Advocates say N.B.'s plan for improving accessibility misses the mark

The province is set to table legislation in the spring that aims to improve accessibility for those with disabilities, but advocates say the plan misses the mark.

Thelegislation emphasizes what's called "universal design," which meanseverything frombuildings and the environment to individualproducts is designed to beaccessible to all people, regardless of their ability or disability.

Shelly Petit, of the New Brunswick Coalition of Persons with Disabilities, hopes it will be a foundational shift in the province for the growing number of people who struggle with mobility.

"Imagine thisyou go home today and you're injured and you're in a wheelchair. Can you even get in your front door? Can you get to your toilet? Just the little things that we take for granted all the time."

WATCH | Why a chief accessibility officer is needed to enforce new rules:

New legislation aims to improve accessibility for disabled people in N.B.

7 months ago

Duration 1:15

'Universal design' will apply to all sectors, but advocates want to strengthen the legislation before it's introduced in the spring.

Petit recently posed those same questionsto a legislative committee.

She was one of a handful of advocates asked for feedback on the province'sframework for accessibility legislation,which has been tabled in the legislature.

Based on universal design

Haley Flaro, executive director of Ability New Brunswick, was also there. She applauds the focus on universal design.

"Universal design is a design for everyone. It's flexible, it's perceptible, it's easy to navigate, it doesn't require costlymodifications. It really is designed for all ages and abilities," she said.

Under the legislation, housing, transportation and government infrastructure along with other sectorswould be designed from the outset with accessibility in mind.

According to Statistics Canada, New Brunswick has the second-highest disability rate in the country at 35per cent of the population. It also has the highest increase almost nine per cent in the disability rate over a five-year period.

Flaro saidthese numbers show the level of need in the province for facilities, services, policies and programs to be designed with disabilities in mind.

Legislation casts a wide net but misses the mark

The new legislation is being introduced by the Department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour.

Once in effect, it will require provincial departments to start addressing everyday barriers such as reducing the height of counters and providing technology so everyone can access documents.

Both Petit and Flaro have concerns about the framework though. In particular, they want someone at arm's length of government who will oversee the legislation and enforce it.

The tabled framework is based on a July proposal the New Brunswick Disability Executive Network, which Flaro representing Ability N.B. is a part of.

Included in the original proposal was a recommendation for a chief accessibility officera role that would, among other things, oversee compliance and enforcement.

Flaro had hoped that person could "bea leader in hiring people with disabilities and to educate departments on this."

"Unfortunately none of that was in the model proposed by the select committee," she said.

Petit, like Flaro, believes accountability should be outsidegovernment, and it should come with penalties.

While Flaro does support the legislation being in Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour's purview and is optimistic the department will take feedback into account, she said it's too much power centralized under a single minister.

"Best practice shows that it should be arm's-length from the government. You don't want one department issuing compliance orders to another," said Flaro.

Lived experience is key

Flaro said "meaningful engagement of people with disabilities" is also lacking in the framework.

"It's really nothing without us what that ensures is that people in ivory towers aren't designing legislation, programs and policies that they don't have any real experience with," she said.

"These are the individuals that are living these roadblocks and barriers every dayroadblocks to going to post-secondary, getting jobs, accessing services to be independent. This is a very often isolated population. So it's really critical that there be meaningful engagement."

CBC News reached out to the Department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour, but no one was available for an interview. Inan emailed statement, a spokesperson said all feedback on the legislation is being considered.

"It is the department's intention to ensure people with lived experience are at the centreof this important work," wrote department spokesperson Paul Bradley.

"That's why the tabled framework included an advisory body composed of people with lived experience that would support the development of accessibility standards, advise on accessibility plans and assist with education, awareness, compliance and enforcement."