NAWW,the work is not done

Happy Access Awareness Week everyone!

For those of you who are unaware, access awareness week is a time that the disability community gets together to celebrate it’s victories in improving accessibility for all individuals in their community. Before I go any further I would like to plan out that accessibility is not only about accessible spaces physically but making sure that all individuals have the same opportunities regardless of neurological or physical differences.

Nova Scotia has had an accessibility week for decades but for the first time ever there is now a national accessibility week because of the new Accessible Canada Act set to go into effect next month. As thrilling as it is for us to be able to have this legislation which for undoubtedly improve the lives of thousands of Canadians and allows them to be full citizens, it is important to remember that legislation is only the first step.

What I mean is, now that we have this legislation it is important to make sure that it is enforced and taken seriously. After all, legislation changes faster than peoples attitudes and unfortunately many people still view people with disabilities as fundamentally different from themselves. Now that we have this legislation it is more important than ever to change this mindset because as of right now the topic of disabled individuals being full citizens in their communities is more in the public consciousness than ever before. There are many ways to do this and I would caution against doing it in any formal way as this can be seen as preachy. I think the best way to do this is to go about our daily lives and treat people the way we wish to be treated. I know this seems simplistic but it is the simplest things that have the most impact and they are certainly less draining on a persons energy. Trust me as someone in the advocacy community being frustrated and angry is very tiring so I try to limit that as much as possible.

Anyway, I just wanted to take a moment to congratulate us all on a job well done and I look forward to continuing this work with my community. We’ve proven it can be done so let’s keep doing it!