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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.
Student Files Suit Against U niversity
By Hannah Martins
Contributor
Published: Friday, October 30th, 2009
Diane Metcalf-Leggette ’13 is suing the University for refusing to grant her extended time on examinations, the New Jersey Law Journal reported on Tuesday. Metcalf-Leggette, who filed the suit on Monday, claims that she should be given extra time on tests because of her learning disabilities.
Disabled Nortel Employees Lose Out
Robert Meynell
Government Relations Associate for March of Dimes Canada
Toronto Star, Oct 25 2009
As Nortel divvies up its assets and former CEO Mike Zafirovski paws for $12.3 million (U.S.), employees on long-term disability are forgotten and abandoned, providing yet another example of how more than 40 per cent of Canadians with disabilities find themselves earning less than $10,000 per year.
The Pandemic and the Poor: Contrasting Government Responses
By: John Rae
October 29, 2009
The following is based on introductory remarks given at the Standing Committee on Finance’s Pre Budget consultation, Toronto, October 22, 2009
Government responses to the possible H1N1 pandemic and the poor provide a stark contrast in approaches.
Education Department Hit Over Web Site Access
Complaint alleges USALearns.org Web site is inaccessible to the blind
By Alice Lipowicz, Oct 28, 2009
The National Federation of the Blind is accusing the Education Department of failing to comply with accessibility requirements for disabled people on the department’s USALearns.org Web site.
Falling Through the Gaps
FREE PRESS SERIES: It’s been eight years since the Canadian Forces ombudsman complained about the way soldiers’ mental health was being handled. There have been improvements, but services remain inadequately funded at a time when demand from troubled veterans and their families is rising, writes Free Press reporter Randy Richmond.
By RANDY RICHMOND
Last Updated: 26th October 2009, 10:04am
ST. THOMAS — It almost starts like a joke. Did you hear the one about the three national icons — the soldier, the Tims and the Canadians?
A Canadian soldier walks into a Tim Hortons and sits beside a group of Canadian civilians enjoying a national pastime — drinking coffee and complaining. The soldier was Capt. Bill Arnot, 55, just returned from Afghanistan.
The Minefield at Home : American Veterans Speak on Post War Life
By Michael Jernigan
In August 2004, while on patrol with my Marine unit in Mahmudiya, Iraq, I was severely wounded by a roadside bomb. My wounds included a crushed skull and
right hand, traumatic brain injury and the loss of both my eyes.
I am not alone. In the past eight years, many of the 35,000 American soldiers wounded in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have returned home. But many
of us have also returned with deep emotional wounds, and those are harder to see.
In fact, they’re often invisible, which is why so many returning soldiers feel so lost back home. Those of us with post-traumatic stress disorder — I’m
one of them — feel like strangers here, carrying around a burden many people are unaware of or just can’t understand. The possibilities for misunderstandings,
collisions and alienation are great.
Museums Trying to Increase Accessibility for Blind
to a new precedent set by the Justice Department, museums are scrambling to find new ways to include the visually impaired.
By Jesse Ellison | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Oct 23, 2009
During a recent conference call among museum educators, one participant made an obvious point. “Art museums are essentially visual institutions,” he said. He wasn’t laughed off the phone. And given that those on the call were there to discuss how to make the visual arts accessible to the visually handicapped, his point was actually fairly profound.
Recognize Canada’s Missing Millions
By Helen Henderson Disabilities Reporter
Published On Sat Oct 24 2009
How is it possible for more than 4.5 million Canadian citizens to go missing? Did they just drop off the map? Did anybody organize a search party?
Michael J. Prince went looking for evidence that those in positions of power give any thought at all to people with disabilities when formulating and assessing policies. He found little beyond empty words.
Federal Sites Rapped Over Accessibility Problems
Sites not always useful for the disabled, groups claim
By Alice Lipowicz
Oct 23, 2009
When the revamped Recovery.gov site went live this month, advocates for people with disabilities noticed problems with accessibility.
Bringing Gaming to the Disabled
MCT News Service
October 21, 2009
Ironically, it was located in one of the least-accessible areas of the Games for Health conference held a few months ago in Boston.
Up a set of stairs and around a corner from the large conference halls and breakout rooms was the AbleGamers Accessibility Arcade.
Here, many in the gaming community got a chance to see _ and to experience _ what gaming is like for those with disabilities. As a game journalist, I can’t think how many times I’ve trashed on a game’s controller scheme for being illogical, unintuitive or just plain bad. But as lousy as those controller setups were, they were at least playable.
Virtual Pal Helps Autistic Kids Make Social Connections
Researchers at Northwestern University are helping autistic children participate in conversations by using life-sized, computer-animated virtual peers
Paul LimaSpecial to Globe and Mail Update Published on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009 8:47AM EDT Last updated on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009 8:55AM EDT
An early childhood neurological disorder, autism is one of the fastest-growing developmental disabilities in North America – with a new case diagnosed nearly every 20 minutes. Autism frequently impairs a child’s ability to communicate with others. Parents might not hear their autistic child say “mommy” or “daddy” and find it difficult to determine what’s bothering their child, let alone figure out what the child is thinking.
ACS Signs Contract for Real-Time Passenger Information System with San Mateo County Transit
Reuters
Tue Oct 20, 2009 7:15am EDT
DALLAS–(Business Wire)–
Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (NYSE: ACS) has been selected by San Mateo
County Transit District (SamTrans) to install a Predictive Bus Arrival /
Departure System (PADS) system to provide real-time bus arrival/departure
information to their customers via the Web, telephone systems, and on dynamic
message signs at major SamTrans terminals.
Rising Costs, Waiting Lists Can Cause Nightmares for Parents of Autistic Children
By Linda Nguyen , Canwest News Service October 17, 2009
OTTAWA – All the signs had been there.
When Suzanne Lanthier’s three-year-old son, Scotty, played with his toy trucks, he would always turn them upside down and spin their wheels. The toddler would never stack his building blocks into a tower; instead he’d line them up one by one, with the perfect space in between each block.
And to their delight, her son would be able to sit and watch the same Sesame Street video over and over. For hours.
Assistive Technology for the Blind
by Lori Batcheller
When Jamie Paulo was in college, he used an electric typewriter to write all his papers. Blind since birth, Jamie hoped there weren’t too many mistakes, and that his teachers would forgive the ones he made. More than once, he typed his entire paper only to later discover there was no ink in the typewriter
Deaf Users Sound Off on Sidekick Outage
by Ina Fried
“As the outage went on, I became concerned about how my deaf teenage son would be able to communicate in an emergency,” Jamie Berke, an About.com guide based in the Washington metro area, said in an e-mail.
“I know he is not the only one,” said Berke, who is also deaf. “The outage probably meant that thousands of deaf children who depend on their Sidekicks to communicate with parents were unable to communicate in the event of an emergency. Plus, I myself, would have been unable to communicate in an emergency.”
Hybrid Cars May Include Fake Vroom for Safety
By JIM MOTAVALLI
Published: October 13, 2009
For decades, automakers have been on a quest to make cars quieter: an auto that purrs, and glides almost silently in traffic.
They have finally succeeded.
Plug-in hybrid and electric cars, it turns out, not only reduce air pollution, they cut noise pollution as well with their whisper-quiet motors. But that has created a different problem. They aren’t noisy enough.
Web Tool Helps Disabled San Franciscans Find the Latest Hotspots
PR.com)– Where’s Lulu (http://www.whereslulu.com), a website featuring reviews about the accessibility of places and services, now provides a spot for San Franciscans to rate everything from the wheelchair accessibility of local restaurants, to the tasty drinks offered at nearby bars.
Parents of Disabled Grade 6 Student Hannah Gunderson and School District Have Found a Middle Ground
Posted By Michael Di Massa News Staff
October 12, 2009
Despite pleas earlier this year to allow Hannah Gunderson to continue riding a specially retrofitted standard bus with her friends to Ministik School, the disabled Grade 6 student is spending this year taking a more direct mini-bus.
Plans, however, are being made to allow Hannah to ride a full-sized, disabled-accessible bus for Grade 7 through 9 with Elk Island Public Schools, as well as her high school years, if she stays with EIPS.
Guest Commentary: Getting a Job
By Anna Taylor
October 8, 2009
Getting a job while being disabled is more challenging than one might imagine. I was lucky to get an on-call job that gave me something to be proud of. I am thankful for the opportunity. Now, I am looking for a second job to fill the time I am not using for my other job, and am finding it to be difficult, not because of the economic times we are in, but because “hiring the handicapped” is no longer something that employers think is important.
The Challenges of Making Art Accessible
An Ottawa conference shows why galleries and museums need more than ramps to make them enjoyable for everyone.
By Tom Spears , The Ottawa CitizenOctober 3, 2009
OTTAWA — Canada’s museums and art galleries are filled with wonderful things, an Ottawa conference has heard. Now, if only everyone could see and enjoy them.
Gallery and museum staff from across Canada spent the past four days at the National Gallery, mulling over the problems: What does “accessible” mean once the ramps are built? What if no one on staff understands sign language? How can a blind person get the most from an art gallery?
Sears, Roebuck to Pay $6.2 Million for Disability Bias
Federal Court Approves Largest Monetary Amount Ever in Single EEOC ADA Suit; Employees Allegedly Terminated Based on Inflexible Workers’ Compensation Leave Exhaustion Policy
CHICAGO – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced the entry of a record-setting consent decree resolving a class lawsuit against Sears, Roebuck and Co. (Sears) under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) for $6.2 million and significant remedial relief.
European Commission Floats Idea of Web Accessibility Legislation
OUT-LAW News, 02/10/2009
The European Commission has proposed legislating to ensure that all EU nations adopt accessibility rules designed to ease disabled people’s access to the web.
Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding has for the first time talked of a ‘European Disability Act’ that could compel EU nations to adopt web accessibility rules together so that all of Europe’s websites become accessible at the same rate.
