'It’s such an easy thing to do:' Waterloo neighbourhood creates accessible Halloween

A growing movement in Canada has reached Waterloo region.

The campaign called Treat Accessibly makes Halloween accessible for all children.

Catherine Mellinger started the trend in Waterloo last year, after looking up ways to make trick-or-treating more enjoyable for her son who has ADHD.

“He just stopped wanting to trick-or-treat for a couple years because he was saying it scared him. He had nightmares,” Mellinger said.

To make it accessible, sweets are handed out curb-side, so people don’t have to climb stairs or go up driveways.

“If there are any physical mobility issues, like people are using aids like wheelchairs or walkers, everything is just on street level,” she said.

Instead of going house-to-house at night, trick-or-treating happens during the day. The movement asks houses that are participating to avoid using flashing lights and scary decorations to make it more approachable.

Mellinger said it’s not just candy and chocolate that gets handed out, but other items, like Slinkees and rubber balls are also given out for children with dietary restrictions.

“It’s just about making it for everybody,” Mellinger said.

Last year, about 50 homes in Waterloo participated in the program. Mellinger said she hopes more houses will join this upcoming Halloween.

“It’s such an easy thing to do, so why not just do it.”

Sandy Smith said her nine year old son, Garnett who has cerebral palsy and is non-verbal was able to experience a traditional Halloween for the first time last year.

He used an iPad to communicate with his neighbours.

“As we would get up to the house, he would navigate through the program find his button and say ‘trick or treat.’ Last year he was dressed up as Cat Boy from PJ Masks, so he would say ‘I am Cat Boy’,” Smith said.

“There’s that added little bit of patience when you’re doing the accessibly trick or treating, versus going up to a door with 20 kids behind you and trying to navigate through and push the buttons and say ‘trick or treat’. It allows for that little bit more inclusion.”

Treat Accessibly started in 2017 by Rich Padulo. He said he saw a little boy in a wheelchair and it hit him that the young boy wouldn’t be able to trick-or-treat at his home because of the stairs leading to his door.

“We made a lawn sign because we didn’t actually know the family, but we wanted them to see it going to the park – so the sign acts like a bat symbol,” Padulo said. “It’s very simple. It just says accessible trick-or-treating and it has an iconic image of a wheelchair with a cape on it.”

Currently there are 100,000 homes across Canada taking part in the movement.

“Our goal is that by 2025, 400,000 homes are participating because there are 400,000 kids with mobility, sensory, and intellectual disabilities that may face a number of barriers on Halloween that are eliminated by simply trick-or-treating at the end of your driveway,” he said.

Padulo said if a household wants to join the movement, they can get a Treat Accessibly sign online or at a local RE/MAX where staff are helping distribute the signs.