“There is huge buying power from an aging demographic, from people with disabilities, from parents pushing strollers,” he explains. We talked about how we can choose our outlook on our day from the moment we wake up. The StopGap Ramp story began on a blustery November day in 2006, when Toronto resident Luke Anderson encountered inaccessibility at a very inopportune time. I had these questions in my mind, like, “What does life look like from this point forward?” “What am I to expect?” “Where am I going?” … That concept was new to me at that time, but I remember that day choosing to be positive — choosing to have a positive outlook on my day — and it worked. “It has changed people’s perception of accessibility.“ This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.Luke Anderson is an engineer and the co-founder of “As an engineer, I have a passion for solving problems,” Anderson says.
Luke Anderson, Founder, StopGap Foundation is a Canadian Business Change Agent for 2016, for making Main Street more accessible. Luke Anderson is an engineer and the co-founder of StopGap, a non-profit that builds brightly coloured ramps for businesses that have barriers to entry. “Some businesses have genuinely realized the value of having that ramp outside their storefront,“ he says. Luke’s inspiring talks on social innovation, cities, design, and entrepreneurship are highly sought-after for their poignance, their timeliness, and their ability to get audiences up on their feet, ready to make a change.
Together, the crew built 13 customized portable ramps for businesses in Toronto’s Junction neighbourhood. The feedback was both immediate and overwhelmingly positive—the deceptive simplicity of the ramps’ design sparked a flurry of demand from other businesses. The The StopGap campaign has conducted several other successful events and with nearly 150 ramps built, Anderson would like the momentum to spread across Canada.
For eight years, Luke Anderson relied on other people to help him get into and out of the office building where he worked as a structural engineer. These unconscious barriers that hold us back from reaching our full potential. That concept was new to me at that time, but I remember that day choosing to be positive—choosing to have a positive outlook on my day—and it worked. But the thaw should worry everyone.Jeff Braff is a retired epidemiologist, and now attends to the spiritual needs of patients and staff at St. Michael's Hospital in TorontoAug. Three steps separated the entrance from the curb, and Anderson needed someone to lower a metal ramp onto them to ascend or descend in his mobility device. For Anderson the greatest reward is seeing attitudes being impacted. By this time, Anderson was quite familiar with the numerous Toronto businesses that had steps at their entrances. I had these questions in my mind, like, “What does life look like from this point forward?” “What am I to expect?” “Where am I going?” “Am I going to regain any movement in my hands, and am I going to be able to walk again?” When I left the takeoff platform I essentially left my life as I knew it, because I didn't make the landing.
Loading... Watch Queue Queue. I flew over the handlebars and I landed headfirst on the other side of the gap, breaking two vertebrae in my upper spine, instantaneously causing a spinal cord injury. It had three steps in order to get from the sidewalk level to the elevator lobby level.
Yeah, for eight years I had to deal with this situation and it frustrated the heck out of me. A really amazing thing was happening when that ramp was out; everybody loved using it. His frustration grew and Anderson knew he had to do something. __count__/__total__ ... StopGap Foundation's Luke Anderson on making a barrier-free society - … And I feel like, under this umbrella of removing barriers, we can remove barriers in our external, physical environment and our internal, personal environment.
We interviewed Luke Anderson, champion for accessibility, founder, and executive director of The StopGap Foundation, for Ramp x Gladstone #TorontoTheGood. By continuing to use our services, you accept our use of these tools in accordance with our StopGap helps groups looking to spearhead their own community ramp programs, offering training on how to build the structures at what Anderson calls “little to no cost.” The foundation also creates custom ramps for businesses keen to make their premises more accessible. 1 marks the abolition of slavery in most British colonies, including CanadaThe MBAD African Bead Museum offers insight into social class, spirituality and historyThere is no easy fix for fractured families — and Canada is lacking in resources for those seeking helpMennonite Central Committee Canada's executive director said it was a difficult decisionMark Mann joined CBC Radio One's "Ontario Today" call-in showObserver Publications Inc. uses cookies and similar tools to improve your user experience, customize our advertisements and for other purposes. But, you know, we have barriers inside each and every one of us that holds us back as individuals from reaching our full potential. Although accessibility is now his life’s work, Anderson didn’t begin considering accessible design until he sustained a spinal cord injury in a mountain biking accident in 2002. Anderson, a recently injured paraplegic, arrived for a job interview — but three steps stood between him and the elevator.
It’s something that’s a practice; that I do every day. I’ve carried that with me from that day forward. Determined to change this, Anderson started up the StopGap Foundation, a non-profit devoted to installing ramps in Toronto-area businesses.
So Anderson turned his engineering skills on the problem. Luke Anderson, founder of StopGap Foundation, envisions a world that is better connected, where all people are able to navigate their way with maximum independence.