Building Archives - Spinal Cord Injury BC

A Blueprint for Action Developing Livable Communities for all Ages

This American guide provides local leaders with tools to create livable communities for people of all ages.

A Guide to Creating Accessible Play Spaces

The Accessible Play Spaces Toolkit from the Rick Hansen Foundation is a practical guide to creating accessible play spaces for children of all abilities.

Website

Accessable Home and Property Services

Find out how this home renovation company can meet your access needs.

604-259-9774

Website

Accessible Festivals and Outdoor Events Guide

Check out these tips to make your events more accessible.

Accessible Tourism Recommendations

These resources from the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association provide helpful hints to make businesses, organizations, and tourism destinations more accessible.

Website

Activated Decor – Cupboard deployment systems

Activated Decor designs and manufactures a cupboard deployment system, using existing cupboards, for wheelchair users.

Website

ADA Guidelines – Accessible Swimming Pools

These ADA guidelines outline options for making pools accessible for people of different needs.

Website

ADA Readily Achievable Barrier Removal Checklist for Existing Facilities

Use this checklist to see how to make your facility more accessible.

Website

Adjusting Doors for Access

Find out how to make doors easier to open.

Website

Age Friendly Rural and Remote Communities: A Guide

This guide looks at the barriers faced by seniors in small communities and how to overcome them, focussing on better planning and design.

Age-friendly and Disability-friendly Official Community Plans

Find out what other cities include in the Official Community Plans related to disability issues.

Website

Americans with Disabilities Act

The ADA page outlines new provisions under the act, with links to information about building codes and other compliance rules.

Website

Americans with Disabilities Act Accessible Boating Guidelines

Find out how to make boating facilities more usable by everyone.

Website

APEC Report on Best Practices in Accessible Tourism

Read this older study outlining what accessible tourism should be and how it is working in member states of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation.

Website

Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) 2015

Find out about standards in the Architectural Barriers Act in the United States.

Website

BC Accessibility Hub

Find resources and tools to support your organization’s accessibility planning.

Website

BC Building Code Access Handbooks

The illustrations and commentary in these guides have been prepared to assist builders, planners and the public to understand the accessibility requirements in the building code.

250-387-6409

Beds in Accessible Sleeping Rooms

This document outlines ADA specifications for bed heights in accessible sleeping rooms such as Hotels, Motels and B &B's.

Website

Beneficial Designs: Trail Assessment Mapping Services

Beneficial Designs is an American organization that provides trail access information data and signage on all assessed trails.

Website

Canadian Home Builders Association

The Canadian Homebuilders Association represents builders from across Canada. You can find builders in your community on their website.

613-230-3060

Website

Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)

These fact sheets by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation cover a range of the most important topics when renovating a home to make it more accessible.

Website

Canadian Standards Association Access Standards for the Built Environment

This Standard contains requirements for making buildings and other facilities accessible to persons with a range of disabilities. It will be useful to builders, renovators, Occupational Therapists and the public.

Website

Canadian Standards Association Accessible Dwellings Standard

The accessible dwellings standard was developed to support peoples’ accessibility needs. It uses evidence to outline the requirements for the design, construction, and renovation of accessible homes.

Website

CareAge Home & Health

They provide renovations and supply products for accessibility: showers, wet rooms, lifts, ramps.

604-998-8879

Website

Centre of Expertise for Standards and Research on Accessibility

Find accessibility standards and research projects.

Website

City of Vancouver Accessible Events Checklist and Resources

Find out how to plan and run accessible events.

Website

Concrete Change Visitable Housing

This American resource outlines in simple terms the benefits of creating visitable housing, including a cost-benefit analysis.

Website

Curbless Showers: An Installation Guide

Use this guide to learn how to install truly accessible showers.

Design Resources: Scooters in the Built Environment

Read these suggestions for providing access for scooter users to public buildings.

Designing for Inclusivity

Designing for Inclusivity is a resource dedicated to providing strategies for universal washrooms and changerooms in community and recreation facilities. This document is a contribution to ongoing and evolving discussions ...

Website

Equity and Inclusion Lens Handbook

Use these guides as a starting point to work on improving accessibility and inclusion in any organization.

Website

EV Fast Charging Design & Operational Guidelines – BC Hydro

These guidelines include information about making charging stations accessible to people with disabilities.

Website

EZ Boat Docks

This Kelowna company offers a variety of boat and recreation docks, including one with an accessible transfer between wheelchair and canoe or kayak.

250-470-2235

Website

Fishing Piers and Platforms

This guide, developed by the US Access Board, is intended to help designers and operators in using the accessibility guidelines for fishing piers and platforms.

Website

Guide to Age Friendly Cities – World Health Organization

The purpose of this World Health Organizations guide is to help cities become more age-friendly by offering practical suggestions on evaluating current infrastructure and improving it.

Website

Guidelines for Pedestrian Rights of Way

These American standards comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines and will be useful for Canadian builders and planners as well.

Harpers Ferry Centre

For those who work in museums or national parks, this US site has comprehensive guidelines on how to make interpretive centres accessible to all.

Website

How to Make Public Spaces Accessible

Find out how you can make public spaces more accessible.

Website

Interim Accessibility Guidelines for Indoor and Outdoor Spaces

The website has various useful accessibility guidelines and toolkits from the Government of Nova Scotia.

Website

List of Homeowner Discount Programs for Persons with Disability

Find out about programs to support homeowners in BC.

Livable Communities Evaluation Guide

This guide from the American Association of Retired Persons offers practical ways of evaluating communities based on how livable they are.

Website

Making Ontario Accessible

This page outlines what businesses can and should do to make their facilities fully accessible, going beyond simply installing a ramp or door opener.

Website

Making your Business Accessible for People with Disabilities

This article provides some excellent ideas for small businesses.

Measuring Up the North – Final Report

This report outlines the highly successful project to assist nearly 40 communities to become more livable for all.

Measuring Up Vernon – Final Report

This report identifies many ways to remove barriers and improve the life of people with disabilities, and is applicable in many communities.

Measuring Up: A guide to support communities in becoming more accessible and inclusive for all

This guide offers a structure to support communities through an ongoing process to ensure that everyone can participate fully in a community.

Naturally Accessible: Improving Access Through Information

Find out how to evaluate and promote accessible features in outdoor areas so people can decide which locations will best meet their needs.

Website

Open Sesame Door Systems – Automatic Door Openers

This remote door opening system unlatches a locked door, then opens, pauses and closes it - all automatically.

Website

Park Accessibility

The project sought to identify barriers to park accessibility for people with disabilities and their companions, as well as solutions for addressing these barriers.

Website

Parks Canada Design Guidelines for Outdoor Recreation Facilities

Information in this guide addresses specifications of trails, ramps, stairs, bridges and boardwalks, campgrounds, and other public outdoor facilities.

Website

Passenger Terminal Accessibility

The purpose of this Code from the Canadian Transportation Agency is to provide a minimum level of accessibility for passenger terminals across Canada.

Website

Planning for the Future: Official Community Plan Tool

This guide offers practical advice on how to make an Official Community Plan more inclusive. It will be useful for city planners and those who work with disability issues.

Playgrounds Accessibility Guide

This guide is intended to help designers and operators in using the ADA accessibility guidelines for play areas. While not required in Canada, planners will find the information useful.

Website

Power Access Doors – Automatic Door Openers

These automatic door openers are designed to assist people with disabilities through side hinged doors. This resource will be useful to builders and home owners.

Website

Precision Concrete Cutting

Find an alternative method to sidewalk replacement.

403-629-0605

Website

SCI BC Easy Steps to a More Accessible Business

Find out some simple suggestions for improving accessibility in your business.

Smithsonian Guidelines for Accessible Exhibition Design

Find out about best practice guidelines to make your museum, exhibit, or event space accessible to everyone.

Website

Spectrum Ability – accessibility consultants

Spectrum Ability offers accessibility assessment and consultation services, with simple and straight forward feedback on your building’s accessibility.

604-200-7284

Website

The Built Environment Assessment Tool Manual

Find out how to assess your community's built environment with this comprehensive tool.

Website

The Common Universal Design Dimensions

Use these simple tables for metric-imperial conversions for common measurements used in universal design.

Tips on how to hire a contractor

Follow these steps to help you find and choose the best candidate for your adaptations.

United States Access Board Accessibility Guidelines

This independent US Federal agency is devoted to accessibility for people with disabilities. It is a leading source of information on accessible design.

Website

Universal Access Design

Find out how this company can help you remove barriers in building design.

604-897-0643

Website

Universal Design for Outdoor Spaces

With reference to the CSA standards, BC Building Code and ADA guidelines, this guide is a good compilation of suggestions for universal design for outdoor spaces with references to walkways, ...

Website

Visitable Housing Canada

This organization is working to promote visitable housing in Canada and has some resources available on technical aspects of visitable housing, as well as Canadian and American initiatives.

204-287-8411

Website