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In this Issue
*New Toronto Star On-line Guest Column Co-Written by AODA Alliance Chair Identifies Barriers to Enforcing Human Rights in Ontario
*Mentally Ill Female Prisoners Treated Cruelly, Inhumanly, Report Finds
*New Event Promotes Accessibility: For People With Disabilities, the Internet Offers a World of Challenges
*Changes to Delivery of Services for Developmentally Disabled Have Advocates Vexed
*App gives voice to people with disabilities
*Canadian Gov’t Inaction on Mental Health Hurts Economy, Families: Report
*The Catch-22 of Group ome Bylaws
*RIM Launches BlackBerry Screen Reader for Customers with Visual Impairments
*This is No Job for Police, Deputy Chief Says
*Aging Population Increases Personal Care Role
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ARTICLES:
New Toronto Star On-line Guest Column Co-Written by AODA Alliance Chair Identifies Barriers to Enforcing Human Rights in Ontario
The May 10, 2012 on-line edition of the Toronto Star includes a guest column on barriers that face people who try to enforce their human rights in Ontario. We set out that guest column below. It is co-written by AODA Alliance chair David Lepofsky and the director of the Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, Avvy Go. Our position on the need to reform Ontario’s human rights system, set out in this guest column, is fortified when we team up with respected community leaders like Ms. Go. She advocates for human rights from the perspective of racialized communities.
Read more at
http://www.aoda.ca/?p=1800
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Mentally Ill Female Prisoners Treated Cruelly, Inhumanly, Report Finds
Ashley Smith died at the age of 19 at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ont. Correctional Investigator Howard Sapers says a host of “serious failures” at the institution set the stage for the troubled teen’s death.
Canada’s treatment of mentally ill female prisoners amounts to “cruel and inhuman” punishment, a new report finds.
Read more at
http://www.accessibilitynewsinternational.com/?p=2629
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New Event Promotes Accessibility: For People With Disabilities, the Internet Offers a World of Challenges
Many online difficulties happen simply because designers aren’t aware of the needs of the impaired, says Jennison Asuncion, the Toronto organizer of Global Accessibility Awareness Day.
For many, the Internet is the fastest and easiest way to access information. But for the visually impaired and those with hearing, mobility, or cognitive issues, navigating the online world can present its own set of challenges.
Read more at
http://www.accessibilitynewsinternational.com/?p=2631
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Changes to Delivery of Services for Developmentally Disabled Have Advocates Vexed
“I’m a single mom, so it’s a hard haul,” she said. “When he was two I could restrain him, but I can’t do it by myself anymore. I can’t work because he needs constant supervision. The government has swept us under the rug and forced us to live in poverty. I just don’t get their thinking.”
GUELPH The McGuinty Liberals are in the midst of transforming services for people with developmental disabilities, but the changes are causing more headaches than benefits, local advocates say, and they worry the new system will amount to cuts to services for this marginalized population.
Read more at
http://www.accessibilitynews.ca/?p=2457
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App gives voice to people with disabilities
MyVoice offers independence and reduces stigma
Tyler Austin uses the MyVoice app on his iPad to help him converse. The state-of-the art communication technology assists people with disabilities like cerebral palsy, autism and muscular dystrophy to express themselves.
Read more at
http://www.accessibilitynewsinternational.com/?p=2627
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Canadian Gov’t Inaction on Mental Health Hurts Economy, Families: Report
“Most experts agree that the largest barrier to exist when it comes to mental health issues in general is stigma the dirty word of mental health.
Often times the media portrayal of mental illness does not depict the truth and builds on the stigma,” says Cannon. “In regular news reports, we always hear over and over again about people with mental illnesses who have committed heinous crimes. There is no balance in reporting the people who have done amazing things who also have a diagnosis of mental illness it is a completely imbalanced picture that we send to people every day.”
Read more at
http://www.accessibilitynewsinternational.com/?p=2624
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The Catch-22 of Group ome Bylaws
Bert Gockel wants nothing more than to live quietly in the tranquil rural community of Springfield, Man. But the community won’t let him. He’s not an axe-murderer or a pedophile, though some would say he’s being treated like one. He is being excluded from Springfield because he is an intellectually disabled person who needs special care.
Read more at
http://www.aoda.ca/?p=1798
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RIM Launches BlackBerry Screen Reader for Customers with Visual Impairments
Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) today launched BlackBerry® Screen Reader, a free software application that helps customers who are blind or visually impaired operate their BlackBerry® smartphone.
Read more at
http://www.accessibilitynewsinternational.com/?p=2618M
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This is No Job for Police, Deputy Chief Says
THE CITY: As psychiatric beds close, calls to law enforcement rise
Nothing about mental illness is simple. But when it comes to the role of police, London police Deputy Chief John Pare holds an uncomplicated view.
“It’s a health issue,” he says. “It’s not a police issue.”
And it’s about time we understood that particularly as we start National Mental Health Week.
Read more at
http://www.accessibilitynews.ca/?p=2447
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Aging Population Increases Personal Care Role
PSW program trains staff to work with elderly; job status growing as salaries average $36,000
Kerry Harrison divides her work week between two elderly women. She spends four weekday mornings in one woman’s Toronto home, and three weekday evenings and Sunday mornings in the other’s. Both women are in the early stages of dementia, and Harrison helps them bathe, prepares a meal, does light housework and spends plenty of time chatting and doing crossword puzzles with them.
“It doesn’t seem like work,” says Harrison, 45, who receives $20 an hour for her services. “I feel like I’m being paid to hang out with people I like.”
Read more at
http://www.accessibilitynewsinternational.com/?p=2614
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EVENTS
*International thought leaders on digital inclusion to converge at OCAD University
http://www.accessibilityclassifieds.com/?p=1095
*Toronto Holiday
http://www.accessibilityclassifieds.com/?p=1090
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Note: The thoughts and opinions expressed throughout Accessibility News are not necessarily shared by the various organizations and individuals and are solely those of the author of the specific article or commentary.
Accessibility News, since November 8, 2006
