Is Edmonton public transit truly accessible?
Research shows that people living with disabilities in Edmonton are experiencing significant challenges with mobility in the city.
Research conducted by the University of Alberta, Radical Inclusion and the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights is highlighting that people living with disabilities in Edmonton are experiencing challenges with mobility in their everyday life. In addition to these challenges, the research is pointing to an inefficient, ineffective business model for transit service for those with disabilities, that the voices of persons with disabilities are not being heard, and that those who are hard of hearing are facing unique barriers.
Five focus groups were held between March - July 2022 facilitated by Radical Inclusion (a team of people working to advance disability rights in Alberta) with a total participation of 45 people with lived experience. The series of conversations, during this time, focused on:
how people living with disabilities in Edmonton experience the public transit system
how the system can be changed to better ensure the mobility rights and
how human rights of people living with disability in Edmonton can be improved
For a summary of the research, visit here.
Research team member Sean Bouffard stated:
Public transportation is important for people with disabilities to be able to participate in all areas of life; work, school, leisure. When it is difficult to get to a bus stop because the sidewalks are not shoveled and it is difficult to walk over a windrow to get on a bus, I don’t feel like going out and risk injuring myself. It creates isolation.
Tara Mitrovic, another of the research team stated:
Accessibility and inclusion affects everyone. Even if it’s not apparent today, everybody’s needs can change at some point, you can injure yourself, break a leg, or have to use a mobility device. If those types of accessibility thoughts and features are not put in place, everyone at some point who will need them will not have them. It is not just people with disabilities that benefit, it is seniors, an individual going through health challenges, someone who slipped and broke their leg. It is important for the general population and their transportation needs and quality of life.
Mobility systems are vital in shaping individual independence and self-determination, access to basic services, participation in mainstream economic, social and cultural activities and inclusion and belonging in the community.
On this International Day on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, we ask Edmontonians, and Edmonton Transit Service to remember that mobility is a human right. Barriers to mobility can significantly hinder one’s ability to live a dignified and meaningful life.
We need change; we are in crisis. People living with disabilities don’t live a dignified life. Disability inclusion is an investment in a common future.
