During the October 12 Heritage Committee meeting, Frank DiPasquale made comments about Brittany Bolger that, to me, were offensive.

The heritage committee was discussing the street naming policy when the town’s heritage planner mentioned other municipalities implement an asset naming policy and Councillor Crain was working on a motion wording.

Listen to the audio.

DiPasquale mentioned generally they use those who served in our military and those who gave up their lives and he agrees with that. He mentioned when Mr. Bolger came and wanted to name his subdivision after his daughter, Brittany, and I believe Council followed through with that, the concern was that he had she is an individual with special needs and disabilities, she soldiers on every day with a positive attitude. He didn’t think there’s not anyone in uniform alive or not that would not tip their hat and be honoured to have their street named after this young lady. He suggested there’ll be other examples of that coming in the future where there’s people that may have special needs or special challenges and he thought they should keep that in mind too.

DiPasquale was a 2022 municipal candidate that, like all other candidates, should have received accessibility materials from the town.

Once again, I emailed council members that this clearly indicates the need for more training, although he should have received it by now. I also shared:

COMMON MYTHS ABOUT DISABILITIES:

Pity

People feel sorry for the person with a disability, which tends to lead to patronizing attitudes. Persons with disabilities generally don’t want pity and charity, just equal opportunity to make their own way and live independently.

Hero Worship

People consider someone with a disability who lives independently or pursues studies to be brave or “special” for overcoming a disability. Most persons with disabilities do not want accolades for performing day-to-day tasks.

Worth repeating: the late disability activist Stella Young says it all so well; one of my favourite videos.