Accessibility News June 6,2020 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, 29 weeks, 6 days until a fully Accessible Ontario! Will you be compliant?
In this Issue
*To Honour National AccessAbility Week, the Ford Government Announces Nothing New to Address the Unmet Urgent Needs of 2.6 Million Ontarians with Disabilities During the COVID-19 Crisis
*Provincial Disability Coalition Urges Ottawa City Council to Reject Impending Proposal to Allow Electric Scooters that Endanger People with Disabilities and Others *The Realities of U of T Students in the Age of ‘Zoom University’ *E-Scooters Set to Hit Ottawa Streets, Paths This Year
*Masks a Concern for Hearing-Impaired Travellers
*Province Offering Grants to Improve Accessibility
*Coroner Calls Inquest Into Death of Teen at Brantford School for the Blind
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.
To Honour National AccessAbility Week, the Ford Government Announces Nothing New to Address the Unmet Urgent Needs of 2.6 Million Ontarians with Disabilities During the COVID-19 Crisis
The Ford Government’s self-congratulatory June 1, 2020 announcement to mark National AccessAbility Week (set out below) announces no comprehensive plan of new action to address the unmet urgent needs of 2.6 million Ontarians with disabilities during the COVID-19 crisis. Instead it once again simply re-announces measures that have been in place for months or years and that have failed to redress the serious additional hardships that COVID-19 inflicts on many people with disabilities.
Provincial Disability Coalition Urges Ottawa City Council to Reject Impending Proposal to Allow Electric Scooters that Endanger People with Disabilities and Others
In a stunning affront to National AccessAbility Week, and while the COVID-19 crisis persists with no end in sight, Ottawa City Council’s Transportation Committee this week proposes to expose people with disabilities and others in Ottawa to proven dangers posed by allowing public use and rental of electric scooters (e-scooters). E-scooters will lead to personal injuries, including innocent pedestrians. They will create new barriers to accessibility for people with disabilities, especially when left lying in public spaces like sidewalks (as the Ottawa proposal would permit).
The Realities of U of T Students in the Age of ‘Zoom University’
Given the massive shift in how U of T students are taught presently and in the future, I wanted to examine what online learning looks like across the province and around the world. How can communities support each other from afar? Could online courses play a more permanent role in U of T’s future?
Read more at
https://aoda.ca/the-realities-of-u-of-t-students-in-the-age-of-zoom-university/
E-Scooters Set to Hit Ottawa Streets, Paths This Year
If Ottawa’s e-scooter pilot gets full council approval, the devices will be allowed on pathways and on roads with speed limits up to 50 km/h, but not on sidewalks, on NCC paths or in Gatineau.
Read more at
https://aoda.ca/e-scooters-set-to-hit-ottawa-streets-paths-this-year/
Masks a Concern for Hearing-Impaired Travellers
If security around travel used to be merely annoying, it’s become almost frightening.
From Uber to airlines, from the Middle East to the Midwest, masks are the new norm. But for one group of people in particular ” those with hearing loss ” they pose a significant problem. Masks prevent speech reading, a helpful if not essential coping mechanism for the one in 10 Canadians who don’t hear well.
Read more at
http://www.accessibilitynewsinternational.com/masks-a-concern-for-hearing-impaired-travellers/
Province Offering Grants to Improve Accessibility
The B.C. government is once again making a call for grant proposals for community projects aimed to improve accessibility.
B.C.’s third annual AccessAbility Week, from May 31 to June 6, recognizes people and organizations that help provide those with disabilities an opportunity to succeed.
Read more at
http://www.accessibilitynewsinternational.com/province-offering-grants-to-improve-accessibility/
Coroner Calls Inquest Into Death of Teen at Brantford School for the Blind
The parents of a disabled teen who died in the care of an Ontario residential school for the blind say they’re hopeful a newly called inquest into their son’s death may protect a future generation of vulnerable students.
Read more at
https://aoda.ca/coroner-calls-inquest-into-death-of-teen-at-brantford-school-for-the-blind/
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