Innisfil council was able to access some extra money for the town’s accessibility committee.
During its Feb. 14 meeting, council approved additional funding for the Innisfil Accessibility Advisory Committee, not to exceed $2,500, for the purchase of five new youth wheelchairs. That money will help the committee continue its work with the Breaking Down Barriers Awareness Program.
Since 2013, the accessibility committee has been offering the Breaking Down Barriers Awareness Program. Designed for Grade 5 students, the program provides hands-on demonstrations relating to barriers people with disabilities face every day. For the past eight years, volunteers have been bringing the program into Innisfil elementary schools, hosting five in-person events in 2023.
“It provides interactive learning activities that help raise accessibility awareness,” said Hilary Mallett, Vice-Chair of the committee. “The students learn about various barriers experienced every day, how to address and change the stigmas associated with disabilities and how to establish community awareness.”
It's the only program of its kind in Simcoe County, but the neighbours are knocking on the door. Schools in Barrie and other county organizations want the committee to take the program to their communities, but it’s not feasible, Mallet said, for their volunteer organization to make such a commitment.
Even before expansion could be considered, the continued feasibility of running the program in Innisfil needs to be ensured. The committee met with the YMCA about hosting three annual events where students would be bused to a central location. Costs and liability issues regarding transportation sent the plan back to the drawing board and eventually sent the committee to council looking for additional funding.
“The committee determined that in order to continue with this very valuable education program – and school demonstrations were important – therefore we need to ensure that all equipment required for this program is supplied by (the committee),” Mallett said.
The demonstrations involve learning about different types of vision and hearing loss, various sensory challenges and other cognitive issues. Wheelchairs are also used in the demonstration, which to this point have been borrowed from several different sources. An advertising campaign in 2023 that sought wheelchair donations to the committee did not result in any usable items being received.
Since then, eight of the 13 wheelchairs needed for the program have been secured, through Superior Home Healthcare donating three youth wheelchairs and committee member Dana Donaldson donating five adult wheelchairs.
Through Superior, the committee can purchase five new youth wheelchairs for $425 each, but council needed to provide the funding first.
“I implore you to see this request as urgent and not something that can wait,” said Rod Boynton, a member of the committee who also spoke during the presentation. “The program cannot risk continuing with substandard equipment.”
Replacing other equipment, such as the hearing and vision equipment, can be done through the committee’s approved budget. Provincial funding was investigated, council was told, but the group did not qualify.
Coun. Rob Saunders, who chairs the accessibility committee, moved for council to pay for the wheelchairs.
“The Innisfil Accessibility Advisory Committee has seen a significant increase in popularity for the Breaking Down Barrier Awareness Program and the program’s sustainability is compromised due to the inability to keep borrowing wheelchairs,” he said.
Saunders called on his colleagues to support the funding request, given the successful collaboration with Superior Home Healthcare to get the five additional wheelchairs at a “reduced and reasonable cost,” as well as to “demonstrate their commitment and support for this important community program.”
Council was eager to do so, especially those who had seen the program in action.
“I was able to attend one of the programs at the schools and thought it was great and loved the feedback from the kids,” said Coun. Jennifer Richardson, while Deputy Mayor Kenneth Fowler lauded the combined effort of staff and volunteers to make the program work and give students an experience they never considered could happen to them.
The funding, passed unanimously, will come from council’s strategic funds.
