'I continue to be an advocate,' says activist tapped to implement Accessibility Act

A disability rights advocate who once criticized the province and helped push it to overhaul its first attempt at the Accessibility Act is now in charge of the directorate responsible for implementing the new law.

Gerry Post was named the head of Nova Scotia's newly created Accessibility Directorate last week, an appointment announced by Justice Minister Mark Furey.

"I continue to be an advocate. Now I'm inside the tent," Post said in an interview. "I look forward to the challenge."

The Accessibility Act, which became law this spring, seeks to create accessibility standards that could effect everything from building construction to education to public transportation.

Post, who uses a wheelchair, was recently awarded the 2017 James McGregor Stewart Award in recognition of his achievements spearheading improvements to the Accessibility Act. His new job will be to implement that act.

When it was first introduced last fall, Bill 59 was called historic by Joanne Bernard, then the community services minister, but was panned as weak by some of the very people it was supposed to help. The government went back to the drawing board and returned with a bill that garnered praise.

• Accessibility bill once hailed as 'historic' sent back to drawing board

• Heavily criticized Accessibility Act garners praise following redraft

The challenge is to make Nova Scotia, a province with the highest proportion in Canada of people with disabilities, fully accessible by 2030, Post said.

Post said in order to fast track accessibility in Nova Scotia, the directorate is looking at standards already used in other provinces and countries.

"We will beg, borrow and adapt to fit things to our conditions," he said, using the example of detailed standards developed by the Rick Hansen Foundation to make buildings fully accessible.

Standards fall short

"People have been waiting for something like that," he said. "There have been no standards on accessibility. There have been some good things in the existing building code but they fall far short of what needs to be done." 

Post said accessibility issues also include barriers to communication.

"So if you are a blind person or hard of hearing, it's a challenge. So we are putting some standards on the way we communicate with the community; that's government and the private sector as well."

Post said the Liberals' proposed budget includes a program to help small businesses accommodate people with disabilities. "That's a large segment of the population and if I were a business owner I would want those people to shop in my buiness."

The next step, he said, is to set up an accessibility board made up of people with disabilities and representatives of the business community. "They will set the priorities of what needs to be done."

"I'm going to continue to be an advocate," he said. "How do we do it that's affordable to our province. That's the big challenge."