Under his own power, Matt Wozenilek couldn’t enter his polling station during the last federal election, couldn’t enter the returning office to complain about being unable to enter his polling station, and couldn’t enter the proposed location for a Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario hearing into the matter.

It’s an irony that surprises the Guelph resident somewhat, because he’s had plenty of success advocating for accessibility since he became confined to a wheelchair in 2007.

“I want to be able to do everything else that other people can do,”Wozenilek tells CTV News.

The law of the land … says that I have a right to do that as well, in the same fashion as anyone else.”

During the 2008 federal election, Wozenilek arrived at his polling station to find that he couldn’t get in unless somebody opened the door for him.

When another election came around in 2011, he planned ahead and decided to visit his returning officer to voice his concerns and be sure he could vote in an accessible location.

What he found when he arrived at the returning office was that it too couldn’t be opened as long as Wozenilek was alone.

Fed up, he took his issues with Elections Canada to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, which agreed to hold a hearing.

“Their job was to find a location. I told them very clearly what I required,” he says.

The hearing was scheduled for last month – but in a hotel that, once again, wasn’t accessible to Wozenilek.

“How can I go to court, fighting an inaccessible argument in an inaccessible building?” he says.

“I had to make a stand. Ethically, I couldn’t go to that meeting.”

The tribunal argued that it couldn’t find any accessible location in the city that met both its needs and Wozenilek’s, but continues to search for a spot to hold its hearing.

Wozenilek says he’s not fighting inaccessibility because it bothers him to find someone to man a door.

“Opening the door and closing the door is no big item, but it’s what it represents. It represents my lack of freedom. It represents me being considered, in my opinion, a second-class citizen,” he says.