Accessibility News April 25,2020 Update – Accessibility News, your Online Magazine Devoted to Disability Accessibility.

Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/acnewsca

AbleDocs Inc. is excited to be joining the Accessibility News team to ensure all documents are made accessible and compliant.

AbleDocs is the only organization to guarantee the compliance of the files we produce and back that up with a $10,000,000 guarantee.

We look forward to working with you and Accessibility News for years to come. For more details, please come to https://www.abledocs.com for more information about our revolutionary approach to document accessibility.

The AODA Clock is Ticking

There are 4 years, 35 weeks, 6 days until a fully Accessible Ontario! Will you be compliant?

In this Issue
*The AODA Alliance and Ontario Autism Coalition Are Considering Organizing An Online Virtual Town Hall Event on How to Effectively Teach Students with Different Disabilities at Home During the COVID-19 Crisis – We’re Looking for Your Suggestions on Who Would be Good Speakers
*Still More Media Reports Reveal Disproportionate Harm to Ontarians with Disabilities Due to the Ontario Government’s Failure to Effectively Plan for Urgent Disability Needs in its COVID-19 Emergency Efforts
*Provincial government Responds to the CNIB Foundation About Accessibility Issues with Ontario Health Card Renewal Process
*Ontario’s New Democratic Party and the Ontario Human Rights Commission Press the Ford Government to Take Substantially More Action to Address Ontarians with Disabilities’ Urgent Needs During the COVID-19 Crisis
*Disability Community Wins Interim Step Forward
*Toronto Star Runs A Guest Column by AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky on the need for the Ontario Government to Come Up with a Plan to Meet the Urgent Needs of 2.6 Million Ontarians with Disabilities During the COVID-19 crisis
*Media Reports Show Yet More Problems Facing People with Disabilities During the COVID-19 crisis – The Need for Urgent Government Action Is Swiftly Ballooning
*Communicating with People with Disabilities in the COVID-19 Pandemic

eSSENTIAL Accessibility

eSSENTIAL Accessibility is an Accessibility-as-a-Service platform. It helps organizations deliver inclusive web, mobile, and product experiences in compliance with legal requirements to ensure that no one with a disability is left behind.

To learn more, visit http://www.essentialaccessibility.com.

ARTICLES:

The AODA Alliance and Ontario Autism Coalition Are Considering Organizing An Online Virtual Town Hall Event on How to Effectively Teach Students with Different Disabilities at Home During the COVID-19 Crisis – We’re Looking for Your Suggestions on Who Would be Good Speakers

Here is a message jointly from two grassroots disability coalitions, the AODA Alliance and the Ontario Autism Coalition:
Teachers and parents all over Ontario are struggling to figure out how to effectively teach students with disabilities at home while schools are closed due to the COVID-19 crisis. They are eager for some practical ideas. The AODA Alliance and the Ontario Autism Coalition are looking into the possibility of holding another online virtual town hall meeting, this time focusing on action tips for teachers and parents of students with disabilities during the COVID-19 crisis.

Read more at
https://aoda.ca/the-aoda-alliance-and-ontario-autism-coalition-are-considering-organizing-an-online-virtual-town-hall-event-on-how-to-effectively-teach-students-with-different-disabilities-at-home-during-the-covid/

Still More Media Reports Reveal Disproportionate Harm to Ontarians with Disabilities Due to the Ontario Government’s Failure to Effectively Plan for Urgent Disability Needs in its COVID-19 Emergency Efforts

and – Federal Government Announces Disability COVID-19 Advisory Panel, So We Offer Our Advice

Read more at
https://aoda.ca/still-more-media-reports-reveal-disproportionate-harm-to-ontarians-with-disabilities-due-to-the-ontario-governments-failure-to-effectively-plan-for-urgent-disability-needs-in-its-covid-19-eme/

Provincial government Responds to the CNIB Foundation About Accessibility Issues with Ontario Health Card Renewal Process

Over the last few months, the CNIB Foundation has been asking the Ontario government to ensure Ontarians who are blind, partially sighted or Deafblind have equal access to renewing their health card online. As it stands, a person needs a valid Ontario driver’s licence, which is unacceptable because it prevents Ontarians with sight loss from using the same process.

Read more at
http://www.accessibilitynewsinternational.com/provincial-government-responds-to-the-cnib-foundation-about-accessibility-issues-with-ontario-health-card-renewal-process/

Ontario’s New Democratic Party and the Ontario Human Rights Commission Press the Ford Government to Take Substantially More Action to Address Ontarians with Disabilities’ Urgent Needs During the COVID-19 Crisis

Here are even more calls for the Ford Government to take substantially more action to address the urgent needs of Ontarians with disabilities during the COVID-19 crisis. Below we set out four important recent documents showing this crisis. The first three are from the Ontario New Democratic Party, and the fourth is from the Ontario Human Rights Commission:

Read more at
https://aoda.ca/ontarios-new-democratic-party-and-the-ontario-human-rights-commission-press-the-ford-government-to-take-substantially-more-action-to-address-ontarians-with-disabilities-urgent-needs-during-the-cov/

Disability Community Wins Interim Step Forward

Ford Government Backs Down on Its Controversial Secret Protocol for Rationing Critical Medical Care During the COVID Crisis and Agrees to Consult Human Rights and Community Experts

Read more at
https://aoda.ca/disability-community-wins-interim-step-forward/

Toronto Star Runs A Guest Column by AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky on the need for the Ontario Government to Come Up with a Plan to Meet the Urgent Needs of 2.6 Million Ontarians with Disabilities During the COVID-19 crisis

Here is an important guest column that ran in the online version of the Toronto Star on April 20, 2020 by AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky. In about 750 words, it summarizes key points we have been revealing in our last ten AODA Alliance Updates since March 20, 2020.

Read more at
https://aoda.ca/toronto-star-runs-a-guest-column-by-aoda-alliance-chair-david-lepofsky-on-the-need-for-the-ontario-government-to-come-up-with-a-plan-to-meet-the-urgent-needs-of-2-6-million-ontarians-with-disabilities/

Media Reports Show Yet More Problems Facing People with Disabilities During the COVID-19 crisis – The Need for Urgent Government Action Is Swiftly Ballooning

The fact that people with disabilities are facing additional hardships during the COVID-19 crisis leaps from the pages of media reports in this area. Here is a recent sampling of some of the coverage. This selection of news reports includes:

Read more at
https://aoda.ca/media-reports-show-yet-more-problems-facing-people-with-disabilities-during-the-covid-19-crisis-the-need-for-urgent-government-action-is-swiftly-ballooning/

Communicating with People with Disabilities in the COVID-19 Pandemic

As Ontarians continue physical distancing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, they rely on the media for news of the outside world. Access to information keeps all people safe and knowledgeable. To ensure that all people have the benefit of media access at this time, the government and other creators of media must make their programming and media releases accessible. Communicating with people with disabilities in the COVID-19 pandemic means that everyone has access to crucial information.

Read more at
https://aoda.ca/communicating-with-people-with-disabilities-in-the-covid-19-pandemic/

Past Newsletters

View past issues of the Newsletter at http://www.accessibilitynews.ca/category/accessibility-news-weekly-newsletter/

Inclusive Media and Design Inc is a proud supporter of Accessibility News.

Inclusive is ready to caption and video describe all your video for web, DVD, and computer desktop. They can also assist you in understanding and implementing Ontario’s AODA Integrated Standards’ media requirements. Consider having them check that any of your new web site content is compliant with an Accessibility Audit.

Visit http://www.inclusivemedia.ca to find out more.

Want to advertise in this spot or make an Announcement? Email info@accessibilitynews.ca for more info

To unsubscribe from this Newsletter, send an email to info@accessibilitynews.ca or just reply to this Update and state your intentions.

The views and opinions expressed throughout Accessibility News do not represent those of the various organizations or associated individuals and are exclusively those of the contributor and/or author of the specific article or commentary.

Accessibility News, since November 8, 2006

Tags

top