How accessible is Cochrane?
Eliza Neven-Pugh asked the mayor, council and town staff to find out.
“A little bit of research can do a lot for a person’s self esteem,” Neven-Pugh said.
The Cochrane resident who lives with cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair daily performed a “rolling audit” inviting more than 15 Town of Cochrane staff, Mayor Ivan Brooker and Coun. Tara McFadden, to get into wheelchairs or mobility devices to explore Cochrane on June 12.
“It’s amazing what this opens your eyes to – what you normally wouldn’t experience,” said Melissa Engdahl, community social worker with Cochrane Family and Community Support Services (FCSS), who was being pushed in a wheelchair with assistance from Brooker.
The group started at FCSS’s building on Second Avenue W and rolled through Historic Downtown, Fifth Avenue, Griffin Road and ended the audit at Riverfront Park.
At the end of the audit, the participants noted how different the day was living in a wheelchair.
“You had a day in the life of me. This is what I experience every day,” Neven-Pugh said.
“Take this away and work on it – don’t forget about it.”
The mayor noted there was one participant in the audit who ended up getting caught on a sidewalk curb and while they didn’t completely fall, they did need assistance to get moving again.
“I noticed the older areas … there are some opportunities to address,” Brooker said.
Other issues brought up by participants were there should be fewer gravel roads and more asphalt, the lack of ramps in Historic Downtown and how long the walk signal lasts at stoplights.
“It can be scary to freeze in the road,” Neven-Pugh said.
While there were no official changes on Monday as a result of the audit, Suzanne Gaida with the Town of Cochrane said staff would be looking into possible solutions for Historic Downtown and give the rest of the feedback to an internal committee.
“I was impressed with the attitudes people came with today,” Neven-Pugh said.
“I hope it leads to a more accessible future.”
The rolling audit was carried out as research for Cochrane’s social policy, equity and inclusion work – initiated by Neven-Pugh, who won the 2016 Equity and Inclusion Champion for the Cochrane Community Awards.
