human Rights Commission, I highly recommend the people at Baker Law. Not only is their professionalism and customer service second to none, this is a group of people dedicated to the advancement of disability rights and are active members of the independent living movement. You can find them online at: http://www.bakerlaw.ca/

Although I was just about ready to collapse after this whirlwind tour, we weren’t quite finished yet. The rest of the day was spent making phone calls and networking to solidify our plans for the rest of our stay in Toronto. We have a packed day ahead of us in Georgetown tomorrow and Wednesday is shaping up to be pretty exciting as well.

All in all, a tiring day with lots of progressive. I may not have driven the chair any closer to Ottawa today, but I have certainly taken a giant leap toward achieving my goal.

– Jeff

Like any good summer storm, things around the March were deathly still today in anticipation of the insanity that will be tomorrow. We have a day of epic proportions ahead of us on Monday, starting at Queens Park and taking us all over Toronto in a frantic schedule of meetings, leading right into a day-trip to Georgetown (just west of Toronto) on Tuesday, followed by a mid-day meeting with Mayor David Miller on Wednesday.

It’s really an interesting (and tricky) time right now, sitting in my dad’s condo where everything is still and quiet, leaving me to look back at where we have been and peer over the tip of the peak ahead of me, seeing the rest of the trip tumbling down before me at an alarming pace. I feel almost like the last few weeks we have been swooping up and down the peaks and valleys of the first leg of our trip and now I’m sitting here, like the night before Christmas, about to crest the highest point on the roller coaster and rocket down the last big, steep and bending corner toward the end of the ride. The days are getting busier, the pace is ramping up, and before I know it I will be passing the city limit sign in Ottawa (21 days til touchdown, for those not counting).

At the same time, there is still a tremendous amount of work to do, a lot of meetings to be had, and a ton of pavement to rubberize. Luckily, there is still a full three weeks before that final bell is rung, but at the same time, I can’t help but think that this moment of quiet and calm will be one of the last opportunity to sit, calmly and quietly, and clearly think before the end of the trip.

So buckle your seat belt ladies and gentleman, because this ride is about to be kicked into overdrive!

I hope all you readers enjoy (and have been enjoying) the ride as much as me!

– Jeff

Today was intellectual day for the Mobilize March, spending the afternoon at the Royal Ontario Museum. I was tipped off yesterday that academic and writer Georgina Kleege would be at the ROM today giving a guest lecture on accessibility for the blind at art galleries and museums, followed by an auditory presentation of the items included in the “Out from Under: Disability, History and Things to Remember” exhibit. Catherine Frazee, one of the event organizers, invited me last night to read the description of one of the exhibits, dedicated to Jim Derksen and the 1992 Omnibus Bill that solidified disability rights in law.

But before I talk about that experience, I will just say a few things about Professor Kleege’s talk. Not only is she a gifted and humorous speaker, Professor Kleege cuts right the core of our perceptions of disability, outlining how the use of language is indicative of our underlying prejudices towards those with disabilities. One of her points that I really latched onto, and actually write about in my own scholarship, is how so many of our common metaphors for loss, lacking, or missing are reliant on disability imagery. The examples she used were all around sightedness (as she herself is blind), talking about how we use phrases like “blind lust” to refer to a senseless or baseless feeling of lust–in fact most permeations of “blind” metaphors are used to describe a general unawareness or immature/uninformed decision. She then went on to talk about how to make art galleries accessible for individuals who cannot see the art, stating (quite correctly):

The task of translating a work of visual art into language may be a daunting one, but not so daunting that we should throw up our hands in despair. We need to remember that the people receiving these words also have imagination, knowledge, memory and curiosity, whether or not they have perfect vision.

In the hopes of allowing individuals with visual and hearing limitations to participate in this historic disability exhibit, the organizers then had several individuals (your humble narrator being one) to give life to each exhibit item by reading descriptions out loud for all to hear. I won’t go on about this at length, but it was a truly profound experience for me that shook me to the core. I have seen the exhibit a few times and while I was impressed by the breadth and passion of the instillation, it definitely had not hit me on the emotional level that it hit me on today. One of the most emotional exhibits was on the institutionalization of the disabled, describing the experiences of three women who had been institutionalized and forced into domestic slave labour “for their own good.” What was truly terrifying was how complacent we, as a society, were in terms of institutionalization. It was horrifying for me to consider that if I had been born a few years earlier, as early as 10 years earlier in some parts of Canada, that could have been my life–no independence, no education, no future, no hope. I can’t really put into words what the whole experience was like today, except to say that it most certainly had a deep and profound impact on me. It really makes you count your blessings when you look at what could have been.

Today, we gave voice to an unspoken part of our past. We gave voice to the pain and suffering of so many before us, announcing and acknowledging the crimes committed against people just like us. And while this was a deeply emotional and devastating moment (I’m not ashamed to admit I choked back a few tears) it was also a proclamation of hope. The horrors of the past stand in stark contrast to the optimism of the future. Past injustices do not have to loom over the disabled population, threatening to swallow us whole in their shadows of darkness, rage and anguish–today we learned, together, that like ancient columns, this past too will crumble under the pressure of time and progress. As we work together to inform, educate, and advocate, we can correct the injustices of the past, and honour the memory of those fallen, by ensuring no more suffer in this way.

And in that way, this March is tribute to those we have lost and a promise to those yet to come…

Never again.

– Jeff

This morning the plan was simple–get up, get dressed, look presentable, and wow the CBC film crew who were going to show up at 11am. Everything went down according to plan, perfectly, except that last part. Unfortunately, the CBC crew were a bit short handed today and couldn’t make the run out to the east end of Toronto, plus they wanted a bit more time to research the story. However, the reporter was quite apologetic and explained that they’re really stoked to do a story about what I’m doing and excited to draw attention to the transportation situation. All great news! From this point on, my cell phone would be literally ringing off the hook for the rest of the day.

First I got a call from who I can only presume is a member of the CBC radio team (I was a little confused when someone else called from CBC immediately after I hung up the phone) expressing interest in the story and explaining the producer would be in touch sometime early next week: awesome.

It wasn’t long after that I received a call from Matt, a member of Leeanna’s team in Toronto, confirming details for Monday morning. Matt, explained how things are going to work and warned that we should be ready for a boring and dry question period but to be honest (and expose myself for the nerd that I am) I’m kind of excited to get into Queens Park and see first hand how things operate–see what the camera’s don’t show us. Granted, it won’t be a Toronto Raptors game…although I do fully expect John Tory to take the ball downtown all morning, pulling off some totally righteous slam dunks or maybe an Ally-Oop pass to Howard Hampton. I just hope I can find a vendor to sell me a giant foam “We’re #1″ fingers.

Shortly there after (by this point I’m starting to get cell-phone elbow) I finally link up with my friend Catherine Frazee, a disability studies professor at Ryerson and all-star disability advocate, and as it turns out, tomorrow there is a big event going down at the Royal Ontario Museum and Catherine is in need of some extra hands (or mouths, as it turns out). So, I will be at the Royal Ontario Museum tomorrow for the “Out from Under: Disability, History and Things to Remember” (link here) special speaker Georgina Kleege. After her presentation, my task, which I accepted anxiously and excitedly, is to help individuals with visual impairments experience the exhibit by reading a custom-written description of one of the exhibits. My job will be to explain the exhibit dedicated to Jim Derksen, a scrappy disability activist who was instrumental in lobbying for many of the legislation that provide the Mobilize March with important legal foundations. I’m absolutely honoured that Catherine would think of me to help out with this and cannot wait!

If this wasn’t enough excitement for one day, I also received a call this afternoon from the Directorate of Disability, a wing of the Ontario Government dedicated to implementing AODA legislation, who have invited me to come and chat sometime later next week. This will be a really good opportunity to hear more about what the government is doing right now to improve accessibility and for me to express how we desperately need improved accessible transportation standards.

Finally, what better way to cap a day off than with a phone call from the Lt. Governor of Ontario? A representative from the Honourable David Onley’s office called this afternoon on my personal cell phone…apparently the Queen is keeping tabs on me!. Unfortunately, I haven’t been keeping my personal phone on, to avoid a ridiculous long distance bill, and when I discovered I had missed a call the office had already closed. I’m curious to hear what is brewing over at the Lt. Governor’s office!

Monday can’t come soon enough!

– Jeff

After a bit of slugging, I think I’ve finally finished the first concrete draft on my letter to the London City Council. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, now I just have to take the grind stone to it a little tomorrow to shave off some of the flab. As soon as it’s ready to go I’ll make sure to post it on the blog somewhere.

The big plan for today was to get my chair looked at and tuned up before making our big push to Ottawa the week after next. Hilariously, we are practically staying in a hotel directly beside Shoppers Home Healthcare, so the drive over only took about 5 minutes (4 minutes was spent driving past it and realizing we’d gone too far). Once we got in and did some introductions we got down to work. The service tech, Mark, was absolutely amazing. Not only does he know his way around a wheelchair, but he was also a great conversationalist–we had a really good chat. Luckily, we were able to quickly rule out any problems with the motors and brakes (phewf) and after a bit of investigation, Mark narrowed the problem down to the controller, an expensive little piece of equipment that basically runs the entire chair–everything from communicating to the motors my mobility desires to managing the power levels. As it turns out, it appears there were some problems with the power management aspect of the system and the dips (or possible surges) of power is what was causing the lock-outs. After popping in a few new fuses and throwing in some new wiring, the chair was good as new. Jenny, the service manager at this branch, also set us up with contact numbers for the other Shoppers centers we may encounter to make sure we won’t get left behind.

If anyone is reading from Shoppers or who knows Mark or Jenny who work at the Shoppers Home Healthcare on Consumer Road in Toronto, let them know they are doing an amazing job and definitely deserve a few awards. Thank you so much.

We have some exciting news about up coming events. As you’ll notice, our online itinerary is beginning to slowly fill up. I have just confirmed that I will be at the Legislature on Monday morning for Question Period, followed immediately by a meeting with MPP Joe Dickson (Pickering/Ajax).

After this exciting day, I will then be packing up and heading over to Georgetown for a day to spend some time with my favourite former-NHL Referee, Bryan Lewis, and meet up with members of the Halton Hills government. I may or may not paint my face Maple Leaf blue for this one, just so Bryan is forced to admit he is friends with people who like the Leafs, something he will deny until his face turns Maple Leaf blue…suspicious? I think so…

Also, we have been invited to a Port Hope Council meeting in June to help celebrate Disability Awareness Week in their community. My two days in Port Hope/Cobourg are shaping up to be pretty incredible!

Finally, we have confirmed a meet and greet with the Mayor of Kingston when we arrive in town. I was getting a bit nervous that we hadn’t heard back from Kingston yet, but some times the best things in life just take a little waiting for, right? It’s great to hear they’re on board.

Well, I have an early morning ahead of me tomorrow, a camera crew from the CBC are coming over to do an interview, so there’s a chance I will be on CBC News tomorrow night a 6 o’clock (hopefully!). Tune in regardless–it’s a pretty great news cast!

Until tomorrow…

– Jeff