Ont. woman says accessible appliances next to impossible to buy

Finding appliances with accessibility in mind is proving to be a not-so-simple task for a Kitchener, Ont. woman who is blind.

Her search came up short for a new oven and stovetop that meets her needs, and has exposed what some say is a serious market gap by manufacturers.

Alyssa Clelland loves to cook and bake. She knows the kitchen like the back of her hand.

“If my fingers fit like that, then it’s right on centre,” the 26-year-old said, showing CTV News how she aligns the pots on the stove.

She’s had to modify the appliances in her family’s home with tactile labels and talking timers.

But they have their limitations. Even with the tactile labels, it’s easy to miss a button.

Clelland and her family will soon be moving and that will require a change from their current gas stove to an electric one. Knowing the challenges that come with finding accessible appliances, they decided to start shopping and their concerns were confirmed.

“We’ve got appliances that you can feel the top, but they don’t have the dials or they have no top and dials,” said Clelland, explaining some of the shortcomings of current stove-oven combinations.

Joanne Mailloux, a senior sales associate at Canadian Appliance Source, has been helping Clelland try to find an appliance that works for her, but admits there are significant market gaps.

“The dial – that’s the oven control. Unfortunately, once you are using that you are not able to know what cycle it’s actually on,” Mailloux said, demonstrating the different models.

After going through the store multiple times, they weren’t able to find a model that works for Clelland.

“It was a very frustrating process for me, specifically because I like to accommodate all needs,” Mailloux said.

Many newer models are touchscreen, which doesn’t allow for tactile labels which appliances can confuse with someone pressing a command.

“It would be nice if we could see some technology that was actually catered to someone who was blind,” said Mailloux.

Clelland explained that she, along with her mother, even contacted manufacturers hoping they had something that could work.

“We didn’t even hear back from them,” Clelland explained. “You just want to pull your hair out and scream and be like: ‘Ahh, why can’t I get an appliance that can work?’”

Clelland also needs an induction cooktop so it only gets hot when a pot or pan is put on it. But it seems when an appliance has one feature, it doesn’t have the other components she requires, like voice command, tactile signals and knobs.

“I wish that was something that was thought of and I don’t think that people don’t care. I think they just don’t know,” she told CTV News.

That’s why she is speaking up, with the hope manufacturers are listening and others, like her, can cook up a storm without even a dash of defeat.