Yearly Archives: 2021

B.C. Wants Your Opinion About Making Buildings More Accessible for Everyone

Government asks the public to fill out an online survey to help guide changes to the building code Kathryn Marlow, CBC News
Posted: Dec 14, 2021

Stairways. Door handles. Slippery floors. Most disabled British Columbians have a list of things that make buildings inaccessible to them. Now, the province wants to hear about them as it works to update the B.C. Building Code.

The building code lays out the minimum safety requirements for new building construction. It’s updated every five years or so, and the province is putting a focus on accessibility for the next update in 2023.

B.C. Wants Your Opinion About Making Buildings More Accessible for Everyone full article

Trials Show Video Games Have Potential to Ease Canada’s Paediatric Mental Health-Care Crisis

By Pascale Malenfant
Dec 9, 2021

Over the course of early 2021, 40 youth between 10 and 17 attended 10 anger management sessions at the Boston Children’s Hospital.

Though these sessions had the same goal as any other form of anger management treatment to help patients develop self-calming strategies the therapy was anything but conventional. It involved desktop computers, heart monitors and an adapted version of the hit 1970s arcade game, Space Invaders.

Trials Show Video Games Have Potential to Ease Canada’s Paediatric Mental Health-Care Crisis full article

Canada Post Makes Mail and Parcel Delivery More Accessible to All Customers

November 26, 2021
Posted in News Releases
Delivery accommodation program offers solutions for people with functional limitations and health conditions

OTTAWA – As temperatures drop and weather conditions make retrieving items from mailboxes more difficult for some customers, Canada Post wants to ensure everyone continues to have safe and timely access to their mail and parcels.

The Delivery Accommodation Program offers support to residential customers whose functional limitations, limited mobility or other health conditions impact their ability to retrieve mail and parcels from their mailbox. Accommodation solutions vary and can be provided year-round, temporarily or during winter only.

Canada Post Makes Mail and Parcel Delivery More Accessible to All Customers full article

Man in Wheelchair Making Edmonton Accessible One Bar at a Time

By Fakiha Baig The Canadian Press
Posted December 13, 2021

Brad Bartko says he looks up about 30 bars on the internet before he finds one that just might work for date night with his wife.

“I’m not even exaggerating,'” says the 28-year-old Edmontonian who has cerebral palsy and has been using a wheelchair his whole life.

“You have to make sure someone in a wheelchair can get up to the establishment.”

Bartko says he can’t even get through the doorway at some bars and restaurants.

“Some places I can’t go to the bathroom. I can’t sit at a table with my friends. The (bar) has to (create a) makeshift table for me from the storage closet, but I’m separated from my group.”

Man in Wheelchair Making Edmonton Accessible One Bar at a Time full article

Gaming Is Becoming Accessible, But We Need To Keep Asking For More

JENNIFER MULROW
LAST UPDATED DECEMBER 6, 2021

On her left arm, Twitch streamer LittleNavi has a tattoo of WASD, the four keyboard keys PC gamers typically use to move their characters. Its ironic, though, because my left hand is the hand that has lost the most function over the years, says Lorelei, who goes by LittleNavi online to preserve her anonymity.

She was diagnosed in her 20s with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis, a chronic condition that affects her central nervous system. I remember thinking, I cant believe I got a tattoo of the WASD keys, and I dont know if Im ever going to be able to use the WASD keys again.

Gaming Is Becoming Accessible, But We Need To Keep Asking For More full article

B.C. Transit Takes ‘Step Backward’ on Accessibility by Removing Victoria Bus Schedules, Say Advocates

Not everyone has a smart phone to use at a bus stop, say critics David P. Ball · CBC News · Posted: Dec 04, 2021

Bus riders in Victoria are questioning the provincial transit agency’s move this week to take down bus schedules from all its stops across the capital region.

Instead, transit users now see signs with a website, a scannable QR code and a phone number to help them find out when the next bus is arriving. B.C. Transit says the move is only temporary, but without an end-date, because of driver shortages.

B.C. Transit Takes ‘Step Backward’ on Accessibility by Removing Victoria Bus Schedules, Say Advocates full article

Raising Awareness in the Name of Accessibility for Those Hard of Hearing

By Brayden Jagger Haines Global News
Posted November 30, 2021

Members of the non-profit group stood outside city hall and McGill university campus Tuesday morning handing out face masks with a clear, see-through window.

The more people are aware of what our needs are, the more people are willing to accommodate, executive director Heidy Wager said.

Members plan on distributing more than 500 masks to the public according to Wager.

Our goal is to raise awareness about the importance of accessibility for the hard of hearing community in Montreal, Wager said.

The organization timed the handout with Giving Tuesday. The slogan for the event was Giving the gift of accessibility.

Raising Awareness in the Name of Accessibility for Those Hard of Hearing full article

Building Back BETTER: Will Disabled Lives Finally be Valued?

By John Rae

A Presentation delivered at the Disability and Work in Canada 2021 National Employment Conference: Achieving equality of opportunity and choice in careers, jobs and work, December 1, 2021

During the past four and a half decades that I have been active in Canada’s disability rights movement, many, many organizations have worked to improve employer attitudes and assist job-seekers with disabilities to find and retain employment. While I am sure that the individuals who have been assisted appreciate the efforts of these organizations, and while the variety of jobs currently held by Canadians with disabilities has grown somewhat, our overall rate of employment has only inched up very slowly and marginally.

Building Back BETTER: Will Disabled Lives Finally be Valued? full article

Dire Challenges Facing Canadians With Disabilities During COVID-19

UBCO professor calls for better individual support and funding for health services December 2, 2021

The COVID-19 Disability Survey captured perspectives from Canadians with different types of disabilities and their family members.

On Friday, December 3, the United Nations observes the International Day of Persons with Disabilities in a global effort to increase awareness for the rights and wellbeing of persons with disabilities.

Dr. Kathleen Martin Ginis, UBC Okanagan professor and director for the Centre of Chronic Disease Prevention and Management is currently leading the national COVID-19 Disability Survey in partnership with the Ontario-based Abilities Centre.

The latest survey results confirm critical support is needed to prevent further hardships experienced by Canadians living with disabilities.

Dire Challenges Facing Canadians With Disabilities During COVID-19 full article

How are Workplaces Supporting Canadian Workers With Disabilities?

November 28, 2021

This is the weekly Careers newsletter. If you’re reading this on the web or someone forwarded this e-mail newsletter to you, you can sign up for Globe Careers and all Globe newsletters at the link below. Radhika Panjwani is a former journalist from Toronto and a blogger.

Underneath the veneer of her successes and accomplishments in Canada’s charitable sector, Wanda Deschamps struggled to make sense of the duality she experienced at work where she says she was both “highly praised and harshly admonished.”

Ms. Deschamps says she was often misunderstood because she lacked the intuitive ability to interpret her colleagues’ non-verbal social cues. Even though she was highly intelligent and competent, she could come across as blunt.

How are Workplaces Supporting Canadian Workers With Disabilities? full article