Tessa Soderberg is angry.
The visually impaired woman says too often she’ll enter a store, only to be told her guide dog isn’t allowed to be there, despite it being against the law to do so.
“It is very frustrating, even though it’s the law,” she said on Thursday at the city-hall launch of the Accessibility Photo and Voice Challenge.
The challenge, put on the by the city’s Accessibility Advisory Committee, asks people with a disability to share their experiences through a photo, short video or audio recording of 30 seconds or less.
“Basically it means we’re going to make the public more aware of issues around disabilities, where people feel they are being disrespected. Hopefully, by educating people and bringing these stories to the forefront we will change that and gain the same amount of respect as everybody else,” Soderberg said.
Scott Garner, the city’s municipal accessibility specialist, said the challenge grew from feedback the city received after it started its Respect campaign.
“We were told that some people from the disabled community didn’t feel they were focused on as well. So we wanted to give them an opportunity to feel they had a voice with the Respect initiative. So this gives them that opportunity to submit as part of the challenge, some entries, some experiences, in order to show the public, show the citizens of Thunder Bay how they feel about their experiences.”
It’s a learning process, added Garner, who is also visually impaired.
Seeing is believing, he added, noting once the public sees how some members of the disabled community have been treated, they might stop to think about how they can change their ways.
The deadline for entries is Nov. 14. For more information visit www.thunderbay.ca/photovoice, email photovoice@thunderbay.ca or phone 625-2240.
