At its February 5 public meeting, the municipal council of the City of Vaudreuil-Dorion adopted its 2023-2024 Disability Action Plan. 

This measure is being implemented in accordance with the Law Ensuring the Exercise of the Rights of Handicapped Persons with a View to Their Educational, Professional and Social Integration, with the aim of reducing the obstacles to the integration of these people that remain in the municipality's sectors of activity.

This document lists the concrete actions that the city intends to take over the course of 2024 to increase the social participation of disabled people on its territory. It also reviews the measures adopted in 2023 to this end.

These include welcoming participants with special needs during swimming lessons, purchasing audio and large-print books and stimulation kits for people living with disabilities at the library, developing accessible play areas and installing wheelchair-friendly picnic tables in parks, building universally accessible bike paths or loaning adapted outdoor equipment in parks in winter.

"Every year, our teams are called upon to pay special attention to the obstacles that our citizens living with a disability may face, and then to analyze the solutions that can be put in place to make their daily lives easier, based on each person's field of expertise. Every gesture counts: actions that may seem trivial to some will, on the contrary, have a major impact on the lives of our citizens," explains Mayor Guy Pilon. "For example, we plan to equip our parks with chemical toilets adapted for people with reduced mobility, and during our events, parking spaces close to the sites are reserved for them."

At the same public meeting, the municipal council also adopted an updated leisure integration program for children with special needs at day camps. This program is designed to provide accommodations for children with special needs who would otherwise be unable to participate in regular day camp activities.

It does not replace specialized camps, but offers a service for integration and inclusion in regular day camp programs. It can take several forms, including the use of unaccompanied material adaptations, integration into a different age group, or partial or complete integration into a group with the presence of a chaperone.

The Leisure Integration Program and the Action Plan for Persons with Disabilities are now available on the City's website in the Municipal Policies section.