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Accessibility News International
Accessibility News International will strive to bring you as much information as possible from around the Globe regarding issues of accessibility for the Disability Community.
Manitoba Human Rights Commission Speaks Up! So Do We! How About You?
By Victor Schwartzman and Paul Caune
May 17, 2012
Recently, Accessibility News International posted an article by Victor and Paul. Victor worked as a Human Rights Officer for over twenty years for the Manitoba Human Rights Commission. The articles written by Paul and Victor reflect their own views. We very much appreciate being able to post our articles on such sites as Accessibility News International and Facebook. The Commission, of course, has significant resources for getting its information to the public.
The article expressed concern that human rights organizations, including the Manitoba Human Rights Commission, did not have a systemic approach to human rights issues, with the result that the same problems have continued for a decade. Examples of how things work at the Commission were included in the article to illustrate the point.
“We’ve Been Betrayed”
County soldier takes on government to fight for soldiers’ rights
Wednesday, May 16, 2012 06:00 am | By Kevin Ma | St. Albert Gazette
WOUNDED – Major Mark Campbell, formerly of St. Albert, lost both his legs in Afghanistan. He is now part of an upcoming class-action lawsuit against the federal government that alleges that the New Veterans Charter illegally discriminates against veterans by giving them less compensation for their injuries than they would get if they were not soldiers.
Campbell estimates that he is receiving about 40 per cent less compensation under the charter than he would under the old Pension Act, which the charter replaced.
New Event Promotes Accessibility: For People With Disabilities, the Internet Offers a World of Challenges
Many online difficulties happen simply because designers aren’t aware of the needs of the impaired, says Jennison Asuncion, the Toronto organizer of Global Accessibility Awareness Day.Photograph by: drubig-photo , Fotolia.comFor many, the Internet is the fastest and easiest way to access information. But for the visually impaired and those with hearing, mobility, or cognitive issues, navigating the online world can present its own set of challenges.
Overcoming these challenges is the inspiration behind the first Global Accessibility Awareness Day on May 9.
Launched by Los Angeles web developer Joe Devon, the day is meant to educate technology designers and developers about making the web more user-friendly for those with disabilities.
Mentally Ill Female Prisoners Treated Cruelly, Inhumanly, Report Finds
Published On Wed May 9 2012
Ashley Smith died at the age of 19 at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ont. Correctional Investigator Howard Sapers says a host of “serious failures” at the institution set the stage for the troubled teen’s death.
Diana Zlomislic
Staff Reporter
Canada’s treatment of mentally ill female prisoners amounts to “cruel and inhuman” punishment, a new report finds.
“It is shocking to see the extent of human rights abuses against women at home,” said Renu Mandhane, director of the International Human Rights Program at University of Toronto, which published the report.
App Gives Voice to People With Disabilities
MyVoice offers independence and reduces stigma
By Maureen Brosnahan, CBC News Posted: May 8, 2012
Tyler Austin uses the MyVoice app on his iPad to help him converse. The state-of-the art communication technology assists people with disabilities like cerebral palsy, autism and muscular dystrophy to express themselves. (
Alex Levy demos MyVoice3:23Tyler Austin is one of thousands of Canadians who can now speak, thanks to MyVoice, a new technology developed by two University of Toronto students.
Tyler, 18, is from Toronto and has cerebral palsy, which affects his muscle control and makes it difficult for him to speak. Until now, he had to depend on pointing to a few words on a board on his wheelchair to express himself. It was frustrating for everyone.
Canadian Gov’t Inaction on Mental Health Hurts Economy, Families: Report
Canadian Gov’t Inaction on Mental Health Hurts Economy, Families: Report
Irene Ogrodnik, Global News : Monday, May 07, 2012 11:00 AM
“Most experts agree that the largest barrier to exist when it comes to mental health issues in general is stigma—the dirty word of mental health.
Often times the media portrayal of mental illness does not depict the truth and builds on the stigma,” says Cannon. “In regular news reports, we always hear over and over again about people with mental illnesses who have committed heinous crimes. There is no balance in reporting the people who have done amazing things who also have a diagnosis of mental illness—it is a completely imbalanced picture that we send to people every day.”
RIM Launches BlackBerry Screen Reader for Customers with Visual Impairments
By Marketwire .
May 7, 2012 10:00 AM EDT
WATERLOO, ONTARIO (Marketwire) 05/07/12 Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) today launched BlackBerry® Screen Reader, a free software application that helps customers who are blind or visually impaired operate their BlackBerry® smartphone.
BlackBerry Screen Reader provides an audible output based on visual information displayed on a BlackBerry smartphone.
“We are excited to introduce BlackBerry Screen Reader as part of our suite of accessibility solutions for BlackBerry smartphones,” said Greg Fields, Senior Product Manager. “BlackBerry Screen Reader helps customers with visual impairments stay connected with the people and information that matter most to them, and is representative of RIM’s continuing commitment to support customers with disabilities.”
Aging Population Increases Personal Care Role
PSW program trains staff to work with elderly; job status growing as salaries average $36,000
By Rosemary McCracken, For Postmedia News May 5, 2012
Kerry Harrison divides her work week between two elderly women. She spends four weekday mornings in one woman’s Toronto home, and three weekday evenings and Sunday mornings in the other’s. Both women are in the early stages of dementia, and Harrison helps them bathe, prepares a meal, does light housework and spends plenty of time chatting and doing crossword puzzles with them.
“It doesn’t seem like work,” says Harrison, 45, who receives $20 an hour for her services. “I feel like I’m being paid to hang out with people I like.”
Cuts Shut Down Mental Health Monitoring and Key Resource for Suicide Prevention for Canadian Forces
Unions Call on Minister MacKay to Reverse Decision
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, May 03, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX)
Despite widespread concerns with the incidence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and suicide rates for members of the Canadian Forces (CF), notifications received by unions representing Department of National Defence (DND) health professionals indicate that federal budget cuts will shut down a key unit in the department that monitors mental health and contributes to suicide prevention.
MANITOBAN VOTERS WITH DISABILITIES NEED GABRIEL DUMONT, INSTEAD THEY HAVE ED GRIMLEY
By Paul Caune and Victor Schwartzman
[Disclosure: Victor was a Human Rights Officer who worked over twenty years for The Manitoba Human Rights Commission. He retired two years ago.]
For the past decade, about one third of all complaints registered by the Manitoba Human Rights Commission have been based on disability, with the Cowardly Lion’s share based on physical disability. There are thirteen “group factors” on which to base a human rights complaint—it is remarkable that one third of all complaints are based on only one “group factor”. This is part of the ongoing international scandal of how Canada abuses its citizens who have disabilities. See Barrier Free Manitoba’s Feature Issue here: http://www.barrierfreemb.com/feature
Parents Wire Kids to Prove Teachers’ Verbal Abuse
The Associated Press
Posted April 27, 2012
CHERRY HILL, N.J. — Teachers hurled insults like “bastard,” ”tard,” ”damn dumb” and “a hippo in a ballerina suit.” A bus driver threatened to slap one child, while a bus monitor told another, “Shut up, you little dog.”
Stuart Chaifetz, was told that his son Akian was acting violently at his New Jersey school he decided to investigate. Akian has autism, as do the rest of the students in the class. This prevented him from being able to explain to his father if anything had been happening to him at school.
Paying For a Taxi in New York Just Became More Accessible
Posted by Matilda on April 23, 2012; This entry is filed under Feature Writer Alena Roberts.
I am not an experienced cab rider by any means, but the few times I’ve taken one, I’ve had to trust that the driver was honest with me about how much I owed since there was no accessible way for me to know the cost per mile or how far I had traveled. This is just one example of the many situations where the blind have to trust their sighted peers to not lie to them about the cost of things.
Canadian Technology Improving the Lives of the Mentally Challenged
Posted by Sarah McMahon-Sperber on 2012-04-26 12:30:00 PM
If apps and devices have the power to make our lives easier and more enjoyable, they also have the power to change people’s lives. Putting new technology to good use, the Société de Transport de Laval, which manages the city’s public transit system just North of Montreal, is working on an app aimed at travellers with mental disabilities and pervasive development disorders.
GLAD vs CNN Closed-Captions Lawsuit: Finding a Win-Win for Broadcasters and Deaf People
by Professor Jonathan Hassell
Originally posted 8 Feb 2012
On Saturday a Californian court refused to dismiss a suit by the Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness (GLAD) against CNN for its refusal to add closed captioning to news video clips on its website (for more details see: CNN sued over lack of closed captioning on website).
I’m in a privileged position to comment on this case as I was the manager behind delivering workflows to caption over 90% of BBC iPlayer’s programmes, and having worked with the BBC’s News site to investigate what they’d need to do to add captions (or subtitles as they are often called in the UK) to their news video clips.
New Low-Cost Handheld Device Offers Independence for Millions of Visually Impaired Americans
Enhanced Vision Launches “Pebble-mini” – a Feature-Rich Magnifying Solution for Extreme Portability at Affordable Price
Pebble-mini reading prescription “I really enjoy how light the Pebble-mini is, it fits in my pocket and I can wear it around my neck when I’m shopping allowing me to see so much more!”
– Nancy Becker Huntington Beach, CA (PRWEB) April 13, 2012
Enhanced Vision, America’s leading manufacturer of magnifying solutions for the visually impaired, launched a powerful new lightweight hand-held device today that can bring affordable independence to the 15 Million+ Americans suffering from low vision conditions such as macular degeneration. At just $295 and weighing less than 4 ounces, “Pebble-mini” is an exciting new vision device that gives users the freedom to read menus, check price tags, write checks, and much more while on the go.
Can Assistive Technology Make a Website Accessible?
By karlgroves On April 19, 2012
Recently there have been discussions surrounding what I call “pseudo-assistive technologies”. For reference, I’m speaking specifically of products like ReadSpeaker, eSSENTIAL Accessibility, and BrowseAloud. In the strictest semantic interpretation, one could argue that they’re still assistive technologies with the primary difference being that they are offered on a per site basis and provide text-to-speech functionality to read the site’s content aloud.
Read more at
http://www.badeyes.com/?p=389
Disabled Artists Unite To Create A Moving, Canadian Art Story
By Mouth and Foot Painting Artists of Canada
Published: Tuesday, Apr. 17, 2012 – 5:17 am
TORONTO, April 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Today, the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists (MFPA) launched Canvassing the Country: A Moving, Canadian Art Story, an ambitious, national collaboration of disabled artists across Canada who share the determination to overcome physical adversity and use art to help achieve financial independence.
Over the next six months, selected MFPA artists across Canada will work together on a single canvas that will travel the country in anticipation and support of September’s Self-Help Awareness Week.
Each artist will paint a regional Canadian scene that serves as a source of personal inspiration.
Playground Designed for Disabled Users
By Jeff Bell, Times Colonist April 13, 2012
The Blanshard Community Centre and its refurbished playground provided the backdrop Thursday for a federal funding announcement aimed at improving accessibility for people with disabilities.
Ontario Conservative MP Dr. Kellie Leitch, parliamentary secretary to Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Diane Finley, said the centre’s specially designed playground is an example of how the federal Enabling Accessibility Fund works. The Kings Road site was granted $50,636 from the fund in 2010 and the playground was installed soon after.
Kelly Greenwell, the centre’s executive director, said much effort went into securing money for the project until the Enabling Accessibility Fund came through. “We tried a lot of different ways to get something like this here.”
Taxi of Tomorrow Faces Lawsuits of the Day After
michael vaughan
Globe and Mail Update
Published Tuesday, Apr. 10, 2012
The New York Auto Show, which winds up this weekend, featured the debut of New York’s Taxi of Tomorrow; and, of course, being New York, it was not without controversy.
After a multi-year selection process, the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) decided to go with a version of Nissan’s smallest commercial van, the NV200 Taxi, as the next generation taxi for the Big Apple. Manhattan has the lowest per capita car ownership rate in the United States and has 600,000 daily taxi users. There are about 13,000 cabs in the city.
For Those with Intellectual Disabilities, a Decades-Long Wait for a Home and Care
lisa priest
From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Apr. 10, 2012
Maureen Smith’s daughter just moved into a duplex after nearly two decades of waiting. Susan MacIsaac’s son isn’t so lucky. Despite a six-year wait, he was rejected for funding that would see him live in his own home.
“We put together a proposal and we got turned down. To this day, we do not know why,” says Ms. MacIsaac at the kitchen table of her north Toronto home. Son Graham MacKenzie, 30, slowly moves his fork into a half-cut strawberry, the lids of his round, dark eyes left heavy from a seizure the day before.
