The housing crisis hits visually impaired people harder. Here's why.

It's not easy for anyone on P.E.I. to find the kind of housing they are looking for these days, but people with extra challenges face additional obstacles. 

Barb MacDonald, who is legally blind after a stroke a few years ago, lives in Stratford, P.E.I. After her husband died, she sold their house and is now living in an apartment with her guide dog, Kiwi.

There are a number of problems with where she is living, including not being able to use the building's main entrance, but she's having trouble finding a new place.

"We go out the back and we come in the back," said MacDonald. "It's safer than out that way, because that's the parking lot, and the cars are coming and going."

Kiwi is a working dog, but she still needs room to run and play, and there's nowhere for her to do that now. "She's on the leash with me all the time, and she does not like it. She would rather run," said MacDonald.

But finding a unit that has easy access to an outdoor space and allows pets has proven to be a near-impossible feat.

"There's nothing around. They're all full," she said.

Among the things MacDonald has heard from prospective landlords:  "I've got one dog now; I can't take another dog."

Illegal to discriminate

It is illegal to discriminate against a person with a guide dog, said Shelley Adams, the manager for CNIB Voice in Atlantic Canada.

This applies not only to landlords, but to businesses, restaurants, transit services and hotels. Basically, anyplace a person can go, a person with a guide dog has the right to go.

"It is illegal to discriminate against people with guide dogs, so finding housing shouldn't be difficult," said Adams. 

"I'm sure there are people who do, like landlords, try to discourage people."

Location, location, location

Appropriate housing is about more than the home itself, said MacDonald.

Getting around a neighbourhood is a big issue. It requires well-maintained sidewalks, access to transit, and special features that MacDonald doesn't find enough of in Stratford.

Pedestrians in Charlottetown may not be familiar with the term truncated domes, but they have probably seen them: yellow rectangles inserted into the sidewalks at intersections with raised bumps.

The feature allows visually impaired people to feel with their feet when they are at an intersection. Kiwi recognizes them too, MacDonald said.

She has lived in Stratford for 11 years, but did not realize the importance of the bumpy plates until she became visually impaired, she said.

"There's not enough here and it's very dangerous. I can't believe how dangerous it is here," she said.

The Canadian National Institute for the Blind can help when it comes to matters of rights, and Adams encouraged visually impaired people to contact the CNIB if they are facing barriers.

"Some people don't know their rights as a blind person with a guide dog," she said.

"We can definitely help educate on those things, but also be a support, write letters — whatever we need to do."