Some Canadian Forces members and veterans say the military culture needs to accept the usefulness of service dogs for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Many former soldiers are now acquiring specially trained dogs to help them manage anxiety, anger and stressful situations.

Jocelyn Boucher, who served as a warrant officer doing military intelligence in the Canadian Forces for three decades overseas, said he began taking his support dog, Spirit, to his part-time job only to be told a short time later his services were no longer needed.

Boucher was under doctor’s instructions to limit his work to two half-days a week. He and his wife were surprised at his release, as he had recently signed on for three more months at two half-days a week.

“I said, ‘Is this about my dog?’ He said, ‘No, no it’s not about your dog. It’s about the hours,’” Boucher said.

His wife Theresa said she’s convinced he was let go because of the dog. She said the military culture needs to change.

“He was very transparent about his injury,” she said. “If they’re not going to understand it there, nobody’s ever going to understand.”

While Veteran’s Affairs Canada covers costs to veterans who use service dogs for physical disabilities such as visual impairment, they haven’t done so for workers who use the dogs for mental health reasons.

The department said it is studying animal therapy for its soldiers and would consider the benefits of service dogs for veterans suffering from mental health issues, including potentially covering the costs, according to a spokesman with the department.

Lieutenant-General Walter Semianiw said the department is currently studying animal therapy in conjunction with St. John’s Ambulance and Can Praxis, a partnership between the Canadian Forces and psychologists who use horses to aid veterans with social and communication skills.

“What you see in talking to those veterans is that it does help, having that animal with them, which is why again the minister [Steven Blaney] said we need to move quickly in bringing this program into the department’s kind of suite of programs to be able to assist our veterans,” said Semianiw, the assistant director of communications for Veterans Affairs.

He said after that study is complete, the government would consider looking at the benefits of service animals.

While the department would not speak about Boucher’s case, a Treasury Board spokesman said many employees in the public service bring service dogs to work and that the government has a duty to accommodate people with disabilities up to the point of undue hardship.

Drugs funded, dogs aren’t

Retired colonel Pat Stogren is training his own service dog, named Apollo, and said it was frustrating that Veteran’s Affairs will pay for prescription drugs for PTSD, but not a service dog.

“They say there’s no science in it, they say, ‘Well we don’t want to experiment with your health,’” he said.

“They’ve given me these chemical compounds. They’re quite prepared to practise that black art.”

Stogren said the dogs have helped in cases he’s seen.

“I encountered all sorts of anecdotal evidence where very serious psychological disabilities were overcome because of the companionship that a dog provides a person,” Stogren said.

Until this week, Jocelyn Boucher and other soldiers also weren’t allowed to take service dogs to therapy sessions at Ottawa’s military hospital. After CBC inquired about the Department of National Defence’s policy, a new one was put in place.

The department says Canadian Forces members — like Boucher — can now bring certified service dogs along to appointments.

Reproduced from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2013/05/15/ottawa-veteran-service-dog-banned.html?cmp=rss

Reece Midgeley, who is intellectually disabled and has speech difficulties, has had his life changed by a new iPad app called Proloquo2go.

CRIKEY! Who said iPhone apps were just for playing games and accessing Facebook?

Children battling with speech difficulties will now have a voice through a revolutionary new smartphone app that even speaks with an Australian accent.

The app, Proloquo2Go, is the first of its kind in the country – with no other text-to-speech app specifically catered for Australian children.

AssistiveWare founder and chief executive David Niemeijer said his app would help people of all ages suffering from autism, celebral palsy or other congenital conditions to communicate effectively.

“It’s very important to have a voice that reflects your own age, gender and nationality,” he said.

“These children already stick out because they are different and more so if they are using a voice that does not match the person.”

Close to 300,000 Australians need Augmentative or Alternative Communication (AAC), which ranges from low-tech paper-based solutions and sign-language to high-tech dedicated communication devices.

About 35,000 of those are children aged between three and 12 years and can’t rely on their natural speech to meet their daily communication needs.

Mr Niemeijer said the app not only bridged the communication gap, but also improved behavioural issues.

“Very often children who cannot speak are full of frustration – a bit like a baby can only cry when it is frustrated – and the only way they can communicate is by acting up,” he said.

“Some children learn sign language but the moment they step out of their familiar circle they don’t have a means to communicate. This app opens up a lot of doors for them.”

Ann Midgeley’s 11-year-old son Reece has had difficulties speaking since he was a young boy.

She said his level of independence and self-esteem had increased dramatically since using the app.

“Now he can read at school and he’s learning and keeping up with other children,” she said.

“But it’s the little things he can do now like going into McDonalds and ordering something on his own.”

Speech pathologist Jane Farrall said the technology was “life-changing”.

“If you’re in school and can’t ask a question, how do you learn? How do you say ‘I love you’ to mum? Communication so important for a child’s development,” she said.

“Now they can now ask questions, greet people, develop social closeness and relationships – all because of this app. It’s fabulous.”

Reproduced from http://www.news.com.au/technology/australian-smartphone-app-proloquo2go-helps-give-children-with-speech-difficulties-a-voice/story-e6frfro0-1226641783691

CNW/ – People living with and caring for others with Tourette syndrome will benefit from increased support aimed at bridging gaps in information and services available to them. The announcement was made today by the Honourable Bal Gosal, Minister of State (Sports) and Member of Parliament for Bramalea-Gore-Malton, on behalf of the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development.

“The Government of Canada is committed to supporting innovative solutions that help remove barriers to the social and economic inclusion of people with disabilities,” said Minister of State Gosal. ”

Through our partnership with the Tourette Syndrome Foundation of Canada, people with disabilities will have access to improved services.”

The Tourette Syndrome Foundation of Canada is receiving more than $717,000 in federal government funding, which it will use to create a virtual network that offers information, learning groups and resources, access to trained volunteers and psycho-social support, and connections with others living with Tourette syndrome in Canada.

Canadians living with Tourette syndrome, their families and caregivers, and service providers will have access to information and support that supplement available resources at any time, from anywhere in the country.

The Foundation is a national voluntary organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for those with or who are affected by Tourette syndrome through education and advocacy programs, research and self-help initiatives.

Through the Social Development Partnerships Program – Disability Component (SDPP-D), the Government provides $11 million annually in support of a wide range of projects designed to improve social inclusion and tackle barriers faced by people with disabilities.

Economic Action Plan 2013 introduced an investment of $222 million per year to better meet the employment needs of Canadian businesses and improve employment prospects for people with disabilities. Furthermore, the Government proposes to maintain ongoing funding at $40 million per year for the Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities, starting in 2015-16, to help more people with disabilities train for in-demand jobs.

The Government is also extending the Enabling Accessibility Fund at a level of $15 million per year to support the capital costs of construction and renovations to improve physical accessibility for people with disabilities, including workplace accommodation.

For more information on the SDPP-D, visit www.hrsdc.gc.ca/disability.

backgrounder

The Social Development Partnerships Program – Disability Component (SDPP-D) provides grant and contribution funding to projects and organizations designed to improve the participation and integration of people with disabilities in all aspects of Canadian society.

SDPP-D will be transformed by moving towards a more competitive model and introducing new program priorities and requirements. The transformation of this Program is part of government-wide efforts to modernize grant and contribution funding, maximize the impact of federal spending and increase transparency. Although aspects of the SDPP-D will change, the program will continue to exist with the same objectives—namely, to work in partnership with social not-for-profit organizations to improve outcomes for people with disabilities—and with the same funding level of $11 million per year.

The Government recognizes that the transformation represents a significant change for some organizations. For this reason, the transformation elements are being phased in over a three-year period.

Economic Action Plan 2013 proposes new measures to help address the needs of people with disabilities:

• The introduction of a new generation of Labour Market Agreements for Persons with Disabilities with an investment of $222 million per year to better meet the employment needs of Canadian businesses and improve the employment prospects for people with disabilities.
• Extending the Enabling Accessibility Fund at a level of $15 million per year to support the capital costs of construction and renovations to improve physical accessibility for people with disabilities, including workplace accommodation.
• Additional funding of $7 million per year for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, some of which will support research related to the labour market participation of people with disabilities.

SOURCE: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

For further information:
This news release is available in alternative formats on request.

For further information (media only):

Jan O’Driscoll
Press Secretary
Office of Minister Finley
819-994-2482

Media Relations Office
Human Resources and
Skills Development Canada
819-994-5559
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IF THERE IS A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN ANY PRINTED VERSION AND THE ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THIS NEWS RELEASE, THE ELECTRONIC VERSION WILL PREVAIL.

Reproduced from http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1166141/government-of-canada-supports-full-participation-of-people-with-disabilities

Read more at
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“Canada needs all of our available talent at work,” said Minister Finley. “That is why Economic Action Plan 2013 is increasing opportunities for people with disabilities, helping them gain the skills and training they need to better participate in Canada’s labour market.”

The Harper Government created the Panel on Labour Market Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities in Economic Action Plan 2012 to identify private-sector successes, challenges and best practices in employing people with disabilities. Motion 430, presented by Phil McColeman, Member of Parliament for Brant, calls for the Government to support the Panel’s findings, recommending greater education and training to overcome barriers, dispel myths and better engage people with disabilities in contributing to a stronger economy.

“With the recent Panel report, the importance of strengthening employment opportunities for people with disabilities is gaining national attention,” said Mr. McColeman. “Employers need to be looking at the strong business case for hiring people with disabilities.”

“I am happy to see the Government taking action to help more Canadians with a disability enter the workforce,” added Kathy Martin, Senior Vice-President, Loblaw Companies. “The motion is another positive step towards more employment and opportunities for people with a disability.”

Economic Action Plan 2013 proposes new measures to connect Canadians with available jobs and equip them with the skills and training they need. These include the Canada Job Grant, creating opportunities for apprentices and providing support to under-represented groups such as people with disabilities, youth, Aboriginal people and newcomers. To help people with disabilities in the workforce, the Government has committed to:

negotiate a new generation of the Labour Market Agreements for Persons with Disabilities by 2014 to better meet the employment needs of businesses and the employment prospects of people with disabilities;
provide ongoing funding of $40 million per year starting in 2015–2016 for the Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities;
extend the Enabling Accessibility Fund on an ongoing basis at a level of $15 million per year;
additional funding of $7 million for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council; and
a $2-million investment to support the creation of the Canadian Employers Disability Forum.
The measures announced in Economic Action Plan 2013 will help ensure continued economic growth, job creation and long-term prosperity, while better aligning training solutions to labour market demand.

For more information, visit www.actionplan.gc.ca.

Backgrounder

Economic Action Plan 2013 measures supporting people with disabilities include:

Reforming Labour Market Agreements for Persons with Disabilities
Economic Action Plan 2013 announces the introduction of a new generation of Labour Market Agreements for Persons with Disabilities by 2014 with an investment of $222 million per year. The reformed Agreements will be designed to better meet the employment needs of Canadian businesses and improve the employment prospects for people with disabilities, in keeping with transformed Labour Market Agreements, and will put stronger accountability regimes in place.

Existing Agreements will be extended for one year, until March 2014, to allow for new Agreements to be renegotiated.

Provide ongoing funding for the Opportunities Fund for People with Disabilities
Economic Action Plan 2013 proposes ongoing funding of $40 million per year starting in 2015–2016 for the Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities. The program will also be reformed to provide more demand-driven training solutions for people with disabilities and make it more responsive to labour market needs. Employers and community organizations will be involved in project design and delivery.

Extending the Enabling Accessibility Fund
Economic Action Plan 2013 proposes to extend the Enabling Accessibility Fund on an ongoing basis, at a level of $15 million per year, to support capital costs of construction and renovations related to improving physical accessibility for people with disabilities through projects with demonstrated community support, including workplace accommodation. This builds on the Budget 2010 commitment, which provided $45 million over three years to extend the Enabling Accessibility Fund and expand its eligibility to mid-sized projects, allowing communities to undertake larger retrofit projects to enhance accessibility of existing facilities or create new accessible facilities.

Support the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

Economic Action Plan 2013 also proposes additional funding of $7 million per year for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, some of which will support research related to the labour market participation of people with disabilities.
Creation of the Canadian Employers Disability Forum
Economic Action Plan 2013 proposes to provide a temporary investment to support the creation of the Canadian Employers Disability Forum, as recommended by the Panel on Labour Market Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities.

The Forum, an initiative led by a number of Canadian businesses, will be managed by employers, for employers, to facilitate education, training and sharing of resources and best practices concerning the hiring and retention of people with disabilities. Under the leadership of the Forum, employers will help to promote and further the invaluable contributions that people with disabilities can make to their businesses.

Creation of Canada Job Grant

As announced in Economic Action Plan 2013, the Harper Government is creating the Canada Jobs Grant, which will take skills-training choices out of the hands of government and put them where they belong: in the hands of employers and Canadians who want to work. The Grant, as delivered through Labour Market Agreements, could provide up to $15,000 per person, including a maximum of $5,000 from the federal government, along with matching contributions from the provinces/territories and employers. Businesses with a plan to train Canadians for an existing job or a better job will be eligible to apply for the Grant.

Footnote: Written by: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

Reproduced from http://www.northumberlandview.ca/index.php?module=news&type=user&func=display&sid=22044

Amazon today announced a number of new features for its Kindle for iOS app that aim to make it easier to use for blind and visually impaired users.

Today’s update, Amazon says, will make it easier for these users to use features like “X-Ray, End Actions, sharing, highlighting and bookmarking.”

Amazon says these new features are available on iOS today, but it plans to make them available on additional platforms in the future.

These new features, the company says in today’s announcement, will give visually impaired users easier access to the more than 1.8 million titles in its catalog that feature its text-to-voice VoiceOver narration.
The iOS app also allows users to read character-by-character, word-by-word and line-by-line and supports the usual iOS accessibility features like zoom, assistive touch and support for peripheral braille displays.

Over time, Amazon has made its Kindle hardware and apps more accessible for visually impaired users. Last December, for example, added Voice Guide and Explore by Touch to its Kindle Fire HD. Still, the company has recently come under fire for not doing enough for its visually impaired users. Also in December, a number of blind users protested in front of the company’s headquarters to bring attention to the Kindle’s lack of features for visually impaired users.

At the time, Dr. Marc Maurer, the President of the National Federation of the Blind, argues that “Amazon has repeatedly demonstrated utter indifference to the recommendations of blind Americans for full accessibility of its Kindle e-books and failed to follow the best practices of other e-book providers.”

Crunchbase AMAZON KINDLEProduct:

Amazon Kindle
Website: amazon.com

Company

Amazon Introduced in November 2007, Kindle is an e-reader developed by Amazon.com to allow easy access to a vast library of electronic books to be downloaded and read on the device. Over 90,000 books were available for download at launch; that catalog grew to over 160,000 by August 2008 and was growing by over 25,000 titles per month. Books, newspapers, magazines and blogs are loaded onto the device wirelessly via Amazon’s free EVDO network (called WhisperNet) and are

Reproduced from http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/01/amazon-adds-new-features-for-blind-and-visually-impaired-users-to-kindle-for-ios-app-coming-to-other-platforms-soon/

Visually impaired children could benefit from a revolutionary new computer game being developed by a team of neuroscientists and game designers.

Academics from the University of Lincoln, UK, are working with WESC, one of the UK’s most respected specialist schools for visually impaired children, to create and evaluate a new ‘visual search rehabilitation game’.

There are around 25,000 children in Britain – equating to two children per 1,000 – with a visual impairment of such severity they require specialist education support. The causes of blindness in children are extremely varied, but cerebral visual impairment (damage to areas of the brain associated with vision, rather than damage to the eye itself) is among the most common.

Researchers from Lincoln’s School of Psychology and School of Computer Science will work with staff and children from WESC – the specialist centre for visual impairment. The school and college, based in Exeter, has been providing education and care for young people with visual impairment since 1838 and is a designated High Performing Specialist School.

Together they have been awarded a grant worth around £130,000 for a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) which will apply the very latest research in visual neuroscience to the rehabilitation of childhood cerebral visual impairment and special education.

Timothy Hodgson, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in the School of Psychology at the University of Lincoln, will lead the project.

He said: “Previous research has shown that visual search training can lead to significant recovery of sight following damage to visual centres of the brain in adults. The problem is these training programmes are just too boring to use with children.
“Our game will be a fun computer based tool which will benefit children with visual field loss – holes in their vision due to damage to the brain’s visual pathways.

“This is an exciting research project which brings together expertise from diverse disciplines and puts this knowledge into practice in a way that could make a real difference to the quality of life of visually impaired children.
“At the same time, we also expect the game will be suitable for rehabilitation of adults who have suffered sight loss due to stroke.”

The game will use principles derived from existing programmes used in adults with visual field loss, whereby patients have to search for hard-to-find objects on a computer screen (a ‘visual search’ task), but the game will be modified to make the task more stimulating and fun for children and structured to maximise the efficiency of learning.

Working alongside Professor Hodgson on the KTP will be Dr Conor Linehan, a specialist in computer game development based in Lincoln’s School of Computer Science. They will oversee the work of KTP Associate Jonathan Waddington, an experienced computational neuroscientist, who will be based at WESC for the duration of the two-year project. Financial support for the project is provided by the Technology Strategy Board and the UK’s Medical Research Council (MRC).

Tracy de Bernhardt Dunkin, Principal and CEO at the WESC Foundation, said: “This is a tremendously exciting development for WESC and the culmination of five years’ work to introduce learning and research around neurological visual impairment. We are delighted to be employing our first visual neuroscientist, supervised by University of Lincoln. We plan to expand our research and development department further over the coming years to reflect our interest in this highly specialist area of work which is so relevant to many young people with visual impairment across the UK as a whole.”

–Ends–
Story Credits Ian Richards – PR Officer
E-mail: irichards@lincoln.ac.uk
Telephone: 01522 886042

Reproduced from http://www.lincoln.ac.uk/news/2013/04/682.asp

THE provincial government is introducing legislation today it says will improve accessibility for people with disabilities to buildings, services and jobs.

Read more at
http://www.aoda.ca/removing-barriers-goal-of-new-legislation/

Read more at
http://oldhatguide.com/pages/

Developmentally Disabled Walmart Employee in Akron Store Fired for Complaining About Sexual Touching, Federal Agency Charges

CLEVELAND – Wal-Mart Stores East, L.P. violated federal law by allowing a male employee at an Akron Walmart store to subject a developmentally disabled female co-worker to sexually inappropriate conduct and then retaliating against her for her opposition to the sexual misconduct, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it announced today.

The EEOC said Jamie Wells, who is developmentally disabled, worked at the company as an associate in the Akron store’s lawn & garden department for more than 11 years. The EEOC said that from about April 2005 through Jan. 7, 2011, the store allowed a male coworker to sexually harass Wells, including sexual touching Wells while on the store’s premises. Further, although store management officials were aware of the harassment, they failed to take prompt or effective action to remedy the sexually hostile work environment. Instead, the EEOC said, the store fired Wells three weeks after she complained about the abusive conduct.

Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC also charged that the company violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by failing to provide reasonable accommodations to Wells through adequate training, supervision, and communication regarding its anti-harassment policies. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio (Case: 5:13-cv-00795) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The agency seeks injunctive relief, compensatory and punitive damages and lost wages and benefits.

“Ms. Wells’ impairment made her particularly vulnerable to sexual harassment,” said Regional Attorney Debra Lawrence of the EEOC’s Philadelphia District Office, which oversees Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, Maryland, and portions of New Jersey and Ohio. “Once this Walmart was put on notice of the harassment, it had a legal responsibility to take immediate and appropriate action to stop the misconduct. When an employer fails to do so, the EEOC must and will hold that employer accountable.”

Wal-Mart Stores East, L.P., of Bentonville, Ark., operates Wal-Mart’s retail stores in the eastern United States.

Eliminating policies and practices that discourage or prohibit individuals from exercising their rights under employment discrimination statutes, or that impede the EEOC’s investigative or enforce­ment efforts, is one of six national priorities identified by the Commission’s Strategic Enforcement Plan (SEP). The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination.

Further information about the agency is available on its website at www.eeoc.gov

Reproduced from http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/4-10-13.cfm