Strive to Include

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I was going to take a break from writing about accessibilityand barriers to same. There was enough of an inaccessibility flurry before mybirthday, what with Winners and Metro, the LCBO and Buskerfest and to behonest, I'm tired. Tired of not being able to use stores and spaces the sameway my able-bodied brethren can. Tired of having to fight for the right to payfor my purchases. So tired of coming up against not being welcome in so manyplaces. It wears you down. So I decided that my birthday was going to be aturning point. I was going to take a break from this particular for a while andfocus on the positive.


And then this thing happened. Get comfy. I am about to rant.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about revisiting the scenesof the inaccessibility crimes in two locations, Winners and Metro. I wroteabout how Metro was having some problems related to barrier-free policies thatwould support their barrier-free design. More specifically, that the accessiblecheckouts - the only two with lowered pinpads which were supposed to be staffedat all times - had begun to often be closed. There was also the small matter ofthe pinpad at the pharmacy being completely inaccessible, likely even byOntario Building Code standards and that's saying something.
In that post, I didn't mention a couple of other annoyances,among them access to the store. My original reason for writing about Metro andcontacting them regarding lack of access was the new antitheft gate. The onethat was very narrow and required people in wheelchairs to push it open withtheir bosom. This is also the antitheft gate that was subsequently widened.Furthermore, a policy was made to ensure that the bars on this date would bedown during the day when there was more staff available to keep an eye on things.This policy, blessedly, is still in place, allowing full access by people usingwalkers, wheelchairs or scooters. Of which there is a much higher than averagepercentage in my neighbourhood, all of whom now have equal access to the store(at least during the day).
Until, that is, the Ontario summer fruits came on the marketand the store placed a large display of peaches, pears, and the like in thearea, partly blocking the antitheft gate. It is not a problem for me, but mywheelchair has a 16 inch base. Most wheelchairs for adults have an 18 inch baseand scooters tend to be at least that wide, as well. They won't be able to passthrough. Thus illustrating a point I make over and over again: you can create aperfectly barrier-free building, but if your staff isn’t trained to considerbarriers to accessibility and places displays in front of gates, ramps,elevators and the like, you have accomplished nothing.
The pharmacy pinpad at Metro has also not been changed to anaccessible one. I suspect this may be due to the manager to whom I spoke aboutthis issue no longer working in the store.
And while we're on pinpads, here’s what happened to make mewrite this post. Yesterday, I went to Metro to buy some groceries. They’regetting new pinpads. Look like really good new pinpads. Fancy, solid ones. Wannaguess how they’re installed by the accessible checkouts?
Yup. Not lowered like the old ones were. Not detachable.Hence not accessible to many customers who use wheelchairs.
This should not have happened. I will almost - but onlyalmost - accept the explanation about following the Ontario Building Code thefirst time I contact a company regarding barriers to accessibility. As I’vementioned before many, many times, the OBC assumes that people with disabilitiesare like everyone else, just sitting down. They do not make any allowances inheight requirements for automatic door buttons pinpads and the like for thefact that disability may also - and often - affect mobility in one’s upperbody.
However, when you have once before been contacted by acustomer complaining about the lack of access in your stores, including theheight of the pinpads AND you have once before met with that customer to reviewaccessibility in a store AND have subsequently implemented design and policychanges to make that store more accessible, including lowering pinpads ataccessible checkouts, you do not get tomake the same mistake again less than two years later. Especially not whencertain customer service regulations of the Accessibility for Ontarians withDisabilities Act came into effect in January 2012.
When you do so, you can no longer claim ignorance of theissues. When you do so, you can no longer say 'oops.' When you change youraccessible pinpads to not beingaccessible, what you are doing is called purposeful exclusion.
Purposeful exclusion. Doesn’t sound nice, does it? Soundspositively discriminatory, doesn’t it?
Purposeful exclusion and discriminatory are two bigconcepts. Concepts that have a tendency to make people uncomfortable andsquirmy. So let’s put them to the test, shall we? Substitute another group fordisability and if it sounds discriminatory, it qualifies. 
What would you say iffemale customers couldn’t pay for prescriptions? Or if customers from a racialminority couldn’t enter the store? Yes, it’s squirmy, but it’s alsounacceptable.
As a business, do you really want to purposefully exclude15% of your customer base? A percentage which is only going to increase as thebaby boomers age. A percentage which in this particular neighbourhood isprobably much higher. Do you want to discriminate against that many of yourcustomers when they are four other grocery chains in the same neighbourhood? Itseems like an unusual approach to doing business. Consider this instead: becomethe grocery store that is the most accessible of them all. Give that 15% andtheir family and friends in the neighbourhood a reason to choose you over thecompetition.
Strive to be barrier-free. Aim to be inclusive. Not because it’s the law (althoughthere is that). 
Because it’s the right thing to do.