Canada tries to make Winter Olympics more disability friendly

From The Vancouver Sun in Canada:

With all the ice and snow, ski resorts are notoriously difficult to get around whether you're on foot or on wheels. Whistler is no exception.

When the snow doesn't get properly cleared, it gets tramped into an icy slick. After snowplows clear the roadway, there are often huge ridges that pedestrians have to navigate to get across the street. And heaven help you if you're there after it's rained and frozen.

All that is complicated by topography. Whistler is in a valley and on the flood plain. Not only are there creeks and rivers to cross, there are berms built to hold back the spring water surges that need to be negotiated.

But more than anything, the barriers are attitudinal.

Ski resorts, after all, are the mecca of the fit. And while getting around can be challenging in snow boots, few people consider what it's like if you're sight-impaired or need to use a cane, walker or wheelchair.

Until they're forced to.

"Before I was injured I didn't use the same lens. I thought things were fairly accessible," says Sarah Tipler, who was a torchbearer at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing and last spring was appointed as coordinator of Whistler's Measuring Up program, which is aimed at making the village more accessible.

After a back-country ski accident nine years ago, Tipler ended up in a wheelchair. She couldn't get to places where her friends were going.

Many of the older buildings have stairs and no ramps. Many washrooms that claimed to be wheelchair accessible weren't, making for both uncomfortable and potentially embarrassing outings.

"It put me off trying to go out and that's not what anybody wants to feel. You want to constantly [be] inviting people in. People need to be welcomed to participate."

But the gregarious Tipler soon devised her own mental map of where to go and how to get there. She asserted her right to be out and about and now has no qualms in asking Whistler village hosts or anybody else for help.

"Over the last five years, some huge steps have been made. There's now accessible public transit ... But I think part of it is my being more comfortable within my own skin."

Still, she says, Whistler has a long way to go.

And that became more obvious as Whistler -- host mountain for the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics -- got ready to welcome the world.

All the spectators for the Olympics and Paralympics won't be as nimble as goats. And one of the first things that Whistler did was to change how it handles snow removal. Now, Tipler says, a crew with shovels follows the plow and makes sure that ramps at key intersections are cleared.

At Whistler Olympic Park, not everyone can make the kilometre-long trek to the ski jump or biathlon stadiums from the bus. So arrangements had to be made -- not just there, but at every sporting venue -- for internal transportation with special, accessible shuttles within the secured areas.

Each venue will also have accessible toilets, special seating, assistive hearing devices, large print and braille spectator guides and even wheelchairs for visitors to borrow.

As part of getting ready for the Games, Tipler's committee worked with the provincial and local tourism agencies to audit hotels, restaurants and other businesses to come up with a guide to services that are fully accessible and maps for how to get there.

In the village, red-jacketed hosts are primed to help. In the Celebration Plaza, there's a play area with ramps and tactile surfaces.

But the more important aspect is what happens after the crowds are gone.

Part of the athletes village will be converted to a lodge with wheelchair-accessible rooms. That's adjacent to the high-performance centre, which will be available after the Games for the Whistler Adaptive Sports program.

Using the Paralympics to shift people's thinking, Tipler's committee with the support of the municipal council has set 2020 as the target date for all new and existing public facilities to be fully accessible not only for people with mobility difficulties, but for those who are sight-and hearing-impaired as well.

"For Whistler, this is just the beginning of our journey that probably never ends," Tipler says.

But she's confident it will happen because Whistler is unique among Olympic mountain hosts. It's more than a ski resort that empties when the season ends. It's a community of 10,000 full-time residents, who welcomed Tipler home after her injury.

"We will be able to do this," she says. "Whistler started as a community of hippies pulling together and helping each other out. That principle remains."