Clarington launches community accessibility survey during National AccessAbility Week
Published May 30, 2023 at 2:31 pm
Clarington launched a community survey this week aimed at gathering feedback to help guide accessibility efforts in the municipality over the next five years.
“Accessibility is more than just parking spaces and doorways. We need to hear from the same community we support about what matters most to them, and that’s why this survey is so important,” said Lesley Scherer, Chair of the Clarington Accessibility Advisory Committee. “I highly encourage all residents to complete it.”
National AccessAbility Week, which kicked off Sunday and runs until this Saturday, is dedicated to encouraging Canadians to think about the barriers people with disabilities face and to find ways to help remove them.
This week has been proclaimed National Access Awareness Week in Clarington, and the Access Clarington flag has been raised at the Municipal Administrative Centre to promote and advance accessibility initiatives within the community.
In Ontario, approximately 20 per cent of people have a disability. In Clarington, that translates to 21,000 people, with many of those disabilities invisible.
The community survey is a key initiative during AccessAbility Week, helping involve the community in shaping Clarington’s accessibility efforts and ensuring the plans align with their needs and aspirations.
The survey is available on the website at www.clarington.net/AccessibilityPlan and will remain open for feedback until Friday, June 30.
The insights gathered through the survey will help developing the Multi-Year Accessibility Plan, which outlines strategic objectives, targets, and actionable steps to enhance accessibility across the organization, services, and facilities.
“We firmly believe that accessibility is a fundamental right, and it is our duty to ensure that every individual in our community can participate fully,” said Clarington Mayor Adrian Foster. “We want to hear what’s working and what’s not for people with disabilities in Clarington. We want to identify areas of improvement so we can plan to address them. We also want to hear what works well to build on those successes. Together, we can build a more inclusive future.”
For more information and to take the Clarington accessibility survey, please visit www.clarington.net/AccessibilityPlan.
