Rebuilding the beaches at Sam Smith Park - Disability Impact 2025

The park fencing has gone up as of the end of 2024, and we are anticipating heavy construction vehicles over the first 3 to 4 months of 2025. This has already been delayed by 8 months.

The vehicles will likely ruin the eastern pea gravel path going into SSP. This, combined with the soft and muddy ground resulting from the winter freeze/thaw cycle, will likely disrupt the spring return of wheelchair and elderly folks into the park.

Hopefully the work will be well executed and completed in a timely fashion over the next 2-3 years, unlike the endless construction at Prince of Wales park, nearby at the end of Third St.

Time will tell....

Rebuilding the beaches at Sam Smith Park - Disability Impact

NOTE: This activity has now been delayed a few months, until June 2024

Today I wheeled through the park and encountered a band of surveyors between the pond and third beach.

I spoke to the lead surveyor who stated that they were measuring the pea gravel paths to determine their width for heavy equipment which would be required to carry out the work next year.  Additionally, he was there to determine the impact of the heavy equipment on tree roots underneath the path.

This work will definitely impact the access of disabled park users, as the heavy equipment on the heavy traffic pea gravel routes would likely become impassable by wheelchair users, while vision impaired visitors would likely be unable to process audible environmental clues needed to make their way through the park unaided.

DASSP has learned of a Lakeshore Grounds Committee community group, of with FOSS is a member, operating out of Humber College, which learns of these project ahead of time.  DASSP will be seeking to participate in these meetings going forward, so that we can represent the needs of the mobility, visibility and hearing impaired park users, as well as the elderly.

As far as DASSP is aware, this work would commence sometime in 2024.  We would seek to ensure that all paths remain wide enough for disabled access, and advise on any other access impact/issues that we are currently unaware of.

Braille signage in Sam Smith Park

Winter is a slow time for DASSP, and our members, as the cold, poor weather, and ongoing pandemic limit our ability to be out and about enjoying the park and its wildlife.

That's not to say that we haven't been beavering away behind the scenes.  Recently, Janette, from Toronto Forestry has been asking about the Braille signage we are most interested in obtaining for Sam Smith Park.   

One of our members, Vesty Roze, has forwarded his resource materials on the subject, and Janette will be following up, as she is extremely interested, and is one of our key Allies, who was instrumental in correcting the surface of the Observation Deck last year.

Let's hope we have some progress on Braille, and we will be following up in the coming months.

For more information please see:

CNIB Braille Signage resources

Visually Impaired - Feedback on Braille received from Toronto Forestry.

DASSP has received feedback from Janette, of Toronto Forestry, on our questions about making SSP more accessible to the Visually Impaired community. DASSP has been connected with the PFR Community Disability Steering Committee, and we will be in touch with them on this important topic.

Janette will also be following up on retrofitting our existing SSP signage for Braille.  Below is the response from Janette...

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The Parks & Trails Wayfinding Strategy followed Transportation Services new pedestrian wayfinding signage Toronto 360 , and as part of those two projects we engaged with a number of accessibility groups, including (but not limited to) CNIB, and PFR's Community Disability Steering Committee. We discussed tactile maps and braille on signs, among other things.

In order to include braille and other tactile elements on signs requires that signs should be installed in very predictable locations, and/or that there are other cues in the environment that indicate where signs are located (like standardized tactile trail surfaces or beacons).

Braille was installed on the first Toronto 360 sign prototype, but when reviewed by the PFR Community Disability Steering Committee, they found that it wasn't very helpful if they couldn't locate the sign in the first place.

Changes would need to be well planned in order for it to be useful. Having said all that, Toronto Forestry can look into what would be involved in retrofitting signs with braille.

Making SSP Interpretive Signs Accessible to the Blind - Toronto Forestry

A number of years back one current member of DASSP and many members of FOSS were able to convince City of Toronto Forestry (Janette Harvey), that the interpretive signs throughout Sam Smith Park had not been installed in an inclusive fashion.

The signs were much too high for children and Disabled, and they were installed perpendicular to the ground, making them very hard to read for both reasons.

City of Toronto Forestry was extremely proactive in responding to our requests for modification, and today the beautiful signage is much lower and slanted for easy viewing and learning.

With the founding of DASSP, we have come to realize that we overlooked the needs of the visually impaired users of our Park.

We have already submitted a request for clarification from Toronto Forestry as to the City's policy on Braille signage, to conform with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, with a view to a much needed remediation in the near future.

We will be following up again next week, and hopefully will be able to report good news in the very near future!

Down the road, once budgets improve and after some DASSP fundraising

Our member Vesty Roze, found a fantastic idea from Naples Italy, of a handrail written in Braille, that tells the story of the Gulf view from atop the castle upon which it rests! 

https://www.italiani.it/en/ingenuity-of-naples-the-handrail-that-tells-the-magic-of-the-gulf-to-those-who-cannot-see-it/

DASPP believes this would be a useful learning tool for Blind children, if Sam Smith Park had a Braille handrail on the lower rail of Observation Deck ! It could tell any number of wonderful stories of the Park to the kids !  We may have to wait a while, but good things come to those who wait, and work hard for them.