By now most people have likely heard the story of David Lepofsky, the blind lawyer who took the TTC to task for failing to make The Better Way accessible to the visually impaired. The most incredible thing about this story is how the TTC fought Lepofsky every step of the way — how it first spent $450,000 on private lawyers to oppose the announcement of stops on subways, and then, even after having been found to be in violation of human rights by Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, spent another $180,000 to fight Lepofsky in court yet again when he then demanded that all stops also be called out on streetcars and buses. While Lepofsky’s story speaks volumes about the TTC’s respect for people with disabilities, in these days of financial strain, involving accusations that Toronto is plagued by mismanagement and held hostage by unions, it’s hard to hear this story and avoid feeling cynical about the city as well.
“The message is clear,” Lepofsky told councillors on the Planning and Growth Management Committee yesterday. “If you want to assert the most rudimentary accessibility rights and the TTC disagrees with you, then they will have access to public money to fight you.” He argues that the city should oppose the use of public funds to fight accessibility for those with disabilities. What’s more, it should “Find out who is responsible for this tremendous waste of public money and hold them accountable,” Lepofsky charged.
Lepofsky first complained to the TTC about this problem in 1994. Surprisingly enough, given what would follow, the issue of calling out stops had already been part of past TTC plans. In 1990, it promised to install automated subway stop announcements by 1991. In 1994, says Lepofsky, it said it would have this done by 1996.
When this didn’t happen, the TTC argued that it was good enough for drivers to announce major intersections. Other stops would be announced only at a rider’s request, but even this proved difficult for many drivers. According to Lepofsky, the TTC argued that it would endanger public safety to announce all stops, yet drivers were encouraged to do so and commended when they did.
The costly new automated stop announcements now on streetcars, buses and subways are the fruits of Lepofsky’s labour, but to be clear he would have been satisfied if drivers simply called out each stop as well, a fact Councillor Karen Stintz seemed keen to highlight when questioning Lepofsky during the committee meeting. Said Lepofsky, “Every bus, subway and streetcar has a driver, they all have a mouth and should know what stop they’re at.”
Councillor Peter Milczyn — who's been a TTC commissioner for only about 10 months now — wondered if fear of grievances and work action was part of the problem in forcing TTC drivers to comply, while Councillor Adam Vaughan admonished the TTC for hiding behind the budget as a reason for not addressing human rights.
Lepofsky revealed another disconcerting piece of the story yesterday as well: when the TTC tried to settle the case out of court, their offer required him to sign a gag clause agreeing to never criticize the TTC. Good thing he didn’t take them up on their offer. We ought to take a critical look at how the TTC and the city handled this case.