Bill Ogilvie said they’ll try to help anyone who comes to them with an idea on how they can help make life easier for people with accessibility challenges.

“That is what excites us. That is what we want to do,” he said.

Ogilvie is the chairperson of the Ability Workshop Society of Calgary, a collection of retired engineers and inventors who started in 1994 and wanted to give back to the community. One of their members, Fritz Peyerl, received the Transportation and Mobility Award in this year’s 2023 Accessibility Awards, chosen by the City of Calgary’s Advisory Committee on Accessibility.

Four awards were handed out on Tuesday at the regular meeting of city council, honouring local individuals and groups who are helping persons with disabilities in Calgary live a good life.

Along with Peyerl’s award, Mayor Jyoti Gondek presented the Advocacy Award to the Accessible Housing’s Bridge to Home Program and the Akram Jomaa Islamic Centre while the Universal Design Award, which celebrates individuals or groups who’ve made strides in improving access for people with disabilities in Calgary, was awarded to Krooshl.

Ogilvie said the award was a chance for their organization to celebrate 30 years of providing service to disabled Calgarians in need.

“We basically nominated Fritz because we wanted him to be recognized for all the fine work that he does – the unusually good work that he does,” said Ogilvie.

“This is a this is a big deal for us. We wanted it to happen this year. We’re trying to make this a special year for the members. That’s really why it makes such a difference to us.”

Peyerl was recognized for his work creating an electric wheelchair trainer for kids but is also working on a project to use the brain to help control wheelchairs.

“If you’re down at the shop, watching him work, it is the most amazing thing to watch,” Ogilvie said.

“Fritz seems to just move around the space and do anything that he needs to do effortlessly and without thought.”

Recognition is important

Carol Armes, chair of the Accessibility Awards committee and vice-chair of Calgary’s Advisory Committee on Accessibility, said that these are amazing people and groups doing great things to help people’s lives.

“It’s really important to recognize them and to bring more awareness to the work that they’re doing,” she said.

Armes said there were 22 nominees this year, representing a wide spectrum of work in areas of accessibility. She said some organizations helped people find housing, helped kids use wheelchairs, and technology that helped businesses provide a safe, accessible environment.

“All of this work, it’s building awareness, it’s educating the public, and I think it’s inspiring other people to do great things around accessibility for our citizens,” Armes said.

Armes said she understands sometimes that making changes to be more accessible appears costly to businesses or other organizations. She said they aim to teach businesses to be more accessible in an intelligent way.

“It actually brings more business to their to their facilities,” she said.

Work done by other award winners includes Accessible Housing’s Bridge to Home program, which helps disabled Calgarians experiencing homelessness find a home. The Akram Jomaa Islamic Centre is the first Islamic Centre in Western Canada to be MUHSEN (Muslims Understanding and Helping Special Education Needs) certified.   Krooshl provides a virtual map of certified accessible venues and businesses.

Ogilvie said they’re eager to help others with disabilities make their lives easier.

“If I have anything that I’d like to say to the public, is if you have that experience, ‘I wish I had this to assist me in my living,’ then bring it to us,” he said.  

“That is what we want, and we’ll be glad to at least give it a try.”