This week’s comic is the first in a many, many part series called “Interventions,” in which Rhett and Griff comment on some topical issues that have been bouncing around in the media, especially those particularly insane or ludicrous (or Ludacris…dependent on your tastes). Today’s steaming pile of brilliance comes from the Balmy Beach area of Toronto, where a local cantankerous woman and history enthusiast Elizabeth Brown is attempting to block the Greg and Melissa Teehan, wife Melissa is a quad, from redesigning their home to become accessible. Apparently, Brown finds the current house at 204 Beach to be an important heritage site and an inspiration for her artwork: after all, she is an artist. Unfortunately, she has been having trouble finding supporters among the community and in a recent Toronto Star article, appears to make the claim that Geoff Teehan is just using his wife’s disability to get what he wants. Because she is not disabled, so sad for her, she’s now working with Councillor Bussin to register the location as a heritage site, thereby crushing any hopes of making the place accessible.
Now don’t get us wrong, we understand the importance of heritage sites and agree there are buildings and locations in our country worth protecting…unfortunately we don’t think “ableism” is a proud tenet of Canadian history worth preserving.
Having said that, we here at Cripz: A Webcomic are solutions people, not just complainers. As such, we have compiled a short list of solutions to the current impasse.
- Brown could purchase the house from the Teehans at about 3-times the asking price, allowing them to build their dream home somewhere else…far, far away from her.
- Clara and Jeff can come over and take photos of 204 Beach, blow them up, and tape them to Brown’s windows, allowing her to bask in the glory of her architectural muse at all times.
- If the site does become a heritage site, the Teehans should begin living as they did when the house was first constructed–no more bathing, free range horses and chickens, and old-timey accents with annoying British lilts…guv’nah. Sure this will require the acquisition of a steampunk wheelchair, but we feel this will quickly trump the inconvenience of not being able to see the old house anymore.