[David Lepofsky]
My name is David Lepofsky.
Today is, uh, Saturday,
November the 19th, 2016,
and I'm standing
in the basement
of the brand new, uh, 
Culinary Arts Centre 
built, uh, with our tax dollars,
at Centennial College 
in the northeast corner of Toronto.
I've come to look around to see 
how well they did on accessibility.
Parking pay machine.
Near the accessible parking spots,
there is a parking meter 
for you to pay for your parking.
However,
it's at standing height 
so that's not accessible
to somebody in a wheelchair
who uses 
the accessible parking spots.
That makes no sense.
Exterior ramp.
There is a ramp beside the stairs
going to the front door,
and that's good.
But there's only a railing on one side,
not both sides.
There should be, for accessibility,
a railing on both sides.
Some people, uh,
need one on both sides,
or may need one on the side 
which is missing for balance.
Moreover,
the side where there is no rail,
is the side
where there is a vertical drop off
that presents a safety problem,
not only for people with disabilities,
but frankly, for everybody,
especially little kids.
Washrooms.
I'm, I'm now on the basement floor 
of the Culinary Arts Building,
the brand new building at, uh,
at Centennial College,
uh, in Scarborough,
and, um, here they have
a public women's washroom
right next to the men's washroom,
and the only thing between them 
is a... [cane banging]
a little thin, uh, uh, 
wall or something.
So here's the thing,
beside the women's washroom,
it's great that they've got signage
with raised letters
and it says "Women" in Braille,
but, um, a blind person 
isn't gonna be feeling the entire wall
to find out, uh,
whether there's a sign here.
And when we walk by,
what we would hear is just the echo,
 uh, and it doesn't sound like 
there's two separate bathrooms,
it sounds like 
there would be just one.
So I wouldn't know to go over
and check further
that beyond here 
is the men's room,
uh, if I was here for the first time,
and then look for a sign here.
Uh, it would be way better 
if they simply had a door with a sign.
Elevator.
This says "Main,"
but the voice on the elevator 
is gonna say "Ground,"
[beep] which is referring to a floor 
that's not the ground floor – 
it's one above the ground floor.
I'm just pushing 
the "Main" button.
In Braille, it says "Main."
...the elevator.... [beep] 
[electronic elevator voice]
Ground floor.
[David] Which would be 
completely confusing to me.
Am I on the ground floor, 
or am I on the main floor?
Barrier free washroom.
Right outside the elevators 
as you came up,
uh, is an inclusive washroom.
And there's a Braille sign here 
that says "Inclusive Washroom,"
which is great, and there's 
the international accessibility symbol.
Uh, but the automatic door opener
is not where you would figure 
it would be – right here –
you'd have to know to start feeling 
all over till you get over here,
uh, to find it.
[doors click] 
Um, and then we....
The big problem, though,
is when I open the door,
there's no transfer space 
in the bathroom. 
It's a bathroom meant
for people with disabilities
 to be accommodated,
but there's no,
 not the needed transfer space,
uh, to meet their needs. 
South vestibule.
Now, once you're-
 open that one door 
 and you're now between 
the inside door and the outside door,
 again, here we have 
another one of these bollards,
one of these things
sticking up from the floor
that I've, uh, not encountered
in virtually any other building
except the disastrous design 
of the Women's College Hospital.
Um, wouldn't even know 
to look for it.
But if I look for it,
I'd be confused by the fact 
that for some of the doors,
uh, these automatic door openers 
on the wall,
not on something sticking up 
in the middle,
 but let's get past 
that problem.
I then come over here 
and feel there's a button.
I don't necessarily know 
there are two buttons,
 so I'm looking to go out the door 
and I only find this one and push it.
And I push this one 
to figure out which it is,
 and while I'm standing here, 
this door comes over and hits me,
East crosswalk number one.
And they have a crosswalk
right here
with no curb cuts
and no tactile, uh, prompting
 that there's a crosswalk here.
Now there is a crosswalk with curb cuts 
just a few metres away,
 but when I, uh,
show you how it's designed,
you'd realize 
it's not much of a solution.
East crosswalk number two.
So here just a few feet away
is this other crosswalk
where they did put in a curb cut.
Uh, but it points me, 
as a blind person,
 to walking into oncoming traffic,
rather than if they had made 
the other inaccessible,
uh, crosswalk accessible,
it would point me
to go right across
the way you ordinarily 
would cross a street.
So this is just, from the point of view 
of safety and accessibility,
um, another blunder.
Conclusion.
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around Ontario.
If you wanna see 
the long version of this video
with more examples 
of problems with accessibility, 
go to YouTube, 
and do a search on AODA Alliance,
and Centennial College, 
and "long version". 
