Ottawa is the City that Fun and Common Sense Forgot

 It seems like summer has finally arrived in Ottawa. The past several days have been hot and sunny, so I’ve been able to get outside and roll around. While I love getting out and rolling around, it’s a fresh reminder of the lack of wheelchair accessibility, especially downtown. For example,

I’m Gonna Break my Rusty Cage and Roll

 Last week, I left off when I was approached by upper management at the Children’s Hospital Of Eastern Ontario about moving out. I was seventeen at the time and was aging out of the system. CHEO gave me two options: I could either live in a group home or a

Rolling my way Through the School of Hard Knocks

 Rolling my way Through the School of Hard Knocks In part one of my four-part series about my origins story, I wrote about my early years living at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa. Despite being given a year to live, I was determined to prove the doctors

Taking a Look Back at the Start of my Journey

 March 16th, 2024, will mark the 30th anniversary of the day I moved out of the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario and into my apartment. Each week in March, I will write about my journey from 1975 to now. I’ll be sharing my story from my perspective and remembering past

Those Who Live in Chaos Don’t Deserve Your Time

 I’ve been told that, at times, I trust too much. I often give people a second, third, or fourth chance even after they did me wrong. In other cases, it’s one, and I’m done. Typically, it depends on the circumstances, the person, and our history together. Sometimes, it’s hard to

Finding a Healthy Way to Manage Anger and Frustration

 We live in an extremely noisy world where we’re constantly bombarded with information. Whether through constant news cycles, social media, or paying attention to our “smart” devices, we have a continuous stream of information coming at us. The easiest thing for many people to do is to read, react, and

Trying to Make the Best out of Feeling Stuck at Home

 Ottawa received two big snowstorms last week, including over the weekend, making me feel almost trapped in my place. Also, only one elevator has worked in my building for at least the last three weeks. To be fair, it hasn’t been a real issue for me, but I still consider

The Fine Art of Aging and Learning to Treat Yourself Better

 Last week, I turned 49 years old. My birthday was quiet but nice. A friend came over briefly to give me a card. I had planned a small party for Saturday evening, but my lungs were feeling messy, so I played it safe. I’ve been hearing a lot about respiratory

A Look Back at 2023 Before Rolling Into 2024

 Since this is my last article for 2023, I decided to write a little about the past year. This year has been challenging for everyone, including me. Last January, I had to spend twenty-four hours in the ER just because nobody was available to take care of me. I spent

My Experience at CityFolk Can Serve as a Model for Other Festivals

 As soon as I heard Iggy Pop was coming to City Folk, I was so excited. Iggy Pop has been on my concert bucket list for a long time. I’ve been a fan for many years, and not just of his music. I’ve always found him fascinating, especially during interviews

Fanaticcon Brings Out The Geek in Everyone

 I didn’t have a television for the first few years of my life. As a matter of fact, I didn’t have a lot. ICU nurses and doctors surrounded me, and often, another patient was beside me. It certainly wasn’t easy, but compared to my roommates at the time, I had

It’s Better to Bust a Gut Than to Bust a Wheel

 For the fourth week in a row, the LRT is still down. Riders continue to complain about the service interruptions, while both OC Transpo and the City of Ottawa, along with our Mayor and some City councillors, continue to point fingers at each other and ignore people, especially people with

Letting The Good Times Roll—Unlike Our LRT!

 Before I roll deeply into this week's article, I want to point out that I’m aware of what’s going on with the LRT being down again and how it continues to affect people with disabilities and Para Transpo users. Those who follow me on social media probably know I’ve posted

OC Transpo On-Demand Service Will Leave More People Stranded

 One of the big stories locally last week was the announcement by OC Transpo that they will be testing an on-demand service this fall. Transit General Manager Renee Amilcar said the service will be similar to Uber. People will be able to book a ride through an app. To implement

RBC Bluesfest & Whimble partner to assist PWD at this year’s festival

 The 2023 RBC Ottawa Bluesfest is just around the corner, and if you’re a person with a physical disability, I have some AMAZING news to share. I will get to the good news in a moment, but first, I want to tell you about the company/organisation helping make this possible.

When Our Air Suffers, We All Suffer

 By Ryan Lythall As a ventilator-dependent person, last week was quite scary. Ottawa was under a poor air quality advisory for three days due to smoke about two hours away. It was my first experience with poor air quality in Ottawa. I heard reports of staying indoors. I had errands

Why Has the Mayor and Council Allowed Para Transpo to Become Unsafe?

 I planned to discuss a different topic this week, but life throws curveballs. When you’re a person with a disability, and you rely on Para Transpo, well, they don’t make it easy on you. It can become very frustrating and sometimes even risky. So, get comfortable if you can because

Greetings to our new mayor and city councillors.

 Another election in Ottawa has come and gone. I know that some of you are tired of talking about it and perhaps still recovering from the results. Between the election last week and the ongoing inquiry regarding the use of the Emergencies Act during the occupation, it’s been an emotional

Voting should not be this difficult for PWD

 Last Friday, I was able to vote in the municipal election, and I was thrilled to be able to. The other good thing was that I didn’t need to use Para Transpo. In my last article, I discussed some challenges that Para Transpo users face regarding getting to the polling

The cost of voting municipally if you’re on ODSP

 I planned to cast my vote last weekend at city hall, but I was sick. Even now, I’m still feeling rough. For me, Ottawa City Hall is an ideal location. Not only is it near me, but city hall also has wheelchair accessible bathrooms, a small art gallery, and space

An open letter regarding public transportation for PWD to those running for office.

 With this year’s edition of the Ottawa Transit Challenge still relatively fresh in our minds, I wanted to take the time to highlight some of the ongoing concerns that Para Transpo users face. I’m also hoping that some of the local councillors, new candidates, and other participants who are still

How the Ottawa Transit Challenge continues to fall short of addressing PWD’s concerns

 ABOVE: Tweets from Transit riders participating in the 2022 Ottawa Transit Challenge. Now, imagine the reactions if these people were wheelchair-bound and forced to use ParaTranspo/ In 2019, the Ottawa Transit Riders, a local advocacy group pushing for better public transportation, came up with an idea named the Ottawa Transit

Trying to survive in a broken system can be costly.

 ABOVE: As a result of the government-appointed agency leaving Ryan Lythall helpless, his friends suggest he start a GoFundMe campaign to pay for the caregivers he must have to live on his own.  Recently, I had a big meeting regarding the shortage of caregivers. Over the past two or three months, I’ve

The end of summer can only mean on thing for some PWD.

 Well, it’s that time of year again. Kids and adults are returning to school and, for some, back to work. The days are getting shorter and cooler at night. Yup! summer’s almost over, at least according to the calendar. With all the crazy weather events we’ve experienced lately, perhaps we’ll

Stop punishing PWD and seniors for the mess you made

 Last week, I talked about Doug Ford wanting to force PWD and seniors into long-term care (LTC) homes. As if that wasn’t bad enough, a few days following the announcement, he said that those who refused to be transferred to a LTC would be forced to pay the costs of