Accessibility advocate sends message about snow removal

EDMONTON (660 NEWS) – An accessibility advocate in Alberta is getting praise online for her efforts in drawing attention to a seasonal scourge in the province — snow removal.

Bean Gill has used a wheelchair for the last six-plus years and was named Miss Wheelchair Canada. She posted a video Thursday to show what happens when you don’t clear your parking lot or sidewalk.

Gill shows her being unable to access the curb cut at a wheelchair parking spot due to the accumulation of snow.

“That’s about as far as I can go, many of you will laugh, but this is a very serious matter,” Gill says online. “My accessibility and my mobility relies on your snow removal, so if you’re in the business of snow removal, this is 100 per cent unacceptable.”

“I feel like a video has more emphasis than words,” she later told 660 NEWS. “Usually when I post something on Facebook, it’s just written words, but I feel like this is something people needed to see in order for it to have a bigger impact, that’s why I made the video.”

She says snow removal is a vital part, particularly when you live in a winter city or province, and anyone with mobility issues faces these issues when snow removal isn’t up to par.

“It’s really, really difficult to wheel through any amount of snow and like I said in my post, we don’t have the luxury of stepping over eight inches of snow,” Gill said.

It’s a constant and frustrating problem that she says she and many wheelchair-bound Albertans face.

“When it’s snowing, and you’re going out to shovel your walk, I think people need to be grateful for the ability to shovel and that they can shovel,” she said. “It is something that I miss doing, and I really enjoyed shovelling the snow, and now that I can’t do it, you don’t know what you have until it’s gone.”

Her other message, think about others in your community who may need the use of your sidewalk.