Teams of four will be racing across downtown Kamloops on May 30 as part of An Amazing Race to Inclusion, a five-year-old event that has brought awareness to those with diverse abilities.

The event consists of multiple challenges, simulating experiences like vision loss, neurodiversity and sensory issues, or physical challenges, like operating a wheelchair on city streets and inside businesses.

Organizer Justine Richmond said the race has evolved over the years from its first iteration, which was basically a scavenger hunt, to the Amazing Race format, with various challenges.

Richmond said the event is intended to bring awareness to what those with diverse abilities experience on a day-to-day basis.

“It has definitely created a lot of different conversations. One of our goals is to have people in decision-making positions be a part of the race, whether it’s city engineers or people responsible for regulations around, or accessibility to new builds, or clearing sidewalks in the winter,” Richmond said.

Barriers to access might not be apparent to those who are able-bodied, so each team member in the race will rotate through experiences like using a wheelchair, or not being able to speak, not being able to see, or not being able to use their dominant hand.

“We even have one where, during the race, there’s a ‘code brown’ experience, where you have limited time to find a washroom. And it’s not talked about a lot, but incontinence is a factor for a lot of people,” she said.

Richmond said bathroom access in the downtown core and throughout all of Kamloops is “not great.”

“It’s a lot of different kinds of things to bring people’s attention to things we, as able-bodied people, might not think about on a daily basis,” she said.

The event is hosted each year by the Speak Up Self-Advocacy Awareness Society, an organization by and for self-advocates with lived experience.

The cost for a team of four to participate is $125 and the event will take place on May 30. More information can be found by searching for An Amazing Race to Inclusion on Eventbrite.ca.

“We just really want people to get a better understanding of how challenging it can be, and how simple changes, small ramps or larger fonts, can have a huge impact on a daily basis,” Richmond said.