Accessibility in the News — Knowledge is Power — 5/26/2023.

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“The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.” ― Abraham Lincoln

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Feature Stories

Canada: Accessibility Compliance Milestone Coming June 1

May 22, 2023 | Source: SHRM- Canada

Many federally regulated businesses in Canada with at least 100 employees must publish an accessibility plan by June 1 detailing how they will remove barriers for employees and members of the public with disabilities. The date marks the first compliance milestone for the Accessible Canada Act (ACA), which seeks to make the country barrier-free by Jan. 1, 2040. The Canadian government is pursuing this goal “so that individuals with disabilities can feel more comfortable using public services and working for federally regulated organizations,” said Lisa Goodfellow, an attorney with Miller Thomson LLP in Toronto…

National News (U.S.)

DOJ and DOE Issue Joint Dear Colleague Letter on the Online Accessibility of Colleges, Universities, and Other Postsecondary Institutions

May 19, 2023 | Source: DOJ and Letter

On May 19, 2023, the Justice Department and the Department of Education jointly issued a Dear Colleague Letter reminding colleges, universities, and other postsecondary institutions to ensure that their online services, programs, and activities are accessible to people with disabilities. Many colleges, universities, and other postsecondary institutions increasingly rely on their websites and third-party online platforms to provide services, programs, and activities to members of the public. This includes courses on learning platforms as well as podcasts and videos on social media and third-party platforms like YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts…

Israel trip aims to forge ‘ambassadors for accessible travel’

May 19, 2023 | Source: JNS.org

Agroup of 30 residents of Connecticut, including adults with disabilities, their parents and staff members who work with them, spent nine days in Israel learning about accessibility in the Jewish state. The trip ran from April 26 to May 4, observed by JNS in its entirety. It was a joint program of the Chapel Haven Schleifer Center in New Haven, Conn., and the nonprofit Access Israel and Accessibility Accelerator—the U.S. partner of Access Israel, based in Kfar Saba, Israel…

Nation’s first wheelchair-accessible nature trail was built from Gold Rush-era flume

May 20, 2023 | Source: Fox 40

Access to nature and natural spaces is easy for most people in Northern California, but Independence Trail in Nevada County is a trail truly accessible for all. When it was opened in the 1970s, Independence Trail was the first ADA-approved wheelchair-accessible nature trail in the United States, after naturalist John Olmsted fulfilled the wishes of his wheelchair-bound friend. Olmsted, a docent at the Oakland Museum, was exploring California to look for a cross-state nature trail that would educate and showcase the ecological zones of the state…

‘Strangers become friends:’ Non-profit teaches disabled people how to surf

May 20, 2023 | Source: KGAN

The Adaptive Surf Project hosted Wheel to Surf on Saturday morning. With the help of volunteers and special surfboards, they were able to help these individuals shred some waves. “The waves are so symbolic to me about the ups and downs of life, you know? And just with the tides coming and going, it ebbs and flows, so our journey has been like that – the waves, up and down. There’s been some good moments and some bad moments, but you know they keep coming,” Amanda McDowell said…

21 Questions You Should Ask People With Dementia To Bridge The ‘Conversation Gap’

May 21, 2023 | Source: Huff Post

For many of us, loss comes with a lot of feelings of not just sadness but guilt, frustration, and even numbness. Grief varies from person to person and there is no right or wrong way to grieve. One thing that does seem to be common, especially for those of us who have lost older relatives, is feeling like we missed our opportunity to get to know them better. In fact, according to research commissioned by KYN, innovators in later life care, 66% of Brits who have lost older loved ones wish they’d had more meaningful conversations to understand “the real them.”…

Accessibility Barriers Remain on Government Websites

May 21, 2023 | Source: Governing

Like many parents, Baltimore-area resident Tony Stephens wants to know how his kids are doing in school. But unlike most of his peers, checking on his son’s grades isn’t as simple as logging onto a website. Stephens was born legally blind and lost the remainder of his sight in his teenage years. As the father of two sighted boys, he uses screen-reading software to access the web. However, it doesn’t work if he encounters a website that wasn’t programmed to be compatible with assistive technology…

Oklahomans with disabilities face long waitlists for home and community-based services

May 22, 2023 | Source: PBS News Hour (Video)

More than half-a-million Americans are on waiting lists to receive long term care in their homes, instead of at institutions. Most people on these lists have intellectual and developmental disabilities, and sometimes need help with daily activities, like cooking, maintaining a job or getting around town. Last year, Oklahoma passed a law to end its 13-year-long disability services wait-list that had grown to more than 5,000 people. But, as Judy Woodruff report, in the first of several stories on the challenges facing those with disabilities, many families are still waiting for the help they need. It’s part of our new series called Disability Reframed…

He didn’t want his daughter, who has cognitive and physical disabilities, to feel left out. So, he built a fully accessible theme park

May 23, 2023 | Source: CBS News

Morgan Hartman was born with both physical and cognitive disabilities. For years though, she lacked a diagnosis. One thing she did have: a happy spirit. Her dad, Gordon Hartman, never wanted to see that spirit dulled. But unfortunately, at times it was. “In 2006, we were on a family vacation where I watched Morgan not be able to participate in a pool activity with three other children, and it was simply because she was not able to be verbal,” Hartman told CBS News. “It almost puts a lump in your throat because it gives you a sad feeling that, all Morgan wanted was to participate. She just wanted to play.”…

People with disabilities aren’t often seen in stock photos. The CPSC is changing that

May 23, 2023 | Source: NPR

A man with a prosthetic leg hooks up a portable generator, the yellow cord stretching a safe distance from his house. A woman with a walker shines a flashlight in a dark kitchen. A guy wearing a hearing aid changes his smoke alarm batteries. These are some of the new stock images recently released by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the government agency that focuses on accident prevention and has amused the internet for years with its public safety awareness memes on Twitter…

Federal, state law permit disability discrimination in Wisconsin voucher schools

May 23, 2023 | Source: WPR

As an advocacy specialist at Disability Rights Wisconsin, Joanne Juhnke regularly finds herself on the phone with parents concerned about their children’s treatment at school. Most complaints concern public schools, which enroll the majority of students. State funding for special education has shrunk, forcing districts to struggle to provide services, and disparate treatment of students with disabilities at public schools persists. But in public school, families have a state body to appeal to: the Department of Public Instruction…

Man with paralysis walks naturally after brain, spine implants

May 24, 2023 | Source: CNN

New research reveals how a medical device helped one man with paralysis walk naturally again, more than a decade after an injury. Dr. Grégoire Courtine and colleagues from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne developed and implanted a “brain-spine interface” that creates a direct neurological link between the brain and spinal cord. Implants in the brain track intentions for movement, which are wirelessly transferred to a processing unit that a person wears externally, like a backpack. The intentions are translated into commands that the processing unit sends back through the second implant to stimulate muscles…

Access on the Green: Wisconsin native builds website for wheelchair golfers

May 25, 2023 | Source: TMJ4

Making Golf Accessible to All

May 23, 2023 | Source: AccessWire

Tim Ochnikowski has a list. “I’ve been working on that list for about two years. Over 325 courses on there. I’ve covered them all, and my goal in the summertime is to play as many as I can,” says Tim, avid mini-golfer and wheelchair user. But this list of mini golf courses, isn’t just for Tim. “As we would travel or look around at where we wanted to go, no one listed any information about the accessibility on their courses,” says Tim. “So I thought there must be list out there, and there aren’t.” Shocked at the lack of information, Tim hit the green…

NIH Pushed to Recognize Health Disparities for People with Disabilities

May 24, 2023 | Source: Patient Engagement Hit

Researchers at the University of Virginia and Johns Hopkins University issued a call to action urging the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other federal agencies to validate the health disparities suffered by individuals with disabilities. They argued that healthcare access is not the same for people with disabilities, largely due to the influence of structural ableism. The experience of having a disability is shaped by built, social, political, and economic environments. As a direct offshoot of this structural ableism, people with disabilities encounter disparities across various social determinants of health…

Double amputee Everest climber pledges to work for benefit of people with disabilities

May 24, 2023 | Source: AP

The first double above-the-knee amputee to climb Mount Everest returned from the mountain on Tuesday pledging to dedicate the rest of his life to helping people with disabilities. Hari Budha Magar, a former Gurkha soldier who lives in Britain, reached the peak of the world’s highest mountain last week. “My main aim for the rest of my lifetime is going to be working to bring awareness about disability,” Magar said on his return to Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital…

Judges rebuke Social Security for errors as disability denials stack up

May 25, 2023 | Source: The Washington Post

Hurled from a road-paving machine, Michael Sheldon tumbled 50 feet down a Colorado slope and struck a mound of boulders headfirst on a summer day in 2006. After eight surgeries to his head, neck and spinal cord, his debilitating headaches, chronic pain and post-traumatic stress have made it impossible to return to his work preparing roads for new subdivisions. Yet for more than a decade, the Social Security Administration repeatedly denied Sheldon’s full claim for disability benefits that would pay him $1,415 a month…

Disability community concerns among reasons Gov. Tim Walz vetoes rideshare wages bill

May 25, 2023 | Source: Fox 9

Governor Tim Walz issued his first-ever veto Thursday to squash a bill that would’ve set minimum wages for Uber and Lyft drivers. Rideshare drivers have rallied at the Capitol to support the bill passed in the House and Senate last week. But it could’ve had an unintended impact on people with disabilities. “If I didn’t have Lyft, I wouldn’t be able to get around to go to work,” said Kimberly Benson, who lives in Apple Valley and has mobility limitations. A government-funded rideshare program has been life-changing for her…

Disability and Aging Groups Join Senator Bob Casey and Hundreds of Care Advocates for a Save Medicaid Online Rally

May 25, 2023 | Source: The Arc

Disability and aging groups were joined by Senator Bob Casey, care advocates, and nearly 500 activists from around the country for a Save Medicaid Online Rally on May 24. During the rally, attendees sent demands to Congress to stop any cuts to Medicaid, an essential program that 88 million Americans rely on for their health care, including 54 million older adults, children, and people with disabilities. The rally, hosted by The Arc of the United States, Autism Society of America, Disability and Aging Collaborative (DAC), Consortium for Constituents with Disabilities (CCD), and Caring Across Generations…

Jack Fact — About 35.5% of U.S. Latinos ages 16 to 64 with a disability were employed between April 2022 and March of this year, according to the National Trends in Disability Employment (nTIDE) project from the Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire.

Hit The Road Jack — A shore thing: Ryde Beach set to become a haven for all with new accessibility project

International News

Accessibility should be a cybersecurity priority, says UK NCSC

May 19, 2023 | Source: CSO Online- UK and Infosecurity Magazine

The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has urged businesses and security leaders to make accessibility a cybersecurity priority to help make systems more secure and human errors/workarounds less likely. It can also aid in meeting legal requirements, delivering better operational outcomes, and attracting and retaining more diverse talent, according to the NCSC. However, there are various examples of cybersecurity being presented in a way that is inaccessible for a lot of people, particularly for those with disabilities, the NCSC wrote in a new post on its website…

Rishi Sunak alt text tweet criticised for misusing accessibility feature

May 19, 2023 | Source: BBC- UK and Business Today

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been criticised for misusing alt text on social media – weeks after big brands were called out for doing it. His official Twitter account posted a four-picture photo grid showing cabinet members having a meeting. The alt text fields – which are supposed to describe what’s in the images for blind users – simply read: “We’re growing the economy”. Number 10 said it “aims to ensure” images are “as accessible as possible”…

‘Digital accessibility a matter of social justice, human rights’

May 20, 2023 | Source: The Indian Express- India

The National Institute for Locomotor Disabilities (NILD), Kolkata celebrated the Global Accessibility Awareness Day Friday by conducting a special seminar to raise awareness about global accessibility and the need for sensitising society about the rights of persons with disabilities. State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities Nilanjana Dasgupta and head of IIEST’s mechatronics department Subhasis Bhaumik also attended the seminar. During the event, a series of activities, including slogan writing and poster competitions, a debate competition and a quiz were held for those in attendance…

Amid India’s OTT boom, platforms still keep the disabled in the dark

May 20, 2023 | Source: The Hindu- India

Despite the boom in Over-the-Top (OTT) streaming services in India — a report by Media Partners Asia released this month estimates that one leading platform is closing in on 20 million paying subscribers — there is a huge gap in the accessibility of content for visually and hearing-impaired viewers. However, regulations for streaming in India explicitly recommend that streaming services make an effort to have their content be accessible. The IT Rules, 2021 cover a vast swath of the internet, from regulating social media intermediaries, setting out a framework to discourage platforms from letting users post what the Government considers misinformation…

Greece makes nearly 200 beaches accessible with adaptive chairs

May 20, 2023 | Source: The Spokesman-Review- Greece

This summer in Europe, beachgoers with mobility issues will have more opportunities to swim in the Mediterranean without having to worry about traversing the sand. Starting in May, more than 200 Seatrac chairs will be installed at beaches to help vacationers access the sea in Greece and a few neighboring countries, including Italy and Cyprus. At each site, a wooden walkway leads to a solar-powered chair set on a single track. Users transfer themselves into the recliner and “drive” into the water via a remote-control device that is available at the beach or delivered to their hotel with advance notice…

Much work remains for N.S. to hit 2030 accessibility targets, report says

May 21, 2023 | Source: CBC- Canada

The author of an independent review of the province’s Accessibility Act says there is much work to do if Nova Scotia is to meet its target of being fully accessible by 2030. “We’re definitely not where we need to be,” Katie Aubrecht, Canada Research Chair in Health Equity and Social Justice and an associate professor in the St. Francis Xavier University department of sociology, said in an interview with CBC Mainstreet Cape Breton. The act was adopted in 2017 and points to six areas for the removal and prevention of barriers…

Mobile carriers urged to improve accessible phone plans for deaf and blind Canadians

May 21, 2023 | Source: Athabasca Advocate- Canada

There’s a sense of worry that creeps up on Lisa Anderson every time her phone alerts her she is near the end of her monthly data limit. For Anderson, who is deaf, each megabyte of data is more crucial than it would be for the average hearing person who doesn’t rely on video calling applications for every mobile conversation. But due to data throttling — a common traffic management practice used by mobile carriers that reduces internet speeds — Anderson said exhausting her data allowance leads to “detrimental barriers.”…

Most GP websites have accessibility errors putting millions at risk, says study

May 22, 2023 | Source: Practice Business- UK

Accessibility issues are putting millions of people at risk of being unable to access the necessary healthcare support they require. Non-compliance among websites and platforms is a common occurrence, and often public sector website vendors and suppliers aren’t taking the necessary steps to ensure sites are accessible to users. The majority (66%) of UK GP surgeries’ websites returned at least one fault based on WCAG standards, a set of guidelines all public sector bodies must meet as required by the government since 2018…

Why accessibility matters: A CEO’s responsibility in creating an inclusive society

May 22, 2023 | Source: Emerging Europe

Technology and AI can and will play a fundamental role in making the world more accessible and inclusive. It is important to think on the role we all, as individuals, play in creating a more inclusive society. Over 1.3 billion people, comprising 17 per cent of the global population, live with some form of disability according to the World Health Organisation. This number is constantly increasing, thanks to a rise in chronic health conditions and population aging…

Organisations team up to improve hotel accessibility

May 22, 2023 | Source: Business Travel News- Europe

The Sustainable Hospitality Alliance is joining forces with the European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT) to increase “disability inclusion and promote universal access” across the hospitality sector. The two organisations said the partnership will see them acting in “close collaboration, enabling knowledge sharing to make the world’s hospitality industry accessible to all”. ENAT, which focuses on the study, promotion and practice of accessible tourism, will work with the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance on information sharing and joint projects…

LSB Shines ‘Spotlight’ on Financial Services Accessibility for the d/Deaf Community

May 23, 2023 | Source: The Fintech Times- UK

An estimated 11 million people in the UK experience hearing loss of some kind. A new report by the primarily financial self-regulatory body, the Lending Standards Board, includes insights from leading community representatives and provides key insights and considerations for ensuring financial services firms understand d/Deaf cultures and how they can ensure accessibility for this community. The report explains the potential that some banks are lenders that have underestimated the number of customers who have some level of hearing loss…

‘Uplifting and beautiful’: accessible garden wins top prize at Chelsea flower show

May 23, 2023 | Source: The Guardian- UK

A wheelchair-accessible garden for people with spinal injuries has won best in show at the Chelsea flower show this year. Horatio’s Garden is designed to be a sanctuary for those who may otherwise find gardens inaccessible, and to help people with spinal injuries to heal. The layout aims to be immersive, calming and restorative, and the light, airy planting is designed to be the antithesis of a hospital ward. Plants used include irises and hydrangeas, which provide gentle pops of colour…

What Does Global Accessibility Look Like Beyond Our Borders?

May 23, 2023 | Source: United Spinal Association- Various Countries

Not long after his spinal cord injury in 2011, Vincenzo “Enzo” Piscopo, President and CEO of United Spinal Association, created the Wheels of Happiness Foundation. He met a priest from Uganda with a similar injury but who did not receive proper post-injury care to reintegrate into society. That motivated Enzo to raise funds for people with spinal cord injuries and other wheelchair users in disadvantaged communities worldwide. “You see the huge impact the Americans with Disabilities Act has had for everyday society – all over the world,” says Enzo…

Accessibility issues remain a barrier at Jordan’s tourist attractions

May 24, 2023 | Source: Jordan Times- Jordan

The majority of Jordan’s tourism attractions are marked by poor accessibility standards despite some progress, according to activists. Last week, Director of the Jerash Tourism Directorate, Firas Khatatbeh announced the launch of a project which aims to increase the accessibility of archaeological sites in Jerash for persons with disabilities, Al Mamlaka TV reported. Ezzat Dablan, a content creator and social media influencer, uses a wheelchair for movement due to a mobility disability. In an attempt to fight stereotypes and advocate for disability inclusion, he is leading an initiative on various social media platforms called “Ezzat Experience”…

Nothing about us without us: Improving digital accessibility for museum visitors

May 25, 2023 | Source: MuseumNext

Ryan Dodge outlines how a headline exhibition at the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum gained a new lease on life. The exhibition was also made more accessible through a digitally immersive experience that was tested with disability communities. As the Chief Digital Officer of Ingenium – Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation, Ryan Dodge is responsible for the corporation’s public-facing digital presence across the spectrum of onsite and online experiences at three national museums: the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum, the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, and the Canada Science and Technology Museum…

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