Accessibility Committee

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• Available support to help you participate

  We provide support to help you take part in the Accessibility Committee and the application process.

  Supports may include:

  • Honoraria
  • Transportation reimbursement
  • Interpreters
  • Technical equipment
  • Other supports as needed

About the Accessibility Committee

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• Who makes up the committee

  There are 16 committee members, including:

  • 11 community members with lived experience of disability
  • 5 City staff

  We include City staff to allow for direct communication, responsive action, feedback, and accountability.

  Community membership is limited to people with lived experience of disability and representatives from organizations who provide services to or support disability communities.

  The majority of community members are people with lived experience.

• How we define disability

  As outlined in the Accessibility Strategy, we define disability as any:

  • Physical impairments
  • Mental health, cognitive, intellectual, sensory, or age-related impairments

  These impairments, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.

  Disabilities may be:

  • Visible or invisible
  • Permanent, temporary, or episodic

  Disability can also intersect with other identities, which may result in compounding effects.

2024 to 2026 committee members

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• Tasia Alexis (she/her)

  Term: 1 year

  Human rights and social justice are not abstract ideals — they are lived truths. Accessibility is a right, and every person deserves the opportunity to participate fully in Canadian society without the societal barriers others never have to consider. Inclusion is not optional — it is essential.

  For Tasia, this understanding is deeply personal. Living with a hidden disability — celiac disease and anemia — she navigates challenges that are often unseen yet profoundly impactful. Unhoused and then emancipated at 18, she became the legal guardian of her younger siblings, demonstrating courage, leadership, and a remarkable ability to transform hardship into strength, purpose, and service.

  As a Black woman with a disability, her intersecting identities reflect both resilience and systemic inequities, strengthening her commitment to accessibility, equity, diversity, inclusion, and the principle of antifragility — growing stronger through adversity.

  For more than 45 years, including 33 with the Developmental Disabilities Association and 21 with City of Vancouver Advisory Committees, Tasia has advanced social justice through lived experience, education, integrity, and steadfast advocacy. In these roles, she has shaped policy, practice, and community understanding with compassion and conviction.

  Tasia believes every policy begins with a human story. She holds a simple but powerful belief: behind every policy and every right is a human being — living, striving, and deserving of a world that recognizes their full humanity.

• Martha Kahnapace (she/her)

  Term: 1 year

  Martha is a 66 year old Indigenous woman of the Kwaguitl Nation off of Vancouver Island, BC. She is a Mother of 4 with 3 surviving children, grandmother of 11, and great grandmother of 8. She lives with osteoporosis, arthritis, and her eyesight is failing. As she is an experienced caregiver to her mate for the past 11 years, she would like to pass on her knowledge to society of her involvement with incarceration and the injustices of prisoners. She has also participated in many surveys and panels to help improve the justice system. She had finished with UBC and am now involved in a peer support for Indigenous women prisoners. She is looking forward to being a part of creating a more accessible and friendly city for us to live in.  

• Sidney Smallman (he/him)

  (Support:  Dina Smallman – mother)
  Term: 2 years

  Sidney offers creative ways to overcome daily challenges, and it has given him a particular type of resilience. Cerebral palsy may not be an extremely unique condition, but he believes that he has the lived experiences and the voice to advocate for those who do not have the ability to advocate for themselves. He thinks this could be a real opportunity to make a meaningful difference in the lives of everyone in Vancouver, able bodied or not. Sidney’s mother Dina is prepared to support his participation on the committee. Dina is passionate about accessibility and inclusion, and has been for Sidney's entire life

• Patricia Gooch (she/her)

  Term: 2 years

  Patricia lives with invisible disabilities of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Long COVID, Postural orthostatic tachycardia, and others. Patricia has faced discrimination based on disability, gender and family status including unequal access to spaces and services.  Patricia is tactful and respectful, appreciating diverse viewpoints. Additionally, she has experience sitting on the BC Society of Landscape Architects Board of Directors and Continuing Education Committee. She has a lived experience with many multi-faceted disabilities that affect many aspects of the public realm.

• Ryan Ollis (he/him)

  Term: 2 years

  Representation for Wavefront Centre and Communication Accessibility (Vancouver-based) 

  Ryan is both Deaf and legally blind, and considers himself as culturally DeafBlind. He was born and raised in Vancouver B.C., and currently lives in North Vancouver. He is the DeafBlind program Coordinator for the Therapeutic Activation Program Services (TAPS) which provides service to DeafBlind individuals. Also, he is on the Canada Accessibility Wayfinding and Signal committee. He is passionate about educating and spreading awareness about the DeafBlind community.

• Hannah Sullivan Facknitz

  Term: 2 years

  Hannah lives with multiple disabilities including chronic illness (advanced lupus), cognitive disabilities (ADHD, dyslexia), mental illness (CPTSD), and chronic pain conditions like chronic migraines and fibromyalgia. They are also a long COVID survivor. Hannah identifies as queer, an immigrant, and gender diverse with complex experiences of generational poverty.

  They are an established equity, diversity, and inclusion professional who has been doing EDI education for three years in British Columbia. They have done a great deal of institutional work, too, where they have had to navigate the limitations of institutional politics while trying to enact ideal change that moves us closer toward justice for marginalized folks. 

• Daniel Wilson (he/him)

  Term: 2 years

  Daniel is a 72 year old male living with HIV for the past 20 years. Daniel sits on an advisory board with the Dr. Peter Center for Safe Injection sites. Daniel has worked for PAN on a displacement study. His older deceased brother lived and died with MS. Daniel identifies as disabled and lives in the West End. He also works and commutes a few days a week and sees the difficulties in trying to commute. He has many disabled friends and he helps them out doing their shopping or helping them get to medical appointments.

• Abhinav Pandey (he/him)

  Term: 2 years

  Abhinav is 31 years old and suffered a spinal cord injury in 2008 resulting in him being a C5 complete quadriplegic. Since, then he has been in a wheelchair to navigate through all aspects of life. He uses a power wheelchair to get around the community, and professionally works as a software engineer. He moved to Vancouver in 2021, and had to go through the struggles of moving to a new city all alone. This has meant navigating through everything from scratch - housing search, renting process, Translink, ICBC, GF Strong, CSIL, iCORD, family doctors, caregivers, tourist attractions, work, etc. However, Abhinav believes that building your life in a new city gives you a fresh perspective on things, which may be overlooked by folks who've been living there for a while.

• Tommy Chu (he/him)

  Term: 2 years

  Tommy is a visually impaired person who was designated as being legally blind a few years ago. His lived experience is challenging since he also has hearing loss in his left ear. Tommy is a single father of an 11 year old son. Tommy serves a group of visually impaired people, so he understands their needs.

• City staff

  • Bonnie Ma, planner, Reconciliation and Culture Change, Planning, Urban Design, and Sustainability.
  • Jason Olinek, director of development, Planning GM Office - Planning, Urban Design and Sustainability  (alternate)
  • Monica Bennington, assistant manager, Public Engagement, Civic Engagement & Communications
  • Simon Goldsmith, director of talent strategies, Human Resources 
  • Paul Storer, director of transportation, Office of General Manager – Engineering
  • Oswal Fuentes, project manager, Real Estate, Environment & Facilities Management (REFM)

  Supporting staff

  • Jody Sydor Jones, managing director of Social Policy and Projects, Arts, Culture, and Community Services (ACCS)
  • Karen Lai, social planner (accessibility), Social Policy and Projects, Arts, Culture, and Community Services (ACCS)