To search our old Archives visit Archives
A legal dispute over video captions continues after court rejects requests by MIT and Harvard University to dismiss lawsuits accusing them of discriminating against deaf people.
Read more at
http://www.accessibilitynewsinternational.com/legal-battle-over-captioning-continues/
“Hey Siri, stream iTunes through my hearing aid.” That’s just one of many things you can do with the ReSound Linx Quattro, the first smart hearing aid to use AI to pair with Apple’s Siri assistant.
Individuals who are deaf, hard-of-hearing or deafblind will soon have access to faster, better message relay services
Canada’s telecommunications watchdog has issued a decision mandating standards for message relay services.
The Employment Standard under the AODA requires employers to accommodate workers with disabilities. Employers can make the workplace accessible for workers who are deaf or hard of hearing if they learn about the kinds of accommodations workers might need.
Here we outline some ways that employers and colleagues can communicate with and accommodate workers who are deaf or hard of hearing. Workers will explain the communication methods that work best for them.
Read more at
https://aoda.ca/accommodating-workers-who-are-deaf-or-hard-of-hearing/
The world’s first machine capable of turning British Sign Language (BSL) into written English is set to be built by the University of Surrey as part of a project funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
BSL is a language in its own right, with its own grammar, and it is very different from English. BSL uses several parts of the body simultaneously to fully express a range phrases, ideas and emotions.
Other countries have on-screen interpreters during news broadcasts
When the next ice storm, wildfire or terror attack happens, Canadians who are deaf or hard of hearing will be in greater peril than others because most public notification systems are not accessible to them, experts say.
Read more at
http://www.accessibilitynewsinternational.com/deaf-canadians-at-risk-in-times-of-national-emergency/
The World Federation of the Deafblind has launched the initial global report on the situation and rights of persons with deafblindness.
Representing between 0.2% to 2% of the population, persons with deafblindness are a very diverse yet hidden group and are, overall, more likely to be poor and unemployed, and with lower educational outcomes. Because deafblindness is less well-known and often misunderstood, people struggle to obtain the right support, and are often excluded from both development and disability programmes.
Read more at
http://www.accessibilitynewsinternational.com/world-federation-of-the-deafblind-launches-initial-global-report/
Koskie Minsky LLP is seeking leave to appeal an Ontario Superior Court of Justice order to donate $1.5 million of its legal fees to charity.
The order comes as part of the decision in Welsh v. Ontario, a class action lawsuit that alleges the Ontario government was negligent and failed in its fiduciary duties and duties to care for students at three provincially run schools for the deaf.
This failure, the lawsuit alleges, led to children, who often lived at the schools, being physically and sexually abused.
The appeal does not affect how much class members can receive, says Robert Gain, an associate at Koskie Minsky, who worked on the case.
This statement from the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) and the World Association of Sign Language Interpreters (WASLI) is concerned with the way in which decisions on where and when to use signing avatars as a form of access to spoken or written content is being managed by public authorities. The difference in linguistic quality between humans and avatars is why WFD and WASLI cautions against the use of signing avatars as a replacement for human signers.
Read more at
http://www.accessibilitynewsinternational.com/wfd-and-wasli-statement-on-use-of-signing-avatars/
Jerry Bergman is sitting in the audience at a Broadway matinée performance of The Band’s Visit. Despite the fact that a huge sign above the stage tells the audience in English, Hebrew and Arabic to turn off cellphones, Bergman is keeping his on so he can read closed captions while watching the show.
