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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1979-01-18, Page 21Bill Garrow got an opportunity to experience the frustration ofnot being able to do anything about his predicament Saturday when he volunteered to maneuver a wheelchair through an obstacle course set up by the March of Dimes as part of an Awareness Day. The course simulated obstacles someone confined to a wheelchair may en- counter just going shopping. Here Bill con- centrates as he guides the chair down a ram- p.(photo by Jeff Seddon) Grant .Garrow needed _a little help staying on course but managed to power this wheelchair up a ramp that he may encounter if he was confined to the chair and forced to get around in it. The ramp simulated one that would be installed to . allow a wheelchair to bypass a . set of stairs. March--'. of Dimes campaign worker Pat Dockstader offered Grant a little help keeping him on course. The course was part of a March of Dimes Awareness Day designed to give people a chance to experience problems 'a handicapped person would encounter. (photo by Jeff Seddon) 44e01-'4'4• • , Eleven year old Rob Gibbons found it takes more than will power to get a wheelchair up a ram- p ---it takes arm power. Rob tried his hand at a special slalom course that simulated obstacles a handicapped person confined to a wheelchair would encounter every day. The course was set up at Suncoast ]Mall as part of a March of Dimes. Awareness Day and gave people a chance to find out first hand what It's like to get around iti a wheelchair. Here Rob tried hard to get the chair up this ramp but needed a little help from March of Dimes campaign worker Pat Dockstader. (photo by Jeff Seddon) THE GODERICIJ SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 1979—PAGE 3A Awareness aware BY JEFF SEDDON The frustrations ex- perienced by a han- dicapped person stranded in a snow covered parking lop because a wheelchair can't be powered through the. snow or not being able to use a public washroom because the wheelchaip, won't fit through the door cannot be explained. Unless it actually hap- pens to you you .can only guess what it's like. Saturday. the Ontario March of Dimes gave anyone interested a chance to share the ex- perience of the han- dicapped through an Awareness Day display at Suncoast Mall. Wheelchairs were offered anyone wishing to get a glimpse of what it's like to get around a shopping mall in a wheelchair. The program was not designed to get people to take pity on the plight of the handicapped but merely to make them aware of what life is ,like when many of the things people take for granted are denied. ' The Awareness Day was an effort sponsored jointly by the March of Dimes and Alpha Huron, a group of disabled adults attempting to focus public attention on issues and problems .the han- dicapped face. The program basically gave people an opportunity to navigate a wheelchair through a slalom course that simulated things like curbs, wheelchair ramps and narrow doorways. Coupled with the slalom course . was an in- formation booth and a mouth painting demonstration that showed that kiandicapped people can and do -fun ction in society as con- tributing members. For those that took the time to listen to the. comments from the • handicapped people at the Awareness Day booth, or . guide the wheelchair through the slalom course, the problems.. the han- dicapped face living in a world designed for people free from ° disabilities were never more evident. The frustrations at not being able to negotiate a sidewalk curb in a wheelchair were ex- perienced because you were in the wheelchair trying to get over the curb. People seemed to forget the fact that all they had to do was get out of the chair and push it over the curb. They just kept trying andeither negotiated-thecurb or got help. Doug Mayer, who was left handicapped by polio, explained that the slalom course was not purposely set up to be difficult but rather was designed. realistically. He pointed out that while the door- ways simulated- in the course *ere narrow they were the same width as most doorways someone in a wheelchair had to go through daily. He said they only seemed narrow because people 'that would never notice their width now depended on them being wide enough to permit them to go Where they want to go. Doug pointed out that many areas of the shopping mall 'were exactly - like the slalom course. He said he took time •'away from the display to go through the mall and discovered one store where the aisles - were narrow and packed tightly with stodk on display. - "I went down the aisle and couldn't get turned around," he said. He pointed to. another store whose entry Was permitted through a turnstile and asked how someone in a wheelchair could get into that store. He conceded that an aisle that shoppers use to exit from the store could be used by someone in •a wheelchair to go in the store but added that if there was a number of people at the cash register waiting to pay for goods and leave the store the wheelchair could not get by. "It's little things like that that were trying to' make people aware of," he said. He added that han- dicapped people do not want special treatment everywhere just some consideration from store owners, architects, contractors and anyone else connected with public facilities. He said Dean Meliway is not falling over backwards he is demonstrating one.of the many techniques he uses when he competes in the wheelchair slalom. Dean is a world champion wheelchair athlete and won the gold medal for Canada in .the 'wheelchair olympics. Dean demonstrated his- ability in a slalom course set up as part of a March of Dimes Awareness Day at Suncoast Mall on Saturday. Dean went through the course to show people how a wheelchair can be maneuvered and then offered anyone an opportunity to 'try for themselves. The program was ` i(esigried to make people without any physical handicaps aware of what life is like for people that do have han- dicaps. (photo by Jeff Seddon) • WiJ:out k �' r; y. R: Do you always take a bath, instead of a -shower which uses less power? Do you fill a kettle full to make a single cup? - Turn on the washing machine for just a few things? Leave ..the TV on when no ones watching? And do you often forget to turn off though everyone's home in bed? the porch light even Any of these thoughtless little habits can make you a turn-off. Because waste of electricity, like anything that everybody really needs, can tum people off. -Wouldn't you rather turn off a light bulb than turn off a friend? Think about` how you use electricity Was electricity people This message is brought to you by your hydro on behalf of people who care HY8-3344 r there was no need for special facilities everywhere but just some thought given the han- dicapped so that the result is wide doorways, ramps, washrooms that can be used by someone in a wheelchair and other little things that are taken for granted. "The less labels put on things for the han- dicapped the easier it is `Porn to page 10A INCOME TAX RETURNS PREPARED Too Afin (J60eiates FINANCIAL AND MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS 58 ELGIN AVE. EAST P.O. 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