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IQALUIT
"One day, I got up, I couldn't see anything any more," recalls Noah Papatsie, 43, a former Inuit Broadcasting Corp. executive producer who lost his sight six years ago after several years of degeneration. "My life stopped. Everything became blank."

Rhoda Palluq, left, Noah Papatsie, and Wendy Ireland are on the board of the Nunavummi Disabilities Makinnasuaqtiit Society, which is inviting Iqaluit residents to a workshop Wednesday to discuss disability and accessibility. - Casey Lessard/NNSL photo

Papatsie, an Iqaluit resident, is on the board of the Nunavummi Disabilities Makinnasuaqtiit Society, which is inviting people to an all-day workshop Wednesday morning (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) at the Frobisher Inn in Iqaluit to discuss the barriers people with disabilities face in the capital.

"The biggest challenge for me is the fact that sometimes there are stairs to get into a building, or a ramp is not shovelled, little things like that," said society executive director Wendy Ireland, 40, whose multiple sclerosis-induced paralysis forces her to use a wheelchair. "But if you're willing to be flexible, people are pretty helpful."

Northern life can be a much bigger challenge for those with disabilities because there are more barriers to access than there are in the south.

"The roads are really difficult. I was alone walking around, and yes, it is difficult. I had to learn more cane movements. This (cane) is my lifeline at this moment," said Papatsie, who is on the waiting list for a guide dog. "It's totally different from the southern (environment) where I was learning because there's pavement down there and everything here is totally sand."

Statistics for the number of people living with disabilities have not been collected since Statistics Canada's 2006 Participation and Activity Limitation Survey. That survey's study of Nunavut found there were 960 mobility impaired, 810 hearing impaired, and 320 visually impaired residents, as well as 260 with a learning disability, and 710 who are aging and need special care in the territory.

"This number is significant for the size of our territory," Ireland said, noting she considers the term disability a misnomer.

"If I'm a kid in school, perhaps you're not teaching me the way I learn best," she said. "That's not my learning disability; I'm not able to learn because of the way you're teaching me. More and more people are realizing that the fact that I can't get into your building is not so much my disability but rather an issue with the environment I'm facing."

In the North, changing the physical environment comes at a premium, so the process of removing barriers to access meets its own barrier: cost.

"Sometimes physical access for people with disabilities is kind of an afterthought," Ireland said. "Being an afterthought in the North is a really expensive endeavour to fix, so if you're not thinking of access from the ground up when you're building, it's way harder to make things physically accessible for everyone."

There are also barriers to those hoping to remove their own barriers. Society board member Rhoda Palluq, 45, had to learn how to be a left-handed person after dystonia took away much of her ability to use her right arm.

"For my arm, I'm looking for exercise equipment to stretch it, and I tried Kakivak, but they refused it," Palluq said. "When you apply for help through Kakivak (a Baffin economic development association), if you get refused, you can't go anywhere else. Where do you find funding for yourself? It seems like I have nowhere else to look."

Often the challenges faced by individuals are less visible than for those who use a wheelchair or a cane. Ireland says she wants to see people who have physical, visual, hearing, and intellectual disabilities come to the workshop, as well as those who have mental health issues.

"It would be nice to hear from people who have those disabilities so we can talk about them and maybe relieve some of the issues people are facing," she said. "I think we all face the common experience of not fitting in nicely."

For Papatsie, he's trying to find how he fits in, and is working toward re-entering the workforce.

"I'm still trying to do broadcasting because that's what I know," he said. "It was my passion, so I'm still going to keep on going. I'm sure there will be lots of obstacles, but I've been getting focused on getting ready for the world out there. First things first, family is where I start.

"These few years have been the hardest part of my life," he said, "and the most exciting times because I'm learning how to get back on my feet."

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