Defining accessibility

Imagine. image&nation believes that physical accessibility for people who use wheelchairs includes being carried up a rather long flight of stairs by "a team of very hard-working volunteers available on site to assist those who required help into the venue," [Letters, Oct. 5].

Imagine me--an actual "dis/abled queer" living an "understandably infuriating reality" in Montreal who defines accessibility as autonomous entry and exit from a public venue.

I think there is a big gap between image&nation's definition of accessibility and mine--an actual wheelchair user living with a major functional dis/ability.

So, while I value image&nation "having striven to make the 2000 edition of the festival accessible" for me and others like myself, it was just as inaccessible to me this year as it was the year before. Being carried up a flight of stairs in my wheelchair is not only dangerous, but dis/empowering.

For suggestions on how to remove barriers and have your event a gathering which people with disabilities can participate in, you can contact Eco-Access at 725-4123.

--T. St. Laurent

101's not so bad

I don't know where to begin with Noemi Lopinto's piece about Tina's home-schooling problems ["Bill 101 hits home," Oct. 5]. Perhaps pointing out some obvious contradictions and confusion might help.

If Tina was actually "delighted with the prospects of bilingualism and cultural integration," how then are we supposed to interpret her statement that she just wants to educate her daughter in "her own language?" This hardly reflects a strong desire for cultural integration in Quebec.

And although Montreal functions in many ways as a bilingual city, Quebec is not an officially bilingual province. It is a French one that offers clearly defined but limited services to its English minority.

Then there was the breaker "custody threatened." I searched in vain for the looming threat in the body of the piece, but what I found were two reasonable administrators, one saying she had no intention of involving the youth protection branch and the other saying that "questions of civil rights are above its jurisdiction."

What we are left with is one woman's perception that she is a victim of discrimination because she wants to educate her child in a way that does not conform with the laws of the jurisdiction in which she has chosen to live. This is a common problem of home schooling; it occurs frequently when religious fundamentalists, for example, want to educate their children at home and the state insists that a curriculum be followed. It is a complicated issue, but to limit it to one of discrimination on the basis of language is misleading at best.

From an educational point of view, I find it interesting that someone who lays claim to the schooling of her daughter at home didn't bother to ascertain the laws concerning her education before coming to Quebec.

This is information that is readily available and one would assume that it came up in her immigration application, since Quebec has its own regulations. While I am sympathetic to young Melissa's feelings of exclusion, they could easily have been avoided if her mother had done her homework.

Ignorance of the law is not a valid excuse. From a journalistic point of view, if I want to read tempest-in-a-teapot articles like this, I can always read the editorial and op-ed pages of The Gazette.

I think the Mirror can do better, particularly on a subject as historically nuanced and complicated as this one.

--Hugh Cawker

Web site woes

I truly enjoy perusing the Mirror's Web site, as I don't need to leave the comfort of my apartment to get a good giggle from the Rant LineTM or find out which of my favourite bands is playing this week.

When I clicked on my Mirror bookmark a few days ago, I nearly spat out my café au lait and fell off my Ikea swivel chair: a little sign announced that no such address existed! What the hell is going on?! Where are you e-Mirror?

[Ed's note: Due to problems with the server, the Mirror's Web site was indeed non-existent for a couple of days. It is now back on-line at www.montrealmirror.com]

--Willy Web Nerd