Accessibility in the News — 4/20/2022.

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Feature Stories

San Francisco District Attorney Boudin Announces Groundbreaking Civil Prosecution Against Law Firm for Exploiting ADA to File Thousands of Fraudulent Lawsuits Against Small Businesses

April 11, 2022 | Source: San Francisco District Attorney’s Office

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin and Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón announce that the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office are filing a civil complaint against the law firm Potter Handy LLP. Potter Handy has filed thousands of fraudulent, boilerplate lawsuits against small businesses alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and California’s Unruh Act, a civil rights statute…

National News (U.S.)

ALS is only 50% genetic – identifying DNA regions affected by lifestyle and environmental risk factors could help pinpoint avenues for treatment

April 13, 2022 | Source: The Conversation

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a devastating neurodegenerative disease that affects about 1 in 50,000 people. Well-known people who suffered from ALS include baseball player Lou Gehrig, who lived two years after he was diagnosed, and scientist Stephen Hawking, who lived for an extraordinary 55 years after his diagnosis. While the severity and speed of disease progression vary from person to person, most people with ALS die within two to five years after diagnosis..

What Is Muscular Dystrophy, the Condition Gilbert Gottfried Died From?

April 13, 2022 | Source: Prevention

Tributes poured in for Gilbert Gottfried on Tuesday after news broke that he died in Manhattan. The 67-year-old comedian’s family shared on Twitter that he passed away “after a long illness.” Gottfried’s publicist Glenn Schwartz later said in a statement to People that the comedian died from recurrent ventricular tachycardia due to myotonic dystrophy type II, a heart complication due to a form of muscular dystrophy. Gottfried’s death has raised a lot of questions about muscular dystrophy, including its symptoms and how someone can actually die from the condition…

Hallmark’s new romance movie will be led by an actor with Down syndrome

April 14, 2022 | Source: Today

Hallmark’s latest movie promises to break more than hearts this year. It’s taking down barriers, too. “Color My World With Love” is one of the network’s latest projects, and according to a press release shared with TODAY, it will chronicle the romantic story of a woman named Kendall (Lily D. Moore), a skilled painter who has Down syndrome. The new original will premiere on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries and center on Kendall, a talented painter who draws on impressionist style to capture subjects…

Kentucky School for the Blind student TaMyah Jordan makes her runway debut at Los Angeles Fashion Revolution show

April 14, 2022 | Source: Kentucky Teacher

In the span of one week, TaMyah Jordan had taken the ACT exam and made her debut as a blind model for the Runway of Dreams fashion show in Los Angeles. Jordan, an 11th grade residential student at Kentucky School for the Blind (KSB), traveled to Los Angeles in March 2022 to make her runway debut as a blind model for Target on the Runway of Dreams stage. “[Modeling] is something that I could connect to things I loved. And I’ve always loved clothes,” she said…

Visually impaired man files suit against Eero over website accessibility

April 15, 2022 | Source: Madison – St. Clair Record

A man who has been legally blind since childhood is suing Eero LLC, claiming its digital properties are not accessible to individuals who are visually impaired. Plaintiff Eric Foreman filed the complaint on March 23 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois against Eero LLC, alleging violations of the Americans with Disability Act (ADA). Foreman has filed several other similar lawsuits in federal court. According to the lawsuit, Foreman claims he could not effectively communicate with Eero because the company’s digital content wasn’t formatted to be accessible to him…

Natasha Caudill Is Educating TikTok on Colorblindness One Makeup Swatch at a Time

April 15, 2022 | Source: Allure

Natasha Caudill sees the world in black, white, and about fifty shades of gray. At least that’s the joke she’s heard practically every week since the infamous book was published. A celebrated content creator with over 1.2 million followers on TikTok, Caudill was born with a genetic condition called achromatopsia. Due to this hereditary visual disorder, Caudill is completely colorblind, has daytime blindness requiring her to wear sunglasses indoors and out during the day, and has overall low visual acuity…

Woman on spectrum says State Labor Department needs better accessibility

April 15, 2022 | Source: WNYT

Darlene McGraw has autism and epilepsy. She tells 13 Investigates she had a hard time applying for unemployment. McGraw says she could not navigate the website properly because of her cognitive learning disability. Her hours were cut significantly at her part-time job during the pandemic, and she says she’s been trying for months to apply for unemployment. She’s called the Department of Labor many times for help but can’t get anyone on the phone. So she gave up and decided to call 13 Investigates…

Bringing American Sign Language to local weather alerts

April 15, 2022 | Source: The Washington Post

One morning in June 2000, Tara Burglund was driving through a thunderstorm on her way to work just north of Sioux City, Iowa. She could see the dark clouds looming overhead and feel the 74 mph winds trying to roll her car as she pressed on the brakes. But she couldn’t hear the cracks of thunder or the urgency of the severe weather alerts. Burglund is deaf. While she followed her instincts to pull over into a parking lot, she didn’t know what was going on…

Employee’s unwanted birthday party nets him $450,000 after lawsuit against KY company

April 15, 2022 | Source: Yahoo

Days before his birthday in August 2019, an employee at a Kentucky-based laboratory asked his office manager to not arrange a celebration for his birthday. It wasn’t the fear of getting older, but rather an anxiety disorder that can spur “panic attacks in stressful situations,” according to court documents. The employee, who was hired in October 2018 by Gravity Diagnostics, did not want a celebration because “being the center of attention” can trigger his disorder, the documents state…

North Adams not compliant with accessibility-related order issued last year for the public safety building

April 16, 2022 | Source: The Berkshire Eagle

A plan to address accessibility issues at the city’s police and fire department building is more than two years overdue to the state’s Architectural Access Board. In November, the Architectural Access Board, which enforces accessibility laws in public buildings, fined the city $8,150 and ordered it to submit a bond of $10,000 that would be returned when it submitted temporary remediation plans for the building and a plan for an accessible public bathroom…

Hoteliers Not Catering to the Accessible Travel Market Might Be Left Behind

April 16, 2022 | Source: TravelPulse

Several studies have indicated that the accessible travel market is poised to grow dramatically over the next few years. These analyses have been conducted in Europe and the Americas, and the results are all telling the same story: growth in the billions of dollars. Since over 600 million people worldwide require a level of physical accessibility assistance (due to a permanent, temporary or situational disability), it is no wonder that so many hoteliers, tour operators, OTA’s and destinations have included accessible travel as a vital part of their strategic plans…

A new TikTok feature changed the game for deaf users. Now, ‘DeafTok’ is a thriving, inclusive community

April 16, 2022 | Source: Business Insider

When Scarlet Watters, who is deaf, started making TikToks in March 2020, she was “terrified” at the prospect of creating content on a video-sharing platform that had not yet introduced closed captions. At first, Watters posted videos of herself dancing, “since that’s what everyone else was doing.” But with lip-syncing videos being one of the most popular genres at the time, she decided to dip her toe into making “ASL covers” — using American Sign Language (ASL) to sign along to song lyrics while lip-syncing…

United States Preventive Task Force guidelines call for screening kids as young as 8 for anxiety

April 17, 2022 | Source: NPR

An influential panel of experts says all kids ages eight to 18 should be screened regularly for anxiety. This draft recommendation by the United States Preventive Task Force comes at a time when mental health problems among kids have escalated and are overwhelming the health system. The task force also recommends that kids 12 and older continue to be screened for depression, a recommendation that’s been in place since 2016. The screenings are usually done by primary care physicians using standardized questionnaires that parents and/or kids answer…

Justice Department Expands Arizona Lawsuit Alleging Disability Discrimination in Access to Surgical Care

April 18, 2022 | Source: Department of Justice & Amended Complaint

The Justice Department filed an amended complaint today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona to add American Vision Partners (AVP) as a co-defendant in the department’s lawsuit against Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye Center (BDP). The amended complaint alleges that AVP and BDP discriminate against patients who, because of their disabilities, need assistance transferring from their wheelchairs for eye surgery. AVP provides management, training, policies and guidance, staff, infrastructure and technology to BDP and other eye care medical practices…

Inventor Helen M. Dowdell Is on a Quest to Achieve Physical Accessibility for All

April 18, 2022 | Source: Ebony

One of the greatest actions that we can do in life is help others, no matter their background or circumstance. It was this belief that urged Helen M. Dowdell, CEO of Mobility Unlimited Technology Worldwide (MUTW), to take on the task of creating a system to adapt to the needs of those with limited mobility. She invented a patented universally adaptive Wheelchair Traffic Signal System. This system specifically targets the needs of wheelchair users and the visually impaired with more intricate functioning in the way that a traditional stoplight helps other pedestrians who may not have the same challenges as those with limited mobility…

GSA looks into facial recognition bias and improving accessibility in federal web services

April 18, 2022 | Source: TechCrunch

The U.S. General Services Administration, which procures and investigates tech for things like government websites and online services, is making a two-pronged push for accessibility in its recently released Equity Action Plan. Websites must be made accessible beyond the bare minimum, it said, and bias in facial recognition systems means the feds will be avoiding it wherever possible. The Action Plan is the result of a bit of introspection at the GSA, which “conducted equity assessments and identified a set of actions for three high-impact focus areas,” one of which is “federal technology design & delivery.”…

40 years after the Americans with Disabilities Act, fight for access goes on

April 18, 2022 | Source: Daily Hampshire Gazette

Advocates for the rights of people with disabilities plan to rally this weekend for improved access to public spaces, calling attention to businesses where wheelchair users cannot shop and the crumbling downtown sidewalks that pose physical dangers for those with mobility challenges. At noon on Saturday, April 23, the march will begin at the train station at 170 Pleasant St. and end at Pulaski Park, at 240 Main St., where attendees can hear speeches from accessibility advocates and enjoy a live performance of the Coldplay song “The Scientist” by Philip Price, Flora Reed and Melissa Nelson…

Tennessee bans paying less than minimum wage to people with disabilities

April 18, 2022 | Source: Independent

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed legislation that prohibited paying people with disabilities below the minimum wage, making it the ninth state to end the practice. Under the federal Fair Labor and Standards Act, employers can apply for a certificate to pay people with disabilities “whose earning or productive capacity is impaired by a physical or mental disability, including those relating to age or injury, for the work to be performed” below the federal minimum wage…

Mastercard Creates Ad For Visually Impaired To Match Its Accessible Cards

April 19, 2022 | Source: Design Taxi

When advertisers promote their products, they seem remarkably adept at targeting the right audience—except when accessibility comes into play. It’s often expected that the abled persons in the circles of people with disabilities would see those commercials and buy those products for their friends, but the intended users are far more capable than others credit them to be. Mastercard walks the talk with a thoughtful spot that encapsulates what its accessibly-designed, differentiated cards are all about…

‘A Moral Obligation’: Mansfield Family Wants Playground Accessible For All Kids

April 19, 2022 | Source: CBS Boston

Estelle Lemieux has a big personality for a four-year old. Nothing makes her smile like a day at the playground with her parents, but it can also be a disheartening experience. “Estelle has a rare disease called SMA, Spinal Muscular Atrophy,” her mother Amy Lemieux told WBZ-TV. “It affects all her muscles, mostly her legs are affected.” She relies on a wheelchair to get around. Navigating most playgrounds, like the one at Mansfield Memorial Park by their home is a challenge…

Disability assistance would be more accessible under proposed health department rule

April 19, 2022 | Source: Michigan Radio

The state health department has submitted language that will make applying for Michigan disability assistance more accessible. The change would let interviews conducted during the application process take place over the phone instead of just in-person. Detroit Disability Power director Dessa Cosma said people who have medical or transportation issues or are concerned about COVID-19 need that flexibility. “It’s important that we have options so that we can be safe and so that we can get our needs met without having to put ourselves in harm’s way, Cosma said…

Coachella 2022: Accessible Festivals assists over 700 festivalgoers during Weekend 1

April 21, 2022 | Source: Palm Springs Desert Sun

Anyone who attends the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival or the Stagecoach country music festival knows it’s difficult to get around the site, and for disabled patrons, it can be even more challenging. Austin Whitney, the founder and board president of Accessible Festivals, has for years navigated around dirt parking lots and through oblivious crowds in a wheelchair, the result of a near-fatal accident when he was 18 that severed his spinal cord and paralyzed him from the waist down…

Schools are struggling to hire special education teachers. Hawaii may have found a fix

April 21, 2022 | Source: NPR

A few years after Heather Carll started teaching special education in Hawaii public schools, she called it quits. She needed a break from the meetings, paperwork and legal responsibilities that make teaching students with disabilities one of the toughest jobs in education. “I felt like, ‘Let me get away from [Individualized Education Programs] and see what it’s like to teach without that responsibility, without that extra added stress to my job,’ ” she says…

Disabled and low-income residents raise Chapel Hill parking accessibility concerns

April 19, 2022 | Source: The Daily Tar Heel

For disabled veteran Darice Johnson, finding parking in downtown Chapel Hill can often be a challenge due to congestion on the small streets. Although accessible parking is available, heavy foot and car traffic typically crowd the downtown area. This causes Johnson to try and avoid downtown altogether. “It’s very stressful trying to drive and park in those areas — that whole 10 block radius,” Johnson said. And while Chapel Hill residents know the struggle of finding parking downtown, the issue is even greater for those limited by a disability or cost…

The Most Accessible Best of Beauty Award-Winning Products for People Who Are Blind or Have Low Vision

April 20, 2022 | Source: Allure

As an above-elbow amputee who loves beauty, I’ve spent a lot of time studying products in order to find ones that are great in terms of both quality and ease of use with one hand. There’s nothing worse than struggling to open your lip gloss and finally dropping the wand on your white pants. But in my ventures to find accessible products for myself, one thing constantly bothered me: Some things that were great for me sometimes weren’t accessible to those living with other needs, such as people who are visually impaired…

What It Takes to Launch an Accessible Beauty Brand at 23

April 20, 2022 | Source: POPSUGAR

I was raised by a pretty health-conscious family, going all the way back to my grandmother. That was always a part of my life. What made me fully understand the power of the right wellness routine, though, was an experience my mom went through with her autoimmune disease. When I was a teenager, my mom switched over to seeing a more holistically minded physician and had an incredible improvement in her symptoms. Because of that, I decided I wanted to be a doctor and help people through this lens of holistic health…

Circuit Courts Split on Standing to Sue in ADA Title III Website Accessibility Claims

April 20, 2022 | Source: Jackson Lewis

On standing to sue under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), two U.S. Circuit Courts have arrived at opposite conclusions where the plaintiffs did not allege any concrete injury and said they had no intention of visiting the hotels whose websites were the subject of their accessibility lawsuits. The courts based their decisions on the same U.S. Supreme Court case law and nearly identical facts. After the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 578 U.S. 330, 340 (2016), courts have decided a number of cases on the issue of standing vis à vis “concrete harm,” which is harm that is “real, and not abstract.”…

Michigan, NPS team up to promote accessibility to national parks

April 21, 2022 | Source: ClickOnDetroit & 9&10 News

The Whitmer Administration announced that the National Parks Service and Michigan are partnering to promote accessibility to national parks. Michigan is home to five national parks, and according to a press release, 3.2 million people visited parks across the state and spent an estimated $267 million in local communities. Data shows that this much money spent in Michigan towns and cities helped support about 3,770 jobs. The NPS and Michigan partnership is closing the gaps between many state departments and allowing them to work together to execute new ways and provide emerging mobility technologies to make parks safer and more accessible…

Comcast aids Federation of Blind of Utah to improve internet accessibility

April 21, 2022 | Source: Lehi Free Press

Internet service provider Comcast is committed to making products, technology, and experiences accessible to the widest possible audience, and to opening new doors to independence for people with disabilities. One example is the company’s newly formed partnership with National Federation of the Blind of Utah, which serves 42,000 blind individuals in the state. “Helping all individuals have accessibility to the Internet is so vital to our mission that we have partnered with National Federation of the Blind of Utah at their annual convention,” said Deneiva Knight, director of external affairs director, Comcast Mountain West Region…

Choice Hotels ADA Class Action Claims Website Not Accessible to Blind, Visually Impaired Individuals

April 21, 2022 | Source: Top Class Actions

Choice Hotels does not make its website accessible to the blind, further increasing stigma for people with visual disabilities, a new class action lawsuit alleges. Plaintiff John Mahoney filed the class action complaint against Choice Hotels International, LLC Apr. 18 in a Pennsylvania federal court, alleging violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). Mahoney, who is legally blind, said he needs screen-reading software to read website content using his computer…

Jack Fact — According to World Bank, there are 138 million elderly people in India, which is set to rise to 194 million by 2031, and 319 million by 2050, more than double that of Russia’s population today.

Hit The Road Jack — Adaptive surfing, beach wheelchairs increase accessibility to Oregon coast & Wheel The World Announces 9 Fully Accessible Group Tours For 2022

International News

New regulation next step toward barrier-free B.C.

April 14, 2022 | Source: BC Gov New- Canada & HRD- Canada

Beginning Sept. 1, 2022, more than 750 public-sector organizations will start establishing accessibility committees, accessibility plans and public-feedback mechanisms as required under the new Accessible British Columbia Regulation. These organizations include school districts, post-secondary institutions, public libraries and local governments. “In B.C., there are more than 926,000 people with disabilities who face barriers in their daily lives when accessing services,” said Nicholas Simons, Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction…

RightHear Is On a Mission to Make Public Spaces More Inclusive and Accessible for Everyone

April 14, 2022 | Source: Newsbreak- Israel & New York Tech

Accessing basic information might be difficult for those with visual impairments. How does a blind person get their bearings and determine the best path? Or maybe you want to read a document that isn’t available in braille? Respond to a coworker’s email? Globally, at least 2.2 billion people have a pretty near or distant visual impairment, according to the WHO. Today, there are numerous options for dealing with vision impairment. One of them is RightHear, a spatial orientation tool that makes wayfinding in indoor or outdoor areas easier for those who are blind or visually impaired…

Atkins completes 1,000th accessibility audit of railway network

April 30, 2022 | Source: Consultancy- UK

The UK Government is undertaking a nationwide accessibility audit of its railway network, as it looks to support disabled travellers returning to public transport. Consultants from Atkins have so far completed 1,000 such audits across the country. The provision of access for people with disabilities or reduced mobility can vary considerably across Britain, depending on what type of access is considered. According to National Rail Enquiries, as of January 2019, all UK stations provided at least one type of disability access, as hearing induction loops are available in all stations across the country…

Why Download Festival 2022 will be the most accessible ever

April 19, 2022 | Source: Kerrang!- UK

Heavy music is for everyone. As uncontroversial as that sentiment is, it’s not always easy to enact, especially when you’re trying to fashion a hospitable space for people with disabilities amongst the mud and madness of the UK’s biggest rock festival. Thanks to accessibility rep Katie Hester and her enthusiastic teammates, however, Download Festival continues to blaze a trail for major event accessibility in live music. Amongst the host of all-round improvements announced last week – including bold environmental initiatives and significantly-reduced walking distances around site…

Developing accessible premises, products and services

April 19, 2022 | Source: PBC Today- UK

When it comes to accessibility, there’s no such thing as one size fits all but there are certain scenarios that consistently present challenges whatever the environment, and there are also remedies that can alleviate or even eliminate the problems. One constant that applies across the spectrum is the benefit of approaching accessibility with an open mind, and with the appreciation that people are different, and so are the businesses and organisations they visit, patronise and work for…

Mixed reviews for new, accessible courthouse in Bay St. George

April 19, 2022 | Source: CBC- Canada

Stephenville resident Bill Jones says it’s a step in the right direction. Now he’s hoping government will follow through on plans to build an accessible government services building in Bay St. George. “It’s good to see, but when how many times have you heard the government make promises on things and it’s not actually transpired? So I’m a little bit skeptical,” said Jones. “I hope it does actually happen, but again, I’m going to have to wait and see.”…

Amsterdam and Accessibility: Here’s how AI startups are helping the city

April 19, 2022 | Source: Silicon Canals- Netherlands

As a society, we have entered into a brand new chapter – the Fourth Industrial revolution. In this era, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being viewed as a technology that will fundamentally alter the way we live and work. So far, impressive progress has been made in AI in recent years, driven by significant increases in computing power and by the availability of extensive amounts of data, from self-driving cars and virtual assistants to the software that translates or invests…

Forgotten people

April 22, 2022 | Source: Telegraph- India

It’s 2016: a momentous year in the history of the disability rights movement in India. Parliament has passed the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, which aims to further accessibility, equality of opportunity and dignity for PwD. Six years have passed since; but where lies accessibility? The RPwD Act is perfect on paper but its implementation has been tardy. The non-implementation of the goals of the Act can be attributed to a general lack of awareness…

Wheelchair Users Block the Seoul Subway as the Right Takes Power

April 20, 2022 | Source: The Nation- South Korea

April 15 marked the 91st day of a dramatic confrontation at Hyehwa station in the middle of the South Korean capital. Disability rights activists, many of them in wheelchairs, have been staging subway protests to demand accommodations on public transit. And on this day the demonstrators chained themselves to each other and to a portable ladder, reenacting a 2001 protest where activists chained themselves to the subway tracks. Now they shouted, “Pass a budget for disabled citizens! No rights without a budget!”…

71% of guests believe not enough is being done to make UK venues more accessible

April 20, 2022 | Source: Boutique Hotelier- UK

A new consumer survey has revealed 71% of guests believe there is not enough attention being brought to accessibility in the UK hospitality industry. The ‘Accessibility in Hospitality’ survey, commissioned by Robin Sheppard (Founder of the Blue Badge Access Awards and President of Bespoke Hotels), in collaboration with guest experience management experts, HGEM, found that 71% of customers want more to be done to address the lack of accessibility in the industry….

Virtual assistants: A help or hindrance for people with disabilities?

April 20 | Source: Tech Advisor- Spain

Laura Moya doesn’t like technology very much. In fact, within just a few minutes of talking to her, she’ll tell you just how inaccessible it is for anyone with a disability. But Laura isn’t letting that stop her. She’s currently working on her thesis at the University of Zaragoza in north-eastern Spain. While the digital world has the potential to greatly improve the lives of people with disabilities, she feels there’s a long way to go before it’s completely accessible and inclusive…

How to be a more accessible employer

April 20, 2022 | Source: HRD- Canada

As offices begin to tentatively re-open, and employers consider a more hybrid approach to work, questions around inclusivity, accessibility, and disability policies are coming to light. And, according to recent research, HR leaders ignore these priorities at their own peril. Data from the Institute of Corporate Productivity found three in four businesses ranked employees with disabilities to be just as good or even better than their co-workers. What’s more, McKinsey and Company’s research highlighted that companies that hire diverse and differently-abled workers enjoy increased revenues of up to 35%…

Accessibility is key for EV charging

April 20, 2022 | Source: Property Week- UK

National disability charity Motability estimates that there will be 2.7 million drivers or passengers with a disability by 2035 (the date after which any new car bought in the UK will need to be fully electric), with half reliant on public electric charging. Drivers with restricted mobility will make this number even greater. So why is improving accessibility so important for landlords to consider this year? Because not only is there a demand for accessible public EV chargers to be built on sites such as petrol forecourts and retail/leisure parks…

Independent Review of Accessibility Act Launches

April 21, 2022 | Source: Government of Nova Scotia- Canada

Consultations for the first independent review of the Accessibility Act launched today, April 21. Katie Aubrecht, an associate professor in the sociology department at St. Francis Xavier University and Director of its Spatializing Care: Intersectional Disability Studies Lab, is leading the review. She will be consulting with persons with disabilities, organizations that serve them, and others affected by the legislation and then submit a report with recommendations to the Minister of Justice…

Technology for Education and Accessibility for Neurodiverse Children

April 21, 2022 | Source: Observatory of Educational Innovation – Tecnológico de Monterrey- Spain

Accessibility is of utmost importance for a fair and egalitarian educational offering. Previous articles have discussed the tremendous challenges people with different abilities face to access and take advantage of educational or work opportunities. Digital resources help build a bridge between people with special needs and the educational experience they need. “Yo también leo” (I also read), an application developed by Gemma Fàbregas and Marie Anne Aimée, was designed based on methodologies adapted to children with varying cognitive abilities…

Playgrounds in Tamil Nadu to be audited to ensure accessibility to disabled

April 22, 2022 | Source: The New Indian Express- India

To ensure that public spaces are accessible to the disabled as mandated by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act, 2016, 62 playgrounds across the State will be audited at a cost of Rs 37.2 lakh. Following that, steps will be taken to make them disabled-friendly. The differently-abled welfare department said a high-level committee will be formed to find out vacancies and ensure that 4% reservation is provided to the persons with disabilities (PwDs) as per the RPWD Act…

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