WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 1988, PAGE 23 -- Downtown Whitby acces sibiltty gets good rating from these residents JERRY THOMAS manoeuvres his wheelchair between parked and moving cars on Brock St. S. Thomas says he is never bothered by the motorists or hears remarks from them. He uses the roads because he cannot get his wheelchair onto a sidewalk because the access ramps are not flush with the ground. Free Press photo By Debbie Luchuk and Mike Johnston Whitby, especially its down- town area, rates extremely high mn the eyes of some local citizens confined to wheelchairs. According to Jerry Thomas, handicapped people from all over Ontario move to Whitby because they have heard how wheelchair accessible the Town is, and how friendly it is to the handicapped. Thomas and another wheel- chair citizen, Winston Price, residents at Cheshire Homes, spoke to The Free Press during a guided tour , of the town, to indicate the strengths and weak. nesses of accessibility in Whitby. "I moved here from Toronto and was really surprised at the accessibility and the friendliness of Whitby," Thomas said. Price also moved from Torontc to Whitby. "I moved here April 9, and I love my placé in Whitby, at Ches- hire Homes, a lot." The two had very little nega- tive to say about the town and wheelchair accessibility as they manoeuvred their chairs through- out the downtown. While travelling along Brock St. N., Price pointed out that many of the stores, including The Free Press office, have high, insurmountable steps, which pro- hibit entrance for those confined to a wheelchair. On Brock St. S. the situation is JERRY THOMAS gets a push from Win- deteriorated and are no longer flush with ston Price as he has trouble getting up a the ground making it almost impossible ramp on Dunlop St. Some ramps in the for wheelchair citizens to acccess the downtown area are accessible for sidewalks. FreePressphoto wheelchair residents but others have reversed with most of the store entrances flush to the sidewalk. Many of the merchants in the downtown area have attempted to make their businesses as wheelchair accessible as possible with graded entrances and even plank ramps. "All it takes is a little piece of --two-by-four at a 24-degree angle (to make it wheelchair access- ible)," Thomas said. Older doorways prevent access However, there are a few places that are impossible to get into. It is difficult for some mer- chants to make their entrances wheelchair accessible because the doorways, being old, are too nar- row to allow a wheelchair in, said Thomas. "There are some lovely restaur- ants, but there are steps in the way," Price said. Merchants, however, get top marks from these men for being helpful in serving them at the door or assisting them to get into a shop or restaurant. "People are immediately ready to assist you (if you are wanting to get into a store). You can sit outside a store door and in a matter of seconds, there is someone there helping you," said Thomas. Price added that he could not remember a single incident of rudeness by a Whitby resident. As Thomas travelled south on Brock St. N., he easily guided his wheelchair up and down the ramps at Dundas St. But ramps at Brock St. S. and Colborne as well as at Brock St. S. and Dunlop were more difficult. "They are not flush with the ground. Sometimes I need a push to. get up the ramps," said Thomas who at one point drove his wheelchair along Brock St., around parked cars, to avoid the difficult ramps. "The motorists are very courteous. They have never bot- hered me," said Thomas. Another problem faced by those confined to a wheelchair, according to the two, are pedes- trian signals at signalized inter- sections. "They are not long enough for us to get across the road safely most of the time," said Thomas. Two downtown grocery stores were identified as "handi- capped-friendly" by Price and Thomas. Mr. Grocer provides a fast telephone grocery delivery service ($3 charge) while the IGA on the west side of Brock St. S. has wheelchair accessible ramps, elec- tric doors and a staff that is willing to help you shop, according to Thomas. Because he has limited use of his hands, Thomas has one of the staff at the IGA follow him with a shopping cart, and they pack the groceries and put them on the back of the wheelchair. Price said the banks are fri- endly, but some lack wheelchair level counters. Movie theatres in Durham Region are a problem because there is no other place to park wheelchairs other than in the aisle. Thomas said the management usually asks the handicapped person to transfer to a seat, or asks them to leave because of the fire hazard. The other problem is that even if the wheelchairs are allowed in the aisles, they are parked on an incline. Satisfied with Handi Transit Thomas and Price agreed that all of Durham Region is very wheelchair accessible. The two are very satisfied with the Handi Transit system in Whitby, and the connections they can make to get almost anywhere from Toronto to Bowmanville to Uxbridge. Thomas said if a handicapped person wants to get from Whitby to Toronto, all that is needed is a series of 'relatively effort-free transfers from one Handi Transit system to another. The Whitby bus would drop the person at the city limits of Ajax, to be picked up by Ajax Handi Transit. From the Ajax bus, the traveller would tranfer to a Toronto bus. "People are extremely helpful to those who can't help them- selves," Thomas said. Few negative comments made during tour