May 28, 2013 · 0 Comments
By Brock Weir
Aurora residents will have the chance to experience some of the challenges disabled people face every day in our community through the Mobility Maze.
Spearheaded by a number of community groups, including the Community Legal Clinic of York Region, the Mobility Maze will take over the Aurora Community Centre on Wednesday, June 5 putting people, including the lawmakers that have the potential to make a difference, through their paces in experiencing these challenges, such as taking public transit, first hand.
Council endorsed the Mobility Maze last month following a pitch from Mr. Barker, and Kim McKinnon of the Community Legal Clinic.
In speaking to the challenges, Mr. Barker highlighted one of his own experienced earlier in the evening when he was unable to book accessible dial-a-ride transit to bring him to Town Hall from his home to make the presentation. Instead, he had to take an accessible taxi with the hefty surcharges that come with the service.
“The more people that are involved, the more awareness is created,” said Ms. MacKinnon of the Mobility Maze. “The Mobility Maze will replicate as best as possible what it would be like to take Mobility Plus services in York Region from the point of application to the point of travel destination, making an appointment and travelling back. There will be booths set up and people will come in, get instructions on what will happen that day, and they will be given identities with a journey outlining where it is they are supposed to be going. They will then begin their journey and attend different booths to determine how to get to their destination and back.
“Employers, doctors, places where people would go for appointments, grade school kids, and everybody is welcome to come and try and understand the difficulties people might face. It is opened up to whomever might be impacted or involved with anybody who has a disability and have to get to an appointment, or a blood test, or shopping, and we would particularly love medical people to come out.”
The Mobility Maze takes place at the Aurora Community Centre on Wednesday, June 5. Registration begins at 1 p.m. For more information, call 905-508-5018.