Hamilton parents are frustrated by the long waiting times and limited time per slot at the city pools. A reporter for The Record described the anxiety and anguish of enrolling her child in Kitchener’s swim lessons as “The Hunger Games.”
Magda Tighelaar learned the hard way to arrive 30 minutes before her daughter’s scheduled swim time at Bernie Morelli Recreation Centre, Hamilton. There are limited swim sessions offered during holidays, weekends and after school hours. This means that there is a high demand for the few available slots.
Tigchelaar, along with other parents, expressed their frustration at the lack of programs for families with small children in the schedule and on the website. The parents are asking for more Sunday pool time and that the city conduct a survey in order to improve programming. The city claims that schedules are determined by community demand, and plans to add a morning swim in spring.
Nrinder Nann, a Hamilton councilor, has noted a shortage of lifeguards and suggested that families have more access to swimming after school or on weekends. Laura Kerr is the manager for healthy and safe communities in the city. She says that despite her concerns, Sunday open swimming sessions are averaging 40 percent capacity and the demand has increased.
A reporter from The Record describes the difficult process of enrolling her daughter in the City of Kitchener swimming lessons. She says that the situation is made even worse when the parent has blindness.
She says that despite the perception of technology accelerating almost everything, some things remain the same, like the nostalgia that comes with watching your child learn to swim. She says that registering your child for swimming lessons can be difficult, especially if there are too many people vying for the same slots. This can cause anxiety and panic.
She expected that the online registration would be difficult for her because she is blind. So she called to register, but after 30 unsuccessful attempts to reach someone, the answering machine answered. It was not easy to navigate the website with screen-reading software. The reporter, after a complaint was filed with the city and handled properly, came to the conclusion that she didn’t have the same chance as everyone else to register on the website because of its poorly designed accessibility. It made her feel like she was a burden to her children.
She realized that inaccessibility was the real burden, not blindness. Inaccessibility of websites and misconceptions about the impact technology has on blind people affect nearly every aspect in her life. Her husband, who was also blind, used a mouse to sign a digital document when registering her daughter for Tball. CAPTCHAs are also difficult. She remembers, with sadness, how her daughter told her that she wished her mom wasn’t blind and how she needs more help than others.
The reporter said that while some aspects of blindness are inevitable, such as finding lost items or navigating through a space, inaccessible websites, buildings and software are because they are designed incorrectly. People are forced to ask for assistance when they shouldn’t.
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