We have to admit, our first response to hearing the criticism over accessibility issues on the new Q2Q ferry was a big, heavy sigh.
Our thought process ran something like this: Why do people have to get so upset about a trial run? After all, the city has already said accessibility will be taken into account should the run become permanent. It’s just not a big deal.
Then the outcry started on social media. And we were forced to think again.
We’d like to thank the critics for making us realize what a privileged and, yes, ableist perspective that view represents.
It’s pretty easy for us able-bodied folks to say it’s “not a big deal” that wheelchairs can’t make it onto the ferry.
But what if we were the ones in wheelchairs? What if we were the ones running up against obstacles – both literal and metaphorical – every single solitary day of our lives in a world that’s designed for the able-bodied? We probably wouldn’t be so quick to shrug off our own exclusion.
Think about it. What if this trial ferry run was accessible to everybody but, say, women? If anyone said, “Well, women won’t be allowed to ride on it for this test period, but if it becomes permanent, we’ll let women on,” wouldn’t our reaction be different? Or insert any other marginalized group – LGBTQ people, perhaps, or people of colour. A ferry that accommodated everybody but them wouldn’t be sailing for very long.
Yes, it seems clear that accessibility is challenging on a fast-flowing tidal river (see more in today’s front-page story). And although you can’t accuse the city of not considering the issue, it’s obvious that accessibility was not made a key priority for the ferry’s trial run.
Which rather begs the question: Is this even a fair test of the potential success or failure of the venture? How complicated (read: expensive) will it be to operate an accessible service? Will it even be possible?
And if it’s not possible – well, should that be a deal-breaker? Keeping in mind that this isn’t a private enterprise but a public one, sensitivity to accessibility has to be a key part of the whole endeavour – and it should have been right from the get-go.
We think this whole ferry is a great idea, by the way, and we hope it works.
But right here, right now, we want to apologize for overlooking the importance of accessibility. We realize we were guilty of the same kind of thought process that allows men to overlook the importance of gender and white folks to overlook the importance of colour.
Memo to selves: If you’re from one of the privileged groups, you don’t get to tell those who have been marginalized that their point of view is invalid. You get to shut up and listen.
We’re listening.
