{"id":13482,"date":"2016-02-24T21:28:26","date_gmt":"2016-02-25T02:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=13482"},"modified":"2016-02-24T21:28:26","modified_gmt":"2016-02-25T02:28:26","slug":"respect-seniors-at-the-aflc-says-user","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/respect-seniors-at-the-aflc-says-user\/","title":{"rendered":"Respect seniors at the AFLC, says user"},"content":{"rendered":"

This letter is about asking the Town of Aurora to respect our senior residents, and the accessibility of the Aurora Family Leisure Complex (AFLC).
\nThe issue of re-opening the back door of the renovated AFLC for members with mobility issues continues to drag on.
\nThe long walk from the front parking lot to the door and then back to the pool is challenging for many older users, and discourages participation.
\nWhile the AFLC is legally compliant with accessibility legislation, in practice it is sorely lacking. After the November 24 order of Council, the north door was modified to accommodate members with mobility challenges \u2013 and improve accessibility.
\nNow the debate is who to allow access to.
\nThe draft memorandum prepared by Aurora Parks and Recreation that will be considered by Council in March demands detailed proof of a diagnosed disability (a car permit) or medical condition (letter from a registered health care practitioner) for a member to be issued with a FOB that will open this door.
\nBut this issue was never primarily about those with diagnosed disabilities.
\nThere are sufficient handicapped parking spots on the front and side of the AFLC. Yes, for those pool users with serious handicaps \u2013 the back door access will certainly be helpful.
\nThe main concern is with the aging demographic in our population who are NOT disabled, but suffering from mild to moderate mobility issues, much of which is simply a part of getting older. As we move into our more senior years, for many people it just gets harder to walk long distances, especially in winter. And that demographic is set to expand exponentially over the next few years.
\nThis memorandum effectively makes the aging process a medical condition – something that must be proved with a note from your doctor. Instead of honouring and welcoming older people and making it easier for them to participate, it does the opposite; it requires the aging person to jump through even more hoops. It will also cost money for these notes.
\nIn an age when most businesses honour and welcome seniors by offering them special considerations, by this memorandum the Town of Aurora dishonours and penalizes them. These are our aging parents and grandparents, and you and me down the road. Hopefully we will find a more respectful reception than what is being offered here.
\nTo receive a FOB that opens the back door, our older member should simply be able to say, \u201cI\u2019m finding the long walk to be a challenge.\u201d
\nMaking this privilege available to anyone over a certain age means they only have to produce an ID with their age on it. Let\u2019s not disrespect and discourage our older members by forcing them to jump through hoops and disclose the personal details of their aging issues. <\/p>\n

Janet Matthews
\nAurora<\/strong><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This letter is about asking the Town of Aurora to respect our senior residents, and the accessibility of the Aurora Family Leisure Complex (AFLC). The issue of re-opening the back door of the renovated AFLC for members with mobility issues continues to drag on. The long walk from the front parking lot to the door […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-3vs","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-17 10:41:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13482\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}