Accessibility in the News — January 22, 2021.

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How Biden’s Proposed Paid Leave Would Work

January 17, 2021 | Source: The New York Times

More Americans may soon be able to take more than three months of paid leave from work for sickness or to care for children and family members during the pandemic, if Congress approves a plan proposed by President-elect Biden. Last spring, the first coronavirus relief package included paid leave. But a limited group of workers was eligible, and it expired in December. Now, as part of a wide-ranging plan to respond to the pandemic, the incoming administration has proposed reinstating and significantly expanding it….

Biden Plan Would End Subminimum Wage, Offer Stimulus Checks To More With Disabilities

January 18, 2021 | Source: Disability Scoop

In his first major undertaking, President-elect Joe Biden wants to do away with a decades-old option to pay workers with disabilities less than minimum wage while giving stimulus payments to more people in this population. Biden unveiled a $1.9 trillion proposal late last week to address the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the economic fallout from it. The so-called American Rescue Plan includes $1,400 in direct payments to many Americans as well as funding to support vaccine distribution, reopen schools and support state and local governments while also extending unemployment benefits and expanding paid leave…

WhiteHouse.gov now has dark mode

January 20, 2021 | Source: The Verge& Tech Crunch & New York Times & Tech HindustanTimes & WordPress Tavern & NPR & iTech Post

The official website of the White House, WhiteHouse.gov, has been completely replaced with a new version for the Biden administration, and it comes with some unexpected accessibility features: a high contrast mode, which serves as a dark mode, and a toggle to make the font size larger. Both options show up along the left rail as big, easy-to-click or tap buttons, and that’s the way you’ll need to toggle them. Even if your device has a system-wide dark mode, the White House website won’t switch over automatically…

Inauguration Day was more accessible than ever, but there’s still a ways to go

January 20, 2021 | Source: The Verge & Today & Biden Inaugural

Firefighter Andrea Hall put accessible communication front and center at the presidential inauguration today when she led the Pledge of Allegiance in both spoken English and Signed English. The inaugural committee also hosted several separate accessible live streams of the event on its YouTube page, including one with audio description, one with live captions and American Sign Language interpretation, and one with Cued Speech transliteration (the use of hand shapes to signal speech sounds)…

The Social Side of Stuttering

January 20, 2021 | Source: NPR

Today is Inauguration Day, which got us thinking about speech-making and speeches. President-elect Joe Biden has spoken publicly about his childhood experiences with stuttering and annotating his speeches to help with fluency. At the Democratic National Convention, 13-year-old Brayden Harrington took to the virtual stage to talk about meeting Biden at a campaign event in New Hampshire. “He told me that we were members of the same club,” Harrington said. “We s-s-stutter.”…

National News (U.S.)

Advocacy group for the blind apologizes for allegations of sexual misconduct

January 15, 2021 | Source: The Washington Post

An organization that lobbies for the rights of blind people has formed a task force and hired an outside consultant after apologizing for allegations of sexual misconduct in its programs, which surfaced in an open letter last month. The letter was sent to the Baltimore-based National Federation of the Blind and the National Blindness Professional Certification Board, a Louisiana-based organization that certifies instructors for the blind. It includes hundreds of signatures from people the letter describes as “victims, survivors, and witnesses of sexual and psychological abuse at programs, conventions, and blindness rehabilitation centers . . . and their allies and supporters.”…

Sarasota-Manatee residents with vision loss embrace digital tools during COVID-19

January 17, 2021 | Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune

On Thanksgiving Day of 2018, Rich Jacobs handed his friend his car keys and said, “I’m done driving. I don’t want to put anyone in danger.” Earlier that year, he woke up and his vision was suddenly foggy. He thought that he might need glasses, which was surprising to him because he had never needed corrective lenses before. As his vision got worse, he went to multiple doctors to try to figure out the issue. They eventually diagnosed him with Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON), a genetic condition that causes cloudy then blurry vision, and often results in acute loss of sight…

Disability, “No True Scotsman,” And “Zero Sum Thinking”

January 17, 2021 | Source: Forbes

The most outrageous conspiracy theories now reach and influence mainstream politics. Gut instinct, and just plain prejudice, are now rapidly replacing evidence to drive the most drastic actions at the very heart of our democracy. It seems like flawed reasoning has become something of a popular trend. One of the things that makes this all so hard to cope with is that untrue and irrational arguments are presented in seemingly rational clothing. We get the appearance of carefully reasoned arguments, but based on inaccurate information, unsupported assertions, and logical fallacies…

A Model Who Uses A Wheelchair Is Working To Bring More Physical Diversity To Fashion

January 17, 2021 | Source: BuzzFeed

Disability has been an issue that society has been grappling with, even as diversity is now at the forefront of people’s’ attention — but Jillian Mercado has been thinking about this form of representation for a long time. The model and actor has used a wheelchair since childhood as a result of muscular dystrophy. As her modeling career took off, she worked with friends studying photography and began to notice the lack of physical diversity on sets. Now, she is using her platform to open doors for other creatives with disabilities who may otherwise get overlooked in the fashion industry…

The US Government Needs to Invest in Digital Design

January 17, 2021 | Source: WIRED

IMAGINE IF, WHEN the president addressed the nation in those early, frightening days of March 2020, he had announced the launch of a user-friendly digital hub for citizens to access critical government services related to Covid-19. The site and corresponding iOS and Android apps would seamlessly integrate the latest Covid data and content from multiple federal agencies, hospitals nationwide, and private sector companies. It would be accessible to all Americans—supporting 62 languages, and those with visual disabilities or limited internet access would have a phone number they could call to speak to a knowledgeable representative with no wait time…

Robust Disability Employee Networks Key To Shaping Post-Pandemic Workplace Inclusion

January 17, 2021 | Source: Forbes

The initiation and maintenance of an effective corporate diversity and inclusion policy is often viewed as being a core responsibility of an organization’s senior management team. While leadership at boardroom level is undoubtedly an essential enabling component, this alone will never deliver optimal outcomes for employees with disabilities. Governments certainly have a role to play in bringing forth the legislative frameworks necessary to scale and foster an ecosystem of organizations adhering to best practice but what of the grassroots?…

Disability Discrimination In Health Care Under Scrutiny

January 19, 2021 | Source: Disability Scoop

Federal officials are weighing a rewrite of regulations designed to ensure that people with disabilities do not face discrimination from medical providers amid persistent concerns about unequal access. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights is issuing a request for information on disability discrimination in the health care and child welfare systems. The move comes as the agency said that it “is aware that significant discrimination on the basis of disability against persons with disabilities persists in the nation’s health care system and in its child welfare system.”…

Paralympic athlete slams woman who scolded her for parking in handicapped spot: ‘This happens a lot’

January 19, 2020 | Source: Yahoo

In a scathing clip, a Paralympic swimmer took to TikTok to call out a woman who had allegedly criticized her for parking in a handicapped spot. On Jan. 13, 28-year-old Jessica Long, a decorated swimmer who won one gold, three silver and two bronze medals at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio, slammed the nameless person for assuming that she had no right to the space. “So, it just happened again,” she says in the TikTok. “I was parking my car — and I hope she sees this — this woman just has the nerve to look me up and down disgusted that I parked in the handicapped spot.”…

Walking While Blind in Manhattan During the Pandemic

January 19, 2021 | Source: Next Avenue- Peter Slatin

It’s been my morning routine in New York City for at least 10 years: I fasten the leash and harness to my yellow-lab guide dog Inga and head to Silver Moon Bakery, a three-block walk, to pick up a cup of coffee and something tasty. But there’s nothing routine about walking while blind, at 66, on the streets of New York City these days, due to the pandemic. Crowded sidewalks and roadways have a few benefits to the blind: motion provides clues to what is happening. Before the pandemic, when I approached a corner, I could hear whether other pedestrians were walking in the same direction, stopping, slowing or hurrying…

Zoom’s Inaccessibility for Hard-of-Hearing and Deaf Users

January 20, 2020 | Source: The Progressive

Here’s a nightmare for our times: You’re in a meeting or family gathering or whatever on Zoom, and everybody else is on mute. You can see that everyone is talking and having a grand old time, but you have no idea what they’re saying. And you can’t unmute them. It sounds pretty scary, and it’s a problem a lot of deaf people have when trying to participate on Zoom. In order to know what’s being said in a forum like Zoom, a lot of deaf people need closed captioning, where words appear on the screen like a subtitled movie…

A Woman With Developmental Disabilities Was Abused in Arizona. The State Promised Changes. It Has Not Made Them Yet.

January 20, 2021 | Source: ProPublica

In 2018, a crime happened in Arizona. A woman was raped. Raped means someone had sex with her when she did not want to. The woman lives in a long-term care facility. She can not walk or talk. Staff help care for her. She was 29 when she was raped. She got pregnant from the rape. She had a baby on New Year’s Eve in 2018. No one knew she was pregnant. The place where this happened was Hacienda HealthCare in Phoenix. Many people across the USA were very angry this woman got hurt this way…

ALS Patients To Gain Quicker Access To Disability Benefits And Medicare

January 20, 2021 | Source: NPR

Anita Baron first noticed something was wrong in August 2018, when she began to drool. Her dentist chalked it up to a problem with her jaw. Then her speech became slurred. She managed to keep her company going — it offers financing to small businesses — but working became increasingly difficult for her as her speech worsened. Finally, nine months, four neurologists and countless tests later, Baron, now 66, got a diagnosis: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis…

Study Details Risk of Blindness After Diagnosis of Diabetic Retinopathy

January 21, 2021 | Source: Endocrinology Network

New research from ophthalmologists across the US is underlining the importance of early intervention in patients with the most common ocular complication associated with diabetes. An analysis of more than 53,000 eyes, results of the study outline the risk of blindness associated with different forms of diabetic retinopathy and offer insight into a diabetic patient’s risk of blindness after receiving a new diagnosis. “Despite public health guidelines designed to increase eye screening in patients with diabetes, patients are still presenting with advanced diabetic retinopathy,” wrote investigators…

I’m Losing My Eyesight and Gaining a New Vision

January 21, 2021 | Source: Jewish Journal

At the age of five, I was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), a genetic disorder that leads to vision loss and for which there currently is no cure. And by age 15, I was legally blind. Even without my sight, I still had on blindfolds. I refused to use a blind cane. I didn’t want to be the “blind musician” the “blind spiritual leader.” I wanted to be “normal.” I was choosing to hide from the reality of my blindness. I’ll never forget the day my sister told me I couldn’t drive. I had been putting off getting my license out of pure teenage laziness…

Jack Fact — According to the World Health Organization (WHO), life expectancy gives an indication of how long a population is expected to live on average. But Healthy Life Expectancy (HALE) reveals the true health of a population. And the encouraging news is that, between 2000 and 2016, HALE increased globally by 8% from 59 years to 63.

Hit The Road Jack — Inclusivity ‘could be a game changer for destinations’

International News

How Accessible Siddur will help to make all welcome at services

January 15, 2021 | Source: Jewish Chronicle- UK

People will react to synagogue services in different ways. But when a woman in her 60s cried throughout one of Rabbi Miriam Berger’s services at Finchley Reform Synagogue a few years ago, the minister felt compelled to ask her why. The woman explained that she had not been to shul since her son, who has learning difficulties, was three. At that time, his behaviour had been deemed “inappropriate”. Her son, now in his 40s, was holding her hand at the Finchley Reform gathering — the first of its B’yachad (Together) services — welcoming people with learning disabilities, autism and physical disabilities…

Tel Aviv scientists develop new gene therapy for deafness

January 15, 2021 | Source: Israel21c- Israel & Medical Dialogues

Delivering healthy genetic material into the inner ear cells of mice with a genetic defect that causes deafness enables the cells to function normally, according to a new study from Tel Aviv University. The novel treatment prevented the gradual deterioration of hearing in these mice. It could lead to a breakthrough in treating children born with various mutations that eventually cause deafness. The study, led by professor Karen Avraham of the department of human molecular genetics and biochemistry at TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine and Sagol School of Neuroscience, was published in EMBO Molecular Medicine on Dec. 22, 2020…

I was heartbroken to learn my baby is deaf – but now I know it won’t hold him back

January 16, 2021 | Source: Metro- UK

My husband Martin and I had waited so long for Bobby, having lost recurrent babies through miscarriage before falling pregnant with him. He was finally born by C-section on Friday 11 October 2019, and we couldn’t have been happier. However, my elation soon gave way to a knot of fear in my stomach, as Bobby failed his newborn hearing screening test. I felt sick with panic. My daughter, 13, and other son, 10, had both failed their first hearing screenings, too. They were born with fluid still in their ears that just needed time to clear. I instantly knew Bobby was different, though…

Town seeking to become more accessible

January 16, 2021 | Source: Northern News- Canada

The Town of Kirkland Lake is looking at ways of increasing its accessibility for the disabled community. At its most recent meeting, council directed staff to investigate and report back to Council third party costs for video closed captioning services. In a report to Council, Town Clerk Meagan Elliot stated “Ontario has been working to create an accessible and inclusive province where everyone can fully participate in everyday life activities. The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) is a law that sets out a process for developing and enforcing accessibility standards. Part of these standards relate to website content…

Example A Turkey Project! Konya Accessibility Commission Established

January 17, 2021 | Source: Railly News- Turkey

Konya Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ugur Ibrahim Altay, physical spaces in Konya, specifying both the disability community they give great importance to working towards facilitating the lives of citizens from all sectors, will be an example to Turkey this housing projects said they had implemented. Emphasizing that they established the Accessibility Commission for the first time within the Metropolitan Municipality, Mayor Altay said, “This commission that we have established will carry out the regulations in line with the report prepared as a result of the inspections made by the Accessibility Commission”…

Sign Language Applications Widespread in the Year of Accessibility

January 17, 2021 | Source: RaillyNews- Turkey

Following President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s announcement of the year 2020 as the “Year of Accessibility”, efforts to facilitate awareness of the disabled and their access to information gained momentum. The most important of these is increasing the services provided for the hearing impaired. In 2020, sign language applications were especially popularized. Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk, Minister of Family, Labor and Social Services, announced that on June 7, the Minister of Family, Labor and Social Services had opened a twitter account with the name of “Accessible Family and Work”…

Calling Helen Keller a fraud for her ‘unbelievable’ accomplishments is ableist

January 17, 2021 | Source: Metro- UK & Scary Mommy

‘Helen Keller is NOT real,’ one TikTok video argued. ‘There is absolutely NO way she was blind and deaf and wrote TWELVE books, learned FIVE whole languages, fell out of a building and DIDN’T die, went to Harvard, and had very very neat handwriting. She DOESN’T exist.’ Watching the video, I couldn’t help but think, ‘That’s funny – because I have learned five languages (albeit some of them badly). I didn’t go to Harvard but disability rights advocate Haben Girma did… and my handwriting can be tidy when I want it to be.’ And just like Helen Keller, I’m Deafblind…

Manchester United-Liverpool kits irk ‘hundreds’ of colour-blind fans

January 18, 2021 | Source: ESPN- England

Liverpool and Manchester United’s Premier League match on Sunday prompted “hundreds” of complaints from supporters affected by colour blindness, with United’s green change strip proving impossible to distinguish from Liverpool’s traditional red shirts. Despite using a white-and-black change kit for the majority of games this season when their red shirts clash with the home team, United wore an outfit described by kit supplier Adidas as “legend earth green” for the 0-0 draw at Anfield…

A virus that reverses deafness

January 18, 2021 | Source: The Standard Health- Kenya

About half of the cases of children born with deafness are caused by a genetic mutation. There are about 100 different genes associated with hereditary deafness. Over five per cent of the world’s population has disabling hearing loss. This may seem like a small number. In the real sense, about 466 million people around the world are involved. The World Health Organisation estimates that 1 in every 10 people will have disabling hearing loss by 2050. Hearing loss refers to the partial or total inability to hear sounds. It may be mild, moderate, severe, or profound and can affect one ear or both ears…

I was fearful of my daughter’s Down syndrome diagnosis. I had much to learn and more to unlearn

January 19, 2021 | Source: The Guardian- Australia

We talk a lot about Down syndrome in our house. My youngest child Greta, now 5, was diagnosed with mosaic Down syndrome just before her second birthday. My partner and I have fielded many questions from her older brothers Jasper, 10, and Rory, 8. Early on, when we were learning key word sign to help Greta communicate, they asked, “Will she be able to talk?” I explained that her vocabulary would likely grow and that if it didn’t, we would find other ways to make sure she could let us know what she wanted and how she felt…

Urban Air Mobility ‘must incorporate the needs of disabled citizens’

January 20, 2021 | Source: sUAS News- England

Regulators, local authorities and industry groups will need to incorporate the views and priorities of disabled groups in their early planning phase if the promise – and full market value – of advanced air mobility (AAM) and urban air mobility (UAM) systems are to be fully realised, according to a white paper published today by Aerobility and CIVATAglobal. “From the outset, UAM/AAM services must be planned with the needs of those who stand to benefit most from its introduction in mind – disabled communities,” said Mike Miller-Smith, CEO of UK-based disabled flying charity, Aerobility…

BBC’s ‘Silenced: The Hidden Story Of Disabled Britain’ – A Study In Dismantling Oppression

January 20, 2021 | Source: Forbes- Britain & The Guardian- Britain

Disability rights in modern Britain were hard-won and represent a triumph against ableist ignorance and bigotry which, for a long period of history, saw disabled people dismissed as second-class citizens and a lower form of humanity. Even today, such precious rights remain fragile and tenuous. Requiring active participation on behalf of successive governments to evolve and sustain them, it would be all too easy for treasured freedoms to just slip away and the public at large might not even notice…

PROFILE — 10-year-old visually impaired YouTuber is breaking down blind tech

January 20, 2021 | Source: CBC- Canada

“Hey guys, it’s Abby, and I’m visually impaired.” That’s how 10-year-old Abby Walz starts each video of her YouTube channel, Through the Eyes of Abby. Abby started the channel last year to help teach visually impaired and blind people about new technologies that can make their lives more accessible and easier. By giving people a glimpse into what life is like through her eyes, Abby also hopes to raise awareness about parts of our society that still aren’t inclusive to her and her community…

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