Beryl Potter
{{Short description|British-born Canadian disability rights activist}}
{{About|Canadian disability rights activist Beryl Potter|the American astronomical researcher|Beryl H. Potter}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Beryl Potter
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| birth_place = Liverpool, England
| death_date = {{Death date|1998|05|01}}
| death_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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| known_for = Disability rights activism
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Beryl Potter was a British-born Canadian disability rights activist. She was involved in many disability rights organizations in Ontario including the Trans-Action Coalition, the Scarborough Recreation Club for Disabled Adults, the Ontario Action Awareness Association, and the Coalition on Employment Equity for Persons with Disabilities (CEEPD). Potter was a triple amputee and was blind in one eye as a result of complications due to a fall at work.
Career
Prior to becoming an amputee, Potter worked as a manager at a Kresge's department store and, later, the Women's Bakery at St. Clair Avenue in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough.{{Cite news|last=van Rijn|first=Nicolaas|date=May 2, 1998|title=Beryl Potter battled to get help for disabled: [1 Edition]|page=1|work=Toronto Star|issn=0319-0781}}
= Activism =
In the early 1970s, Potter was involved in demonstrations lobbying for "parallel transit" in Toronto as part of the Trans-Action Coalition. Potter helped to organize a volunteer service of converted, wheelchair accessible vans to provide door-to-door transit for disabled persons. She later lobbied for the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) to take over the program with appropriate funding, trained drivers, and dedicated vehicles. This initiative evolved into Toronto's WheelTrans program in 1975.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cp6RDwAAQBAJ|title=Urban Transport: A Century of Progress?|publisher=Taylor and Francis|year=2019|isbn=9780429685538|editor-last=Hey|editor-first=Kevin|orig-year=1997|editor-last2=Sheldrake|editor-first2=John|via=Google Books}} The TTC did not officially take over the WheelTrans program until 1989.{{Cite news|date=January 16, 1989|title=Wheel-Trans called a 'mess' since the TTC took over: [FIN Edition]|page=A6|work=Toronto Star|issn=0319-0781}} Potter stepped down as chairperson of the Trans-Action Coalition in 1989.{{Cite news|last=Reid|first=Susan|date=May 12, 1989|title=Top advocate for the disabled quits post: [FIN Edition]|page=A6|work=Toronto Star|issn=0319-0781}}{{Cite news|last=Reid|first=Susan|date=May 13, 1989|title=Resignation upsets coalition fighting for disabled rights: [SA2 Edition]|page=A8|work=Toronto Star|issn=0319-0781}}
Potter formed the Scarborough Recreation Club for Disabled Adults in 1976.{{Cite web|last=Galer|first=Dustin|date=2014|title="HIRE THE HANDICAPPED!" DISABILITY RIGHTS, ECONOMIC INTEGRATION AND WORKING LIVES IN TORONTO, ONTARIO, 1962-2005|url=https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/65661/11/Galer_Dustin_201406_PhD_thesis.pdf|access-date=July 8, 2020|website=utoronto.ca|publisher=University of Toronto|page=xii}}{{Cite book|last=Galer|first=Dustin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cRBaDwAAQBAJ|title=Working towards Equity: Disability Rights, Activism, and Employment in Late Twentieth Century Canada|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2018|isbn=978-1-4875-2130-1|pages=93|via=Google Books}} Potter was a co-founder of the Coalition on Employment Equity for Persons with Disabilities (CEEPD).{{Cite book|last=Galer|first=Dustin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cRBaDwAAQBAJ|title=Working towards Equity: Disability Rights, Activism, and Employment in Late Twentieth Century Canada|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2018|isbn=978-1-4875-2130-1|pages=97|via=Google Books}} She was also the founder of the Ontario Action Awareness Association, an association also referred to as Action Awareness.{{Cite news|last=MacKinnon|first=Donna Jean|date=September 28, 1994|title=300 honor new inductees to Terry Fox Hall of Fame: [MET Edition]|page=A7|work=Toronto Star|issn=0319-0781}}
In April 1986, Potter led activists from across Canada to protest the inadequacies of the federal employment equity legislation known as Bill C-62 in Ottawa. Potter was forcibly removed from the gallery of the House of Commons after a verbal outcry against claims made by Flora MacDonald. MacDonald, speaking on behalf of then-Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, claimed that the government had attempted to consult disability rights organizations, including sending a letter to Potter. Potter, from the back of the gallery, yelled "My name is Beryl Potter and I've received no such letter!".{{Cite news|last=Todd|first=Paula|date=April 15, 1986|title=Job equity bill 'has no teeth' disabled say in Ottawa protest: [FIN Edition]|page=A4|work=Toronto Star|issn=0319-0781}}
= Politics =
In 1985, Potter was approached to run in the provincial election in Ontario. She declined due to commitments to her involvement with Action Awareness. In 1990, Potter ran as the liberal candidate in Beaches-Woodbine to be a Member of the Provincial Parliament (MPP) of Ontario.{{Cite news|last=Bains|first=Camille|date=June 28, 1990|title=Liberals in Beaches riding choose activist for disabled: [FIN Edition]|page=E7|work=Toronto Star|issn=0319-0781}} Potter lost to NDP candidate Frances Lankin.{{Cite news|last=Moloney|first=Paul|date=September 7, 1990|title=BEACHES WOODBINE Rookie Lankin beats Potter to keep riding for the NDP: [FIN Edition]|page=A13|work=Toronto Star|issn=0319-0781}}
{{Election box begin | title=1990 Ontario general election}}
{{CANelec|ON|NDP|Frances Lankin| 14,381| 58.4| -}}
{{CANelec|ON|Liberal|Beryl Potter| 6,329| 25.7| -}}
{{CANelec|ON|Progressive Conservatives|Kevin Forest| 3,535| 14.3| -}}
{{CANelec|ON|Independent|Sam Vitulli| 400| 1.6| -}}
{{end}}
Personal life
Potter was born in Liverpool, but lived most of her life in the Toronto district of Scarborough, after moving there in 1954.{{Cite web|last=CBC Podcasts|title=Listen to the first season of Secret Life of Canada|url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/secretlifeofcanada/listen-to-the-first-season-of-secret-life-of-canada-1.4903603|access-date=July 8, 2020|website=CBC}} She had three children with husband Victor Carter: Dianne Juda, Victor Carter Sr., and Dennis Potter.
Potter was a triple amputee. She had both legs and one arm amputated after complications due to blood clots from a fall while working at the bakery and subsequent phlebitis due to a car accident.{{Cite news|last=Todd|first=Paula|date=August 10, 1986|title=She is a miracle worker for the handicapped: [SUN Edition]|page=D8|work=Toronto Star|issn=0319-0781}} Potter also became blind in one eye as a result of doctors using iodine, which Potter was allergic to, to treat an infection.{{Cite news|last=Josey|first=Stan|date=April 22, 1986|title=Disabled demand TTC access: [EAS Edition]|page=E1|work=Toronto Star|issn=0319-0781}} During the six-year period in which Potter was undergoing surgeries to deal with these health conditions, Potter became addicted to pain killers and was left by her husband.{{Cite news|last=Adamick|first=Paula|date=October 22, 1987|title=Disabled people share hopes, fears of everyone, amputee tells pupils: [ONT Edition]|page=A7|work=Toronto Star|issn=0319-0781}} Because her legs were not amputated at the same length, Potter later developed uneven wheelchair posture and ensuing complications with pain and swelling.{{Cite book|last1=Winberg|first1=Mona|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4cB39rsuVF8C|title=Solitary Courage: Mona Winberg and the Triumph over Disability|last2=Boyer|first2=J. Patrick|publisher=Blue Butterfly Book Publishing Inc.|year=2010|isbn=978-1-926577-40-1|chapter=Remarkable Achievers|via=Google Books}}
Potter died on May 1, 1998, at the age of 71.{{Cite web|date=March 26, 2018|title=Order of Canada - Beryl Potter, C.M., O.Ont., LL.D.|url=https://archive.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=3613|access-date=July 8, 2020|website=Governor General of Canada - Archives}}
Awards
Potter was made a member of the Order of Ontario in 1988 for her work as a disability rights activist.{{Cite news|date=May 10, 1988|title=Activists Donald Moore, Beryl Potter among 17 receiving Order of Ontario: [FIN Edition]|page=A22|work=Toronto Star|issn=0319-0781}} The same year, Potter was awarded a King Clancy Award for her contributions to disability rights.{{Cite news|date=January 2, 1988|title=Hope to hang his star on gala for disabled: [FIN Edition]|page=E18|work=Toronto Star|issn=0319-0781|quote=This year's King Clancy awards to distinguished Canadians who have helped the physically disabled include Dr. Robert Jackson, Beryl Potter and Mona Winberg.}} In 1994, Potter was inducted into the Terry Fox Hall of Fame alongside Arnold Boldt, Rev. Robert Rumball, and William Cameron. Potter was made a member of the Order of Canada in 1996.
References
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Category:20th-century Canadian women
Category:Members of the Order of Canada
Category:Members of the Order of Ontario
Category:Activists from Liverpool
Category:People from Scarborough, Ontario
Category:Canadian Disability Hall of Fame
Category:Canadian blind people
Category:Ontario Liberal Party candidates in Ontario provincial elections
Category:Women in Ontario politics
Category:English emigrants to Canada
Category:Canadian wheelchair users