An Afternoon with Disability Rights Activist David Lepofsky

By Bronwyn Larkins,
Head of Policy and Advocacy
at Blind Low Vision NZ

Image description: Disability Rights Activist Professor David Lepofsky smiling for the camera in a relaxing indoor setting.

It is a warm-ish day in Wellington, and I find myself walking with Professor David Lepofsky in search of a particular clothing item. This is my first time doing human guiding. David shares with me as we walk how his father owned a high-end men’s clothing store, and the smell of the shops that we visit reminds him of that time.

I am fascinated with the special glasses David wears. They give him different types of access to the world; he can turn on commentary, describing what we are passing as we walk. At one point, he uses the glasses to answer a phone call. David also listens patiently to me as I do my best to describe the path before us. He continues to maintain the steady flow of conversation while all of this is going on.

David Lepofsky is a lawyer and professor, and he’s come to Aotearoa New Zealand on a speaking tour of the University Law Schools. He’s best known for his disability advocacy in Canada, which led to the Ontarians with Disabilities Act 2001 and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act 2005. Sitting down in a café, he agrees to share his expertise in an interview for Blind Low Vision NZ’s Access in Focus newsletter.
I asked him, “Why is disability legislation the answer for getting real accessibility?”

In true teacher fashion, he explains it this way. “When schools teach, they tell students what books they should read. The first questions students always ask is, ‘Is it on the exam?’ If it isn’t on the exam, people pay no attention. For disability barriers, it is shown that it must be on the exam. It must be compulsory. Recommendations don’t have the same effect.” He continues, “Recommendations for speed limits would not work, people wouldn’t obey if they were asked. It has to be mandatory.”
I say to David, “We only have one level of government making laws. With that, why is policy reform not the answer?”

He quickly responds, “Policy is smoke and mirrors.” As the head of Policy and Advocacy I have to object. In good humour he responds, “Mandatory law can be enforced, and it is the enforcement that is what creates the change.
“The Human Rights Act is good for individuals, but it becomes another barrier for us, because the burden is on us to go through the process of making a complaint to the Human Rights Commission. But the barriers are ones that we come across every day and affect all of us. The remedies are not strong. Why do we need to fight them one at a time?”

I reflect and know he is right. If the breach of the Human Rights Act is a widespread and systemic problem, we need a systemic way of dealing with it.

I often hear a change of people’s attitudes will cause the barriers to be eliminated, so I ask David for his opinion.

“That is so 1970’s,” he comes straight back with. “It was revolutionary at the time. People gave powerful and inspiring speeches. But that doesn’t make CEO’s and key decision makers make change.” He explains how the cycle of advocacy needs to focus on the difference removing barriers makes for people. This is what changes attitudes. He raises a valuable point: across the world, governments can use awareness-focussed speeches against disabled people. They say, ‘Until you change people’s attitudes, we aren’t going to do anything.’

Our time comes to an end all too soon. But forever the teacher, David makes sure I know about the resources he’s created through his books, podcast and newsletter. He has made learning about advocacy as widely accessible as possible by providing these in many formats, all either free or at very low cost. If you would like to learn more from David about how to advocate for real change, you can read his memoir, listen to his podcast ‘Disability Rights and Wrongs! The David Lepodcast’ or subscribe to the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance newsletter.