‘Perfect storm’ of events led to accessibility issue at Emera Oval
Posted Oct 25, 2017 05:52:10 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A parks and recreation official said Halifax Regional Municipality is putting practices in place to make sure accessible equipment is available to those who need it at the Emera Oval.
This after a 17-year-old Auburn High School student with cerebral palsy left the facility in tears.
Kiera Sparks-Lucas is a volunteer with her school's international student program, the group headed to the oval last Saturday to go biking and inline skating.
The teen's mom said, after calling ahead to make sure there would be equipment available for her to join in the fun, she was given one trike too small for her, then when she traded that in for a hand pedal bike, it wasn't functional.
John Henry, HRM's manager of aquatic, leisure, active living and inclusion services, told NEWS 95.7's The Sheldon MacLeod Show it wasn't an equipment shortage that caused the incident.
“That one bike that was offered up was not operable at the time, it was immediately rectified not that long after the client left, which was very unfortunate,” said Henry.
“There was another one there, but we just failed to recognize it was there and available for the client.”
Henry said he's taking complete responsibility for the oversight, adding casual, seasonal employees receive rigorous training.
He said situations like this drive them to perform better and they'll be reviewing customer service practices with staff to make sure this doesn't happen again.
“The experience that happened, didn't have to happen that day,” he said.
“This visitor that came to participate, and did all the things she could do to make sure she was going to have a good experience, unfortunately fell through a crack and it didn't work for her, which we deeply regret and want to rectify.”
Henry said he's very sorry this happened, and hopes to have the opportunity to talk to Kiera and her family soon.
