By Dimitrje Martinovic
Dimitrije is a staff at FOCUS MEDIA ARTS CENTRE

Regent Park is home to many residents with diverse backgrounds, needs, and interests. From immigrants who have come to this country seeking a better life for themselves and their children, to seniors, to various religious groups, indigenous, and people with disabilities who ultimately cross the boundaries of age, gender, and ethnicity.

For people living with a disability, which may be visible or invisible, navigating the physical, social, and emotional environment that is fundamentally geared toward the able bodied, sighted, hearing, and cognitively functioning, can be at times extremely challenging. While the landscape for those living with disabilities has changed substantially over the last few decades, there is still a great deal that needs to be addressed.

Many of these changes have taken place as a result of individual efforts, individuals who have the lived experience of having a disability, and a passion to assist others who also have disabilities. One such person is Lloyd Pike, a long-time Regent resident, and someone who is himself legally blind, and uses a motorized wheelchair to get around.

In Regent Park, which is in the middle of a massive physical and social transformation, where community engagement and involvement is taking on new and concrete dimensions through greater negotiations between resident’s groups, builder/developers, and policy makers. One of the main areas of interest has been the growing awareness that public spaces need to be more accessible to people living with disabilities. Recently, the Daniels Corporation which has been the primary builder/developer for Phases 1, 2. & 3 of the revitalization of Regent Park, has partnered with Access Now to create an app for Regent that would highlight what “is” and what “isn’t” accessible in the area - Lloyd Pike was one of the people that was asked to participate in the mapping process which had the purpose of identifying the accessibility of stores, restaurants, and buildings in Regent Park.

Contributing to the Access Now app is just one of many activities that Lloyd Pike is involved in, Lloyd’s scope is much more personal, much more inspirational, and much more visionary. He sees his role as being integral to the development of greater accessibility for all those living with disabilities. He sees his own disability not as an impediment, but as a cause and an example of how disabilities, when channeled positively can allow a person to engaged with their life more fully. Lloyd wants to show by his own example, that everyone must speak out, get involved, and demand that the rights of disabled people be enacted in not only in law, but into the infrastructure of our public buildings and living spaces.

Of all the work that Lloyd has been involved in over the years, the “Engaging People with Disabilities”  project is perhaps the most far reaching. Funded by a grant from the Regent Park Social Development Plan through the City of Toronto, community Development Unit; Community Engagement, Capacity Building & Program Support Fund, the report will examine what are the needs of people with mobility issues and what are the capacities in the area meet these needs.