Paralympian Joanne MacDonald gets keys to lower mailbox
Mobility advocate says there are lots of complaints
A paralympian who complained she couldn't reach her community mailbox got a quick response from Canada Post after speaking to CBC News on Tuesday.
Joanne MacDonald has been given the keys to a new mailbox, and that's not all.
"They went through the process with me in terms of what I had requested — and I had requested a lower box — and then I said, 'Well that's great, but I am concerned in terms of the winter, what happens?' So they talked about what would happen with respect to home delivery. And they would provide home delivery to me once a week, every Wednesday … Packages and parcels they would deliver that on a daily basis," said MacDonald, who received the keys to her new lower box Wednesday.
"So that sounded pretty reasonable."
Lots of complaints
Kelly White, executive director for the Coalition of Persons with Disabilities, has been hearing lots of complaints like MacDonald's.
White said some people in wheelchairs complained they couldn't navigate to the boxes, or when they did, their assigned boxes were too high to reach.
"One guy actually told us that he spent a year filling out his paperwork with Canada Post and being assured of accessible accommodation. He got his keys in the mailbox last week, and when he went down to check his mailbox, he was given the top box, which he couldn't reach," she said.
White says the problems happened despite the efforts of people like her.
"It was just incredible that there was no thought given to accessibility and we thought, as the Coalition of Persons with Disabilities, along with our national affiliate … we thought we did a great job of asking for more accessibility, she said.
White says even though Canada Post has suspended its plan to eliminate door-to-door delivery, she expects it will eventually go back to that plan.
"I think this is going to go forward because it's already in motion. What I would like to see is for them to really take into consideration is accessibility," she said.
In the meantime, MacDonald said she hoped other disabled people would get the same kind of accommodation even though she had gone through Canada Post's process identifying her requirements several months earlier and only got a response 24 hours after contacting the media,
She also thanked the public for a response that's been "overwhelming."
"The Facebook posts, the picture that was shared absolutely everywhere yesterday …It's just been absolutely awesome. I sent a note out this morning to thank everyone for their support and sharing," she said.
"That's the power of people, that's the power of media. We create a little bit of change here and it needs to continue because there are many more folks, like myself, who need this,"