Accessibility in the News — 3/13/2020.

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Schools and universities throw students into panic after telling them to leave campus and take classes online amid coronavirus fears

March 10, 2020 | Source: Yahoo

College closings: More than 100 colleges cancel in-person classes and move online-

March 11, 2020 | Source: USA Today

Tracking college closures: U.S. colleges closing, going online due to coronavirus-

March 11, 2020 | Source: azcentral

A list of area schools and universities closed over coronavirus concerns-

March 11, 2020 | Source: Newsday

Schools Tap Coronavirus Update Centers to Avoid Panic in School Community-

March 11, 2020 | Source: Benzinga

When you say coronavirus will only kill the vulnerable, you’re talking about me-

March 12, 2020 | Source: Fast Company

Blackboard works together with the education community to deliver continuity of education during coronavirus-

March 12, 2020 | Source: Education Dive

Planning for the Digital Accessibility Needs of Students with Disabilities as Part of a Campus Mitigation Plan for COVID-19

March 12, 2020 | Source: Texas Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities

In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19, US colleges and universities are giving students at least a week’s notice to pack up and leave campus until further notice. Instead of in-person classes, courses will be held online. The move has left students scrambling to make alternative housing plans, and raises questions about whether they’ll have the resources to attend school online. Students at a growing number of US schools have been told students to leave campus in the coming weeks and take their courses online — some with only a week’s notice — as states with significant outbreaks declared a state of emergency in the past week…

National News (U.S.)

Fair housing analysis finds lack of affordability, accessibility

March 5, 2020 | Source: Wyoming Tribune

The federal Fair Housing Act of 1968, amended in 1988, protects residents from housing discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status or disability. But Wyoming residents still face impediments to fair housing, according to an analysis from the city’s Housing and Community Development Office. Deanne Widauf, the office’s program manager, outlined the findings of the analysis at a public meeting Wednesday. Perhaps the biggest barrier to fair housing in Wyoming is the lack of a state agency to handle housing discrimination complaints…

NYC Transit Accessibility Is Abysmal — Here’s How Other Cities Do It Better

March 6, 2020 | Source: Gothamist

Disability rights advocate fight for transit accessibility

March 10, 2020 | Source: Queens Daily Eagle

Battle Over Subway Accessibility Heads Back To Court

March 11, 2020 | Source: CBS New York

As a lifelong New Yorker, Sasha Blair-Goldensohn had always been a proud subway rider. But when he got seriously injured and started using a wheelchair about a decade ago, he felt resigned to never take the train again. He was grateful that all of the city’s buses are wheelchair-accessible and he found he could fit his manual wheelchair in the trunk of a regular taxi, if the driver was willing to lift him out. It wasn’t until he got stuck in the snow one day, unable to hail a cab, that he decided to venture underground again…

Epcon settles complaint over accessibility for disabled

March 6, 2020 | Source: The Columbus Dispatch

Epcon Communities has settled a long-standing dispute over accessibility for the disabled in some of its older communities. The Columbus-based condominium builder has agreed to spend up to $2.2 million to improve accessibility in 32 of its Ohio properties. The agreement resolves complaints that the Columbus house and condominium builder violated the Fair Housing Act. The case began with complaints filed in 2011 over access for residents with disabilities in some of Epcon’s older communities built in a “pinwheel” design of four connected condominiums…

No clear path for accessible websites

March 6, 2020 | Source: MPNnow

If you run a business with a website, experts say it’s advisable to determine whether it meets accessibility guidelines for individuals who are legally blind or otherwise visually impaired. Not doing so could carry significant risk, including the possibility of legal action, according to attorney Todd Shinaman. Shinaman, who works as counsel for the Nixon Peabody law firm’s labor and employment group in Rochester, has seen a number of lawsuits targeting businesses for not having accessible websites. The tactics of each plaintiff, he noted, tend to follow a similar pattern…

Thousands Of Non-English Speakers To Be Denied Disability Benefits Under New Rule

March 6, 2020 | Source: Huffington Post

Ly La is a 50-year-old refugee from Myanmar with an artificial valve in her heart whose doctors say she can’t do physically demanding work. The government turned her down repeatedly for disability benefits, but she won her claim on appeal last year. An administrative law judge noted her myriad health problems and also the fact that she can’t speak English. The money has changed her life. Without the $783 per month, La said through an interpreter, “I think I would die.”…

Blind man fails citizenship test after being denied Braille

March 6, 2020 | Source: BBC News

Duckworth Condemns USCIS for Failing to Follow Civil Rights Law for Blind Man Seeking Citizenship Test

March 10, 2020 | Source: Tammy Duckworth (PDF)

A blind man has been denied US citizenship after immigration agents refused to provide him with an English language sentence to read in Braille. Lucio Delgado, 23, was born blind and uses a cane to get around. He moved to the US from Mexico six years ago. Mr Delgado said he was offered a large-print sentence to read, which he could not, being totally blind. Mr Delgado, who is legally blind under Illinois state law, was told to get a doctor’s note to prove his condition…

How to make your next event as accessible as can be

March 7. 2020 | Source: Business Matters

Having a disability shouldn’t stop anybody from attending an event. Unfortunately, there are often many barriers making it harder for this group to take part. In August 2019, organisers of Ed Sheeran’s concert at Roundhay Park in Leeds were slammed by disabled fans who claimed they were physically unable to access the designated entrances and reserved areas. This isn’t a problem limited to the music industry either. Emma Muldoon, who runs the blog Simply Emma, wrote a lengthy piece in January 2019 highlighting some of the accessibility issues in cinemas…

A Deaf-Blind Dishwasher Achieves His Childhood Dream: Movie Actor

March 7, 2020 | Source: The New York Times

Doug Roland, a filmmaker, was walking home from a night out at 4 a.m. in the East Village when he saw a man standing on a deserted street corner in need of help. After trying to speak to the man, Mr. Roland, 35, noticed he held a sign explaining that he was deaf and blind and needed help crossing the street. He then scribbled on a notebook that he also needed help finding a nearby bus stop. “It was the first time I’d met a deaf-blind person and he just took my arm and trusted me, a total stranger on a New York street, to direct him,” recalled Mr. Roland…

Crip Camp: An Interview with Filmmaker Jim LeBrecht About Accessibility, Universal Design, and Spaces of Freedom

March 7, 2020 | Source: Archinect

The politics of disability are fundamentally spatial. They respond to the struggle for equal access and representation against different forms of socio-spatial discrimination and aspire to alternative understandings of the relation between the body and space that destabilize both current constructions of an able body as well as established norms concerning the use of space. Expanding beyond design guides and regulations to encompass more broadly structural and systemic issues related to the experience of disablement and segregation, this concern continues to be relevant well beyond the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)…

Three Ways to Make your Gym more Accessible for Adaptive Athletes

March 9, 2020 | Source: Morning Chalk Up

“When we design for disability first, you often stumble upon solutions that are better than those when we design for the norm.” Elise Roy said. With a quarter of all New Zealanders having permanent access needs and others affected in different situations, we must design with accessibility in mind. On Wednesday 11th March, Tech for Good is hosting a workshop on the benefits and the basics of digital accessibility. They’ll look at why accessibility is important on the web, how to get buy-in from your business and how to make it happen…

Disabilities and equal transit: A civil rights imperative

March 8, 2020 | Source: New York Daily News

Although government enjoys talking the talk, are they truly willing to partner in the multifaceted effort required to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities? This community has been struggling with disproportionate unemployment rates for many years. According to a 2018 report from the city controller, transportation is a major barrier to employment for people with disabilities. This is why Access-A-Ride must evolve into a viable option, affording our city’s otherwise abled citizens the same rights, autonomy and access to opportunity as everyone else…

How mice are changing the lives of some deaf children

March 9, 2020 | Source: WQAD

Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital have found a potential treatment for hereditary deafness, the same condition thought to have caused Beethoven to lose his hearing. The scientists are using a new gene-editing approach that they say could someday prevent profound hearing loss. “These children are born fairly normal, but then over ten or 20 years, they lose their hearing,” explained David Corey, a neurobiologist at Harvard Medical School…

Blind Triangle exec makes it his business to break down digital accessibility barriers

March 10, 2020 | Source: WRAL Tech Wire

John Samuel has an eclectic resume. He’s worked as a senior exec for a tech company in India, headed up a venture company’s telecom arm in Uganda and helped launch a crowdfunding startup in Washington, D.C. All the while, however, he operated under an open secret: he is blind. “Up until this point, I wasn’t using a cane or assisted technology,” he recalls. “I didn’t want to be associated with the blind community.” Fast-forward to today: Samuel, 38, is set to be a keynote speaker at NC TECH’s Diversity + Inclusion Summit at Durham’s Sheraton Hotel on March 13…

Organizations Work to Make Social Media More Accessible to Those with Disabilities

March 10, 2020 | Source: FOX 21 (Video)

Organizations from across the Northland learned ways to make their social media accounts more accessible to people with disabilities. The Great Lakes Aquarium in Duluth was one of those organizations. The workshop was held there by Minnesota Access Alliance–a non-profit with a mission to raise the bar for accessibility in the state. Today’s event focused on the use of alt-text which allows web authors to verbally describe images for people who are blind…

Serial plaintiff sues Louis Garneau USA over website ADA compliance

March 10, 2020 | Source: Bicycle Retailer

An Astoria, N.Y. man who is legally blind is the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit filed against Louis Garneau USA. The suit alleges the Vermont-based company’s website is not compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act. The man, Brian Fischler, is the lead plaintiff on dozens of similar lawsuits filed in New York over the last two years; his law firm is among the firms that file the majority of such cases across the country. Last year, a man from Brooklyn sued Haro Bicycle with a similar complaint. That suit, which was later settled, does not appear to be related to the suit against Garneau…

TTU computer science instructor provides visuals for visually-impaired

March 10, 2020 | Source: Overton County News

April Crockett’s lesson plans in her computer science classes at Tennessee Tech have always included plenty of visual and dynamic examples. When two visually-impaired computer science majors began taking her classes, though, Crockett looked to enhance her lesson plans. Now, she is creating visuals for the visually-impaired. “I have never had visually-impaired students before,” said Crockett, a Tennessee Tech alumna who earned a BS in computer science in 2001 and an MS in computer science in 2004…

Debunked and explained: Deafness in America

March 10, 2020 | Source: The Signal

Children sit in a classroom, intently focused on their teacher. They see their teacher’s lips moving yet hear no sound. Expected to read the lips of their teacher in order to follow along with the lesson, the school day was filled with practicing breathing patterns, mouth shapes and vocal exercises in hopes of producing speech. If they dared to attempt to use their hands in order to communicate, they’d be harshly disciplined, usually by slapping their hands with rulers until they were red and blistered…

Gordon Hartman Is On A Mission To Make San Antonio Accessible For Everyone

March 11, 2020 | Source: Texas Public Radio

THURSDAY on “The Source” — Gordon Hartman’s vision is simple: inclusivity for all. Inspired by his daughter Morgan, Hartman is a vocal advocate and driving force in efforts to make San Antonio accessible to individuals with cognitive and physical special needs. For the last 15 years, his foundation has provided millions of dollars in funding to organizations that help improve the lives of children and adults with special needs…

Visually impaired students push for more accessibility in STEM programs

March 12, 2020 | Source: WMAR

It’s all about precision, hands-on experience and a little fun. As part of FIRST LEGO League, middle schoolers get to build robots, code them and compete against other teams. But for one group in Nottingham group, it’s different. “These kids have it a lot harder,” said Engineering and Design teacher Gina Fugate. They’re navigating a field dependent on sight… without it. Out of the hundreds of teams statewide, only two are blind and visually impaired. Both are run by the Maryland School for the Blind…

Developer Who’s Visually Impaired Finds Career Rebirth Using Oracle APEX

March 12, 2020 | Source: Forbes

Vladimir Goncharov wasn’t born blind, but he’s been losing his eyesight progressively since early childhood. As an adult, his developer career has involved learning new workarounds to stay ahead of his failing sight due to retinitis pigmentosa—like using bold type, then white-on-black type, then big monitors, and finally screen readers. Trained as a developer, he became an Oracle database administrator because it involved more thinking and less time on a screen. But then he discovered Oracle Application Express platform (APEX), which worked well with the JAWS screen-reader tools…

Jack Fact — The National Center for Health Statistics estimates that the number of annual primary care office visits for seniors is now more than 90 per 100 people, versus around 70 per 100 people for the next closest age group, under 15 years old’s.

Hit The Road Jack — Navigating Helsinki in a wheelchair throws up challenges where old meets new

International News

Singapore’s LTA launches transport safety and accessibility initiatives

March 5, 2020 | Source: Intelligent Transport- Singapore

Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) has recently announced a number of initiatives and projects which aim to improve the safety and inclusivity of the country’s transport network. Wheelchair users and visually-impaired commuters will reportedly benefit from more accessible public buses with the expansion of a trial of mobile application with assistive technologies by the LTA. In 2019, LTA collaborated with SG Enable and the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH) to trial a mobile application leveraging assistive technologies to help bus commuters with special needs…

New online car search tool to help elderly and disabled people find a suitable vehicle for their accessibility needs

March 6, 2020 | Source: AT Today- UK

The Research Institute for Disabled Consumers (RiDC) has launched a new online car search tool, with data on over 1,700 vehicles to help disabled and older people shortlist suitable vehicles using specific accessibility measurements. According to the charity, elderly and disabled people increasingly need specific measurements when choosing a car for their needs. For instance, older drivers, who find bending more difficult, might seek a car with higher seats. Similarly, carers often want a vehicle that has a large, flat boot to make loading a light mobility scooter or wheelchair in and out easier, RiDC adds…

More safety checks for high-rise buildings in amendments to Building Control Act

March 6, 2020 | Source: CAN- Singapore

Older buildings will have to undergo facade inspections every seven years under new rules in the Building Control Act passed in Parliament on Friday (Mar 6). Tighter regulations for lifts and escalators, and provisions that require buildings to retrofit accessibility features were also passed, and are set to be implemented progressively from the second half of 2021. Speaking in Parliament, Minister of State for National Development Zaqy Mohamad said that BCA was alerted to almost 30 incidents of falling facade elements annually over the last three years…

Regaining my hearing after a decade of deafness gave me imposter syndrome

March 7, 2020 | Source: Metro- UK

I started losing my hearing from the age of 18. I did not expect to go deaf, even though it runs in the family. Bits of my hearing identity kept falling off as I lost another frequency. I was in denial for years until I began using interpreters and stenographers (a person who transcribes speech). I made a success of my life, developed a tough skin and numbed myself. By my thirties I was almost totally deaf, with hearing aids no longer allowing me to follow speech. I avoided focussing on what I’d ‘lost’, but I often felt exhausted and excluded…

Tech For Good Is Helping Kiwis Use Technology To Create A More Accessible World

March 8, 2020 | Source: Scoop- New Zealand

When most people think about accessibility compliance they think about mobility-based laws, like ramps, which are governed by the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) or Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). But, there are many other ways you can easily make your gym more inviting and inclusive for all athletes that are often overlooked. Here are three things you can do today to re-organize your equipment and make your gym more accessible for athletes with disabilities…

Accessibility initiatives at CubaDupa

March 9, 2020 | Source: Scoop- New Zealand

CubaDupa is leading the way in making the street festival welcoming to all audiences with its 2020 accessibility initiatives. The capital’s most diverse free muti-arts festival has worked closely with Arts Access Aotearoa and Blind Low Vision NZ, as well as art access advocates Judith Jones and Hayley Jeffrey, to provide programming and resources for a variety of communities. Through these conversations, CubaDupa has created a range of resources to help festival-goers plan their weekend at CubaDupa and move freely and comfortably through the festival site…

Why Coles is turning to ‘inclusive Agile’

March 9, 2020 | Source: iTnews- Australia

Accessibility now more than just a “cautionary tale”. Coles is moving to an inclusive agile approach for the way it develops and enhances over 200 digital assets, from websites and apps to kiosks and “assisted checkouts”. The supermarket giant is using patterns and resources from the Accessibility Project – or A11Y – to guide its work on improving the digital experience for all users of its platforms. Senior digital experience and accessibility analyst Mel O’Brien told the A11Y Camp in Sydney late last year that Coles made big changes to its approach to accessibility after settling a high-profile case in 2015…

“Give Us a Motive – Identify a barrier through Lenses“ Exhibition held in Sarajevo

March 9, 2020 | Source: Sarajevo Times- Bosnia

The award ceremony for the best photos in the photo contest “Give Us a Motive – Identify a barrier through Lenses“, organized as a part of the campaign “All Faces of Accessibility“, took place at the EU Info Centre in Sarajevo. The objective of the photo contest was to identify various forms of barriers that all citizens, especially persons with disabilities, face on a daily basis. Gianluca Vannini, Head of Operations Section for Social Development, Civil Society and Cross Border Cooperation of the EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina emphasized that it is necessary to change habits and attitudes towards persons with disabilities…

Karachi’s Frere Hall is inaccessible to people with disabilities. Aurat March made it inclusive

March 10, 2020 | Source: Images- Pakistan

“I only decided to attend the Aurat March when I was informed by the organising team that the march will be inclusive for those with disabilities and arrangements are being made for easy access,” said Aneeq, a fresher at a liberal arts college in Karachi. “Without the access ramp, it would have been impossible for my electric bike to enter the main area of the jalsa. I would have left the venue immediately if access ramps weren’t present at the venue.” He further added that ‘lifting the wheelchair up’ as a solution to inaccessibility is humiliating to a wheelchair user…

$21m to upgrade wheelchair accessible taxis

March 10, 2020 | Source: Mirage News- Australia

More than 50 taxi operators will receive funding to make their taxis accessible for people with disability under a $21 million grants program. Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said the Palaszczuk Government’s four-year grant scheme will support taxi operators to modernise Queensland’s wheelchair accessible taxi fleet. “This funding will help operators across Queensland to upgrade their older vehicles, so those vehicles can stay in service, rather than dropping out of the accessible taxi fleet when they become too expensive to maintain, or reach the end of their serviceable life,” Mr Bailey said…

RNIB helps make new £20 note accessible to those with sight loss

March 10, 2020 | Source: Barchester Healthcare- UK

UK consumers now have access to a brand new £20 note, which has a range of innovative features designed to make it highly secure, but also user-friendly for the public. The new note comes with tactile markings that distinguish it from the £10 and £5 notes, making it easier for people with sight loss to tell them apart. This could prove a particularly valuable addition for older people with visual impairments who don’t feel comfortable using digital and electronic payment methods, meaning they still rely on physical currency…

Sights and sounds of proposed code changes

March 10, 2020 | Source: Real Estate Management Industry Network- Canada

A package of proposed changes to Canada’s National Building Code aims to improve navigability and safety in large buildings for people with mobility, vision and/or hearing constraints. This includes: new barrier-free design principles linked to specified minimum requirements for turning space, clearance from structural protrusions and equitable access to all building entrances; an emphasis on ensuring universal ability to comprehend and use controls and recognize and respond to hazards; and stipulated features in public spaces such as washrooms, change rooms, service counters and theatres/assembly rooms…

Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations – an overview

March 10, 2020 | Source: Bersenas Jacobsen Chouest Thomson Blackburn- Canada

In 2019 the Canadian federal government took steps to address barriers for persons with disabilities, including the introduction of the Accessible Canada Act. The stated goal is to make Canada barrier free by 2040. The legislation and related regulations target federal agencies and federally regulated industries, including aviation. The Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations (ATPDR) were finalised and published in July 2019 as part of the Canadian Transportation Agency’s Regulatory Modernisation Initiative, which launched in 2016.

Accessible packaging design is the key to helping consumers

March 11. 2020 | Source: Food & Beverage- Australia

How many times have we all grabbed a knife to open a pack of food, spilt it across the kitchen because the pack was too hard to open, been unable to read the text on the pack (even with glasses on) and then vowed to never buy that brand again? Now imagine if you were part of the ageing population, hospitalised, a consumer with a disability, an arthritis sufferer or a child. All too often, accessible packaging is not considered when designing products, which in turn leads to unnecessary frustration when opening and closing packs, reading the ingredients and opening instructions on packaging…

Accessible Street Package is ‘bad lawmaking’

March 12, 2020 | Source: Stuff- New Zealand

The Accessible Streets Package released on Monday should really have been called the Inaccessible Streets Package as far as pedestrians, especially disabled ones, are concerned. The Government is proposing to change the rules to allow anyone to ride an e-bike, bike, e-scooter, motorised skateboard or any other device that isn’t a motor vehicle on the footpath. They’ll have to be used courteously and considerately, and without endangering others, be less than 750 millimetres wide and keep below 15kmh. Only the width and speed limits are new…

Minister marks the 10th anniversary of Canada’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

March 11, 2020 | Source: Employment and Social Development- Canada

The Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, today issued the following statement: “On this day, ten years ago, Canada made a significant step forward on its journey to build a more accessible and inclusive country by ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD). The Convention is an international human rights instrument that requires State Parties to promote, protect and ensure the rights of persons with disabilities…

Housing accessibility standards review to start ‘within weeks’

March 12, 2020 | Source: 24housing- UK & Home Care Insight- UK

Consultation on accessibility standards in new homes is set to start in “a matter of weeks” the Commons has heard. During Equalities questions, Liz Twist (Lab – Blaydon) pushed MHCLG minister Luke Hall on when the consultation promised by Theresa May last June would begin. Hall said “We have been working across government on accessible housing provision and we’ll consult in a matter of weeks on options to raise the accessibility standards in new homes…

It can turn you blind

March 12, 2020 | Source: Greater Kashmir- Kashmir

Glaucoma is the second most common cause of blindness and first most common cause of irreversible blindness. The global prevalence of glaucoma for population aged 40-80 yrs is 3.54%. In 2013 the number of people(aged 40-80 yrs) with glaucoma worldwide was estimated to be 64.3 million increasing to 76 million in 2020( Glaucoma and projections of glaucoma blindness through 2040, American Academy of ophthalmology). One in every eight person above the age of forty years is either a glaucoma suspect or patient. One in every 3000 new borns is a case of congenital glaucoma…

Deafness, hearing loss and ageing-

March 12, 2020 | Source: Portugal Resident- Spain

On World Hearing Day 2020 (March 3), the WHO highlighted that timely and effective interventions can ensure that people with hearing loss are able to achieve their full potential. It also drew attention to the options available. Age-related hearing loss (presbycusis) is the loss of hearing that gradually occurs in most of us as we grow older. It is one of the most common conditions affecting older and elderly adults. Approximately one in three people between the ages of 65 and 74 suffer from hearing loss, and nearly half of those older than 75 have difficulty hearing…

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