After reading the article about the super-wide sidewalks on Needham Street, in downtown Fredericton, memories returned me to those years, long ago, when I lived on Charlotte Street, before I got a wheelchair or a scooter or a walker (for in home use only). I used to walk to work, stepping along, using well-worn wooden crutches. I still have them! So many of those sidewalks were a floppy spastic walker’s nightmare. Deep pits and broken sections. Scary! Many are still scary. Baby boomers and beyond demand and deserve upgrades to those necessities for a safe quality of life. Aging well involves exercise and walking is one of the best. I never understood folks paying thousands of dollars for ‘walking’ equipment to be used in the house when that particular movement, combined with fresh air is one of THE best exercises. According to my late father, walking and swimming were excellent exercises from cradle to grave.
At 66, aging with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, I still walk, using a hand touching a counter, furniture or a wall to guide/balance my way along in my home. Now, I have to be watchful for a puppy as I move about; he’s convinced that whatever’s in my hand must be in his mouth — he leaps at me. Behaving better as he matures, he’s learning to live with a lopsided old broad of the human variety and a crotchety old diva of the canine variety. Chez Rockwell is NOT a man’s world! For now, he’s a country boy.
City living is something I’ve considered revisiting but in these times of COVID, moving is not an option at least for now. It’s nice to know, though, that city sidewalks are transforming, making movement easier for those who are differently able; more efficient and safe. Safety is critical. I’d be able to easily use my wheelchair, tethering a dog to each arm as I did in the 80s, when I, my husband, a pair of terriers shared and 4 cats shared a downtown apartment. On my own with the dogs, living in Fredericton would be a great opportunity for more social connection. Perhaps before I’m 70!
Making changes to foot and ‘wheeling’ traffic paths would assist those with mobility disorders in a very significant way. In their current state, many sidewalks across the province and across the country are not safe. For many in my age range, we are, in reality, one serious fall away from care home living. Improving surface quality of sidewalks and other areas of foot traffic where users of wheelchairs and walkers travel also contributes to the economy. Health and wellness allows for continuity in the work force which stimulates the economy. Many persons with disability have paid their way for many decades of working life. It is only fitting that the places where they live are accessible to them for leisure activities or for conducting personal business, like walking or wheeling to shops and entertainment venues.
An added bonus of widened sidewalks and safer paths for foot, bicycle and assistive devices mobility is that automobile congestion is lessened. Having people out and about, interacting and involved in their communities lends support to local economy. Even in these COVID times, exercising mask compliance and social distancing, people can still maintain community connection. Though physical and emotional landscapes have altered, perhaps forever, that may not be a bad thing as folks get on board with working with the changes as they present themselves. Community planners united with residents living with challenges to mobility could develop walking paths and outdoor spaces that are more inclusive and safe.
Based on the literature, statistics bear out that an engaged, active senior or person with disability is less of a burden on the health care system and more likely to be involved in community life on a sustained basis if components of accessibility are maintained; like sidewalks, public washrooms, access to shops and other places where goods and services are available. Widening sidewalks, making them safer, is one way that communities can enhance quality of life for those with challenges to daily living. A serious fall on sidewalks that have become unsafe has serious consequences for anyone, but for someone like me, who relies on hands and arms as part of freedom of movement, a fall could prevent me from meeting my daily needs.
Cost of sidewalk/pathways upgrades would be mimimal compared to the health care costs associated with caring for a fall recovery patient at home or in hospital. Improvements would pay for themselves in short order in a forward moving economy. A win-win!
Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with Miss Lexie, a rambunctious Maltese and Mr. Malcolm, the boisterous Havanese. She can be reached via email at Carla MacInnis Rockwell
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