Celebrate Access Awareness Week at Lifestyle Expo and Art Showcase

Thu, 22 May 2014

Meet bronze medallist Karl Ludwig from Canada’s 2014 Paralympic sledge hockey team

If you want to learn more about the many accessible programs and services available in Oakville, visit the National Access Awareness Week Lifestyle Expo and Art Showcase this Monday, May 26, 2014. Running from 4 to 7 p.m. at Town Hall, this expo will feature information and interactive displays from a number of groups and agencies. You can even try out a sledge and talk with bronze medallist Karl Ludwig from Canada’s 2014 Paralympic sledge hockey team.

“This week encourages Canadians to focus on the barriers people with disabilities face and to find ways to help remove them,” Mayor Rob Burton said. “The expo is a great way to learn more about what we’re doing as a town and as a Council to demonstrate our commitment to outstanding accessible programs and services.”

The Lifestyle Expo will feature:

• Community Living Oakville
• Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides
• Special Olympics Ontario: Oakville
• Charterability (pontoon cruises on Sixteen Mile Creek)
• Halton-Peel Cruisers Sports for the Physically Disabled
• March of Dimes
• Voices 4 Ability - Canada’s first radio station for, about and by people with disabilities\
• Town of Oakville
• Oakville Transit
• Oakville Public Library

The Oakville Accessibility Advisory Committee will be in attendance at the expo. Mayor and Members of Council will also be dropping by.

The Art Showcase, on display from May 26 through May 31, 2014, will feature work by a talented artist, Tsochoy Go — a student with autism studying at the Joshua Creek Heritage Art Centre.

National Access Awareness Week was established in 1987 following Rick Hanson’s 40,000 km Man in Motion World Tour. “As part of the legacy of the Man In Motion World Tour, the Rick Hansen Foundation provided strategic leadership to create and implement National Access Awareness Week (NAAW) in partnership with federal and provincial governments across the country. The purpose of the program was to promote better community access for people with disabilities.” — Rick Hansen Foundation.

As part of its commitment to become the most livable town in Canada, the Town of Oakville has a Multi-Year Accessibility Plan 2012-2017. Created in consultation with Oakville’s Accessibility Advisory Committee, the plan sets out the steps the town will take to implement the requirements of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act’s Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation, and includes a detailed list of actions by town departments to demonstrate the town’s commitment to providing accessible programs and services for all.