What to know<\/p>\n
Disabled Torontonians say uneven snow removal has left sidewalks, curb cuts, and transit stops inaccessible days after a historic storm.<\/p>\n
Accessibility advocates argue the city prioritizes roads over sidewalks, effectively cutting off wheelchair users and others with mobility needs.<\/p>\n
The City of Toronto says sidewalk plowing follows road clearing, but repeated snowfall has re-buried previously cleared areas.<\/p>\n
Advocates are calling for an accessibility-first snow removal approach to prevent disabled residents from being stranded after future storms.<\/p>\n
Nearly a week after Toronto was hit by a historic snowstorm, many residents have resumed their day-to-day routines. But for some Torontonians, the city\u2019s slow and uneven snow removal has created an ongoing accessibility crisis \u2014 one that has left disabled residents trapped in their homes.<\/p>\n
Two Toronto disability advocates say the city\u2019s approach to snow clearing continues to prioritize cars over people, with dangerous consequences for those who rely on accessible sidewalks, curb cuts, and transit stops to move safely through the city.<\/p>\n
Vanessa Leu, a North York-based wheelchair user living with multiple chronic illnesses, says snowstorms make daily life not just inconvenient, but unsafe.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the snow banks are piled up to the sides of the streets, we lose our ability to get to where we need to go,\u201d she explained to Now Toronto on Friday. \u201cIt\u2019s just not really a way to live your life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Besides visibility-blocking snowbanks, Leu stresses that uncleared sidewalks disproportionately affect wheelchair users and people with mobility aids. While roads are often plowed quickly, sidewalks can be left buried for days, cutting off disabled residents from essential services, medical appointments, and overall, everyday life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI genuinely don\u2019t understand why roads get priority over sidewalks when sidewalks are disabled people\u2019s roads,\u201d Leu said. \u201cWhen [the city] says that roads are the main priority, they\u2019re saying that able-bodied people and drivers are their main priority.\u201d<\/p>\n
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She argues that snow removal on sidewalks should happen at the same time as road clearing for equal access for all users.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the snow is falling, they should be actively removing it from the sidewalks as well\u2026 There should be just as many plows on the sidewalks as there are on the roads.\u201d<\/p>\n
City of Toronto responds<\/p>\n
The City of Toronto tells Now Toronto that it coordinates road and sidewalk plowing so that sidewalks are cleared after the road plow has passed by an area, to prevent sidewalks from being re\u2011buried by snow piles left behind by plows.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But due to the massive storm on Sunday that brought 60 centimeters of snow to some parts of Toronto, the city says that multiple rounds of plowing have occurred, and in some cases, sidewalks that were once cleared were covered all over again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe are still plowing sidewalks as we simultaneously remove the street snow. This removal of snow from streets will ultimately create capacity for snow that is plowed off sidewalks,\u201d a city spokesperson said in an email statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Taylor Lindsay-Noel, a quadriplegic accessibility advocate, echoed Leu\u2019s concerns, sharing that she was trapped inside her home for four days following the snowfall, and much of the residential streets in her Midtown neighbourhood are still unclear.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She shares that many friends in the Toronto disabled community \u2014 especially those relying on transit services \u2014 still remain stranded.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of them are still stuck today because they use public transportation, and sidewalks from either their apartments or homes to the public transportation are still blocked off,\u201d Lindsay-Noel explained. \u201cAnd the worst part is, after it\u2019s left for so long, the snow becomes kind of frozen, so it makes it even more difficult to remove it.\u201c<\/p>\n
Feelings of being \u201cforgotten\u201d and \u201cdismissed\u201d are what Lindsay-Noel describes, adding that it seems like the city has these operational mishaps each year, despite being a place that gets snow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWinter happens every single year. I am sick and tired of the city pretending like winter just magically springs upon us and we don\u2019t see it coming. We are a snowy city, so this is something they should be preparing better for, and something that continually leaves all of its residents disappointed with the cleanup,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lindsay-Noel also emphasized that the fight for better accessibility is not just for people with mobility issues. Its seniors, parents with strollers, and generally anyone afraid to trip and fall when sidewalks, curbs and ramps are left inaccessible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt affects everybody,\u201d she stressed. \u201cI see people who are able-bodied climb over the snowbanks. And for us, it\u2019s not something that\u2019s possible. I am so sad when I see disabled people take their wheelchairs to the road to try to navigate around areas that are not accessible anymore. It\u2019s so dangerous for everybody involved, but oftentimes the only option we have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both advocates stress that without systemic change, the same problems will resurface with every major snowfall. Leu and Lindsay-Noel are calling on the City of Toronto to adopt an accessibility-first approach to snow removal \u2014 one that ensures sidewalks, curb cuts, bus stops, and ramps are cleared promptly so all residents can move through the city safely.<\/p>\n
The city says throughout this week, it has received a high number of service requests to 311 reporting impassable sidewalks or challenges for people with accessibility needs, and assured action is being taken based on the calls.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The spokesperson said sidewalk plows are being sent back out to re\u2011clear these areas, and residents can help out by submitting a service request to 311 when they see sidewalks that need attention.<\/p>\n
But Lindsay-Noel says it shouldn\u2019t even have to get to that point.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be reliant on us to continue to remind them that we are here and we matter,\u201d Lindsay-Noel said. \u201cBut what they say their actions are, and the feeling and reality are two different things.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What to know Disabled Torontonians say uneven snow removal has left sidewalks, curb cuts, and transit stops inaccessible…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444604,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49040,43,44,41,39,42,40,3302],"class_list":["post-444603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-accessibility","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}