The inaugural Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion Squamish event is set to educate local residents with interactive activities and raise funds for spinal cord research and projects directed at improving the quality of life for disabled residents on June 13.
The event is headed by the district's Accessibility Advisory Select Committee partly as a "coming out" party to let the community know that there is organized support in the area, said co-ordinator Sarah Tipler.
"That way a larger range of people within the community knows this exists and is there to allow better civic engagement and a place for people to voice their concerns if they're dealing with barriers within their community," she said.
The day will incorporate a number of demonstrations and hands-on competitions to show people what it's like to live with a spinal cord injury.
The feature challenge is a head-to-head wheelchair relay where participants must wheel through stages representing the obstacles of various degrees of spinal cord injuries. In one stage, for example, the competitor must wheel through pylons to a station before using only his or her mouth to write a message.
The challenge was developed to foster greater understanding of the obstacles confronting people living with spinal cord injuries, said co-organizer Kristen McBride, who has participated in previous Wheels in Motion events in Vancouver.
"It's just using different things to try to open people's eyes to a minute in the life of someone with a spinal cord injury," she said.
The event will also include Paralympic sport demonstrations and McBride said she expects members of her wheelchair rugby team to guide visitors through the game's ins and outs. Her B.C. Coast "B" team recently finished fourth at the Canadian Wheelchair Rugby Championships early in the month and earned silver medals in 2006 and 2007.
"I still have a dream for gold," she said.
Although this is the first local Wheels in Motion event, Squamish has already benefited from the Quality of Life Program. McBride recognized a need for accessible entrances to Brennan Park Recreation Centre and led fundraising efforts to install automatic doors.
Despite such enhancements, Squamish is still far from being a completely accessible community. For example, a number of popular parking lots do not offer disabled parking spaces and other drivers oftentimes block existing curb cuts, said McBride.
"The point after a spinal cord injury is to be independent and not having accessible parking is not okay," she said.
McBride and Tipler hope the event strengthens the bridge of understanding between local residents and accessibility issues.
Relay teams are invited to sign up online at www.wheelsinmotion.org or at the event, which is taking place on Cleveland Avenue between Main and Winnipeg streets. Pledges can also be made online.
Registration runs 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. with the competition immediately following. There will also be live music, face painting and other activities until 2:30 p.m.
