When you’re able-bodied, whether young or older, almost nothing can stand in your way. Literally.

However, not everyone is so lucky and that doesn’t mean they effectively should be shut out of places, destinations, businesses, attractions that everyone else has ready access to.

In fact, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (commonly referred to as AODA) seeks to make sure that we all have equal access to our communities.

Whether you use a cane, a walker, a scooter, a wheelchair, have mobility challenges or other concerns, you should be able to get where you want to go.

And that is why when Pamela TurnerSmith spoke to us about the problems she has documented accessing stores and buildings in downtown Niagara-on-the-Lake – in the heart of the tourist and historical district – we featured the story prominently on our front page on March 30.

TurnerSmith summarized the situation succinctly and in just seven words: “A single step is a closed door.” The reality behind that statement should be an embarrassment to us all.

If you have never given this issue a thought previously, please stop and think about those seven words. And the fact that one little step, only a few inches high, can shut out a large sector of our population.

This is something that should concern us all as NOTL residents, as business people, as human beings.

It’s just not right.

Obviously in a historic town like ours, with many buildings that date back more than a century, accessibility is bound to be a problem.

Fortunately, the Town of NOTL, our elected community leaders, the Chamber of Commerce and individual businesses all recognize and agree that the situation is untenable and needs to be addressed.

Kudos to TurnerSmith for coming forward and advocating on behalf of herself and many others – but not just complaining about it, as so many of us often do, but offering a reasonable, affordable and readily available solution.

And it’s portable.

The StopGap Foundation’s ramps have been immensely successful elsewhere – notably in Toronto – and it seems there is no reason they could not work in most inaccessible spots in NOTL.

The cost is estimated to be about $15,000 – and even if it works out to be double or triple that, it is still an affordable alternative.

So, where do we go from here?

Everyone seems to agree that “something” needs to be done. That’s a good start. But we, as a society will be, and should be, judged by how we look after the more vulnerable among us.

To the town, the Chamber, businesses in Old Town (and elsewhere across NOTL), we say: Let’s get this done. Now. Fix it. Without delay.

Because it is the right thing to do.