Highlights of Selected Accessibility Initiatives
July 2009 – June 2010
4. Peel Children’s Water Festival: Accessibility Update
This year, the 2010 Peel Children’s Water Festival (PWCF) was held from May 27 to June 2, 2010 at Heart Lake Conservation Area in Brampton. The PCWF is a six-day annual event, which provides environmental education to Peel elementary students from grades two through five during the week, and is open to all Peel residents on Family Fun Day. Using more than 50 hands-on and interactive activities, participants are exposed to important educational messages related to the protection and stewardship of water resources.
The 2010 PCWF event marked the 15th anniversary of the festival, with more than 70,000 Peel students having attended the event since its inception in 1996. The planning and execution of the PCWF is achieved through the collaborative efforts of many external partners along with the Region of Peel’s Health Services, Public Works and Planning Services departments. In 2010, the main theme was highlighting the 15 Year Anniversary. A new logo was designed to reflect the water festival’s success and history of water-related fun. The festival website was also redesigned for easier navigation and to represent the new logo. A secondary theme was “Wastewater: where does the water go after you use it?”
This year, the festival’s organizing committee continued to improve on accessibility elements within the festival planning process and operations. The objective was to implement accessibility initiatives within the various planning stages of the festival in order to achieve an inclusive and accessible event. In order to fulfill this objective, the Region’s Accessibility Planning Program Specialist participated on the Festival Steering Committee.
Members of the Region of Peel Accessibility Advisory Committee and Accessibility Planning Staff participated in this year’s Family Fun Day and provided information to the Peel residents who visited the accessibility booth. The 2010 Family Fun Day was attended by over 5,300 people.
AAC and APP staff at the PCWF Information Booth at Heartlake Conservation
This year, an accessibility work plan for the PCWF was developed that included five aspects of the festival that were reviewed to improve the accessibility of the event. The steering committee will continue to evaluate the progress and consider these areas to plan for the 2011 PCWF. These areas are; activity scripts; special needs assistance and services; operations; communications and volunteer recruitment.
- Activity Scripts
Action 2010: Members of the Accessibility Advisory Committee reviewed selective existing and new activity scripts.
- Special Needs Assistance and Services
Action 2010: Through the collection of special needs data requested upon registration and from community feedback, results were compiled and examined to determine which services the Region is performing well and which services need to be improved.
Action 2011: Schools who indicated any disability requirements were contacted and were asked to participate in a verbal questionnaire where they evaluated the festival’s accessibility and suggested improvement for future years.
- Operations
Action for 2011: The operations sub-committee will continue to incorporate the feedback received from the community and AAC members in order to improve the accessibility on site and accessibility of the event.
- Communications
Action for 2010: Communication materials were reviewed to incorporate appropriate accessibility symbols, clear text with more contrast, pictorial information and minimal text where appropriate. Maps were updated to show limited accessibility throughout the site.
- Volunteer Recruitment
Action for 2010: Ensure that messages shared with various groups such as volunteers, participants, schools boards and the community, state clearly that the PCWF is accessible and incorporates volunteer opportunities for everyone, with and without disabilities.
This year, accessibility evaluation questions were added to all surveys that were sent to teachers, volunteers and event participants. Our purpose was to gather feedback from all different groups involved in the event around accessibility of the activities and event location, and to find out about accessibility needs of the students to improve future access. Results received from the accessibility survey were extremely positive.
69 per cent of the student volunteers who responded to this question said they were able to assist participants with disabilities adequately. One volunteer stated that “he was able to assist a “colour-blind” child by explaining and describing the contents of the coloured pollution chart.” Volunteer students were given disability training in their orientation training.
This year, we added an icon describing the different levels of accessibility options available at the event location. 66 per cent of the teachers who responded to the survey found these details helpful in planning for their day.
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