Fair Entry program misses the mark

By Medicine Hat News Opinon on September 19, 2017.

Imagine if the Esplanade was built without wheelchair accessibility. Because let’s face it, that sort of design costs extra money, and only a few people out of the city’s whole population require that sort of assistance to access the site.

After the fact, the city announces they have a plan.

If you have a disability and want to use the Esplanade facilities, you have to call ahead. But only during regular work hours. You have to make your case. Fill out some paperwork. Staff will decide then if you qualify for assistance. If you’re deemed worthy, then when you arrive at the Esplanade they’ll pull out portable ramps for you. Only for you. Then they’ll roll it away when you’re done.

Rinse. Repeat. Every time someone with a disability wants to use the Esplanade.

It would be frustrating for that person. It wouldn’t make them want to visit the Esplanade. It wouldn’t make them feel like part of the community. It would be utterly demeaning and alienating.

This is why the city’s Fair Entry program” misses the mark when it comes to supporting lower-income people.

The program, announced in March, means low-income Hatters can apply to pay a reduced admission price at city recreation, cultural and some seniors’ programs. The maximum allowed through the rebate is a whopping $100.

There’s also the Fair Entry shuttle program introduced as a part of transit changes. Those who qualify for the fair entry shuttle program are only allowed to use it on weekends to go to or from a residence, place of employment, or place of education. That’s it. Not the library, grocery store, mall, farmers’ market, FLC, Canada Day celebrations, Spectrum or other community events.

All of this comes as the city increases user fees for facilities, and transforms transit with the bottom line in sight.

Undoubtedly, city officials have their hearts in the right place when it comes to the Fair Entry program. They want to ensure that people with lower incomes have access to facilities within the community. But these programs won’t accomplish this.

Being poor stinks. It’s alienating being the odd one out — having to ask for accommodation, having to ask for assistance, getting handouts. Having your life rated and judged through paperwork and bureaucracy, by people who then can decide whether or not you qualify for aid. Repeatedly.

It’s exhausting to continually have to prove your worthiness.

If one good thing came out of the recent economic downturn, it’s that hopefully people who were usually comfortable financially now have a greater understanding and empathy towards the struggles and scrutiny that comes with job insecurity, loss and economic hardship.

There are ways of running programs that benefit low-income people without singling them out. Take the YMCA’s Get Active program, which aims to increase the physical activity of children and recognizes that children from lower incomes have less opportunity to participate in recreational activities. They don’t single out individual children from lower incomes. They select schools, and every child is given the chance to participate.

The Medicine Hat Public Library is another example of how great programming is made accessible and open to all. No one knows the income-level of those who show up to storytime. Same with programming like the Medicine Hat Early Childhood Coalition’s Play Guides programming during the summer, or roving gyms during the colder months. The Kinsmen Club of Medicine Hat also helps make skating accessible to all through it’s public skating sponsorships.

New public buildings (and old ones being updated) are designed so that accessibility for people with disabilities is expected, not an exception.

Because being inclusive means we don’t create more hoops that people need to jump through to simply participate in and be a part of this community.