- Luck is not my forte, unless your talking bad luck.
- [Male Interviewer] Yeah.
- I've got plenty, plenty, and plenty of that.
- Jennifer.
- Mmm Hmm.
- We're here in Toronto.
- Yes.
- You're homeless.
- Yes, I am.
- And disabled.
- Yes, I am.
- In a wheelchair.
- Yes.
- It's Friggin' cold.
- Yes, it is.
- Tell me about it.
- Well, this is now the second winter
since I've had a wheelchair.
I was homeless a long time ago, when I was in my teens.
I spent like six years outside.
Steady all year round,
And yeah, I don't know what to tell ya,
there's not a lot of services for people
in wheelchairs, in Toronto.
And the little tiny bit that they have
really don't have any priority,
so, it kind of really complicates getting inside
and getting certain things together,
like finding a place to live.
I find people really don't understand wheelchair accessible.
They don't know what it means.
They think a ramp at the front is okay,
or a button on a door at the top of a flight of stairs,
and it's just, it's really difficult.
- We were just talking earlier
about one of the local shelters,
and you said you can get into the lobby--
- Yes.
- But--
- That's about it. - Stairs aren't your friend.
- Exactly.
- You know, I mean oh my gosh 'cause that...
- It's not a good scene.
And Toronto is really not made for people in wheelchairs.
I mean they're trying. I'll give them that much.
But it's a couple decade process that's going on right now.
Even just for transit to be accessible, let alone,
you know, anything else.
- So that leaves you to sleep...
- Pretty much wherever.
I sleep a lot of the time in the library
because I am not comfortable outside anymore.
Sadly, gets a little dicey when you don't
have a leg to stand on, and people are weird
at four in the morning.
(laughs)
- And it's cold.
- It is cold. People steal your stuff too.
Which doesn't help , you know,
I've had already a bunch of things get stolen
as far as blankets and things like that.
So it's really, it's a rough go.
- What's your future like now?
- I don't know. I wanna say it's hopefully good.
I'm optimistic, I guess is the word.
But it's definitely a struggle.
Definitely, you can get discouraging for sure.
- Well you've been smiling, we've been here
talking to you for awhile.
- I try to be, ya know, on the bright side.
'Cause I mean really, honestly the sad but true part
you can cry about it but nobody is really going to care.
It's not going to help you any.
You can complain, nobody will listen.
So you might as well smile, find some humor in it,
if you can, and make the best of it, sorta thing.
It's really all you can do.
- If you had three wishes what would they be.
- Oh my, Number one would be to stand up.
That would be nice hasn't happened
in a very long time for me.
Definitely to have a house, somewhere to live is good.
Then I don't know, after that,
just to be able to live comfortably.
Not, you know, I don't want a million dollar home
or anything, but just something to call my own.
It doesn't have to be fancy, it just has to be mine.
- Well thank you very much for talking to me.
- Thank you. It's nice to know somebody cares.
To get the word out there, whatever it might be.