'Laconia Talks' series kicks off with forum on accessibility

LACONIA — On Wednesday evening of last week, about 40 people gathered at Lakes Region Community College to hear, and to engage with, Quemel Arroyo, former chief accessibility specialist for New York City. He explained that making a city more accessible to all can provide benefits to all, including lower crime and increased economic vitality.

“We define accessibility as giving a person the ability to, on their own time, leave their home and be a participant in their community. It’s not (just) a person who needs to get to a hospital, it’s not a patient. It’s an individual who needs to get to school, who needs to get to a job, and who wants to go to a bar and grab a beer at the end of the day – completely part of the community,” Arroyo said.

Lakes Region Public Access TV filmed the talk. A recording can be viewed at livestream.com/lrpatv, under the “past events” category.

Arroyo said the number of people who would benefit from accessible design is far greater than those who identify as “disabled.” The friends and relatives of disabled people would benefit, as would those who might become disabled, parents pushing strollers, and aging people who don’t have the same gait and balance that they had when they were 20, he said.

“What that speaks to is universal design principles that say that we need to design spaces that are accessible to all users. And the way that we do that is by honing in on the most vulnerable users,” Arroyo said. “Because by providing for the most vulnerable, everyone’s been accounted for.”

The forum, which was moderated by author, journalist and columnist Elizabeth Howard, was the inaugural Laconia Talks Community Conversation. The talk was organized by Celebrate Laconia, which plans to hold similar events every month next year.

Jared Guilmett, vice president of Celebrate Laconia, said the kick-off event was “absolutely incredible.”

“It was really so energetic and exciting,” Guilmett said. “There was a lot of great energy there, people were really engaged and involved, the conversation was really rich.”

Beth San Soucie, president of Celebrate Laconia, said the conversation between Arroyo and Howard was “very insightful… they were able to take his story and make it pertinent to our community,” she said.

Guilmett said he was pleased with the turnout, though somewhat limited. “It kept the program very intimate and focused,” he said. Everyone who came had a vested interest in the topic, he added. “Though it wasn’t a huge group, it was a dedicated group.”

Many of those who came to the talk left with a new connection to someone else in the community, Guilmett said.

“They were able to engage with someone who had the same passion and now had that connection to move forward and better each other’s work. Which is great, which is what one of the goals of the program is… give each other the right platform to have these discussions.”

Guilmett said it’s too early to say if the discussion will lead to any specific project or outcome, but he is satisfied that the event hit the marks that Celebrate Laconia was aiming for: fostering a positive discussion about an issue that could be addressed to improve life for Laconia residents, and encouraging people to attend and engage who don’t normally consider themselves activists.

Celebrate Laconia will hold monthly Laconia Talks events next year, starting in January. While the first event was held at LRCC, the intent for the series of talks is to cycle through the different neighborhoods of the city.

Guilmett said the organization isn’t quite ready to announce the details of the next event, but he said, “The programming for the whole year will have an overarching theme of the evolution of our community and how we can successfully move Laconia into the future.”

“We’re really looking forward to what lies ahead in 2020,” San Soucie said. “If there are individuals who want to be part of this, we welcome them to be part of the planning committee, we want to hear everyone’s voice.”

Those who wish to do so should send an email to connect@celebratelaconia.org.