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September 19, 2026 · Accessibility

CNIB asked every Toronto mayoral candidate to commit to making public transit work for people who are blind, partially sighted, or Deafblind. Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam answered publicly and without reservation.

A transit system that only some residents can use safely and independently is not a public system — it is a private convenience paid for with public money. Access to transit is access to work, to community, and to ordinary independence. Removing these barriers benefits the whole city, not only those living with sight loss.

If elected, I commit to:

• Consult first, and continuously. No accessibility decision affecting the sight-loss community will be made without that community at the table. Staff will work directly with CNIB and affected residents, and report publicly on progress.
• Fix the barriers already in front of us. Inaccessible trip-planning websites, apps, and self-service kiosks; stops blocked by snow, construction, and other hazards; and refusal of service to guide dog handlers on transit and rideshare are known, solvable problems. They will be treated as service failures to measure and correct, not complaints to manage.
• Enforce the right of guide dog handlers. Refusing a guide dog handler is unlawful. That means clear operator training, a straightforward complaint and accountability process, and holding licensed rideshare operators to the same standard.
• Build accessibility in, not on. Every future transit infrastructure investment the City controls will have to meet accessibility standards by design — consistent with the AODA, the Accessible Canada Act, and the CRPD — so Toronto stops paying twice to retrofit what should have been accessible from the start.
• Report in the open. Clear, measurable targets developed with the sight-loss community, and public reporting against them, so commitments can be judged by results rather than intentions.

Affordability and accessibility are the same fight: a city works when the people who live in it can actually get where they need to go, and afford to be there.

This sits alongside the campaign’s existing Accessible Ontario Pledge: finish TTC accessibility, keep elevators working, fix Wheel-Trans, and clear sidewalks and curb cuts.

This is the campaign’s public response to CNIB’s September 18, 2026 open letter to Toronto mayoral candidates. Endorsing or answering that letter is not an endorsement of this campaign by CNIB.

Authorized by the campaign to elect Bahira Abdulsalam for Mayor.