LET’S’ was pleased to be contacted by a member of the organizing Committee from Jane’s Walk Vancouver Festival. We were asked to create and lead a walk. They said that our work in making our cities more vibrant and accessible is so important and it led to them hoping we could participate in this year’s festival.
Jane’s Walk is an annual festival of free, community-led walking conversations inspired by Jane Jacobs. Jane’s Walks encourage people to share stories about their neighbourhoods, discover unseen aspects of their communities, and use walking as a way to connect with their neighbours.
We chose the Champlain area for our walk. It is where our office is located. We provided chalk (for an accessibility task), conversation starters, and an overview of our route and organization.
We had great conversations, including with a family who had recently moved to the area from the US. 1 of the children is a queer youth and they were concerned for his safety. They had a lot of questions about programs and events in the area that support 2SLGBTQIA+ folks.
We provided chalk for participants to circle accessible features and mark inaccessible features with an X. This is a great way to create a dialogue with participants about what accessibility encompasses and how much our communities need to make our streetscapes accessible to a broad spectrum of disabilities.
We also spoke about environmental justice and disability justice. 1 of the principles of disability justice is cross-movement organizing. Climate issues disproportionately affecting people with disabilities is just 1 of the many reasons why climate justice must incorporate accessibility and disability justice principles.