{"id":22579,"date":"2019-01-03T12:45:03","date_gmt":"2019-01-03T17:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=22579"},"modified":"2019-01-03T12:45:03","modified_gmt":"2019-01-03T17:45:03","slug":"community-recognition-barker-honoured-as-accessibility-difference-maker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/community-recognition-barker-honoured-as-accessibility-difference-maker\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Recognition: Barker honoured as accessibility difference-maker"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tyler Barker is not resting on his laurels \u2013 there\u2019s still much more work to be done.
\nThat was the message Mr. Barker delivered earlier this year as he accepted the Town of Aurora\u2019s 2018 Inclusivity Award, part of the Community Recognition Awards\u2019 program.
\nMr. Barker was recognized by the Town for his contributions not only as chair of Aurora\u2019s Accessibility Advisory Committee, but also for his advocacy work well beyond Town limits, including his vocal promotion of a new fully accessible washroom trailer is becoming a familiar sight at many large-scale York Region events.
\n\u201cThe inclusivity award is presented to an individual, group or business which has contributed to making the Town of Aurora a more accessible and inclusive place to live, work and play for all people,\u201d said event emcee Brian North, reading Mr. Barker\u2019s citation.
\n\u201cTyler Barker is a pillar of our community for his incredible work focusing on accessibility. Tyler has been the chair of the Accessibility Committee for four years and has moved the town\u2019s AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) objectives to completion and beyond. As the Chair of the Town of Aurora Accessibility committee, Tyler\u2019s passion to ensure inclusivity is at the forefront of all aspects of our Town, reviewing buildings, parks, parking requirements and much more, which will continue to allow all individuals in Aurora the freedom to live their lives to the fullest.
\n\u201cFor instance, Tyler was instrumental in identifying the needs for ramps with older buildings. His efforts aren\u2019t just focused on Aurora, as they also consulted with Upper Canada Mall to have them create a barrier free accessible washroom. Additionally, Tyler advocated for a fully accessible portable washroom trailer which could operate at special events. This was the first of its kind and was displayed at the 2017 Invictus Games. This trailer will now be shared with the York Region Festivals and other community events. The positive impact Tyler makes through his advocacy is endless.\u201d
\nWhile the impact of Mr. Barker\u2019s advocacy might be endless, so is his to-do list.
\n\u201cThank you very much, but I would like to point out a fundamental fact: it takes more than one reason to keep true accessibility in the community,\u201d said Mr. Barker, thanking his fellow Committee members, particularly Gordon Barnes and Jo-ann Spitzer, for their work, as well as the support of Councillors Wendy Gaertner and Sandra Humfryes, and then-Deputy Mayor John Abel. \u201cLast, but not least, [I would like to thank] my mother, Patrice Barker. She allowed me to come up with my own ideas to make true accessibility a reality.
\n\u201cI am passionate as I understand the challenges I and many others face on a daily basis. There are many things that still need to be accomplished. In Ontario, transportation has to be truly accessible. Transportation is a fundamental right for every Ontarian. Let\u2019s work together to make this happen. Lastly, before communities undertake projects, reach out to the disabled community because true accessibility benefits all. Thank you very much.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tyler Barker is not resting on his laurels \u2013 there\u2019s still much more work to be done.
\nThat was the message Mr. Barker delivered earlier this year as he accepted the Town of Aurora\u2019s 2018 Inclusivity Award, part of the Community Recognition Awards\u2019 program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":22561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/2019-01-03-06.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-5Sb","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-17 05:45:53","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\/22579","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=22579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}