Find out how to fight back against the TTC.

Last Wednesday, the following ‘letter to the editor’ appeared in Toronto’s Now Magazine:

Disabled stay home

I am a person with a disability who does not use Wheel-Trans, as others need it more and my needs have been better met by riding the subway, which is conveniently located half a block down my street. It’s the main reason I moved here.

The new fare increase (NOW, November 19-25) will limit my ability to access my city.

Those of us who are disabled do not get a fare rate reduction like seniors or students, and yet many of us live below the poverty line.

Adding insult to injury is the token freeze, which now means I either have to pay cash to get onto the subway or use up my precious energy going the extra distance to use another entrance. Merry Christmas to me!

How well Canadian politicians look out for the least among us. Hey, maybe this is their way of telling people like me to stay home?

Michelle Moore
Toronto

I feel Michelle’s pain. When I surveyed Canada’s public transportation systems for a 2006 article in Abilities Magazine, Toronto did much worse than anticipated for a major metropolitan centre with the highest disabled population in the country.  Since that article was written, a few more subway stations have become accessible, but there’s no visible progress on the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, as the clock toward the fully-accessible deadline of 2024 keeps ticking down. The AODA Alliance continues to make transportation recommendations at the government’s request. Even the long overdue accessible streetcars, scheduled to begin appearing in 2011, will be implemented on a incremental basis. It remains to be seen how accessible the planned York University subway extension will be.

As Michelle points out, the token freeze further squeezes the already dwindled resources of the disabled population. People with disabilities occupy the highest segment of unemployed persons in the world.  (Full disclosure: I write this blog for free) However, the token freeze doesn’t just squeeze us financially, like the fare hike, it also squeezes us physically. At many stations, the token activates the gate automatically making it the most accessible and independent way to get to the platform. Relying on cash is much tougher because many of the lanes are too narrow to get an electric chair or scooter up to the window. Many of the counters are too high to place your money on by yourself, so even if you wanted to pay — you couldn’t.

Combine that with the fact Toronto has not followed most civilized cities in the world, and instituted a discount program for disabled people and I feel well within my rights to actively con the TTC every time I use their services.  Why support a system, so ill equipped to support me?

The “Bad Man” Broverman Guide to Riding the Rocket for Free

1. “Friendlies” Get the right TTC employee at the counter and make like it’s a real struggle to pull out and count the change. Nine times out of ten they will wave you through, no questions asked, especially if your holding people up. **NOTE: Bus drivers will usually ask you to put your money away.
2. “Slight of Hand” Sitting in a glass box all day can get tiring. Take advantage of laziness, slowed reaction-time and the lack of a sight-line (thanks to mobility devices being lower than the counter) and deposit whatever change you have on hand. Make sure you group the coins together, dropping them fast and all at once into the box with your palm facing towards you.  By the time they count it, you’ll be long gone.  **NOTE: also works with foreign currency denominations that, from a distance, look similar to Canadian quarters.
3. “The Sneak” By far the most difficult technique, this one works best at rush hour. Find someone with a stroller (they will need to use the gate) and follow them close enough that when the attendant opens the gate you can sneak through before he can close it. You can also ask someone on the platform side to press the button for you. Most of them will assume you paid.

I can’t guarantee success, but these methods have worked for me and hopefully they’ll work for you. Remember, if you make a reasonable attempt to pay and can’t, there’s no harm in catching a break where you can.

The White House Studio Project hopes to win between $10,000 and $50,000 to expand their artist run studios, like the one pictured above, while allowing more Toronto artists the opportunity to afford both food and supplies.

Everyone can think of something that would make their community, large or small, a better place to live: a crumbling building transformed into a rec centre, activities for the elderly, public art, or an urban garden.

The Aviva Insurance Community Fund is going to make some of those ideas a reality next year. The $500,000 fund will be given away to three or more Canadian communities, decided by a panel of judges and online voters.

It works like this: come up with an idea to help your community, describe how it will help and ball park how much it will cost, then post it on the Aviva’s website. The public votes for their favourite ideas until the end of November, when the 60 most popular ideas move on the the finals. The 25 finalist with the most votes between December 2th and 16th will move on to be scored and evaluated by the judges.

The judges will award at least one small (less than $10,000), medium ($10,000 to $50,000), and large ($50,000 to $250,000) prize, and the rest of the money will be parceled out to the next highest scoring projects until it runs out. The author of a winning idea is invited, but not obligated, to participate in the development of the project. There are lots of proposals on the site already, from all over the country.

One that caught our eye was Toronto’s own White House Studio Project, which posted their idea as a medium-sized project. The group formed about a year ago to help artists find studio space. The popularity of commercial spaces as housing in the city has led to a spike in the cost of commercial loft rental, leaving emerging artists out in the cold.

The White House turned the tables by renting a house in a residential area and divided it into work spaces artists could actually afford to rent. Aside from being just a place to work, the collective also uses the space for group and individual art shows and performances, workshops and guest speakers. They hope use the grant money to upgrade and expand their current space, and to purchase equipment that could be used by visiting and tenant artists.

Registration for the Aviva Community Fund is open until November 29th.

[Photo used with permission of the White House Studio Project]

Steven May's "Daphne's Grandchildren"

The Hope in Shadows contest is changing perceptions of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES) by giving residents an opportunity to document their stories through photographs.

This year marks the seventh annual Hope in Shadows photography contest. Every June, around 200 free disposable cameras are distributed to DTES residents. Contestants are allotted three days to take pictures, which are then submitted to, and judged by, a panel of professionals and peers. This year entrants submitted more than 4,000 black-and-white images. The winning photographs are exhibited throughout the province, and a selection of the best pictures appear in the annual Hope in Shadows calendar. On October 12, the winner of the 2010 Hope in Shadows — Portraits of the Downtown Eastside was announced to be Steven May for his photograph “Daphne’s Grandchildren.”

While the media tends to portray the DTES as a hotbed of criminality, drugs and prostitution, the Hope and Shadows contest cultivates a different image. The DTES, as portrayed by its own residents, is home to a vibrant and caring community filled with families, children, and individuals who have hopes, stories and dreams – and face struggles and hardship – just like all human beings.

By giving residents an opportunity to tell their stories, the Hope and Shadows project has generated a greater understanding of the DTES and empowered its residents.

Furthermore, by allowing homeless and low-income street vendors to sell the calendars, and keep $10 out of every $20 calendar sold, Hope and Shadows also provides a viable employment opportunity to those who need it most. Last year street vendors generated over $130,000 in personal earnings in this manner. As the Hope in Shadows Director Paul Ryan puts it, “While the photos, and stories that describe them, are positive portrayals of the people who live in the community, the project also creates accessible employment opportunities for local residents.”

16,000 calendars have been ordered for this year. To order online visit the Hope in Shadows website.

Here’s a Flickr slideshow of the images in the 2010 Hope in Shadows exhibition:

Dianne Trottier, a 33-year-old tenacious journalist killed by a hit-and-run driver while crossing the street in her electric chair. CANADIAN PRESS/CBC

While cyclists in Toronto rallied to remember Darcy Allan Sheppard, the cyclist killed after allegedly being dragged along Bloor St.  by a car driven by former Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant, another car accident was causing comparative degrees of outrage at the eastern edge of the country…

and this one embodies my worst fear.Toronto resident Dianne Trottier was described as  “feisty” and “outgoing” whether she was chasing down a story as a producer for CBC News: Around the World, or chasing accountability when it came to disability issues. While crossing a crosswalk in Fredericton, New Brunswick on Aug. 29,2009 in her electric wheelchair, she was hit and killed instantly by a hit-and-run driver.

While it has me shaking my head that this senseless tragedy was made worse by a driver who was cowardly enough not to stop and face the music, I found myself knowing full well that this could have just as easily been me. It was a deep-in-the-bones realization.  The type that strikes you in the middle of the night as a single-digit-age kid, when it suddenly dawns on you for the first time that one day, any day, by virtue of the fact that you are a living being, you will die and there is nothing you can do about it. I’d call it a kind of out-of-body chill.

Trottier’s death just reaffirmed something I’ve always felt with some certainty since I moved to Toronto in August 2003. If Vegas odds-makers were taking bets on the circumstances of my death, the line on “Getting Hit by a Car While Navigating a Crosswalk” has got to be 2:1. After all, I’ve had so many close calls already.

I’ve lost count of the number of times a car has turned into the middle of the crosswalk, while I’m half way to the other side and the walk sign is on. So many times I look up only to find some dumbfounded, apologetic driver behind the wheel, while I’m thinking about lodging my cane through his windshield.  What about those times a car has sped through the crosswalk without looking back as I’ve already started my journey. Luckily, they’re close enough to shave the hairs off my chest, but that’s all. Had I been going just a little bit faster, I could have been the next casualty, just like Dianne.

Patience is a virtue, but so few drivers actually use it. Combine that with the fact that scooters  and electric chairs are silent, have low visibility and are lower to the ground than a bike or a pedestrian and you have a wicked recipe for street pizza. Don’t even get me started on what happens in cases where the battery happens to be low on power—that’s when you really start to put your life in God’s hands. Plus, just because cars yield for you on one side of a crosswalk, doesn’t mean cars in oncoming lanes won’t try to overtake them. My friend told me this is illegal, but you wouldn’t know it on Toronto’s streets. What about the guys who force pedestrians to bob and weave between the cars because some driver finds himself parked in the centre of the crosswalk? Some drivers even make it worse by backing up into the car behind them to try and let you through, only to exacerbate things thoroughly.

I’m so afraid, that when crossing the street with able-bodied people, I find myself on the inside lane. I figure the more able-bodied pedestrians I can put between me and oncoming traffic, the better the chances a car will hit them first and their bodies will shield me slightly from impact.  So if you’re walking with me and I let you step off the curb first, it’s probably because I’ve set you up to be my sacrificial lamb in case of emergency.

I learned pretty early on that sometimes survival of the fittest doesn’t necessarily refer to physicality.

While cyclists fight for more bike lanes and respect on Toronto roads, unless something in Toronto traffic changes, the next time you see me I may be splayed out between the yellow lines under a white sheet.

“… the people with whom we choose to interact and exchange ideas have a substantial impact on our own thoughts. I feel like this journey has expanded the realm of possibilities that exists within my community of thoughts.”

For a look back at the journey, check out the archive of Alternate Routes.

At Maison Emmanuel, people with disabilities are encouraged to focus on their abilities by working in a variety of areas: the garden, the woodworking shop, the bakery, the pottery workshop, or with the farm animals. Many of the products they create are sold, to cover some of the community’s costs, but we were told that the biggest value in the work that they do is that personal sense of accomplishment that we all feel from creating something with our own two hands.

By creating a safe space for people with disabilities to share their lives with others, both l’Arche Saint John and Maison Emmanuel are effective and beneficial alternatives to institutionalization or total dependency on family forever. The sense of belonging that comes from being valued for their unique gifts is something that no institution can provide.

Check out the blog’s front page for more.

We are somewhere in the middle of Quebec, on the Trans-Canada Highway. It’s about 10 p.m. We’ve been on the road since 8 this morning. We are looking for a place to sleep.

My partner, Dominique, and I are on our way from Toronto to Halifax, about to begin a cross-country tour of intentional communities.

Why are we doing this, again? I ask myself.

I look at Mirinda and Phil, asleep in the back seat, and remember…

Mirinda and Phil came into our lives in a miraculously serendipitous moment walking down the street in Toronto’s Kensington Market one day. The details are a bit long and convoluted, but it was one of those small world moments, where distant and separate social connections join together in one short but profound human interaction. They were looking for a room to rent for the summer, and a ride to Halifax. We were subletting our rooms and heading to the East Coast.

I feel like this trip is, in large part, about those small world moments. It’s about manifesting more real relationships, and then relying on those relationships and embracing our inter-connectedness and inter-dependencey as human beings.

In preparing for this journey, we have relied heavily on our own social networks—for inspiration, for guidance, and for equipment. Almost everything we’re bringing with us on this trip, including the car we’re using for the first half, was borrowed or donated by friends and family, or else bought used.

In addition to environmental sustainability, and our limited financial resources, we were also thinking about this decision in terms of community-building. Since the idea for this trip was born, just a few months ago, we have received innumerable blessings, offers of support, and donations and loans of equipment. It all came from people we know, members of our various communities.

With a tent from our friend Lesa, travel mugs from Emily and Adam, a Coleman stove from Uncle Peter and Aunt Carolina, sleeping mats from Christine, a car from my parents, and a great deal of support from all of these people plus many more, we set off with a whole community of people behind us.

As we settle down in the parked car, all of our limbs intertwined with one another, finding pieces of sleep between suitcases and guitars and a steering wheel, I comfort myself with thoughts of this support network.

It’s a wonderful feeling to have so many tangible expressions of love around us; and I have a feeling we’ll be experiencing a lot more of it along the way.

Throughout the summer, This Magazine is presenting a special blog chronicling the cross-Canada travels of Shayna and Dominique, a pair of wanderers who are setting out to discover what community is all about. Here, in their own words, is an introduction to the project:

We are thinkers, dreamers and poets, continuously questioning our place in this world. We both spend a lot of time watching and listening to the world around us. We love learning and have a deep passion for sharing what we learn with others through our respective arts — Shayna through written word, and Dominique through photography.

We are traveling across Canada exploring the topic of community. Bartering our skills and labour for accommodation, food and transportation costs, we will make our way from coast to coast, community by community.

Specifically, we will be visiting various type of intentional communities (any group of people that has come together with community as a central uniting purpose). Many of these communities are seeking alternatives to the environmental destruction and social decay perpetuated by mainstream society; some seek to provide a community environment of love and support to people of diverse mental and physical abilities; others just want a place to share ideas and resources with people of a similar perspective — religious, political or otherwise.

Along the way, we will record and share our experiences with This readers through a special blog, Alternate Routes.

You’ll find Dom and Shayna’s first road journal here on Blog This; expect the Alternate Routes blog to be launched shortly…