Eleanor Hands

To mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Independent Living Centre Kingston and the Municipal Accessibility Advisory Committee of the City of Kingston celebrates the empowerment of persons with disabilities and their communities by recognizing a local leader in the disability movement, Eleanor Hands.

Eleanor has been playing a leading role in ensuring the City of Kingston is accessible to all its citizens with disabilities.  

Eleanor’s recently completed six years of service on the Municipal Accessibility Advisory Committee, whose main goal is to advise City Council on how to be compliant with the “Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act’.  She is the longest serving member of the committee, and has never missed a meeting. 

Over the past six years Eleanor was Chair of the transportation subcommittee where she was instrumental in ensuring the full Accessibility of all Kingston Transit city buses.  Eleanor worked closely with  city staff, including assisting with training and communications.  The city is very close to introducing accessible taxi’s into our community thanks to Eleanor’s perseverance.

Eleanor was a stabilizing Vice Chair of the Municipal Accessibility Advisory Committee for the past 2 years.

Eleanor has clearly demonstrated her ability to empower people with disabilities to improve accessibility in our community.