Judy Norbury was four when she had polio.

Since then, she has been unable to walk. Despite her diagnosis, Norbury lives a fully autonomous life. The Royston resident drives an adapted car, takes the bus daily and runs some errands in her wheelchair.

Yet, she said that life as a person living with a disability is not always a piece of cake. The most trivial task for one may turn out to be the real struggle for others.

For Norbury, who also sits on the Cumberland Accessibility and Inclusion Committee, the issue resides in the lack of accessibility, availability and maintenance of things like adapted parking spaces and amenities suitable for people with handicaps.

Gravel parking lots, non-adapted washrooms, inadequate curb cuts, poorly maintained handicap parking signs, inconveniently positioned parking spaces and bins obstructing sidewalks on garbage collection days can significantly impede one鈥檚 day.

The advocate explained that something as simple as parking downtown can be particularly challenging.

When one gets out of their car, they immediately step into traffic, making the process of getting their wheelchair or walking props a dangerous endeavour. Once they are all set, the next challenge is to find a curb cut to make it onto the sidewalk.

Ramesh Lad, founder of Step By Step Accessibility Consulting, a firm dedicated to creating inclusive designs that prioritize accessibility and usability for individuals of all abilities, shared Norbury鈥檚 concerns.

As a man with living experience, Lad said that these daily challenges are not limited to wheelchair users and also extend to people with visual impairments, learning disabilities and hearing impairments among others.

鈥淚鈥檓 not trying to say that negatively, but historically people haven鈥檛 looked at accessibility (as an issue). Yet, I think it鈥檚 something that鈥檚 becoming (increasingly considered),鈥� said Lad. 鈥淧eople, local authorities and businesses are becoming more and more aware of that as time goes on, but it鈥檚 still got a long way to go.鈥�

Recognizing the progress that is currently being made, the entrepreneur emphasized that a more holistic approach to addressing accessibility would benefit all members of the community.

鈥淎 lot of the accessibility features that we work with are going to be advantageous to everyone,鈥� said Lad. 鈥淔or example, having a ramp into a building isn鈥檛 just going be useful for somebody with a mobility device. It鈥檚 also useful for people with strollers or parents with young kids.鈥�

As the median age for municipalities like and is getting older - averaging 52 and 50 years respectively, a decade older than the - Lad mentioned that there will be a much greater need for accessible amenities in the next decades.

鈥�(Our) society needs to realize is there鈥檚 a whole bunch of baby boomers out there鈥� who are gonna getting older and might need facilities, programs, accessible parking and so on,鈥� he said. 鈥淪omewhere along the way, we鈥檙e going to have a silver tsunami, as I like to call it, who is gonna require all those things.鈥�

Piggybacking on Lad鈥檚 statement, Christopher Bates, co-ordinator of the Comox Valley Social Planning Society (CVSPS), also recognized the region鈥檚 local government鈥檚 willingness to improve the situation.

鈥淓very municipality (has) its challenges and thankfully are trying to address them,鈥� said Bates. 鈥淥ne of the things that I鈥檒l give all four jurisdictions credit to is that they鈥檝e all signed on to a regional Accessibility Committee鈥� and we worked with (them) to address accessibility issues in the Valley.

鈥淚nstead of training a whole bunch of people doing different pieces of work in different regions, they came to (us) and (asked for our help.) Kudos to them for making efforts.鈥�

Since spring 2023, CVSPS and local organizations have been working with community members to assess Valley accessibility. They identified strengths, areas needing improvement and offered recommendations to address issues.

This project was called the .

Jordan Wall, Comox鈥檚 corporate administrative officer, said that the town received the audits on March 4, and is currently reviewing it.

鈥淲e are taking a look through it very closely and what we are going to do will be based on this audit鈥檚 assessment,鈥� said Wall. 鈥淲e are going to be creating an accessibility plan that we are (going to present) to the council and the community for review and input and start making some changes to improve accessibility around the community.鈥�

With urban planning practices and policies from decades ago often neglecting accessibility considerations, Wall mentioned that these past oversights currently negatively influence today鈥檚 reality.

鈥淥ne of the big challenges we have is about the amount of space that we have. In the past sidewalks were smaller and you didn鈥檛 have to provide space for alternate transport lanes,鈥� said Wall. 鈥淏ecause development happens in sort of puzzle pieces, it鈥檚 really difficult to provide a quick overall change.鈥�

Though everyone agrees that change won鈥檛 happen overnight, any positive change, big or small, is a step in the right direction.

鈥淲e believe that the community, businesses and residents in this town are all interested in making this a more welcoming and accessible place,鈥� said Wall. 鈥淭he accessibility review is a really fantastic document. Now it鈥檚 time for us to start taking a really good look into this and seeing what we can do.鈥�

Related: Advocate pushes Comox for better accessibility in downtown core

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