Taking your kids to gymnastics gets a lot more difficult when you can’t get through the front door.
As a father of three, Matthew Loring ventures to the SASCU Recreation Centre up to five times per week. But for someone who sits in a 31-inch wheelchair, entry to the community facility can be daunting.
With renovations to the centre drawing near, Loring, who has been a quadriplegic for two years, thought it a good time to address accessibility issues at the centre.
“In a place like this, where there is such a wide variety of people coming, I think it is financially justified to make it accessible,” he said.
The front entrance at the auditorium is nearly impossible for Loring to get through. The double glass doors are heavy and, with limited hand and wrist function, he can hardly get the door open, let alone manoeuvre his wheelchair through. The doors, he adds, are also too heavy for his four-year-old daughter.
Loring almost made it through the doors last Thursday, his first near-success in two years.
The aquatic entrance has an automatic door, making swimming lessons an easier task – until you reach the family and handicapped change room entrance. A short wall to the right of the door limits how wide the door can open to get a wheelchair through.
To get to the auditorium from the pool entrance, Loring faces two more sets of doors before the lobby. This route includes doors with knobs – something that also poses difficulty.
“In a building like this, there is a responsibility to keep it as accessible to the community as possible,” he says, adding that someone with a stroller or an elderly person would also find access difficult.
Loring sent a letter to the rec centre, city councillors and Mayor Nancy Cooper. The response, he said, had an unexpected sense of urgency.
“I appreciate Matthew sending that because I had no idea,” Cooper said. “We want to remove all those barriers.”
The centre closes on Aug. 16 for renovations, but upgrades won’t improve all accessibility issues this time around.
City engineer Jennifer Walters explained current upgrades are mechanical and mandatory for the pool to continue operating. The renovation includes upgrades to boilers, heat exchangers, wading and main pool filters, pool deck drain and addition of UV disinfection treatment.
There will be upgrades to failing infrastructure as well, including the aquatic entrance and some windows. The aquatic entrance doors will be replaced by automatic sliding doors due to ongoing complaints, Shuswap Recreation Society manager Dale Berger said. He noted there is a possibility leftover parts of the handicap door might be used elsewhere.
“Accessibility is a high priority at the rec centre,” said Berger. “It’s something we do take seriously.”
Unfortunately, it can’t all be addressed during this closure because it wasn’t included in the grant application.
Loring agrees the two issues are separate, but still wants to see accessibility addressed in the near future.
Cooper wants to see what the cost would be and if the city has the money for the upgrades as soon as possible. Loring’s advice would be valued in the process, she said.
The recreation society will consider further upgrades through the regular budgeting process and Berger said that time is drawing near. Because accessibility upgrades would not require the centre to close, they can be completed at any time.
Loring is confident the city will thoroughly analyze accessibility issues with good results.
“For certain people with disabilities this is a great facility,” he says. “There’s no reason why we can’t make it a great one.”