Canada: Accommodations for disabled have taken root
The widespread acceptance of these special parking zones has been just one small sign of how the disability movement has spawned a quiet revolution in the wider culture in the past few decades.
In addition to disabled-only parking, North Americans have become familiar with such things as wheelchair ramps, sign language, mandatory elevators, cutaway curbs, door handles instead of door knobs and sonic walk signals. As well, the stigma faced by many disabled people has been reduced.
As the definition of "disability" has changed and expanded, the percentage of self-defined "disabled" people is growing in Canada, to the point where Statistics Canada reports more than 15 per cent of the population, or 4.5 million people, claims a disability.
