CS4PR: Hi, Hannah. Tell us about yourself.
Hannah: Well, I’m a teacher at Pineridge Elementary School. I know that I'm very fortunate to have my job as a teacher. Elementary teachers who use wheelchairs are incredibly rare. I love my job, Pineridge school, and my students. The school is a very accessible, inclusive and welcoming environment.
CS4PR: Would you mind telling us about how you came to use a wheelchair?
Hannah: I have hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos, which basically means that my connective tissue is garbage. My ligaments are like super cheap hair elastics, that once they've been stretched and used too much, they don't bounce back anymore and can tear. This means that pretty much all of my joints subluxate or dislocate from use. I haven't been able to walk without any pain since I was like 10. I had a meniscesectomy at 12 that lead to severe osteoarthritis in my knee by 22, even before the ligaments started getting extra loose. In April last year, I dislocated my knee 6 times in 2 days and tore a tendon and a ligament, just from walking my students to the Lester Centre and doing a garbage pick up in Cow Bay. After that I had to use a leg brace for 8 weeks. I love my wheelchair. My wheelchair lets me concentrate on things beyond the pain in my legs, helps me focus and retain some energy and strength. It also lets me work full time. I try to use it whenever I leave my house, about 90% of the time. I was very fortunate to have my custom chair almost entirely covered by my health insurance. I used some of my savings to buy an all terrain wheelchair, called the GRIT Freedom Chair to try and be able to access the trails and go out in nature a bit more.
Hannah on her GRIT Freedom Chair at Diana Lake
CS4PR: Tell us about some of the volunteer activities you’re involved with in town.
Hannah: In terms of volunteering, I'm currently on the board of Transition Prince Rupert. I want to do more, but due to chronic fatigue, I really can't and I’ve had to set firm boundaries to not overextend myself. I really love volunteering and I used to do a lot more. Almost all of my energy goes to teaching now.
CS4PR: How is it getting around town in your wheelchair?
Hannah: I don't get around town very much. I have a tiny cheap junker car that I drive to work and wherever I need to go in town. Or I carpool with my cousin or other family members. The hills in Rupert are so steep and the sidewalks are so uneven and slanted throughout town, that it's pretty much impossible for me to get around on my own in my chair. Most stores and businesses aren't very accessible. Also, my extreme latex allergy, which can trigger anaphylaxis from a single balloon in a building, also really limits where I can go, and even what side of the sidewalk I can go on when businesses are advertising with lots of balloons. This is why I'm really passionate about adding latex balloons to the single use plastics ban, and it's something I'm pushing through Transition Rupert and online activism and articles to educate about the danger of latex balloons to children, the environment, animals, people with allergies and people who are in frequent contact with latex.
CS4PR: What made you interested in the idea of complete streets?
Hannah: I'm interested in complete streets because I really see a need for fully accessible, safe ways for everyone to get around town. Universal design for accessibility benefits everyone. I see so many handicap placards in people's windshields around town and so little being done for accessibility. I know it's not a malicious thing, just a lack of funding and knowledge. It really disappoints me that the Rick Hansen Foundation is pretty much it in terms of funding for accessibility programs and initiatives. We don't have any proper legislation yet. America has had the Americans with Disabilities act, mandating accessibility for all, for 30 years. The UK has had similar legislation for 40. The Accessible Canada Act has only just received Royal Assent at the end of last year. As a nation, we are really behind in terms of accessibility and inclusion and that really frustrates me. The fact that only one elementary school in town is fully accessible to get in and out of infuriates me. Nearly everyone will have to deal with reduced or impaired mobility during their life, even if only temporarily.
CS4PR: Good point. In your opinion, what would be a good step to improving mobility in Prince Rupert?
Hannah: I would like all crosswalks to have properly graded curbs so that anyone using a mobility aid, or people pushing strollers, can safely enter and exit the crosswalk. It's something really simple that makes a huge difference. The sidewalks and crosswalks are often dangerous if I'm out by myself. I'm single and independent and don't want to be pushed around or helped out. I want to be able to get around by myself, just like everyone else.
CS4PR: What would you like people to know about people in wheelchairs?
Hannah: One thing I really need all able bodied people to know is to not touch anyone's wheelchair without consent. Treat the chair as an extension of our bodies. And if you want to ask me about it, please say hi first or make eye contact. Don't come up behind me in the parking lot of the mall and shout "What's wrong with your legs?!" It's so rude and so annoying! If kindergarteners can treat me and my wheelchair with respect, so can everyone else. My chair is definitely not a burden, I'm not wheelchair bound, I'm a wheelchair user. I tend to think that I'm not "physically challenged" or "mobility challenged". I feel more infrastructure challenged, or accessibility challenged, or being-seen-as-a-person challenged. I'm not the thing holding me back, physical and societal barriers are.
CS4PR: The Sustainable City 2030 Plan is supposed to address accessibility and active transportation. What would you like to see come from this initiative?
Hannah: With the 2030 plan, I'd like to see a real push toward making as many businesses and organizations as accessible as possible. I really hope that all the new housing development will be accessible, especially for low income people and the elderly and that actual disabled people will be consulted in planning new infrastructure and community buildings. "Nothing about us, without us!" Lack of consultation leads to things like ramps at a completely unrealistic angle; a ramp to get into a school, but all the other exits have stairs, so if there's an evacuation, it's incredibly unsafe; handicap buttons that let you into a building, but not out of it or doorways so narrow I literally can't wheel through without injuring myself (I’m thinking about the the mall exit beside Shoppers.). I know that most business owners want to be accessible to everyone, but often accessibility is expensive, especially in a town where most of our buildings are raised off the ground. I'd love to see some grant money for businesses to increase accessibility because it increases their customer base and customer loyalty.
CS4PR: Have you connected with other people who face similar challenges as you?
Hannah: I'd love to see more of a disabled community and networking, but I just don't have the energy to set it up myself. The disabled community on Twitter is absolutely amazing, though. I have so many things I want to do and want to fight for, but I just can't right now. I have to choose between getting riled up and fighting for change and going to businesses and organizations to ask them to change their ways, or being able to work full time and not collapse. My priorities are work and my health.
CS4PR: You’ve mentioned feeling lucky. Could you explain?
Hannah: I acknowledge that I'm very fortunate to have the level of privilege that I do, that I have health insurance to be able to afford my chair, and that I have the education, language, support and confidence/fearlessness to be able to advocate for myself. Without that, I would be in a very different situation, one that I see far too many people in in our community. Also, Rupert is a really wonderful community, where I feel welcomed and accepted. I have strong roots here going back to the beginning of the town and I'm proud to live here now. I'm always bragging it up to friends in Alberta to convince them to move out here. As a multiple minority (female, disabled and queer), I know how much it meant to me to see the rainbow bridge and the RCMP LGBTQIA++ rainbow safe space stickers in the windows around town. I'd love to see something like that for people with disabilities - something big and bold to show that we're accepted and protected by the community. I'm not going to organize a disability pride march, but I will absolutely join in on one… as long as there aren't any balloons!
CS4PR: Thanks, Hannah!