2018 Reflections

Good Day Everybody,

I just want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I hope next year brings you a lot of joy!! It's been a good year for me, and I've been reflecting on it! I got on the Calgary Transit Access Appeal Board. Both of my films made it to the "Picture This" Film Festival held in April. I created an app with the help of some really smart engineering and design students at the UofC. The whole process took about seven months and was made possible by TOM (Tikkun Olam Makers). I even did an interview for Universal Access!

I tried skiing and absolutely fell in love!! I'm going to get back at it in the beginning of 2019! Trying new things is so good for my soul. I want to keep pushing my comfort zone and having new adventures, it's the only way to keep living and growing. Would you expect anything different from me? I also tried sailing this year and discovered that it's not quite my cup of tea... it's a little boring, so I won't be returning to that activity. I want to do something WILD next year... if you have any ideas please let me know!! 

Something I learned this year is that I need to be more forward with my thoughts, ideas, and opinions. This is true in my relationships as well as my professional life. I'm sure 2019 will give me plenty of opportunities to do so. One of my ideas is to turn my book into a play and have one of my friends be a part of that process. I don't know what that will look like, but that's part of the fun. 

What I am doing in the next couple of months

Good day,

I hope everybody is having a good summer. I am enjoying it for sure. I try to be more active and to be more involved in the community. Being part of the Calgary Transit Access Eligibility Appeal Board gives me the opportunity to advocate for the people with disabilities in the city, but I have the feeling that I have to do more. Next month I will apply to be part of the Advisory Committee on Accessibility, because I want to be an ambassador for the accessibility community and City of Calgary, trying to improve the quality of people's lives. 

The next step is to make a movie for the Superfest International Disability Film Festival in California. It will be a short movie, 45 minutes long. The festival has awards and prizes like Disable Filmmaker Award, Advocacy Award and Access Award. I will send my movie to the Advocacy Award where they will choose the film with the most powerful message for disability justice. The movie will highlight the successes and struggles of people with disability, relying on my life experience and story. 

Accessible Taxi Services in Calgary.

Hey Everyone! I got to be a part of a meeting regarding Accessible Taxi Services in Calgary. Several members of the community including myself shared our difficulties with using the current services and changes are going to be made!! I put my speech it below if anyone is interested in checking it out. https://globalnews.ca/news/4069327/calgary-city-committee-wants-fund-to-improve-accessible-taxi-service/

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everybody!

I hope the New Year is good to you all! I'm sitting in the food court downtown, watching everyone get something to eat... I'm thinking about what is in store for me. I am starting off by writing a letter to the TD Square Core about the lack of accessible washrooms...

 They only have one in this mall and it's in the food court... on the fourth floor. I think it's stupid that they only have one washroom that's "accessible", and it's on the FOURTH FLOOR! I personally think they should have one on the bottom floor.. I mean what if access is late and I need to use the washroom? I don't have time to get in the elevator and go upstairs to go to the washroom.... Even when I go to the washroom I will often find someone using the only one accessible to me... usually it's someone quite "able-bodied" who comes out. I just think to myself "seriously? In this entire washroom you need to use THAT stall?" 

I realized this year that I want to take a stand for myself and others who are affected by the same situation(s)... I will no longer take these minor violations against my basic human rights lying down.... I think I have more letters to write!!  

Another FUN day with Access

This is my pet peeve for the day:

What do you do if you have to line on someone to pick you up? Every week I go out three times: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and I need nine trips with Access for that. On Wednesday I go to the gym to work out, and than I go to the mall to work on my writing. Last night I phoned Access to see what time is for my ride for the next day. It said that I have three trips for today: the first one between 8:10 - 8:30 am to pick me from my house, the second one to pick me from the gym at 10:30-10:50 am and than the last one to pick me up from the mall between 2:05 to 2:25pm. 

So last night was fine, but in the morning I gut up and get ready and I went down stairs because I live in an apartment and I always go down five minutes before my window starts. I went down around 8:05 am. At 8:30 a phoned to double check my pick-up for today.They told me that I have two rides today so I went back upstairs to tell my roommate what happened.  She called to talk to someone on my behalf and they said that i was canceled . My roommate told them that she called last night and it was ok and she asked if they can get me another buss for this morning.  They  said to hold on and they will find another buss. They came back after a couple of minutes later and ask if I can go in a cab. I was a little upset because I used Access for 18 years and I couldn't understand why they couldn't send a bus instead of a cab for me. They are supposed to know that I can't take my power wheelchair with me in the cab. So I messaged my facilitator to tell her what happened and explain that I will be late. I also mentioned that I'll be comming in my manual wheelchair. She helped push me around and I'm so grateful for her help. It's ok but I love my other wheelchair more because I can go whatever I want and I don't have to rely on people. 

I really hope that other people don't have the same experience as me.

The Problem with ACCESS CALGARY

How would your life be if you have to rely on handi-bus every day? Let me share with you my experience with handi-bus. I grew up in Airdrie  and there was a handi-bus that serviced Airdrie and surrounding towns. I used that system until I moved to Calgary at eighteen. I like it because they know who I was and my mom was on the board.  Moving to Calgary was a big change for me because the city is so much bigger than where I came from. 

When I first move to Calgary If I wanted to go somewhere I had to book to days in advance. In fact when it came to personal trips such as going for coffee, or to the movie I had to book even further in advance and that's suck because you don't know what you'll do in a week. Now you can book a trip for anything you want one day before, but when you call you have to be on hold for 30-45 minutes. There is a 20 minutes window in which your vehicle will arrive. Often times the drivers will be late because Calgary is so spread out and sometimes there are unexpected accidents and mechanical failure. 

For me I hate waiting but I have no choice and I have to use Access Calgary to get around. Sometimes I go all over Calgary, because the drivers are fallowing this unorganized list of addresses. Even if I'm really close to my home I may go all over in Calgary before reaching my destination. 

Sometimes I can be dropped up at a location a half an hour earlier than I requested. For example, in the morning I booked a trip around 9, and they came to pick me up at 8. 

At the end of the day I'm grateful that I can get out just like everyone else, but I have to believe that we can do better like a community to support those who use this service.