Transcript - Neurodivergent Transit Accessibility Reviewed - Accessibility Committee for Persons with Disabilities

Neurodivergent Transit Accessibility Reviewed - Accessibility Committee for Persons with Disabilities - March 10, 2026

March 10th. Sound check one. Sound check one. Uh well hello everybody. Welcome to the accessibility committee for persons with disabilities for March 10th 2026. We are currently waiting for quorum so please hang on. Okay. Uh, welcome everybody uh to again the accessibility committee for person with disabilities on March 10th, 2026. Uh, meeting number 26003. Uh, now have a roll call for quorum. Um, please uh uh respond. Please indicate your presence when I call your name. Benjamin Cullymore. Cara Hernold Gabe Gretz Levi Janosce here. Thank you. Leafy Johansson here. You Hargan Carr Kilburn. Thank you. Jake Maurice here. Thank you. Mark McNeel here. Thank you. Uh Tim Murphy and Kim Nolan is uh with regrets. Tim Nolan here. Thank you. Uh Robert Westbrook is with regrets. Counselor Mark Tatterson, present. Thank you. And James Kemp, I'm here. Uh would the staff who are present please introduce themselves with their name and position? Carrie Macintosh, legislative coordinator. To Mayor Bates, legislative coordinator. Thank you. Michelle Martin, manager of accessible transportation services with the transit division. Thank you. Sil Angish, staff leaison. Thank you. Imagin Briggs, placement student. Thank you. Lauren Wright, senior project manager, community engagement. Thank you. Are there any other staff members present? I'm seeing none. Sorry, it just took me a minute because there's a lot there. Um, so I'll now call this meeting to order. As we have quorum present for today's meeting, I would like to call this meeting the accessible committee accessibility committee for person with disabilities to order. As well, a reminder that all electronic devices are to be switched to a non-audible function during committee meetings. Uh, ceremonial activities. LC Mintosh will now read the Hamilton land acknowledgement. The city of Hamilton is situated upon the traditional territories of the Eerie Neutral Hona and Missagas. This land is covered by the dish with one spoon wampam belt covenant which was an agreement between the harashani and anash nava to share and care for the resources around the great lakes. We further acknowledge that this land is covered by the between the lakes purchase 1792 between the crown and the missagas of the credit first nation. Today, the city of Hamilton is home to many indigenous people from across Turtle Island, North America, and we recognize that we must do more to learn about the rich history of this land so that we can better understand our roles as residents, neighbors, partners, and caretakers. Thank you, Mintosh. Uh, approval of agenda. May I please have a mover and a second to approve the agenda as presented? Mark. Moved by Mark, seconded by Paula. Thank you. Are there any amendments to the agenda? Seeing none, uh are there uh anybody opposed to approving the agenda as presented? Seeing none, it's carried. Uh declarations of interest. Are there any declarations of interest? Now I have a declaration of interest. I have a disqualifying interest on 9.1 as the persons of familiar relation. But seeing no others, we will move on. Approval of minutes of the previous meeting 5.1 January 13, 2026 and 5.2 February 10th, 2026. No quorum. Uh may I please have a mover and a second to adopt a January 13, 2026 and receive February 10th, 2026 minutes? Mark. Moved by uh Paula, seconded by councelor Tatteris. Thank you. Are there any discussion on the minutes? I'm seeing none. Uh is there anybody opposed to adopting the minutes and receiving the minutes? I'm seeing none. That is carried. Thank you. Items for information. In the interest of time, we're going to hear all the items for information 7.1 to 7.9 and then receive them together at the end. Um 7.1 items from the February 10th, 2026 accessibility committee for person with disabilities agenda. Uh presentations. Do we do anything in particular? Sorry, I'm not familiar with this process. Receive it at the end. Just receive it at the end. Okay. So, we have a presentations. So, one, custom relationship management, two, 2026 election accessibility plan, and three, digital accessibility. Uh, we're also going to receive the meeting notes that were on uh the agenda for last month for built environment working group meeting notes. One, February 3rd, 2026. Uh, two, outreach working group meeting notes, February 2nd, 2026. Transportation working group meeting notes, uh, January 27th, 2026. Four, transportation working group meeting notes, November 25th, 2025. Five, transportation working group meeting notes, accessible transportation services policy review, January 23rd, 2026. Uh 7.2, Planning Transit for a Neurodeiverse World, Hamilton Street Railway. Um I want to welcome uh Toronto Metropolitan University students to present today. Um please share your screen. You will have 10 minutes to present and then committee members may ask questions of the presenters. So the floor is yours as soon as you get yourself set up. So through the chair I'm just going to um Oh, if that's okay. Absolutely. Thank you. I'll introduce uh our friends from Toronto Metropolitan University and uh I'm sharing my screen so I'll get the project uh slides up. Okay, good. Um, so public transit can prevent several significant challenges for neurody divergent people. We know that this can lead to anxiety, stress, avoidance of the systems. Um, and earlier this year, the HSR was invited to support a graduate studio course at uh, a planning course at Toronto Metropolitan University where a team of graduate students are working to understand the barriers that neurode divergent individuals face on transit with a focus on recommendations to address barriers for Hamilton Street Railway. So, I'm very pleased to introduce Derek Schmucker and Yaj Santiago who will be leading a brief presentation today to tell the committee about the project. Hi everybody. Thank you Michelle for that um amazing introduction. As as she said uh we are from TMU um the masters of planning pro program and we are going to talk today about uh this um this very interesting project that we are very we are all very excited to be a part of. Um so yeah planning transit for a neurodeiverse world with the Hamilton Street uh railway. Um just to get started here just a project overview what are we actually doing? Our project is to work with the city of Hamilton, as Michelle said, and your transportation department with the goal of de developing a comprehensive framework for the design and operation of neuroinclusive transit systems. Um, so the intersection of neurodiversity and transit has only recently begun to make its way into municipalities discussions around transit design in conjunction with research that shows that neurodeiverse people prefer using public transit and that 12% of Canadians are actually neurodeiverse. Our project is on the forefront of inclusivity action and transit design. Um so what have we done so far? Uh first um we have first we have begun looking at we began looking at the background research um just doing a thorough search of uh just the literature in general um and then we looked a bit more uh focused at Hamilton and what the current practices are there and then we started uh with a questionnaire part of our project which I'll talk a little bit more later is developing a comprehensive questionnaire for uh different transit systems around Canada. Um after that we developed a uh we a presentation which we've already done and we started um distributing our questionnaire and that's the stage we're at now. Um and then we will once we receive those results uh we will start to develop um recommendations. So uh going uh forward what is neurode divergency and what is neurodeiversity just a brief um a brief overview. So neurodeiversity is a natural variation of in how humans brains function while neurode divergence is an umbrella term that is commonly associated with things like autism at ADHD and dyslexia. Um despite this neurode divergent experiences uh vary wildly. So there's no one um experience. One of our first uh aspects of what we found looking at the literature was that um universal design is key. So environments that are usable by all people pe people pe people pe people pe people pe people pe people pe people pe people pe people pe people peoples of all ages and all abilities um and accessibility improvements for everybody improve the comfort for everybody. Um that being said uh in conducting our literature review we looked at 20 plus academic sources and through these sources we did identify five key barriers uh in public transportation um navigation, sensory barriers, communication barriers, predictability barriers and mobility barriers. The second step that we uh undertook in this um in this approach was uh mapping out the journey of people who take public transit and then applying those barriers that we identified through the literature review and seeing where those barriers were present within these stages of the of the journey. So the first stage was uh information. Um the second stage was setting off from the origin and then the third stage was uh walking to the stop in the station. The fourth was waiting for the vehicle to arrive. The fifth was boarding the vehicle. The sixth was your time in the vehicle. Your seventh stage was allighting the vehicle or dismounting or disboarding. Um stage eight was leaving the stop in the station. So that was the journey that we um we we summarized. Um and then moving forward with the findings um when we looked at this journey we found that navigation the first barrier that we we brought forth from the literature was present in all the stages. So interpreting signage learning routes and crossing busy streets are all barriers um uh yeah all barriers as well as unsheltered bus stops that are not recognizable by landmarks. The second barrier, sensory barriers, was present in four of these stages, which was walking to the stop, waiting for the vehicle, the time in the vehicle, and leaving the stop. Um, so a lot of we found that the a lot of people avoided busy routes and ma major transit hubs uh for fear of possibly being um having sensory overload. We talked to two key informants and one of the key informants Yasmin um who volunteers for the TTC described as feeling bodytobody packed and it was so distressing that they needed to exit after one stop. Um so the second is communication. So pres this was present in three of the stages. During the first stage uh finding the information during the boarding stage as well as the time in the vehicle stage. Um as on top of this interactions with the drivers or requesting help can be stressful to a lot of people. So that was some barriers uh as well as predictability um presented in this was present in three stages. Uh the first information waiting for the vehicle and then the time in the vehicle. So essentially the how frequent is the service is important because a lot of people who experience um have have neurode divergent tendencies have difficulty following a schedule or may be um unsure when it's going to arrive and that might disrupt their uh routine. And then the fifth is mobility. So this was present in four stages. The information stage setting off from your origin, waiting and time in the vehicle. So things like seating, the shelter and the um al lighting at stops were all um mobility issues that were encountered in the literature and these are sometimes invisible as well. So things like joint or muscle pain for example and Yaj is going to talk a little bit about the AODA policy gaps. Hello. Uh good afternoon everyone. So the following table maps the barriers types to be identified against policy gaps in the regulation and the the neurody divergent impacts are as follows. First with communication section 36 requires staff training but it focuses more almost entirely on equipment use and emergency purposes. There is nothing requiring staff to recognize or respond to non-disabled disabilities. Next is section 51 of the AODDA requires announcements but only on verbal requests with electronic uh alternatives that have no visual simplified formats. This directly excludes those with auditory processing disabilities. Next on mobility and sensory pro section 49 mandates priority setting but there is no enforcement mechanism unless uh neurode divergent riders who genuinely need those seats are routinely denied them and unpredictability perhaps the most striking gap there is this section 50 that requires notices of service changes but sets no minimum advanced notice period for riders ers with anxiety disorders. Unpredictability isn't just inconvenient, it's a barrier to transit use altogether. And finally on navigation, next slide, please. Sections 14 and 15 on WC A2.0A compliance. This is the website and the internet interface is which is rec widely recognized as an inadequate for cognitive differences. Section 12. Section 12's accessible formats requirement similarly fails to mandate plain language or visual schedules. The pattern is consistent. The regulation acknowledges accessibility but it was not designed for neurode divergent use users in mind. There are minor there are not minor gaps. There are systemic exclusions embedding policy itself. And uh for the city of Hamilton, we have uh found out that there are current initiatives uh done by the city like as a six strategic goal to help uh improve accessibility. Second is accessible transport services accessible through the darts the taxi script program and the launch of the hidden disability sunflower sunflower program of the HSR. I turn you over to direct to the other slides. Um yeah so another thank you Yajj another part of that what what we did was a jurisdictional scan so just looking within the region at what was the current practices that were public um and we found that public engagement and awareness was being practiced in uh London as well as New Jersey. uh expanding accessible transit eligibility um was happening in York region as well as the TT with the TTC and staff training was happening in the TTC as well as um and Translink as well as implementation of programs and tech support by several including Metroinks, UP train, uh New Jersey Transit and Go. Um so the key takeaways from this the key takeaways from this is that most interventions are uh programmatic educational or digital rather than structural. Um transit systems are beginning to recognize neurode divergence as part of accessibility training but the mainstream approach focuses on upgrading separate accessibility systems instead of adapting conventional transits. Um so yeah those are the key takeaways. Uh our questionnaire which I mentioned earlier we've sent it out we based it on um the five barriers that we me that I mentioned earlier and how current systems are dealing with that and our goal is to take those uh those results the best practices from those results and um apply those to Hamilton and see where they can potentially adopt new practices. And those are our next steps. Um, develop recommendations based on our uh, results from our questionnaire and our literature review. Thank you so much for your time and listening to our presentation. Thank you very much. Um, so does anybody have any questions? Uh, I see Mark has got his hand up first and then Paula is next. So Mark, yeah, just at the very beginning when you're talking about the process like uh just stick to entering the bus and exiting the bus because a lighting is not plain language. If you're going to ask people questions based upon some sort of survey, it's probably better to stick to plain language. That's just a comment I had. That's all. Agreed. I actually um I think that Hamilton um uses a lighting on the buses. We were on the bus recently. We were taking it um just to as a as like a field trip and um a lighting is used on the on the buses like physically like present on the on the doors. But I I agree that is something that we should have. So something that you could be in advance of their uh not a bad idea. Thank you. Sure. Thanks very much, Mark. Uh, okay. Next up is Paula and then leave. Okay. Um, if you are going to do this in Hamilton, are you going to do a survey? Are you going to send it out to people? How are you going to do this? What formats are you going to use? Um, yeah, for sure. the uh referring to the questionnaire. Um I think one of my one of my teammates might be uh better suited to answer that question. Um if if Eric Moss is on the call, I don't see Eric. Hi Eric, I'm here. I'm sorry. Could uh the question be repeated please? Yes. So, if you are going to bring this to Hamilton and do a survey, who are you going to send the survey out to? And will there be alternate formats for doing the survey? Well, currently the plan is we're in communication with somebody from the Canadian Urban Transit Association. And so with their help, we're going to distribute the questionnaire to transit systems and municipalities across Canada. Um currently the format of the questionnaire we're going to provide them a PDF as well as what they call survey monkey which is just like an online survey and then using those we'll be able to identify the results and um sort of get an idea of the industry best practices across Canada. Okay. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Okay. Uh next up we have leaf. Hi. So I have a question on the recommendation for training with uh for helping with neurody divergent transit. So, uh, what I'm curious about is how long do you think the recommended training should be in order for it to be applied usefully and also for how long do you think it should last for before there's options for retraining based on what you recommend? Um, yeah, that's a great question. Um at this point in time I don't think we we have de enough information to um to give a recommendation. Um yeah if if one of my if one of my project members wants to speak on that more um may they speak up but uh I personally cannot give a recommendation right now. I would like to wait for the um the survey results to see what kind of best practice is and also not just how much time but uh the specifics of what the like training may be like if it be um like just drivers or if it just if it be like for example um like travel training. So like guiding um people to learn how to use transit um because those are two different things as well. Does that answer your question, Leaf? Yes, it does. Thank you for answering my question. You're welcome. Of course. Thank you for asking. Uh Mark, I believe, is up next for the second time. Yeah, the the one question I had is you have to be careful about these these uh survey monkeys or these other types of online surveys because you're going to cut out a whole lot of people that you're trying to target for information. And you know, if you know, the old it saying, garbage in, garbage out. So, you have to be able to make sure you're targeting the neuro divergent population in order to be able to grab information that you actually need and can be useful. So, I don't know if you already scheduled the survey or if you've examined it through those that lens, but uh um I think you want to make sure that you're targeting the audience that you're trying to get data from. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Um that that could be a a future uh endeavor. Currently the questionnaire that we have um that we have developed is for industry. So like the systems and seeing for example like what um I don't know reginina or or Calgary's um systems are doing and how are they uh tackling this and if they are um though that is our current focus. Uh I do believe what you are suggesting is is a necessary step. Um I'm just not sure if it's within the scope of our current project. So actually what you're saying is that this is a a higher level analysis right now so that you can dive in deeper at later depending on the information you gather. That's good. Exactly. So that's great. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you for the question. Thanks very much Mark. Are there any other questions? Okay, I'm seeing none. Paula, could you take the chair for a minute? I have the chair, sir. Excellent. Thank you. Uh I do have a few questions. Um now one they were mentioning symbology um for transit use. Is there some sort of established symbology for transit that you're aware of? Um not that I'm personally aware of. uh if one of my project members wants to um add into that uh or wants to speak to that but me mean me no. Okay, I guess that that would be a no then. Okay, thank you. Um another question, uh you're mentioning uh overwhelming information online. Um so we're talking about things like schedules. Um are you going to come up with ways of simplifying schedule access? Um uh yes I ideally that would be one of our recommendations. I expect that to be one of our recommendations. Um specifically for example like physically um on like on bus stops for example that would be one example of a place that there may be uh a simplified um map of of the stops of the future stops the route. Um but uh at this point in time uh I I'm not going to make any any recommendations but I expect that to be a recommendation. Okay. Thank you. Um two two more questions quickly. Um one the questions you're asking in the survey are they um uh very restricted questions? Are they more open-ended paragraph questions asking people um their their opinion or their experiences? That's a great question. Um I will let my colleague uh Eric Moss answer that question. Yeah, thanks Derek. Uh so the questionnaire it's largely formatted in uh yes or no questions. For example, whether or not they might have some sort of um if they consider neurode divergent individuals when considering their priority seating policies. So majority of the questions are that yes no format so we can kind of easily quantify um and get an idea of perhaps how many um how the industry is thinking about that. But we do also provide um lots of other questions where um respondents can go into a little more depth and elaborate on those responses with more open-ended prompts. Okay. Thank you. because we are speaking of neurode divergent individuals um and it's very hard to predict um with any certainty what they're going to respond to. Um so my con my concern is when you ask yes and no questions you really are narrowing down the focus of any um research you're doing. Uh thank you very much for that answer. Uh, I did have one more question on um I wish I wrote this down when I thought of it. No, I apologize. I've forgotten it. I will have to send it out when I remember again. There was one more question, but uh thank you very much. I will I will take back to chair Paula. The chair is yours. Thank you very much. Um so before I uh thank uh these wonderful people for coming and presenting their work and wishing them luck. Are there any other questions? Sorry. I I have a couple of friends who are neurode divergent and one of the things that gets them really nervous is um either an early bus or a late bus. So I'm assuming that um uh public transit is not not continuously on time, but how is there like an app or something that's contemplated to notify a person maybe who has the capability of doing some sort of smart device where it would allow them to say, you know, uh bus is running late, you know, to alleviate any sort of fear or concern that they might have about a bus arrival or on time, that type of thing. Again, that's just another comment or questioning for inclusive. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, thank you for your comment. Um, yeah, technology is definitely something that's being implemented in different parts of the region. Um, different different apps exist uh third party apps. Um, specifically notifications for being late. Uh, I'm not entirely sure. That is something that I I expect to hear back from in the questionnaire results. Um and and I it it may be a part of our recommendations once we receive those questionnaire results. Um but yeah, thank you for your comment. Thank you. Uh so I I did just remember my question, but you go ahead Paula. What's your question? Oh well, don't forget it then. I won't. Okay. Um where can we see the re the results of this report when it's finished? Are we going to be able to read it or is it not for public consumption or Yeah, thank you. Um I think the idea is that it will be available for public consumption and we'll be able to send it out uh freely. So if you if you're interested and if the city of Hamilton's interested uh we can send it out. I'm sure also Michelle uh will obviously get a copy um and uh she can she can distribute distribute it internally for for you all. Thank you. It's going to be a great report. I'm sure it's going to open a lot of people's eyes. So, thank you very much. I will take the chair, sir. Thank you very much. Uh, yeah. My question quickly is um as a neurode divergent uh invisible uh disability rider uh at times. Um I I know that the issue is oftent times with the operator or with the system or service itself but also with the passengers. Um is uh is interactions with passengers going to be involved in your research? Uh it would be involved in the sense that it is part it has been discussed in the literature um just like uh yeah in the literature. So, secondary um secondary involvement uh whether or not that is in the uh the questionnaire. Um I'm not sure. Maybe Eric can speak on that. Eric? Yeah, I'm not I'm not certain if I'm answering your question here, but um as part of the questionnaire, we do have certain questions that look at whether or not there are general awareness campaigns for the overall public to sort of um spread awareness and educate um riders on, you know, neurody divergent needs and the barriers that they experience in transit to sort of um help keep the conversation going. Um but I'm not 100% sure if that answers the question or not. It partially does. Uh I appreciate that answer. Um my concern is it's um in my experience the uh issues are are largely to do with the other passengers not understanding the needs of people with neurode divergence. Um so I I just have to raise a point that it may not be as secondary an issue as you were alluding to at the moment ago. Uh I understand your focus is on the the service itself and the operators, but uh the persontoperson interaction um is is important. I just want to make sure that that's recognized. Thank you. And I'll take back the chair. You may have to chair, sir. What happened? Don't know. 26. Uh, ask question here. Um James, can I ask the question? Yes, go ahead. Okay. Uh to me it seems like what you're doing is um a higher lens snapshot of this particular subject neurode neurodyency in public transit. This will be used to further develop additional studies more specific to what's needed in each community. Is that you're trying to gauge what is out there right now? Is that correct? Yes, that is correct. You've come to us really early. Yeah. Surprise. the we we are focusing on Hamilton um and working with Michelle and the and the HSR um and uh within the scope of our project um that that's just the scope but um it provides further opportunity for diving in and a broad framework for any community who would like to dive in. Great. Thank you. Thanks. Okay, thank you very much. Uh anybody else? No. Well, I want to thank you very much everybody for coming and giving a great presentation and we look forward to seeing uh more. We also look forward to seeing the survey and I look forward to participating in the responses. Thank you everybody. Thank you very much for coming. Okay. Uh moving on to 7.3 accessible transportation services customer satisfaction research update revised. Michelle Martin, manager of accessible transportation services, will present. Michelle Martin, please take it away. Oh, take the slides out. Good. Okay, I think we're good. Okay, good. Thank you for um having me here today. Uh I'm bringing to you a presentation that's a highle summary of the customer satisfaction work that's been accomplished to date by accessible transportation services. Some of it has been presented already to ACPD. A great deal of it has been reviewed already uh with the transportation working group of the ACPD. But today I'm uh bringing before you uh two summary reports for the information of the committee with um uh with the understanding that ATS will be revisiting the contents of these reports uh as we proceed and continue with our customer satisfaction research with the support of McMaster University uh students uh and uh continuing to uh uh consult with the ACPD and specifically the transportation working group, the ACPD. So, uh just a brief look at the road map. Uh on the slide, there is an illustration of a road with four mapping pins. The first pin uh flags 2018 to 2020 during which we had the HSR reinvision project and we had an HSR uh sorry an ATS eligibility process audit in 2021 to 2022. uh ATS uh examined uh with the help of a consultant in response to the eligibility pro process audit some business cases for various service models uh including accessible transportation services and uh community buses. Uh there was a motion from the ACPD in response to uh the related uh public works report uh from ATS uh accessible transportation services uh for a reinvision like project uh from ATS uh for services. In 2023 to 2024, uh the HSR network redesign was presented um and uh the ATS journey mapping project uh was undertaken uh and uh a survey was launched 2025 to 2026. We had to re-release the survey so that we could engage a third party namely McMaster University uh in the analysis of uh results. And we are continuing our research into the ATS customer experience. And we are also doing this with an eye not only to improving our specialized transit service, but with an eye to recommendations for how an integrated transit pilot would uh roll out in order to meet uh service needs as w as widely as possible. So you'll recall the uh journey mapping project uh the uh summaries of the journey mapping personas were presented here previously. ATS accessible transportation services engaged Dylan Consulting to add depth to our survey research through a journey mapping project to help us visualize the customer journey as a series of a series of steps or touch points. Um and the accessibility committee for people persons with disabilities uh transportation working group was invited to comment uh as we developed the um interview questions uh and uh how we would approach the journey mapping project. The final interview script and list of demographic categories used were sent to the entire committee to review to ensure concerns were addressed and that a broad range of experience would be captured that interviewees were made as comfortable as possible and that they clearly understood that they could decline to answer any questions. So comfort of the interviewees was paramount uh in order to capture um good uh information uh about their journeys. So, five personas were developed and presented to the accessibility committee for persons with disabilities at the November 12th, 2024 meeting. And I've put a link to the agenda item. It was agenda item 8.1 at that meeting. Uh the personas spoke to the experience of using the shared ride service on darts. And just for everyone's uh just to remind everybody, although um the person who developed our personas uh spoke to this at the time, a persona is a fictional but true-to-life description of a user or customer of its service or product. And personas are used as part of a user experience or journey map research process to help create an understanding of how lived experience, demographic traits, and situational context informs the customer journey. So because uh the five personas have already been presented uh I didn't uh put them up again today but the link is there for everyone's uh reference and they are also included in the comprehensive report but a summary of the journeys uh tells us that pain points among interviewees included the ride booking or reservations process by phone uh specifically long wait times difficult difficulty reaching an agent, challenges securing needed times. Uh we see that missed rides and late pickups created anxiety and additional negative impacts like missed appointments or waiting outside in poor weather. Um uncomfortable rides, bumpy rides were mentioned uh not as often as the previous two points, but but they were mentioned and time on board the vehicle was also a common pain point. The positive experience uh that was uh common among interviewees was the experience with the drivers themselves. The drivers were described as patient, helpful, friendly and supportive. The consultant also asked uh questions of each interviewe to capture interest in or worries about using an integrated trip where part of the trip is completed on the shared ride specialized service and part of the trip is completed on the conventional HSR service for anyone able uh to do so who would like to take their trip in that manner. And concerns about integrated service included crowding, a lack of space for mobility devices, a difficulty accessing priority seating, a concern about vehicles moving before the person is seated, wait times at bus stops, uh winter maintenance and snow clearing at bus stops, uh crowded bus shelters or no bus shelter, uh uh a worry about a lack of assistance from drivers and how long the trip might take them. Recommendations for an integrated service include web booking that integrates both service so the services so the entire journey can be seen and booked. Uh driver training related to assisting persons with disabilities. Enforcement of accessible seating on buses. Accessible shelters and stops maintained in winter months. Uh an integrated fair system. Uh presto taps do allow for transfers from one system to another. um and not pressuring ATS customers to use the integrated services if they are not comfortable. And five out of the 13 interviewees in the journey mapping project did express interest in an integrated service would be willing to give it a try. So uh now moving on to the survey uh and we have with us here today uh Sadia Chowdery and Theo Collins from McMaster University who uh prepared the final report for the survey and have spoken um already uh on a couple of occasions to the transportation working group. So uh we know that the original notice of collection for personal information in the 2023 survey was too restrictive to allow engagement with a third party for analysis. uh and that uh memo was tabled at the accessibility committee for persons with disabilities meeting in June 2025. Uh so the survey was re-released. Um we did have the benefit from the initial survey of a list of persons who had provided us with their names and contact information for the purposes of ongoing customer research. And so we were able to provide them directly with the survey and um invite them to participate. And so uh after the survey was re-released uh we engaged McMaster University School of Earth, Environment and Society to analyze the data. Overall uh there was a lower level of response to the second survey release which resulted in a sample size of 185 surveys once the data was cleaned up. Uh the data did demonstrate a margin of error of 7% with a confidence level of 95%. That does make it useful for exploratory research. So it is uh certainly a good jumping off point for us and the preliminary survey results were reviewed at the transportation working group uh in September and October of 2025. So just very high level because uh as you recall there were over 50 questions on this big survey and uh trying to hit the high notes in today's presentation. Um, most respondents used darts. Most physical barriers, mostly physical barriers were reported for users of all modes of transportation. Overall, we have customer satisfaction as mixed with high satisfaction with key personnel like drivers and staff and low satisfaction with availability of service and waiting and travel times. and respondents also indicated that it's highly important for them to be able to book a guaranteed trip on the same day of service. So uh the table on uh this slide shows again a a summary of DART's satisfaction levels. That's the shared ride service provided by the contractor Darts. Satisfaction with key personnel reservation staff 86% satisfied. Darts drivers 85% satisfied satisfaction with trip features waiting time now we see the decrease 60% satisfied trip length 49% satisfied satisfac satisfaction with specific applications used for trip planning web booking 39% satisfied among 75 users who indicated that they use it the ride advice program 42% satisfied among the 24 users who indicate that they use it the war's my ride application uh 50% satisfied among the 88% satis uh users who indicate that they use it and satisfaction with response when a complaint is made about service to accessible transportation service we have 48% satisfied uh and this is also table one in the report and then the detailed uh breakdown of data uh that went into these percentages uh from the various questions can be seen in the appendix to the report satisfaction levels with the taxi script program. Ride booking satisfaction when booking with a personal mobility device, we have 55% satisfied. Satisfaction with key personnel, we have 71% satisfaction with reservation staff, 58% satisfaction with taxi drivers. satisfaction levels for uh accessible transportation services and uh persons with disabilities or respondents to the questionnaire who use the HSR to travel with accessible transportation services satisfaction with staff 76% satisfied and satisfaction with service overall the question names are you satisfied with um ATS services darts and taxi script overall 60% % satisfaction with the HSR. We asked about satisfaction with HSR drivers and we have a report of 67% satisfied. There were questions also about service priorities. Um and uh we asked these as we begin work on planning for an integrated transit pilot. Same day guaranteed trip booking and access to a scheduled community bus to common locations were priorities for respondents across the city. And I don't have it here on the slide, but um looking at the uh appendices and Sadia will correct me and Theo will correct me if I'm wrong, but similar to the responses in the uh among the journey mapping interviewees, we seem to have a roughly 30% interest in trying an integrated transit uh service among survey respondents. looking at uh gender and age. Um one thing that's interesting is uh though there were options to select non-binary or or an option for self-escription in the survey, only clients identifying as male or female replied to the question. So um we do need to think uh about um how best to reach gender non-conforming customers in customer research, future customer research. Overall uh older adults over 65 uh who are female showed a higher satisfaction with the politeness, courtesy and knowledge shown by ATS staff and the services provided by ATS. Our next steps and uh we did have uh our researchers Dr. Ravensburgen and um Leia Ravensburgen and Sadia Chowdery and uh Theo Collins speak to the uh transportation working group last month to tell us about this. We're going to be continuing our work with McMaster University. We're very excited. We've got three objectives in mind um working with them. We want to uncover uh in greater depth current experiences of paratransit services users thinking about options like the use of focus groups. Uh we want to also inform how best to integrate paratransit into the upcoming integrated transit pilot so that the experience is a very good one for people who wish to uh try the service. And we want to establish how best to conduct customer engagement throughout the integrated uh transit transition uh uh into the pilot for for people who wish to try the service. And uh that concludes my presentation. Be pleased to answer any questions and of course we have Sadia and Theo here for any uh deeper questions about the data. Thank you very much Michelle. Pardon me. Mark. Mark has his hand up. Mark uh throughout the report when you were speaking about satisfaction that's the benchmark from uh those respondents um uh compared to and the um quarterly reports that we get we're still looking to strive for that 95% benchmark of satisfaction I guess that's a question I have another quick question is um uh when you're gathering in this these three areas that you want to continue to research into. Are you going to be looking to find a fixed number of people to do uh engage or are you just going to uh request for engagement and hopefully get a thousand people? Um those are the two questions I had. Thanks. Thanks uh for those questions Mark through the chair. So the first question, the 95% is a benchmark in the performance report that has to do with the benchmark the service is required to meet for on-time performance and for um uh trips that are honor trip requests that are honored. So no greater than a 5% trip denial rate. Those are the two benchmarks in the performance report. they they speak specifically to trip counts, late times, very objective um uh uh contractor performance in those regards and not to what we would call customer satisfaction, right? So I I think it's it's almost like a apples and oranges kind of question because they your trip might be you know on time and you weren't denied it but were you satisfied with the trip right is a different question. Um we do have a benchmark that we uh look for when we count the number of complaints per thousand trips. Um we would like to see you know no more than two per thousand uh because that's the uh 2016 industry average for large systems and Hamilton's a large system um which is you know uh uh a lot less than a percent. So, it's um again it's almost apples to oranges and that's and that's based on complaints received and that's not a proactive measure of how satisfied somebody is with a trip. So, um it's a different kind of measure if that makes sense. If that answers your question. So, past performance versus future hopes. I think so. Maybe that's a good way of expressing it. Yes, Mark. And when you your forgive me your second question had to do with how we'll determine how the engagement happens with those three uh areas that you were looking to further study into. Yeah. You're looking to engage u people in Hamilton. Are you looking for a specific number of people or you hoping to get as many as possible? I think um we'll hope to get as many as possible within the scope of available funds and resources. Um but but thinking about how that um is carried out and what that looks like is going to be a question really for our researchers who are our subject matter experts. Um and we will be um and we are committed to uh engaging with uh the accessibility committee for persons with disabilities specifically the transportation working group throughout that process. I know um I've I've I've got the notes in front of me from when um Sadia Theo and Leia came and spoke to the transportation working group and I know um the group had a lot of excellent ideas and I don't I know that those notes are going to be tabled later in the meeting so maybe I won't go into them now but there were a lot of excellent ideas of how to approach uh the research um as uh that we plan to undertake in in 2026 and hopefully 2027 as well. Thank you, Mark. Uh, I believe next up we have Paula. Uh, Michelle, integrated transit. Um, you tried to get people from paratransit to use uh HSR as well as the paratransit, right? Yes. Yes. Through the chair. um we would want to be able to offer that uh option to people to provide as many choices for travel as possible. Okay. So, aren't most of the paratransit riders unable to use HSR because that's why they get darts. uh through the chair. I would I would hazard to say yes. Um however uh there there are people who do use both systems and there are probably people who would use or would like to use the HSR more as an option for travel if it were made more available to them. and integrated transit is something that would make uh the conventional transit system the HSR more available to those people who are able to use the ser the service. Yeah, I I I understand that. But if you apply for DATs, right, you most of your questions are you cannot use HSR. So are these people then who want to use HSR not going to be able to use DOTs anymore? it it it just doesn't make sense in my brain somehow. So, at this time, we're not uh making any changes to anybody's eligibility as determined. I know that I know I'm just it's just a thought that I don't know whether you thought of or whether it's part of the thing. So through the chair um accessibility on uh the system uh the two systems need to be handin glove and um if there were to be any kind of future uh decision to uh find um people some people depending on the barriers reported uh to be conditionally eligible ible for service. Um it would have to be done in such a manner as to ensure that the trip that they're being um uh provided with is fully accessible to them in every I didn't mean to put you on the spot, but it just I don't know. It just didn't make sense to me. That was all. Okay. But thank you for your answer, Michelle. Thank you Paula. Any other questions for Michelle on this? Councelor Tatterson. Hi. Through the chair, I just have some questions about the taxi script. So, it says 55% of the people were satisfied. 75 or 71% satisfied for reservations with staff and taxi drivers were there. 7 58% satisfied. Can I just have an understanding of what was the number of people that um were surveyed as opposed to just the percentages through the chair? If you give me two seconds, I'll flip through my hard copy. Okay. Of the survey results. Okay. So through the chair, it's uh table four, appendix D, table 4 in the large report. and uh each of the questions uh the number of responses to each of the questions and the breakdown of uh the number of responses to each category of responses included in the table. So if you're looking at uh the question that was reported on the slide which was satisfaction while traveling with a personal mobility device the number of responses was 157 responses and so uh under the uh satisfied category um I'm just going to report this and then I'm going to ask Sadia to confirm that this is how she uh aggregated um uh she aggregated uh very satisfied uh uh satisfied and somewhat satisfied together to give a satisfaction rate of 55%. Sadi is that correct? Uh actually are you sorry are you asking about the aggregation how I have categorized five categories to three categories? No I'm asking about question 14 satisfaction while traveling with a personal mobility device on the taxi script program. Okay. Yeah. Uh um can you please clarify the question which aggregation here here? Yeah. So the just uh the number of the percentage of sat overall satisfaction with using a personal mobility device um yeah yeah 14 number question. Yeah yes um the satisfied uh amount of 55% was an aggregation of the very satisfied satisfied and somewhat satisfied counts. Am I correct? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Here. Uh, okay. Can I share my slide? Sure. Here this is our question 14. Total according to the questioner total number of response 157 people responded. among them. Uh while we are going for the specific satisfied uh proportion people firstly we know look into their specifically their proportion and then very satisfied satisfied somewhat satisfied unsatisfied very unsatisfied. These group of people particularly answered how satisfied they are then from there the very satisfied and satisfied people are aggregated to the satisfied people in the final result. 56. Yeah. Okay. So, basically I was kind of trying to understand how many people answered the survey about taxi scripts and was that like total I see there's a 139 number there. Is that what we're looking at there? Uh here I am showing the question wise. Question 12 ability to use 178 people responded here and the tree parents 83 people responded and the question we were talking Q14 the satisfaction level with traveling with a personal mobility device particularly 157 people responded to the question. Okay, thank you very much. And I guess my fi my final question on this is how many accessible taxis are available to use for taxi script? Do we know that from this or is this okay? So that okay, thank you. So I won't I just see the motion of no, we don't know that. I I would like to kind of understand the taxis script bit a little bit better in order to understand how many people are actually using the taxis script. Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much. Council Tison. Uh are there any other questions? I'm seeing none. Okay. I might have a few. Uh Paula, if you wouldn't mind. Yes, sir. Thank you very much. Um, okay. Uh, first of all, you mentioned 15 five out of 13 uh mentioned that they would try integrated transit. Now, the question here is very particular because if I was to be asked, would I try integrated transit? I would say sure, I'll give it a shot. That doesn't necessarily mean that I'm actually interested in partaking in integrated transit. Yeah. Through the chair, I I understand what you're getting at. And I think that's why we also wanted them to ask more about well what would have to happen for you to want to try it right and what are you afraid of right and so that's why those particular questions were included because sure if we just said hey would you give it a shot lots of people would say okay right thanks thank you um okay uh the word satisfied gets used a lot um and and I understand why it's used but at the same token it's um engenders the opinion that everybody's happy with the system and unfortunately we don't have any other options as we pointed out I believe in this earlier meeting we had with Sadia and the group is that there there these are the options we have and so when we say satisfied it's within the level of what we have available to us through the chair and I think that's a very important point and um I I think that's why uh not I think I know that's why we are so excited to be continuing our relationship ship with the McMaster researchers and um continuing our engagement with transportation working group over what our future customer satisfaction research model needs to look like. Okay. Excellent. Um yeah, I just wanted to point out that it's um it's very easy to be confused by the word satisfied. It just every you know I just uh I think I made that point before. I I think that was it that I had at the moment. Uh I look forward to reading this in detail. Uh anybody else have a question? Oh, sorry. Sorry, I'll take back the chair. I apologize. I forgot. Chair is yours, sir. Thank you very much. Any other questions? Uh before we thank Michelle and Sadia and everybody. No. Okay. Well, I want to thank you very much, Michelle. Um so, we will be moving on. Thank you very much, Sia. Oh, wait. Pardon me. Mark popped his hand up. My attendant was here. Sorry. Uh, one thing I wanted to say is, um, I don't want to say satisfied, but I'm really eager that you've had this relationship with Ambassador. I'm much more happy about this than the, um, uh, the other report, the Dylan report. I think this has provided much better road mapping into the direction we'd like to travel. But I think uh, bearing in mind what the chair said about the word, the use of word satisfied. But anyway, I just wanted to thank uh SA and uh and Michelle and everybody involved for pushing the boundaries on this. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mark. Okay. Uh we're moving on then. Uh 7.4 accessibility committee for person with disabilities terms of reference review update. Sunnil Angress, project manager, community inclusion and equity will present. Sunnil, thank you. Just going to take a moment to pull it up. Getting some lag here. Just a moment. Uh so just to introduce myself, my name is Sunil Langlish. I'm the project manager for community inclusion and equity and I'm also the staff leone for ACPD. Uh I'm bringing together a brief presentation regarding a proposed timeline for a terms of reference review for ACPD. The slides I'm presenting will have a white background with a blue banner across the bottom of each page. Uh some quick background. Uh this work all comes from the volunteer advisory committee review which looked at transitioning volunteer advisory committees into community liaison groups. This did not include ACPD and a few other volunteer advisory committees. Uh staff was directed to review ACPD for alignment with the new uh civic engagement model um but was not uh intended to transition. uh some consultations uh one of three uh volunteer make in the summer spring of uh 2025 Steve Hamilton held its volunteers make waves campaign asking volunteers what motivates and inspires them to volunteer. Uh a number of ideas were presented including from ACPD. Uh this included responses uh that included things such as travel assistance, training opportunities, and financial compensation upon among other items. Further to that, uh I met with members of ACPD and additional city staff uh regarding the terms of reference. Uh some responses uh from this from members of ACPD included addressing the live streaming and recording of meetings, rigid meeting requirements, quorum rules pre preventing social occasions, the loss of in-person interactions, inerson meetings and ro roles and responsibilities of members. Uh I should preface though that uh ACPD is unique among uh volunteer advisory committees uh because uh of legislation and it it is still governed by the procedural bylaw. uh which will have impacts on what can and cannot be changed. Uh next steps is a report is going to GIC I believe in May uh that will outline some next steps uh and which some tentative dates which are uh review of the terms of reference in April and May at the strategic planning working group. Uh that would then subsequently go to ACPD in June. Uh and then the minutes from that meeting would go uh tentatively to GIC July 29th and that would be if there are any changes. Obviously it's up to ACPD to make those determinations uh based in what is possible um within limits of the procedural bylaw and other requirements. Uh my contact information is here. I'm happy to chat on the phone, in person, virtually or by email. and I'm just happy to answer any uh any questions that there may be. Thanks very much, Chenille. Uh is there any questions for Chenille on the to review? I see Mark's hand up. So Neil, can you just send out the current terms of reference to everybody? Yes, I can absolutely do that. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? Paula. Um, Sil, what other things can be changed then besides the terms of reference? Uh, the terms of reference is the the document that can be changed for for our purposes. Uh, everything else is bound by either municipal bylaw or by provincial legislation. Okay. So, just the the Okay. Thank you. Just wanted to clarify. Thank you. No problem at all. Anything else? Okay, I'm seeing none. Uh then I will thank you Sunil for your presentation and uh we will move on. Uh okay, I have to relinquish the chair now because we have a built environment group working update. I will take the chair sir. Thank you very much. Built environment. Okay. Uh okay. So I don't have meeting notes for this particular month. Um uh we uh met with HSR uh to discuss um snow removal. Uh we also met with uh No, I've had a complete brain paid. Oh, right. We met with uh sorry um uh what's what's her name? Uh uh Christine Christine um from on on patios patios and uh okay Christina Geyser that's it. Thank you very much. Uh we met with Christina Gesler to discuss uh an upcoming um uh BIA subcommittee uh presentation regarding um improving accessibility of special events in BAS and uh the experiences of using the BIA. Um uh so that was our built environment working group update. Okay. So now we go to what are we going to now? Outreach. Yes, sorry. Uh outreach. Uh this month we discussed the upcoming uh volunteer recruitment drive which should be going uh live on Meta sometime this week as far as I understand. Uh at which point we'll be able to distribute it out to the rest of the group as planned. Um we also discussed um Emojin's presentation on engaging with care and uh reviewed uh accessibility uh fair events. We also discussed um the upcoming March 24th accessibility day at Mohawk. Um currently I am going to go up there with one or two of our accessibility fair stations and set it up. Uh I know Paula will be there with darts. Uh the opening there's an open invitation to any member that would like to come up and participate on March 24th. Just get in touch with me and I'll give you information. Uh and that was it. Okay. Thank you. Strategic planning working group. We did not have a strategic planning working group uh meeting this month. And I will give you back the chair. Thank you very much. Uh 7.8 transportation working group update. Um Well, I think Michelle gave more update because it was mainly about the um the results from the survey and and all that kind of thing. I really can't remember. I haven't seen the notes. So, I'm afraid my brain's not as good as it should be. Um so, as soon as I get them, I will send them out. Okay. Sorry about that. That's quite all right. Thank you, Paula. Uh I did just want to mention that uh the um taxi script uh was changed. I just thought you might want to discuss that for a moment. Oh, that's right. Yes. Um actually I don't know the whole details of that. Michelle, she's still here. Yep, I am. I stayed for the notes through the chair. Um thank you. I believe you're speaking about uh the taxi script the language in the taxi script guide which says that uh customers need to inform reservations that they'll be paying with script. Yes. And uh uh we had um James uh pointed that out to us because there was someone who mentioned the concern there and and it's a real concern because uh nowadays we book trips on apps, we book trips online, we call and we get an IVR system and not a real person. Uh and so there was a concern that this is this was a a mandatory um thing that had to happen and um we uh verified with both taxis script contractors that this does not have to happen in order for them to honor their obligations uh when they provide us with script for reimbursement. So uh that language is antiquated and is being removed from the taxi script guide. I actually um struck it from the taxis script guide and the revised version will go to our document control person and then it will be posted online. Thank you very much Michelle. Thank you Michelle. Okay. Uh then 7.9 open spaces and parklands working group update. Is there a verbal update Tim? I don't think there is. No. Okay, there is not uh Okay, 710 engaging with care. Imagigene Briggs, public engagement student, will deliver the presentation. Imagin take it away. Thank you. I'm just figuring out technology. Hold on. Hi. So, thank you for having me. For those who don't know me, I'm Imagin Briggs. I'm with the uh community engagement uh section of the city. And I will put this in slideshow mode because I forgot to do that. Nope. So, um I'm here to talk about the project I've been working on throughout my placement. Um which is called Engaging with Care. Um and so this is uh just the title screen. It's got a dark gray background with some white text on it. Um yeah, so this slide has some a light red pink background with some white text and just talking about my background. So I have lived experience uh identifying as a person with disabilities. Um I have been working in uh disability as kind of a support worker role uh since June of 2023. I'm currently pursuing my bachelor of social work. Um I am the current uh facilitator of the disability action group through the McMaster School of Social Work. Um and just a background of my how I look at disability is I look at it through the socio political model. Uh which is basically just seeing disability as socially constructed and a political identity uh and primarily using uh identity first language uh instead of person first. uh and then also using a disability justice perspective which is that sins invalids uh list of 10 kind of guidelines. So this is just a yellow pale yellow background with a with black text. Uh and so for the goal of the project is to provide engaged staff with tools to host accessible engagement events. Uh there are three major sections that can be read independently plus a gloss glossery and additional resources. Um and in line with the project is in line with engagement policy, the multi-year accessibility plan and other city policies. Uh so I'm just going to give kind of an overview of some of the like headings we have in the document just because it at this point uh it's still being reviewed by my lovely field instructors but it is 30 pages um and we're hoping to provide it to the uh outreach working group uh soon. Uh so just going over the first section. This is a white um this slide has a white background and black text. Uh and so for the first section we're looking at general advice. Um so not really specific to any disability any like specific disabilities or conditions. Um so the tit the headings we have in that section are when in doubt ask. uh be flexible, be attentive, be conscious of speed, be a clear communicator, be aware of the physical space, and be open and curious. And so the second section is more specific advice. This slide and the ones dealing with this section are on a black or light blue background with white text. Um and so this is dealing kind of with more so symptoms uh of disabilities. We I tried not to use diagnostic language where possible um just because diagnosis is so complicated uh for folks and sometimes difficult to attain. Uh so for this section our subheadings are people using external mobility aids, people with prosthetic limbs and living differences, other physical disabilities, people with sensory sensitivities, people who stim, and then people who have seizures, people with speech barriers, people with service animals, people with support staff, people who perceive things others can't, people who identify as deafb blind, people who identify uh big d/ little d deaf deafened or heart of hearing people with visual disabilities, people with processing delays and other accessibility considerations. And then this slide we have a light green background and white text and it's our for section three language recommendations. So this is talking about examples of outdated and uh it provides examples of outdated and offensive language and uh examples of more respectful terminology. Um it has included in that more respectful terminology there is person first language and identity first language. um just depending on preference and context so that people have more options. And then um some stuff talking about awareness of like how disability is sometimes used as like negative as a negative to imply negative connotations in like common phrases. So then this text, this slide is on a light gray background with white text. And so we presented it or I presented uh this a very similar slideshow to this to the uh work outreach working group. Uh so thank you to everyone who was there and has had to sit through this again. Um and was provided some wonderful feedback. Um so uh some of the members provided examples of events uh where there were accessibility concerns. Um so things like no ASL corruptioning, tight spaces, no signage. Um also provided some examples of events that were more positive experiences um with things like dimmer lighting, less crowded spaces. Um, and then also as there was the suggestion to add an appendex with a checklist of kind of when you're planning on the event, what steps you can go through and think through uh to try and make your space as accessible as possible and uh to have that centralized across the city. So, this continues the light gray background with white text. Um, and for next steps, uh, we're hoping to provide the outreach working group with a draft to gather feedback, uh, hopefully in the near future. Um, uh, then the hope is to revise and polish the document. um provide you with the polished document for any final feedback and then if revisions are needed uh with that polish draft um provide a final updated version and then the hope is to distribute the guide to public engagement uh community of practice staff. So then this slide has uh the same kind of colors from the slide. So, it's light gray background and then stripes in light red, pink, uh yellow, blue, and green and and a larger one in the center with white that uh says thank you. And then it provides uh both my contact information with my City of Hamilton email and uh my lovely field instructor Lauren's contact information as well. Okay, thank you very much. That was great. Uh, anybody have any questions? Uh, okay. Go ahead, councelor Taz. I just wanted to thank you for um presenting this. I I think you know when we think about our values as a city, inclusivity, diversity, equity, and accessibility, I think accessibility is one that we really have to work on. Um, the other three have been a big focus for the last decade and accessibility has been something that's been focused on for years and years, but it needs to be more of a engagement process as opposed to just like a physical process. So, thank you for addressing this. I think it's very timely. Okay, I have to uh put a pause. I have a question. I have a comment. So, I have put a pause on this for a moment. We apparently have lost quorum. Oh. process to recess. We missed Jake. Okay. Uh so we'll have to recess for 15 minutes. Up to 15 minutes and hopefully we can get Jake back. Thank you, ma'am. It just went out. Yeah. James, could that potentially mean a delay to 9.1? Okay, we're good to go. Paula and now you've forgotten for imagining engaging with care. There we go. Um, I just wanted to say how wonderful it is to hear such enthusiasm. My goodness, it makes me want to do a whole bunch of things when I hear Eminent talking. It was amazing. Thank you so so much. Thank you. Thanks, Paula. Is there anybody else that have any questions or anything like to say to? No. Okay. Um, uh, I do have one quick question. Paul, if you could take the chair. Yes, I will take the chair, sir. Thank you. Um, now you mentioned there's a whole process here of going to outreach, coming back, getting reviewed, but you are a student and I'm assuming this has to be done on a certain schedule. So, um, what do we have to do to help you get this done for your schedule, but then allow us to come back and make changes? Yeah, for sure. I um so that's that's kind of why we provided Lauren's contact information as well. Um just because I am done my placement hours by April 2nd. Um I happy to work on things past that uh as this is something that I am really passionate about. Um but uh yeah trying that that's something we're kind of talking through and trying to navigate of giving you all enough time to review it um adequately and also so that I can revise it. Um so that's something we're still talking through but we're trying to figure that out as best we can uh soon. Give it to by the end of the week. Yeah, we're trying to get it get it to you by the end of the week. Okay. Thank you for that. Uh I also uh would be um remiss if I did not mention that our working groups volunteer are opening positions. So uh please by all means uh if you have some extra time we'd love to have you as well on our various working groups. Okay, I'll take the chair back now. Paula, you may have the chair sir. Thank you very much. And I now have Mark. Yeah. Uh, imagining just keep us in the loop so we can provide you as close to real time information as required uh to help you uh retain that timeline and get information to you as quickly as possible. Thank you by the way for your work. Thank you and will do. Thank you very much. Uh, okay. So, unless there's no other questions, we will uh say goodbye to Imagigen. No. Okay. Well, thank you very much. Uh, now may I have a mover and a seconder, please, to receive all the items 7.1 through 7.10. Mover and a seconder. Mark. Moved by Mark, seconded by by Jake. Thank you, Jake. I'll get you next time, Levi. That was a very eager wave. Uh, is there any discussion on any of these items? I'm seeing none. Then uh is there anybody opposed to the motion? Then that is carried. Thank you very much. Uh items for consideration uh 8.1 housing working group. Uh do I have to give out the chair for this or am I just reading this? Okay. Uh a housing working group meeting notes January 23rd, 2026. Um, may I please have a mover and a seconder to receive the working group meeting notes and approve the recommendation from the housing working group. A mover and a seconder. Moved by uh Mark and uh seconded by Paula. Oh no, second by Levi. I did say Levi would be next. So get get Levi there. Thank you. Um okay. So, we're moving uh the recommendation that the Accessibility Committee for Person with Disabilities, ACPD, requests that the General Issues Committee refer Appendix A, the Housing Working Group's report entitled Quality of Life Recommendations to Improve Residential Care for his residents to staff for Colton's consultation with ACPD in preparation and preparing its recommendations respecting proposed improvements to residential care through the modernization report. Is there any discussion or questions on that? hand. No, no questions. Okay. Um, so then, uh, is there anybody opposed to approving the meeting notes for housing and the recommendation? I'm seeing none, then that is carried. Thank you. I have to relinquish the chair and close my mouth now. Yes, you do, sir. Okay. So, we have a motion. And it is um Mark's motion. Would you like to present your motion, Mark? Did we lose Mark? No, I was trying to unmute at the same time I got a popup. So, I just have I had it up here. So, I just have to look for it again. Uh or is it If I click on it, is it there? I have too many windows open. Okay. Oh, did you get I've got I found it. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Okay. City Hamilton motion accessibility committee for persons with disabilities. Initial date was February 10th and it's moved by me and seconded by Paula. Honorary motion for James Kemp Jr. regarding work for the Hamilton Accessibility Fair 2026. Whereas the accessibility committee for persons with disabilities, ACPD, requires services related to A graphic services, B web services for the Hamilton Accessibility Fair scheduled for September 4th, 2026, Cography Services, and D t-shirts where the ACBD budgeted an honorarium to James Kent Jr. of $400 in total for the 2025 or related similar services. Therefore, be it resolved that the accessibility committee for persons with disabilities be authorized to recruit James Kent Jr. to assist the ACBD for the required services. B that the ACVD budget 150 for each $150 for each one of those four categories for a total honorarium of $600 plus an official thank you letter and I think that's the end of the motion. Okay, thank you. Okay, so um does anybody have any questions about the motion? I don't see any. Paula, thank you. Do I We have to vote. Yes, please. Okay. Does anybody have any I've forgotten the word. Anyone are are we all in favor of having this uh motion carried? Do I see? Yes. Nobody's responding. Anybody against? And nobody's against Nobody against. Okay, motion is carried. Thank you. Okay, that's uh that's that. Thank you, Mark. Thank you, Paulo. We're moving on to 9.2 Ability First Annual Accessibility Fair September 4th, 2026. Wireframe website design moved by James. That's James's. Okay, James. Sorry. I believe we need a seconder. Oh, sorry. Yes, we do. No, I seconded the motion. Okay. The motion was done by Mark and seconded by me. No, no. This is the wireframe one we're moved on to. Oh, the wireframe. Okay. Okay. I I'll second it. Sorry, James. That's okay. Confused today. Okay. So, uh what what what are we doing now then? Read it out. Yeah. Okay. Yes. Um Okay. I'm just going to read it out. Paula, thank you. Uh whereas the accessibility committee for persons with disabilities ACPD's outreach working group OWG has undertaken a redesign of the ACPD website from a devil first accessibility fair-based site to a committee-based site in an effort to improve communications and better inform the public about the ACPD and its activities. Whereas the OWG has recommended a three-step process to ensure the most input during the design phase and has completed step one, a wireframe design attached as appendix A, which provides a basic layout and design structure of what the website will look like and how it will function. And whereas the OWG requires the ACPD's approval to move forward with step two consisting of building the website with a color or imagery. Therefore, be it resolved that the accessibility committee for person with disabilities approves the wireframe website design attached as appendix A and that the accessibility committee for person with disabilities approves the outreach working group moving forward with step two of the new ACBD website basic website construction. Okay. So, that motion was put forward by James and seconded by Mark. Do we have any discussion on the motion? Seeing none. No. There been none. Uh, anybody against the motion? No. I don't see any motion. Motion is carried. Paula. Okay. We're on to 93. Is that a motion? Sorry. Yes, it is. 9.3. I have lost my thing. Okay. So, what is 9.3? Sorry. Accessibility Committee for Person with Disabilities Membership for now. Oh, right. I just read that. Okay. It's all right. I got too many things on in my head. Um, okay. Hey, who has the motion for that? I'm moving it. I'm moving it. It needs a seconder. I'll second it. Thank you. So, would you like to read it, sir? Just pulling it out of this tom that I've been given. Um, accessibility committee for person with disabilities membership, whereas Benjamin Kmore has missed more than three consecutive meetings of the accessibility committee for person with disabilities and has not provided any explanation to their absences. Whereas Tim Murphy has missed more than three consecutive meetings with the accessibility committee for person with disabilities and has not provided an update to their absences. And whereas the procedural handbook for citizen appointees to citizen of Hamilton local board states that when a member misses more than three consecutive meetings during their term, the chair after hearing and considering any explanation provided by the member may ask the member to resign or request the council remove the member. Therefore, be it resolved that council be requested to remove Benjamin Cullymore and Jim Murphy from the accessibilities committee for person with disabilities membership effective immediately. Okay. Any questions, comments about this motion? I don't see any Paula. No seeing none. Then can I have a vote? Anybody against the motion? No. Motion carried. Motion's carried. Okay. And then I will take back the chair, please. Paula, comfortable. You may take the chair. Uh 11. General information. Is there other general information or other business anybody would like to discuss or bring up at this time? No. Uh then I would like to mention a few items of interest uh before we go um to our community. Uh Paul, if you could take the chair quickly again. Yes sir, I have the chair. Thank you. Uh I was fortunate to attend the Haptic Horizon Symposium last weekend um which was uh it was an interesting art show that used um different mediums other than the visual uh to explore art uh through vibration, texture, sound. uh a neat little uh booth they had uh allowed you to modulate sound and frequency so that you could try and explain a pattern you were seeing like uh felt inter interlaced with dowel rods for example just just trying to communicate to somebody else on the other side what you're seeing through amplitude modulation. It was it was an interesting um it was an interesting event. uh saw a number of interesting things like um a threedimensional tactile magnetic braille board uh which I wouldn't mind purchasing one for the accessibility fair uh provided a really great tactile uh even artistic um medium um uh for the for people with vision loss and visual impairment. I'd love to see that. It was really neat. Uh it's uh I'd like to put it forward to uh bring it to the next uh to the next fair. Uh also um uh another point of interest, I went to the symposium and um watched an individual uh sign on sign language which was then interpreted by a deaf interpreter which was then interpreted by an ASL interpreter. It was a very very interesting evening and I got to see more wide perspective. So I want to thank people from center 3 uh and uh Vibra Fusion who also were part of our inclusive art show in 2023. Um, uh, other issues I'd like to bring up, I already brought up the March 24th accessibility day at Mohawk. If people would like to come volunteer, just let me know and I'll give you some information. April 14th, uh, we moved next month's uh, ACPD meeting uh, to allow uh, members of transportation working group to attend the transit expo on the April the 14th. Uh, I currently have three people signed up. I have three spaces available with our new quorum level. Uh so please if you're interested let me know so that we can make arrangements uh depending on your needs or devices and whatnot. um snow removal. Uh I've been speaking a lot to snow removal lately. Um but I will put on your radar that uh seniors advisory committee has a motion coming forward in uh April. Um regarding um snow clearing, snow, sorry, I just had a total brain fra snow uh snow removal uh other than um that what the city does. So resident snow removal clearing. Um I will go and speak to them on issues that we raised regarding the poor uh conditions that the city is doing to clear the priority routes. Um so hopefully we can uh get somewhere with that. The full snow removal review will be happening at BWG either next month or the month after if I can't reschedule it properly. And the last thing I'd like to bring up um is volunteer recruitment uh which will be uh going out live this week. Uh we are now on a three-month campaign with Meta and the Spectator. Uh and as soon as we get their advertising package, we'll have it sent out to the counselor's newsletters and uh other other mailing groups. That was those are my updates. Okay. Would you like the chair back, sir? Jake Jake has his hand up, so I think I'll Sorry, Jake. Yes, Jake. Oh, I was just going to think of James um that I would like to uh do the transportation expo. Uh absolutely. Uh you're actually we're getting an email tomorrow uh specifically on that. But thank you for uh getting ahead of that and uh I will put you down on the list and give you some information. You'll also have to let me know what your requirements are because it's going to be a full day. Okay. Well, Lou, thanks. Thank you. Mark has his hand up. Yes, Mark. Sorry. Hello. Yes, sir. Uh the exposition expo. Yes. You were one of the three people that already had uh signed that. I'm just trying to arrange a lunchtime. Yeah. And I'm not seeing anybody else. Good. Okay. Then I will take the chair. James, take back the chair. Sir, um I have one thing. Um Lisa Hefner, our Mountain MP is coming to my house on a week on Saturday, whatever day that is. Anyway, um to well, she's coming to congratulate me for the Order of Hamilton. But if anybody has anything they want me to give to um Lisa about disability, about how to anything you've got that you want the federal government to know, send it to me and I will make up a package and give it to her. I think it's a great opportunity to, you know, to get things under her nose there. So, so it's a week on Saturday. I don't know the date. Okay. Thank you. So, if anybody has anything they'd like to pass along to a member of parliament, um, please pass along to Paula. So, thank you very much for that. You're welcome. Uh, so I am seeing no other information or other business. Great. I can't believe we're actually out here 10 minutes early. Okay. I will now call the meeting at uh 5:50. Uh meeting is now adjourned at 5:50. Thank you very much everybody. I really do appreciate you coming out and uh making quorum. That's great. Thanks very much. Thanks to staff and thanks to the presenters and the happy have a great day. And that's all.

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