Title: From Barriers to Belonging: Creating Accessible Visitor Experiences in Parks and Protected Areas

Shira Standfield is an Advisor in Visitor Accessibility and Inclusion at Parks Canada, working at the intersection of accessibility, visitor experience, and place-based design. With a background in landscape architecture and lived experience as a wheelchair user, she brings a practical, human-centred lens to rethinking how parks and historic sites can offer meaningful experiences for all visitors. Shira has also worked with municipalities and parks agencies across British Columbia designing inclusive playgrounds, leading community engagement processes, and developing universal design tools and resources. She holds master’s degrees in resource and environmental management and landscape architecture and is a certified Rick Hansen Foundation Access Professional. Shira lives in Vancouver, Canada.