Accessibility in the News — 4/30/2021.

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Feature Stories

No one left behind: Why brands should prioritize accessibility

April 23, 2021 | Source: PR Week & PR Daily

Most people take social media for granted as a part of their everyday lives. But for people with disabilities, participating in the online conversation isn’t always easy. Despite making up 15% of the global population and having a disposable income of more than $8 trillion, accessibility remains an issue for people with disabilities. Current Global, Magna and the IPG Media Lab released a study on Wednesday, Digital Accessibility: The Necessity of Inclusion, which surveyed more than 800 people living with visual, hearing, cognitive or speech disabilities across the U.S. and the U.K…

This Oscar nominee plans to shatter the film world’s crippling ableism

April 24, 2021 | Source: MSNBC

Oscars Diversity: Historic Firsts for Non-Acting Categories and Ceremony Accessibility

April 25, 2021 | Source: Hollywood Reporter

Powerful Google ad about grandparents who are deaf makes Oscars viewers emotional

April 25, 2021 | Source: Today

For the very first time in its 93-year history, the Academy Awards nominated a director with a visible disability. If that statement conjures both satisfaction and indignation, you’re not alone. “Crip Camp,” a feature documentary about a summer camp for teenagers with disabilities who went on to redefine disability rights in the 1970s, was written and directed by Nicole Newnham and James LeBrecht. If the film wins the award for best documentary, LeBrecht would become the first person who uses a wheelchair to ever win an Oscar…

National News (U.S.)

Disability-Forward Policy Recommendations To Advance Accessible and Affordable Housing for All

April 23, 2021 | Source: Center For American Progress

More than a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. housing crisis has emerged as a critical public health concern. An estimated 30 million to 40 million people have been at risk for eviction since the start of the pandemic, and more than a third of the approximately 550,000 people who have died of COVID-19 in the United States lived in long-term care facilities such as nursing homes. As the country begins to recover from the pandemic, the federal government must commit to solving the shortage of accessible, affordable, and inclusive housing for all…

In 1st, White House to provide American Sign Language interpretation for Biden address to Congress

April 23, 2021 | Source: ABC News & CNN

In a first, the White House plans to provide American Sign Language interpretation for President Joe Biden’s address to Congress next week. The Biden White House has been providing simultaneous ASL interpretation for its daily news conferences, briefings by its COVID-19 team and remarks by the president and vice president, a practice that began, in part, last year following a lawsuit. But next week’s address will be the first in which any White House has provided the service for a presidential address to Congress, via a live stream on its website and social media channels…

Witnesses tell House subcommittee national parks must improve information on disability access

April 27, 2021 | Source: The Hill

Disabled outdoor hobbyists said at a Tuesday hearing of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations that there needs to be more comprehensive information available about accessibility in national parks. Subcommittee Chair Katie Porter (D-Calif.) said that in addition to physical accessibility for disabled visitors, information about that accessibility is vital to ensure equal access to national parks and trails. Hearing witnesses also emphasized this barrier, with Mike Passo, executive director of American Trails and a wheelchair user, calling lack of information “the single greatest barrier to accessibility on public lands.”…

Winn-Dixie decision finds websites are not places of public accommodation under ADA

April 27, 2021 | Source: Eversheds Sutherland & ZwillGen & Brownstein Hyatt & Roetzel & Cozen O’Connor & Ballard Spahr& Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg

In a decision that creates new hurdles for website accessibility lawsuits under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), on April 7, 2021, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that websites do not constitute places of public accommodation under Title III of the ADA. Moreover, to violate Title III an inaccessible website must create an “intangible barrier” to a disabled individual’s actual ability to access and enjoy equally the goods and services of a physical place of public accommodation…

Technology is for People

April 28, 2021 | Source: Medium

If you think the Internet and digital technology have opened up the world to everyone who can connect to it, you’d only be partly right. Of course, connectivity remains an issue in many parts of the world, but a universal challenge is how to make an online experience fully accessible for people with disabilities, who are often marginalized when it comes to digital access. Rather than being considered a right, far too often accessibility is considered an added feature instead of a necessity…

Microsoft’s accessibility chief on the benefits of closing the ‘disability divide’

April 28, 2021 | Source: GeekWire

Microsoft’s five-year accessibility pledge begins with AI improvements for Office and more

April 28, 2021 | Source: Yahoo Finance

Doubling down on accessibility: Microsoft’s next steps to expand accessibility in technology, the workforce and workplace

April 28, 2021 | Source: Brad Smith- Microsoft

Microsoft Announces ‘Doubling Down’ On Prioritizing Accessibility And Narrowing The Disability Gap

April 29, 2021 | Source: Forbes

Microsoft Chief Accessibility Officer Jenny Lay-Flurrie is thinking about disabilities in ways that many others are not. Or at least, aren’t yet. The Redmond-based software and cloud company on Wednesday is launching a five-year initiative to help close the “disability divide” — or the gap between the resources and opportunities available to those with disabilities and those without. That includes creating technology software and hardware that is accessible to people with wide-ranging physical and neurological abilities, increasing the percentage of the Microsoft workforce that has disabilities…

Morris Park and city-wide leading accessibility advocate

April 28, 2021 | Source: Bronx Times

For several years Lakshmee Lachhman-Persad worked in the travel and tourism industry. But with the boom of the Internet, she changed course and has been on a new path ever since. The Morris Park resident, who immigrated here from Guyana, worked in business to business and did marketing and communications for a company in Times Square. As many places became obsolete because of Expedia and Kayak, she realized it was sink or swim. “If you didn’t educate yourself or go with the flow you, would have been kicked out of the industry,” she explained…

Pennsylvania Court Certifies Nationwide Class in Accessibility Case Against Public Accommodations

April 28, 2021 | Source: Jackson Lewis

A federal district court judge has certified a nationwide class of people with mobility disabilities who allegedly had difficulty getting around the defendant’s stores due to aisle obstructions in violation of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The class involves all or most of the defendant’s 350 retail stores nationwide. Allen v. Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, Inc., No. 2:19-cv-281 (W.D. Pa. Mar. 26, 2021). The lawsuit asserted that Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, Inc. stores contain barriers — some fixed, some movable, such as merchandise displays — that result in inaccessible interior paths of travel or routes…

Federal Website Accessibility Lawsuits Increased in 2020 Despite Mid-Year Pandemic Lull

April 28, 2021 | Source: Seyfarth Shaw- Kristina M. Launey & Minh N. Vu

The numbers are in for total website accessibility lawsuit filings in federal courts in 2020, and to our surprise they show a significant increase from 2019. The total number of lawsuits filed in federal courts alleging that plaintiffs with a disability could not use websites because they were not coded to work with assistive technologies like screen readers, or otherwise accessible to them, in 2020 was 2,523–almost 300 more than in 2019. While certainly not akin to the explosive 177% increase in these suits from 2017 to 2018, it is a meaningful increase over the relatively level 2018 and 2019 filing counts…

Boston-based tech start-up shows the power of neurodiversity in the workplace

April 28, 2021 | Source: Newz Hook

When it comes to diversity and inclusion, Iterators’ hits it straight out of the ballpark. This Boston-based software testing company is woman owned, rare in the technology space. It also has a team made up entirely of neurodivergent employees. Founded by a mother of a child with disability, the company is a powerful example of the benefits of neurodiversity at the workplace. As a compliance specialist at a Fortune 500 company, Jill Willcox was well versed with software testing – how it works, what to do…

Celebrating the contributions of those with disabilities

April 28, 2021 | Source: Pittsburg Jewish Chronicle

My teacher and mentor, Rabbi Richard Levy (z”l) was an incredible shaliach tzibur, service leader. You could hear his devotion and heart in each prayer. He felt the prayers and, through his intonation and his words, he helped others feel them too. In Judaism we don’t need rabbis to serve as intermediaries between us and God, but it certainly didn’t hurt to have Rabbi Levy leading the conversation. Our sacred service was richer because of his leadership. But if Rabbi Levy had been a Kohen, a priest, during the time when the Temple in Jerusalem stood, the community would not have benefited from his skill…

Accessibility Overlays May Not Make Your Site More Accessible

April 29, 2021 | Source: Built In

For a long time, accessibility has been pretty far down on most web developers’ priority lists. But that negligence is starting to haunt website owners as the number of lawsuits over web accessibility grows. There were 57 digital accessibility lawsuits in 2015, but in 2020 that number had risen to 3,550. The trend has led to mixed results for users. On one hand, it’s focused some welcome attention on web accessibility, forcing companies to think about the consequences of ignoring accessibility concerns. But an unfortunate side effect is companies turning to third-party products called “overlays” as quick fixes to avoid being sued…

Renowned Deaf Fashion Designer Gives the Shirt Off Her Back to UCLA First-Line Responders

April 29, 2021 | Source: Yahoo

Renowned Los Angeles womenswear designer Mona Thalheimer is commemorating Nurses Week by giving the shirt off her back to UCLA Health nurses in a gesture of goodwill to those who have given so much during this last year. National Nurses Week begins Thursday, May 6 and runs through Wednesday, May 12, 2021. “I am so thankful for their selfless work. Nurses are the epitome of what it means to be of service,” Thalheimer said. Thalheimer, the first deaf American fashion designer to own and manufacture her own eponymous clothing business, is donating $30,000 worth of her classic-inspired shirts to these frontline heroes…

Like many disabled people, Emily Barker has been in survival mode for far too long

April 29, 2021 | Source: HuffPost

Like many disabled people, Emily Barker has been in survival mode for far too long. The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated millions of lives for more than a year, with disabled people dying at disproportionate rates and, more recently, being skipped for vaccines. Barker, a Los Angeles-based conceptual artist, believes it’s a result of the same system that has discriminated against people with disabilities for decades. “The general public still has no idea what is actually going on for people with disabilities and doesn’t understand we have nothing to overcome due to our disabilities but have to overcome constructed societal barriers,” Barker said…

“The Invention Of Miracles” By Katie Booth

April 29, 2021 | Source: WAMC

Joe Donahue: The “Invention of Miracles” is a biography of Alexander Graham Bell, a revisionist biography, if you will. While best known for inventing the telephone, Bell’s central work was in Deaf Education. In fact, he considered his true life’s mission to be teaching the deaf to speak. However, by the end of his life, he had become the American Deaf community’s most powerful enemy, as he positioned himself at the forefront of the oralist movement…

Jack Fact — According to a recent study by Current Global, 285 million people are visually impaired; 39 million are blind and 82% of all blind people are age 50 or older.

Hit The Road Jack — WTTC releases major new paper for inclusive and accessible guidelines to aid global Travel & Tourism recovery

International News

Online education has proved challenging, but for families of children with disabilities it is near impossible without access to technology

April 23, 2021 | Source: Caj News- Africa

The Covid-19 pandemic raised the bar for educators everywhere, but the challenges were greatest for children with special needs and disabilities. Getting specialist support to these children during the lockdown became a major challenge, especially as the majority were from poorer households who had limited access to computers and other crucial technology to remain in touch and on top of their curricula. Provincial education departments, organisations, schools and teachers must be applauded for quickly creating and adapting teaching and learning materials so that learners could complete the school syllabus in their homes…

Q&A: National Rail and the wider issue of accessibility in rail

April 23, 2021 | Source: Railway Technology- UK

After the death of Prince Philip, National Rail found itself in hot water when it changed the site’s web design as a sign of respect to the Queen’s consort. To honour the Duke of Edinburgh, the rail operator turned its website from colour to greyscale, affecting some customers’ ability to use it, especially those with visual impairments. As the move backfired, travellers took to Twitter to express their disappointment at the company’s decision. “The National Rail website debacle perfectly encapsulates a deeper problem within the rail industry: Accessibility is a constant second thought,” one user tweeted.

ACT leads push to create national accessible construction standards

April 24, 2021 | Source: The Canberra Times- Australia & The RiotACT & Mirage- Australia & Canberra Weekly

New report explores adaptable housing for Australians with disability

April 28, 2021 | Source: Mirage- Australia & Pro Bono

Why Accessible Design Will Create Long-Term Value

April 28, 2021 | Source: The Urban Developer- Australia

The ACT has a chance to end a “vast human misery” in pushing for nationwide accessibility standards for the building industry, a leading advocate says. Craig Wallace, head of policy at the ACT Council of Social Service, said the system of voluntary compliance had failed to achieve targets for universal design housing in Australia. “This is a tragedy for the one in five Australians who live with a disability, but it’s also poor planning and foresight given that Australia’s population is ageing,” Mr. Wallace said…

Greece Probes Acropolis Safety Concerns After Wheelchair Accident

April 24, 2021 | Source: Greek Reporter- Greece

The recent injury of a man in a wheelchair during his tour on the Acropolis has rekindled the debate on the safety and quality of construction that was undertaken on the monument in 2020. The implementation of concrete pathways had caused outrage amongst local cultural heritage experts and unions when they were first presented to the public in October, after being approved by Greece’s Central Archaeological Council. Archaeologists and architects had immediately opined, individually as well as collectively, that disabled accessibility was an excuse to fast-track the project…

Clarington charging down the trail to accessibility

April 27, 2021 | Source: Toronto Star- Canada

Clarington plans to install up to eight charging stations for mobility devices, including scooters and powered wheelchairs, in parks and along outdoor nature trails to enhance accessibility for residents who rely on those devices. “It will create a greater sense of safety in the case of an emergency,” said Jim McEwen, a retired civil engineer from Bowmanville who uses a powered wheelchair, via email. The Clarington Charges Forward initiative is funded in part by a $58,760 grant from the Inclusive Communities program awarded by the Ministry of Seniors and Accessibility…

Legislation will build a more accessible and inclusive BC

April 28, 2021 | Source: Voice- Canada & Chilliwack Progress & Mirage

New accessibility legislation will set British Columbia on the path to a more accessible and inclusive province for people with disabilities and their support networks, the province said on Wednesday. If passed, the accessible British Columbia act will allow government to establish accessibility standards aimed at identifying, removing and preventing barriers to accessibility and inclusion. Standards will be developed in a range of areas such as employment, the delivery of services and the built environment…

International Noise Awareness Day: Not just deafness, noise pollution can cause stress, mental illnesses, and even cancer

April 28, 2021 | Source: Forbes- India

Just as a free application to measure decibels empowered people to complain effectively against noise pollution, a new World Health Organization (WHO) application now empowers us to check effects of noise pollution on our own hearing. While launching the first World Report on Hearing in March 2021, WHO said that the highest percentage of the 2.5 billion people who will lose hearing by 2050 will be in the Indian subcontinent. Among the most common effect of noise is a disabling hearing loss, and in India, hearing loss from noise exposure is already widespread…

Meet the man making exercise accessible for people living with disabilities

April 29, 2021 | Source: Eyewitness News- Africa

Exercise is great for everyone, it gets the heart racing, improves one’s mood and keeps you in shape. Exercise is said to improve one’s mental health by reducing, depression and negative moods. It can even improve self-esteem, cognitive function and social withdrawal. But what happens when you can’t access a training facility or a gym is not well-equipped to meet your needs? This is the reality for many differently abled people in South Africa. And this is why Victor Buitendag, a quadriplegic, started manufacturing accessible gym equipment…

Wheelchair user takes flak online for train trip to unstaffed station

April 29, 2021 | Source: Asahi Shimbun- Japan

When Natsuko Izena wrote about railway staff discouraging her from taking a trip to an unstaffed station, her aim was to foster greater understanding about accessibility issues for wheelchair users. But her post was soon met with disparaging comments that called her “selfish” for imposing demands on the rail line. Izena, 38, is a columnist from Kawasaki who uses an electric wheelchair to get around. She had set out on April 1 from JR Odawara Station in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, to Kinomiya Station in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture…

Joanne O’Riordan: Magic wand, show me sport in all its accessible glory

April 29, 2021 | Source: The Irish Times- Ireland

Here’s a question that has popped up several times throughout my last few years writing this column. If you were to wave a magic wand tomorrow morning and see sport in its full accessibility glory, what would that look like? I am not exactly an expert in the area, for starters, but I have lived through numerous experiences, met very qualified people, and research every single policy document there is available on sports and inclusion. The key areas that I think should be addressed are inclusion, participation, and accessibility…

Smart central heating control apps tested for accessibility by disabled and older people

April 29, 2021 | Source: AT Today- UK

Usability testing by older and disabled people of a range of smart central heating control apps highlights that the majority could do more to enable customisation that supports people with visual or cognitive impairments. Smart home control apps can help elderly and disabled people remotely control different aspects of their own home. They can be particularly helpful for people with mobility, visual and cognitive impairments, who might otherwise struggle to control different aspects of their home, such as lighting, heating and doors, giving them greater independence…

ECB and Lord’s Taverners partnership to make disability cricket accessible in every county

April 29, 2021 | Source: WalesOnline- UK

A game changing £2m partnership will make life-changing disability cricket accessible in every county in England and Wales as part of the biggest investment into a disability cricket programme. Launched today, the landmark partnership between the Lord’s Taverners and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will see the Super 1s disability cricket programme launched in every county and help develop a more sustainable table cricket offer – increasing participation, inspiring social change and empowering tens of thousands more young people to fulfil their potential and build life skills through the sport…

Canadian Transportation Agency rules Sask. company must make buses wheelchair accessible

April 29, 2021 | Source: CBC- Canada

Terri Sleeva says a recent decision by the Canadian Transportation Association (CTA) is a move toward equal treatment for people with disabilities, but that there’s still work to do. CTA has ruled that Rider Express — a bus company founded in Saskatchewan in 2017 — must make its buses wheelchair accessible. The decision comes after Sleeva, a disability issues advocate who is paralyzed from the neck down, filed a human rights complaint to CTA. Sleeva said she tried to buy a bus ticket from Rider Express a few years ago to go from Regina to Saskatoon…

‘I know exactly what it’s like to go blind, save others that heartache’

April 29, 2021 | Source: The Southern Star- Ireland

Bandon woman who went blind overnight is adding her voice to urgent calls for the government to tackle waiting lists for ophthalmology appointments. Outpatient waiting list figures have averaged at 42,000 people annually since 2018. And while nothing could have been done to help Mags Smith, knowing the heartache of losing your sight, she says if others can be helped, it’s imperative there are no delays. A former clerical officer with Teagasc, happily married to Timoleague man Eric and very involved in her community, she was president of Bandon Junior Chamber, and the first female secretary of Bandon Rugby club…

Holding onto Hope: CNIB Buddy Dog helps 8-year-old navigate his world after losing eyesight to cancer

April 29, 2021 | Source: Ottawa Citizen- Canada

Dawn Pickering vividly remembers exactly what the doctor told her in November 2019, when her son, Ollie Acosta-Pickering, was first diagnosed with anaplastic large cell lymphoma, a form of cancer. “The most important success factor is to hold on to hope.” But little did her family know that the “Hope” on the horizon would be a Labrador retriever. In the months after the diagnosis, Ollie lost his sight because of the disease. A short time later, he received a stem cell transplant from his older sister, Abby…

Ride-hailing for the blind: Didi promises accessible travel

April 29, 2021 | Source: SupChina

For most Chinese mobile users, the ride-sharing revolution has made travel as easy as tapping a button. But for Zhōu Tóng 周彤, the gains remain out of reach. “There were countless times when I had issues getting a cab, and when the driver saw my guide dog, his initial reaction was to refuse the ride,” said Zhou (in Chinese). Zhou is one of 17.5 million visually impaired people in China who have long faced barriers unbeknownst to the majority: buses without announcement systems, elevator buttons without Braille, and locks without voice activation…

Why words matter to Black people and people of colour

April 29, 2021 | Source: The Star- Canada

When we reduce people to a subset of their condition, we dehumanize them. For example, we call some people “homeless,” “poor,” “disabled” or “drug users.” However, that is only one aspect of their lives. First, they are human beings. People who may be parents, children, friends and neighbours. This concept of “person-first language” emerged among disability advocacy groups in the 1980s. The objective was to use language in a way that allowed people with disabilities or diagnoses to reclaim their agency, autonomy and personhood in the face of stigma and dehumanization…

Deaf children ‘lose out’ in disability services geared towards a hearing world

April 29, 2021 | Source: Irish Times- Ireland

Thirteen-year-old Seán McManus Allen, who is deafblind after being born with a rare syndrome, loves to list off populations and capitals of various countries around the world. Repeatedly. His obsession with such facts is a trait of behaviour disorders that can come with the Charge syndrome he has, but it seems his deafness keeps coming in the way of an accurate assessment and support for his additional needs. That’s what happens, says Chime, the national charity for deafness and hearing loss, when children’s disability services are all geared towards a hearing world…

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