#Access4All Sticker Initiative
The international symbol of access depicts a stationary person with outstretched arms, sitting idle as if waiting for someone to come give a push from behind. This sign is no good. It represents people with disabilities by portraying a tone of helplessness, but what we need is a tone of empowerment.
Here's The Accessible Icon Project's updated international symbol of access. Notice how it draws our eyes to the person before the wheelchair. Seeing people with disabilities first and foremost as people is empowering. This image is also empowering because it portrays a person who's moving, while the other image portrays a seemingly static object.
The #Access4All Sticker Initiative turned The Accessible Icon Project's symbol into a weatherproof sticker, which you can use to update instances of the antiquated image around Toronto. Through imagery, we can empower people to reach their full potential.
The #Access4All Sticker is a small yet powerful way to expedite Toronto's transition into a world-leading city that's fit for all human beings. |
Find this initiative on instagram @access4all_sticker
and post your own images using #access4all Make a $10 minimum donation to StopGap Foundation
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Though it may be possible to convince the city and businesses to formally adopt the new icon, bureaucracies are often slow-moving, and equal access for all can't come soon enough.
The sticker intends to speed up change in three ways:
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In some cases, the sticker will cover up the outdated accessibility icon, effectively replacing the old icon with the new.
But it's hard to have a one-size-fits-all design since the outdated icon appears in so many different shapes, sizes, colours and textures. |
The sticker should appeal to whomever identifies as having disability or has friends or family who do. But even if you don't fit the description above, there's no telling that you won't sometime down the road. You may need to spend time recovering from an operation, may become injured, or may lose range of motion due to pregnancy, disease, or aging. Since we can't be sure if or when we will need accessible design, it's in everyone's best interest to have a more accessible city. (For the philosophers out there, this is a spin on John Rawls's veil of ignorance.)
Accessible design also benefits parents with strollers and delivery people. |
Free 2”x2” weatherproof stickers are available during regular weekday business hours at 215 Spadina Ave, 4th floor, on the magazine rack next to the elevator. Stickers will also be available Saturday, Sept 24th at Metro Hall for the *free* YIMBY Festival.
Make a minimum $10 donation to StopGap and receive the following weatherproof stickers by mail: three 1''x1'', three 2''x2'', and three 4''x4'' Order 1”x1”, 4”x4” or custom size/colour stickers here. Learn more about accessibility here:
This initiative was recently featured in Metro News, CTV News, and CBC Sudbury. |