Archive for September 2008
Golden gardens of exclusion
Gardens of brass, plaques to founders ring campus excluding disabled? (CBC Photo)
UPEI has dedicated the golden quadrangle to gardens of brass. Widely spaced plaques to its founders ring the area. To make sure no one gets close to building doors, traffic barricades have been erected.
Parking pilons keep disabled off campus, easy in - easy out (LeClair photo)
Only 28% of UPEI is accessible
Not much accessible parking at UPEI
Thirteen of UPEI’s buildings are inaccessible to people with disabilities whereas only 5 buildings are accessible, that is 72% are inaccessible. That is primarily because only 38% of the parking spaces are accessible.
Only 15 of the blue painted parking spaces are actually accessible under building codes adopted by Charlottetown and part of the National Building Code. There are 40 blue spaces with a wheelchair sign. That is 38% of the blue parking is legally accessible.
The standard is the parking should be as close as possible to the door but no further than 50 meters. The furthest parking to building distance is 170 meters. The Charlottetown By-Law contains this rule at section is section 4.43.
Return disabled parking to UPEI – Admit the mistake and make it right
September 24th, 2008
The Journal Pioneer & The Eastern Graphic
Editor,
When politicians and community leaders make a mistake, it’s best to admit it and fix the problem as quickly as possible. Remember Richard Nixon who lost the presidency of the United States through lies and cover-up.
Canada in the dark compared with US Americans with Disabilities Act.
Signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. President George H.W. Bush (center) is flanked by Evan Kemp, Chairman, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (left) and Justin Dart, Chairman, President
By Stephen Pate
<em>While Canada prides itself on being champion of human rights, the United States under Presidents George H Bush and George W Bush has done more to advance disability human rights. Canada continues to harass the weak and disabled with a system from which other groups such as the gays have broken free.</em>
When President George Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1991, Jean Chrétien said Canadians didn’t need the ADA in Canada. He was wrong. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms was not enough to protect gays and it’s not enough to protect Canadians with disabilities.
Is it OK to say cripple?
Jesus said “You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
By Stephen Pate
Since I was quoted on camera by CTV using the word “cripple”, some have questioned the political correctness of that statement. It is perfectly acceptable for a person with a disability to use the term “cripple” in the proper context.
In the CTV clip, I said “Cobblestones or cripples?
If the University of Fraser Valley can fix a mistake, why not UPEI
If the University of Fraser Valley can correct itself why not UPEI. Recently UFV took away accessible parking spots near a building and put them further away.
Story Ostensibly for service vehicle parking.
This story is almost a carbon copy of taking the last parking spots from UPEI campus.
University promises to fix problem after student finds special stalls reserved for service vehicles
Abbotsford Mission Times
Marcia Downham, The Times
Published: Friday, September 12, 2008
Brandon Langhjelm was looking forward to starting his summer school semester, but when he arrived and headed for his usual parking spot he became confused and found himself in a life-threatening situation.
Liberal Millionaires Club
The only way that President Wade MacLauchlan could get away with civil rights and human rights abuses is if the PEI Provincial Government is inept, corrupt or both.
Here’s a peek at how they spend their time downtown.
We Interrupt This Program
UPEI President Wade MacLauchlan has innovative final solution to disabled parking crisis.
Are lawyers thick or dishonest
President Wade MacLauchlan, UPEI, no legal memory
Accommodation for workers and student at UPEI would be different for each disability and each person. It’s bad logic for UPEI to argue that all spaces had to accessible and fair.
Fairness is not a concept in accommodation. What’s fair for someone with a van and electric wheelchair is not fair for someone who has a walking disability.
He shoulda quit while he’s ahead
Timing is everything. And quitting is the ultimate act of timing, knowing when to leave. Should you go when people still love you or should you go when my best before date is past and there’s a smell in the fridge.
In March 2008, His Lordship Wade of Stanhope told the Bored of Governors he was checking out the retirement homes in the Bahamas. His first idea was his best because now he’s up to his butt in wheelchairs with no way out.
We’re not all the same
Woman in power chair, not everyone uses one, Auto Adapt photo
People with disabilities are not all alike and the accommodation they need to go to work or school is different. Ryan’s comment on the story You Really Hit A Nerve makes good points. Thanks for your comment Ryan.
You really hit a nerve
In response to the UPEI name hi-jacking story, a friend wrote: “You must have really hit a nerve Stephen”
Of course I hit a nerve. The powerful oligarchy at UPEI in the person of his Lordship Wade MacLauchlan does not like to be humiliated on TV across the country. The CTV story last week was just too much. It showed MacLauchlan to be the autocratic liar he is. (If liar is too strong, please substitute “person who makes disingenuous statements.”)
Is UPEI resorting to thievery?
Wade MacLauchlan, President of UPEI wanted for property theft along with abuse of the disabled?
UPEI’s attempt to exlude the disabled from the inner-campus took a new all time low as it may have consorted with Paul Cudmore to hijack Disability Alert’s website.
This week Cudmore, a member of the Access-Ability Committee at UPEI and confidante of President Wade MacLauchlin, set up a mirror website called “Disability Alert”. At this site, he purports to set the record straight. Mostly he engages in preaching like an Uncle Tom about how wonderful UPEI is. The record speaks volumes in the opposite.
Wade MacLauchlan the doctor of pain
Wade MacLauchlan, PHd
UPEI President Wade MacLauchlan decided to remove parking for disabled people. “Let them walk further” he was heard to say.
On the first day of the no-disabled parking regime, one employee experienced pain walking home and required medication.
Civil Rights violations at UPEI
American Civil Rights leaders: (top left) W.E.B. DuBois, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King
Summary
Discrimination against people with disabilities at the University of PEI is similar to the exclusion of blacks at US colleges prior to the Civil Rights Act. The discrimination is physical exclusion by the removal of a necessary physical accommodation, despite common practice. Statistics show a demand of 150 parking places whereas the University is removing the last 3. The exclusion is contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. UPEI risks public exposure as Jim Crow university.
Cobblestones or cripples, which at UPEI
CTV News coverage of UPEI removing disabled parking from the inner campus.
Reports say the story was carried from Atlantic Canada to Alberta.
Say it ain’t so
Wade MacLauchlan, President UPEI
Dear Wade MacLauchlan, President of UPEI
This is a black day in the history of UPEI, PEI and disability rights.
If you are truly removing the disabled parking on the inner campus then UPEI has the distinction of being the only reference I can find of this regressive behavior.
Where is the disabled parking asks singer’s grandmother.
Last week at Brennan’s for the pizza, a woman at the next table asked me “Where did all the disabled parking go at UPEI?”
Removed by Wade MacLauchlan. MacLauchlan’s compassion and understanding knows no bounds except for helping those with disabilities get to their destination.
Sam Walton could run UPEI better
Sam Walton, founder Wal-Mart If Sam Walton visited the Charlottetown Wal-Mart and saw the paint was gone from the disabled parking, he would have fixed it right away. When Wade MacLauchlan, President of UPEI, sees blue paint on parking spots for people with disabilities, he wants the paint removed.Wade MacLauchlan, President UPEI
Sam Walton the founder of Wal-Mart was a hands-on manager. He liked to visit the each store every month to check the books and inspect the stores for cleanliness. The maintenance crew would follow him fixing the problems. If the disabled parking spots needed painting, they got painted.
Walton speaking to Wal-Mart store staff
