Accessibility? Who needs that?

I do.

I never thought about the need for accessibility until my dad had a stroke. A man who was always very physical and strong, now had a weak left side.

Don’t tell my dad he isn’t strong or that he needs some help.

But he does.

Did you know that one in three Canadians will become disabled before retirement? It doesn’t mean permanent disability, but temporary disabilities – you severely break or sprain your leg and you can’t take the stairs. Suddenly, you join the ranks of the disabled for eight weeks.

Why all the preamble? Today, Bri and I took the GO Train to visit a friend and our stop, Mimico on the Lakeshore West line, wasn’t wheelchair accessible. That also meant it wasn’t stroller accessible.

The GO customer service rep helped me lift the stroller down of the train, but there was no platform and ramp on the tracks.

That also meant Bri and I had to manoeuvre stairs.

I had to separate her carseat and stroller base, walk her, in the carseat, down the stairs, then head back up to get the stroller base and do the same. I did the reverse – carried her up, then headed back downstairs to get the stroller base on the other side to access the parking lot.

And I had Bri’s heavy diaper bag in tow.

Can you say I was not impressed?

I am able-bodied. I was able to lift these pieces up and down stairs. I was not happy about it but my day wasn’t ended because I could not even get off the dang train.

People with mobility issues would have a heck of a time. Plans would be shut down because you can’t join the party if you can’t exit the train at the right stop because it’s not accessible. You can’t go to the interview if you can’t access the station.

If we’re all paying the same fare, shouldn’t we get the same service?

You wanna know what happened next?

When I got to the Pickering GO station, that elevator wasn’t working. I had to struggle with Bri down the stairs again. At least some nice fellow passengers offered to help, but they were either laden down with luggage or needing accessibility assistance themselves.

It’s May 3 – do you think we’ll have a working elevator by Friday at Pickering GO?

GO Transit, Metrolinx, you charge so much for travel, you gotta do better.