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By Angela Yang Globe Correspondent,Updated September 9, 2021,
The pandemic upended corporate culture as workers traded office buildings for their kitchen tables. For most, the change was largely a matter of convenience. But for many people with disabilities, it was transformative – getting to and from a workplace was the most arduous part of their day.
From the city to the suburbs and beyond, getting from one point to the other in a timely fashion has always been complicated for them. Some Boston workers live in rural towns far from public transit stations and are either unable to drive to work or need support to do so.
Remote Work Made Life Easier for Employees With Disabilities. Advocates Say the Option Should Stay full article
Correctional Services Canada declines to comment but has said facility has ‘accessible options’ for bathing John Chipman , CBC News
Posted: Sep 15, 2021
An Indigenous inmate in a federal women’s prison who uses a wheelchair is suing the attorney general of Canada for $10 million because she says she was forced to sleep on the bare floor of her cell when she couldn’t be moved from her wheelchair to her bed.
In the lawsuit, Kitten Keyes said she slept on the floor of her maximum security cell for 21 days straight in April at the Grand Valley Institution for Women (GVI) in Kitchener, Ont. She also said she was left to defecate on herself on the first night when no one came to help her get onto the toilet.
Disabled Inmate Was Forced to Sleep On Cell Floor for 3 Weeks, Lawsuit Alleges full article
By Rhea Kelly09/09/21
With fully online or hybrid course formats still very much in play at colleges and universities around the world, accessibility issues remain a key challenge, according to a recent study.
To find out the state of accessibility in higher education, transcription and captioning company Verbit commissioned a survey of both higher ed professionals and students in North America, the United Kingdom and Australia about accessible materials and technologies in use on their campuses, their familiarity with students’ accessibility needs, and the pain points involved.
Respondents numbered 132 campus leaders and 100 students with a noted disability; responses were collected between April and May of this year.
Survey: Accessibility Challenges Persist as Hybrid and Online Learning Continues full article
Early ADHD diagnoses could help cut crime and drastically improve lives, but a cash-starved NHS is struggling to keep up
As a child, Casey*, 38, always found it hard to concentrate. Her old school reports said the same thing. “Casey manages to talk through the entire class. She somehow gets her work done, but she distracts everybody else,” read one primary school report she recently dug out the back of her cupboard.
These behaviours continued into adulthood. She was impulsive and bought expensive items on a whim: clothes she barely wore or a – £5000 camper van she drove three times. Colleagues wondered whether she had dyslexia because of misspelled words in the odd email. She looked into the possibility, but it didn’t seem to fit. At age 36, Casey began to question whether she had undiagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
This AI Could Help Diagnose ADHD Sooner full article
With much of the country in lockdown, and with the ever-changing nature of work, organisations are pivoting to virtual events and presentations. While it’s a necessity to conduct presentations virtually during the pandemic, we may also see some events continue to offer both a virtual and in-person option.
Australian Network on Disability has the top tips to assist you in prioritising accessibility in the virtual world.
Offer accessibility from the outset
Just as you would for an in-person event, reach out to both your attendees and those presenting and ask the simple question: are there any accessibility requirements you need?
Changing Workplaces: Organising an Accessible Virtual Presentation full article
By Gwen Knapp
New York Times, Sept. 5, 2021
Athletes reject the idea that they should be admired just for coping with disabilities, and not also for what they’ve accomplished.
TOKYO — Darlene Hunter, a three-time Paralympian and a college professor, begins her classes on disability issues exploring what may be the most provocative phrase ever associated with an international sports event: “inspiration porn.”
Hunter knows that when she introduces the term, she can count on her students at the University of Texas at Arlington to perk up, sometimes in shock.
Paralympians Know ‘Inspiration Porn’ When They See It full article
TOKYO (AFP) – Athletes with an intellectual impairment could be forgiven for feeling a little left behind at the Paralympics, with just three sports in Tokyo open to them.
That is still more than at the Beijing Winter Games in five months’ time, when not a single sport will be available to competitors with intellectual disabilities.
Despite the growth of the Paralympic movement, the space available to people with a range of different intellectual impairments remains fairly limited even within the eligible sports, some argue.
They include the parents of Mikel Garcia, a Spanish athlete who has Down’s syndrome and whose athletics class does not exist at the Paralympics.
Paralympics: Athletes with Intellectual Disability Battle for Space at the Games full article
Google’s New Android 12 Feature Lets Users Control UI With Face Gestures WION Web Team
Washington Published: Aug 23, 2021
Story highlights
According to reports, the Camera Switches feature, which is one of the accessibility services in the Android Accessibility Suite app, will support gesture controls on the user interface (UI)
Google has always been at the forefront in introducing novel features to its operating system with every new version of Android.
In order to make the Android operating system’s user interface (UI) more user friendly and accessible, the American tech giant has reportedly been working on a new feature on Android 12 which lets users control their phones using facial expressions.
Google’s New Android 12 Feature Lets Users Control UI With Face Gestures full article
FRIDAY, Aug. 27, 2021 (HealthDay News)
Adults with disabilities are disproportionately affected by adverse mental health symptoms and substance use during COVID-19, according to research published in the Aug. 27 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Mark É. Czeisler, from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues surveyed 5,256 U.S. adults during February to March 2021 to identify factors associated with adverse mental health symptoms and substance use among adults with disabilities. Of the 5,119 respondents who completed a two-item disability screener, 32.2 percent screened as adults with disabilities.
Adults With Disabilities Have Worse Mental Health During COVID-19 full article
Claim filed by Paralympian and engineer alleges discriminatory pricing for seats on international flights August 20, 2021
Celebrated Paralympian Paul Gauthier and a Calgary engineer with quadriplegia are suing a group of Canadian airlines including Air Canada (TSX:AC) and WestJet, claiming in a class action that people with disabilities are subject to discriminatory air travel charges if they require more than one seat to accommodate their disabilities on international flights.
Gauthier and Christopher Reaume filed a notice of civil claim under the Class Proceedings Act in BC Supreme Court on August 3, naming Air Canada, Air Canada Rouge General Partner Inc., Chorus Aviation Inc., Jazz Aviation LP and WestJet as defendants.
Class Action Takes Aim at Airfares for Persons With Disabilities full article
