Will Ottawa Ever Take PWD Seriously?

 I’ve lived in Centretown since 1994. Throughout the years, I’ve seen businesses come and go, but the one thing that has remained is the poor sidewalks along Bank Street. Several years ago, parts of Bank Street were improved while others were ignored. Since Bank Street is one of our busiest

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,

Don’t Ignore the Signs of Anxiety

 As a person with anxiety, I often get anxious about writing. Specific questions rush my mind, sometimes affecting my body and writing. – What message am I trying to send? – Will others understand it? – What if I am misunderstood? – Will people get the point, and perhaps my

Understanding ASD and Myself Better

 Shortly after my last article, I realized that April is Autism Awareness Month. I was also reminded that April 2nd was World Autism Day.  To everyone who has Autism, I see you, I hear you, and I appreciate you for being you. Being yourself is a hard thing to do

Discovering my Differences are Similar to Yours

 Over the past several months, I’ve been on a journey of self-discovery and learning about mindfulness. In my travels, I’ve realized that I am not only different physically but also think differently. While I haven’t officially been diagnosed, I wholeheartedly believe that I am neurodivergent. A few weeks ago, I

An Evening in the Maritimes: The Biggest and Fanciest Kitchen Party in Support of ABLE2

 More than 50 percent of Canadians have a relative who is living with a disability. In Ottawa, 260,300 people live with a disability, and three-quarters have multiple disabilities. People with disabilities (PWD) require more support, which can sometimes be challenging to get, especially for lower-income families and single-income persons with

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

Cultivating Inner Peace with Art, Meditation, and my Surrounding

 Last week was chaotic for me. My new sleeping pills stopped working, so I had very little sleep for three days. Thankfully, I could communicate with my doctor, which seems to be helping. That’s just one issue I had last week. The important thing is I’m still here, and, more

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

Practising Self-Care When You’re Reliant on Others

 As I’ve been saying over the past few weeks, I’ve been spending a lot of time focussing on myself and practising mindfulness and meditation. So far, I’ve felt pretty great, and it’s been a positive experience. I highly recommend everyone try it at least once if you haven’t already. I’ve

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

Meeting with OC Transpo General Manager Renee Amilcar and Management

 Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a meeting with OC Transpo General Manager Renee Amilcar. Sally Thomas invited me from Ottawa Transit Riders. Laura Shantz, also from Ottawa Transit Riders, was also present. With Renee Amilcar were Rami El Feghali, Pat Scrimgeour, and Lisa Bishop-Spencer. Before I dive

Our Health Care System Continues to Ignore our Needs

 Please note that I’ll be talking about hospitals and medical-related things. You might want to skip this article if these topics make you uncomfortable or are triggering. Trust me, I understand. As some of you know, I have a feeding tube in my stomach. There’s a hole in my stomach,

If a PWD is Stranded in the City – Will Anyone Hear Us?

 Last Monday, Ottawa Transit Riders and ParaParity members held a Para Transpo awareness meeting at City Hall. I admit I only saw about 38 minutes of the meeting. Based on what I saw, the discussion mainly consisted of a two-person presentation and some questions from the audience. Several Para Transpo

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

There is a Great Cause And a Message Behind Never Give Up Clothing

 Across Canada, there are tens of thousands of people with disabilities who have lost their ability to walk due to a spinal cord injury. For anybody who has suffered through this life-changing experience, there is so much change to adapt to. Although we may think of the obvious things that

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

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

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

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

Rolling on the floor laughing my wheels off

 — a review of wheelchair accessibility at Yuk Yuks Ottawa Recently, I had the chance to check out Yuk Yuk’s Ottawa. When I posted that I was going on social media, a few of my friends and followers were surprised. The reason for that is because up until last year,

How are we supposed to feel safe when our healthcare system is on life support?

 We’re living in scary and dangerous times. We’ve been bombarded with news about our broken healthcare system for far too long. Topics range from level zero paramedic service, long wait times in the ER, temporary closures of ERs and ICU in smaller hospitals, and severe nursing shortages, just to name