Articles – Page 3 – Blindsided : Living with blindness in Canada

Accessible Islands on A Sea of Dreams

By Chris J. Stark

The face of cruising is changing, and people with disabilities are an important part of that change. Passengers with disabilities are no longer uncommon. At the Captain’s welcome party, you may chat with a shipmate who has a tropical punch in one hand and a white cane in the other. Fellow dinner partners at your table in the grand dining room may be cruisers on dialysis and watching the sunrise with fellow passengers who are hard of hearing begins another day of fun at sea. Sharing the jogging track with a person using a wheelchair keeps things shipshape and guide dogs finding the way through the deck chairs are no longer mirages in the warm sun of shipboard life.

Customer service for all is the way of the future. The market is shifting, and the cruise industry is poised to attract more and more travellers with disabilities. The graying of society will escalate the numbers in the next twenty years because more seniors, despite the onset of age-related disabilities, enjoy active lives and live longer.

At the bow wave of this new trend is the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA). This organization, which meets annually, promotes a better understanding of the cruise industry. The FCCA helped the cruise industry embrace customer diversity at its first workshop: The Market of Persons with Disabilities. This was held in Puerto Rico at the 6th Annual FCCA Conference and Trade Show. The large audience, standing room only, was a testimony that accessibility is a timely and important topic for cruise destination ports and excursion providers. The success of this first seminar spawned a second seminar at the 7th Annual FCCA Conference and Trade Show in Panama City, Panama, in 2000. The Society for the Advancement of Accessible Travel and Hospitality (SATH) helped the FCCA organize these workshops.

After the first seminar in Puerto Rico, the delegates went home with a better understanding of the social and economic benefits of accessibility. The presenters encouraged partnerships between the tourism industry and citizens with disabilities because people with disabilities, whether tourists or locals, will benefit from accessible features. At the first seminar, delegates asked, “What should we do?” At the second seminar in Panama City, they said, “Look at our accomplishments!”

The Executive Director of SATH, Laurel Van Horn, saw the keen enthusiasm that grew in the year between seminars. Representatives from around the Caribbean basin were eager to share their accomplishments in accessibility. One delegate, the owner of a jade factory in Guatemala, was motivated to make her factory accessible to tourists with disabilities by installing ramps and widening the doors.

Eric Shiozaki, owner of Vaya con Silla de Ruedas (Go with Wheelchairs) in Costa Rica, described the hurdles he overcame as a small operator to become a supplier for Princess Cruises in addition to his local Paratransit Service. Eric stated, “I hope that, by setting a good example, I have encouraged others to create a safe, accessible and professional system of operation.”

June Noel, Director of Foster and Ince Cruise Services, cited numerous initiatives undertaken by her company and the tourist sector in Barbados. The airport, the cruise terminal, tour operators and local tourist attractions have an array of accessible facilities and equipment, such as lift-equipped motor coaches, people movers, ambulifts at the airport, ramped access, wheelchairs, adapted restrooms and curb cuts. These innovations serve both tourists and Barbadians with disabilities.

Laurel Van Horn presented tips on how to serve persons with disabilities. She covered topics such as older travellers, deafness, blindness, mental limitations and medical needs.

Chris Stark of the Canadian Transportation Agency touched the audience with his own travel stories from the Caribbean. As a guide dog user, he is concerned about unnecessary restrictions that prevent cruisers service animals from visiting some of the islands and even Panama.

John Cook, manager of shore excursions for HollandAmerica, talked about the commitment to meet the needs of all passengers. He cited examples, such as HollandAmerica’s new tendering system for wheelchair users, the availability of beach wheelchairs, and the growing number of shipboard pools equipped with lifts.

The growing interest in accessibility is generating ideas for yet another showcase of accessibility accomplishments at the next FCCA Conference to be held in Aruba, October 2-5, 2001. The FCCA has promoted the proactive collaboration between the cruise industry and its Caribbean basin partners. These partnerships allow travellers with disabilities to experience the full range of the Caribbean cruise experience. The championing of access for people with disabilities is having a very positive effect throughout the region. The growing emphasis on shipboard and port of call accessibility within the cruise ship industry is enriching the quality of life for visitors and residents with disabilities alike.

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Taking Charge of My Career

By Chris Stark

As I approach retirement and hang up the spurs, it is fitting to think about how I achieved a satisfying career, earned a living, and with my wife, raised a family.

I believe that in order to succeed, you have to take charge of your destiny, make your own decisions, after assessing all the factors, and live by your choices. Deciding on your goals and pursuing them with determination is very important.

Do not accept the judgements of others, like my early teachers at the school for the blind, who labeled me in front of the class as “the village idiot”. Do not listen to those, like my first career counselors, that all life had to offer was an existence in an institution for the blind.

I dared to dream of inclusion and a comfortable lifestyle. I found friends, role models, and mentors, although this was not always easy. I worked hard, sacrificed a lot, and had a satisfying work life. I never stopped learning. I was loyal to my friends, always tried to help, and made a great effort to avoid hurting people.

I faced many challenges, like having to work to pay my university fees, room and board. So I became a night time Residence Manager, and except for the weekend student celebrations, all was quiet at night, which enabled me to get paid to study and do homework such as essays and presentations. I also honed my problem-solving skills at University, as there were no organized services to produce textbooks in accessible formats. So I found radio personalities to record textbooks for me.

My first full-time employer was in the charitable sector, which I left after 11 years, to join the Federal Public Service. I obtained the necessary contacts for this career change through networking with a school friend who is blind. People with disabilities can be an invaluable resource, if we choose to do so and help each other. This change in career path made me realize that setbacks were not the end, but the beginning of new opportunities.

In my first job with the Public Service, I was involved in energy productivity enhancement. Yes, the government really had a dedicated program to work smarter in that field, where I met many engineers, traveled throughout Canada, shopped in the Hudson Bay Store in Resolute Bay, and had the honour of sleeping in the very bed Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip slept in during their honeymoon visit to Northern Canada, forty years earlier.

However, my main goal was always to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities. So, when I had the chance to become involved in accessible transportation, I jumped at the promotion, where I made presentations, trained transportation staff, dealt with complaints, crafted regulations and enforced them. I traveled to several countries like Japan, where the paper I co-authored won best paper at that World Congress.

I had lots of help along the way. Yes, there were the inevitable workplace politics, exclusions, and accessibility issues, particularly with written and electronic communications. I faced many physical, systemic and attitudinal barriers, and tried to have them removed when I could through negotiation and suggesting solutions, or working around them with good but never 100% success.

I made a conscious effort to take courses offered to all employees that would broaden my skills and competencies, and advance my career marketability. I insisted on being provided with the accommodations I needed to do my work, including readers to help me deal with the deluge of paper produced by the bureaucracy. When competing for new positions, I made it a point to network, research the opportunity, and find out about the work environment. I also accepted that I would not get the majority of positions I competed for, so I used the competitions as a way of learning and honing my skills to win other work opportunities. I learned where the best place in the organization was for me, and when I got to that level of salary and responsibility, I then chose to stay in a position where I enjoyed my work, and at the same time, could help improve accessibility for persons with disabilities.

So take charge of your career, try not to let setbacks disappoint you too much, and be the best you can be, and be proud of your achievements. And remember to blow your own horn, because nobody else will!

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HIGHLIGHTS OF PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND RECOGNITION

– The AEBC CCD Award presented to Chris and Marie Stark – 2008.

– The National Federation of the Blind Advocates for Equality certificate of recognition Awarded to Marie and Chris Stark – June 2003

– Co-author of Best Conference Paper Award TRANSED-2005, Japan

– Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee Commemorative Medal – 2002

– Recognition of contribution certificate – Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat – 2000

– Achievement Award – Canadian Transportation Agency – 1999

– 125th Anniversary of Canada Commemorative Medal – 1993

– Transport Canada’s 50th Anniversary Ministerial Award of Distinction- 1987

– Citation letter from Queen Elizabeth II for contributions to New Brunswick – 1984

– Golden “M”, St. Mary’s University – 1972

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Introduction To The Site

Chris Stark was the Manager of Monitoring, Liaison and Mediation for the Accessible Transportation Directorate of the Canadian Transportation Agency. His first role at the Agency involved the resolution of complaints from travelers with disabilities. Before joining the Agency, Mr. Stark held several positions with Transport Canada. While with Transport Canada, he received a Ministerial award of excellence. Chris . Stark graduated with honors in Arts and Education from St. Mary’s University in Nova Scotia, where he received a “Golden M” award for his contribution to university life. His work with the New Brunswick Bicentennial Commission, notably the development of the first tactile and braille pin in Canada, earned him a letter of commendation from Queen Elizabeth II. He received the Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada awarded by the Governor General “in recognition of significant contribution to compatriots, community and to Canada”.

Over the years, Chris . Stark has spoken to many groups in Canada and abroad, such as the European Conference of Ministers of Transport in Paris, France; Independence ’92: the World Congress of Persons with Disabilities; Inclusion by Design: Planning the Barrier free World; the 50th Annual Worldwide Airline Customer Relations Association Conference, the Third Paralympic Congress in Atlanta, Georgia and, several of the Access to the Skies Conferences, sponsored by the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

Chris Stark and, Marie Stark , enjoy travelling with their guide dogs. Their travels provide them with first hand experience of services for persons with disabilities. Articles based on their experiences have been published in Canadian magazines such as Ability Network and Abilities.

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