Down the hall from Prof. Linda Campbell's office in the Science Building at Saint Mary's University, there's a floor tile pattern of blue waves and green triangles overlaid by large black rectangles. Many people walk by without a second thought.
But Campbell has watched some people stop at the black rectangles and stand stock still. "They pause. They want to make sure, hey, is this flat?" she said.
To someone with low vision, the rectangles may look like stairs — a tripping hazard. "It's beautiful floor, nice design," Campbell said in a recent interview. "But it's obvious with installing the floor they didn't consider the accessibility aspect.
So it will be expensive to fix." Campbell says this flooring in a hallway at Saint Mary's University has stopped some people in their tracks. To someone with low vision, the rectangles may look like a tripping hazard.
(Robert Short/CBC) That flooring is just one of thousands of places in Nova Scotia where public institutions know upgrades are needed to meet the province's Accessibility Act goals in the built environment. For some institutions, the cost of these upgrades could stretch into the millions, and while some provincial funding is available to help, it may not be enough. Campbell takes note when design excludes people, and agreed to show CBC some examples in her own work area.
She is deaf, and CBC spoke with her with the assistance of an American Sign Language interpreter. WATCH | For some N.S.
institutions, accessibility upgr.