Antonia Hammer

I first began tackling the accessibility of public infrastructure 15 years ago as a personal attendant for people with disabilities. I got stranded with clients when elevators were broken. I once bought 12 yoga mats to build a makeshift path while organizing an adapted dog sledding trip in northern Ontario. I saw firsthand how infrastructure can prevent or enable people from engaging, contributing and benefiting from their communities.

The infrastructure of today is shaped by the societal attitudes that built them decades before. Transit stations are just another example of this challenge. Many transit stations struggle to adapt to a changing climate and cannot be easily retrofit to meet the needs of customers with disabilities.

Through my work at Metrolinx I am fortunate to lead teams in understanding and rising to this challenge. This includes being on the leading edge of issues and retrofitting spaces to accommodate users and weather their design didn’t anticipate.

Accessible, reliable transit that is designed to connect people and communities of all needs is the only sustainable option for our future. I am proud to be a part of that responsibility to continually do better, for this generation and the next.