Accessibility in the News — 2/16/2024.

The Colorado House of Representatives has approved bipartisan legislation, HB24-1067, aimed at enhancing representation in government by addressing barriers faced by individuals with disabilities in the political process. Sponsored by Representative David Ortiz and co-sponsored by Representative Brandi Bradley, the bill passed with a unanimous vote of 64-0. Representative Ortiz, a longtime advocate for disability rights in Colorado, emphasizes the importance of ensuring that all voices are heard and represented in the political arena. The bill also seeks to make the caucus process more accessible for individuals with disabilities who aspire to run for office.

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Feature Stories

Ballot Accessibility for Candidates with Disabilities Passes the House

February 12, 2024 | Source: Colorado House Democrats and Denver7

Blind Coloradans Rally for Increased Accessibility and Legal Protections

February 12, 2024 | Source: BNN and Denver7

The House today passed bipartisan legislation to improve representation in government by ensuring candidates with disabilities have access to the ballot. HB24-1067, championed by Representative David Ortiz, would address barriers those with a disability face when participating in the political process, including lack of virtual options. The bill passed by a vote of 64-0. “There are many future community leaders who are often kept out of the political arena because our political systems are not accessible,” said Rep. David Ortiz, D-Littleton…

National News (U.S.)

The quest to build more accessible music tech for blind and visually impaired artists

February 9, 2024 | Source: Fast Company

Stevie Wonder. Ray Charles. Andrea Bocelli. If you were to ask a random person to name a blind musician, one of those three would almost inevitably come up. Ask that same person about up-and-coming blind musicians, and they’ll likely draw a blank. That’s no accident, according to Athan Billias, president of the MIDI Association, the nonprofit organization in charge of the MIDI standard. “Music production is much more visually oriented,” than it used to be just a few decades ago, Billias says, which has made things a lot harder for people with vision impairments…

Actress Calle Walton Opens Up On Becoming Blind, Accessibility, More In Interview

February 9, 2024 | Source: Forbes

Back in early November, I published a piece about the then-new Netflix limited series All The Light We Cannot See, which features an interview with the show’s accessibility consultant Joe Strechay. The series is based on Anthony Doerr’s 2014 bestselling book about a Blind girl named Marie-Laure who, while living in Nazi-occupied France in World War II, hides out in her uncle’s home and forges a strong connection with a German soldier over their mutual fascination with radio technology…

Coolidge Corner Theatre introduces new accessibility features, shares updates on expansion

February 9, 2024 | Source: The Daily Free Press

The Coolidge Corner Theatre is now holding weekly open caption screenings as part of its effort to increase accessibility. More changes will come as its expansion project opens to the public in about a month. Beth Gilligan, deputy director of the Coolidge, said open caption screenings are in response to input from members of the deaf and hard of hearing communities. “Being a historic theater, [we try to] be as accessible as we possibly can and to cater to as many people as we can,” Gilligan said…

Texas Parks and Wildlife begin new accessibility initiative

February 9, 2024 | Source: KIIITV

Texas Parks and Wildlife told 3NEWS that they are starting a new accessibility initiative, making park facilities accessible for all Texans, regardless of their level of physical ability. The Department’s Accessibility Manger Jessica Burke said the initiative is years in the making. “About five years ago, we started on a project to go through and assess all of Parks and Wildlife public facing facilities and properties,” Burke said. “It was a huge initiative and taking from the agency.”…

Brooke Ellison, Prominent Disability Rights Advocate, Is Dead at 45

February 9, 2024 | Source: The New York Times and United Spinal Association

Brooke Ellison, who after being paralyzed from the neck down by a childhood car accident went on to graduate from Harvard and became a professor and a devoted disability rights advocate, died on Sunday in Stony Brook, N.Y., on Long Island. She was 45. Her death, in a hospital, was caused by complications of quadriplegia, her mother, Jean Ellison, said. As an 11-year-old, Brooke had been taking karate, soccer, cello and dance lessons and singing in a church choir. But on Sept. 4, 1990, she was struck by a car while running across a road near her home in Stony Brook…

$521K ARPA grant will help make New Philadelphia more accessible

February 10, 2024 | Source: Times Reporter

The Tuscarawas County Board of Developmental Disabilities has received a $521,000 grant from the state which will be used to upgrade the playground at Starlight School, expand services to the Latino community, install adult changing tables at Tuscora Park and build a soccer field for people with disabilities. “We asked for a total of $521,000. We had no idea what they would say. I’m really excited that they said yes,” said Nate Kamban, superintendent of the county board. “Grant money is wonderful because we can try new things without burdening our local tax population.”…

Kansas Gov. Signs Bill To Eliminate Subminimum Wage For Disabled Employees

February 10, 2024 | Source: HuffPost

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) signed a bill on Thursday that aims to eliminate subminimum wages for disabled employees in the state. In the U.S., employees are paid a minimum wage ranging from $7.25 to $15 per hour, depending on the state. Many activists have pushed to raise the minimum wage. But under Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, companies and businesses can apply for 14(c) certificates that allow them to pay disabled employees well below that number, with many earning less than $3.50 an hour…

Idaho non-profit aims to build 100 new accessible playgrounds by 2033

February 11, 2024 | Source: Idaho Education News

For the 30 minutes of recess at Lakevue Elementary School in Nampa, Zach never stops swinging. Students take turns pushing him as he smiles and laughs. Zach, who uses a wheelchair, used to spend recess sitting with a quiet activity. But that all changed when staff at Lakevue voted to spend surplus PTO money on a few items of inclusive playground equipment. Now he can play with his friends on the playground by being safely strapped into an accessible swing…

Providing an accessible Mardi Gras so everyone

February 12, 2024 | Source: KATC

For several years, Lafayette Consolidated Government and Lafayette Fire Department District #5 have provided an accessible parade viewing zone at the intersection of Johnston and St. Julien Street. The zone marked by cones and tape, can help those needing special accommodation have access to space while still enjoying the fun. Lafayette Consolidated Government Caylee Deshotel tells KATC, that it’s all about having fun while also promoting inclusivity…

Youth with autism are more likely to be arrested. A Nevada judge wants to remedy that

February 12, 2024 | Source: NPR

Melody O’Connor is grateful her teenage daughter Angeleena O’Connor was arrested in the winter of 2022. “Isn’t that a horrible thing to say?” Melody said. It wasn’t the first time Angeleena had the police called on her. The first time was more than four years earlier – when she was 12. Angeleena is now 16 and the police have been called to her house more than 40 times over the past four years, including once for a violent incident in which Angeleena grabbed a steak knife and held it to her mother’s face, Melody said…

Massachusetts Accessibility Officer Shares Holistic Approach

February 12, 2024 | Source: Government Technology

In July 2023, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed an executive order establishing the chief IT accessibility officer role within the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (EOTSS). In January 2024, Ashley Bloom was appointed and set to work. That work, Bloom explained, began with assessing the state of the state — analyzing what the state is doing well, what it is doing well that can be scaled or expanded, and what areas can or need to be improved. After all, for government to serve constituents equitably, accessibility work needs to go beyond just compliance…

Lake City’s ‘accessible’ ice climbing park is a hit with adaptive climbers

February 13, 2024 | Source: KSUT

The Lake City Ice Park in the tiny mountain town of Lake City, Colorado, is growing in popularity with adaptive ice climbers. In early February, the town held its annual ice climbing festival. A group of adaptive athletes who traveled from across the United States attended. 29-year-old Derek Riemer of Louisville, Colorado, traveled five hours to climb here. “I ski a lot, so I have to balance ice climbing with skiing, but it’s a really fun thing to do in the winter,” he said…

State governments average ‘F’ grade on website-metadata tracker

February 14, 2024 | Source: StateScoop

An online tracker for government website metadata published this month reveals that most state government homepages fail on basic data practices, a shortcoming that could impede compatibility with artificial intelligence and accessibility. The new tracker, called “gov metadata,” is part of a project from Luke Fretwell, a former journalist who now runs the tech firm ProudCity, and his son, Elias. The duo have spent the last several months mining the homepages of U.S. government websites for metadata tags, snippets of HTML that provide basic information to the user’s browser, such as the website’s title or written descriptions of its images…

Justice Department Finds Nebraska School District Discriminates Against Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

February 14, 2024 | Source: Department of Justice and Letter of Finding

The Justice Department announced today that Lincoln Public Schools (LPS) in Lincoln, Nebraska, violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by denying some deaf and hard of hearing students an equal opportunity to attend their neighborhood schools. “Denying students with disabilities the right to attend their neighborhood school based on a blanket policy is discriminatory and runs afoul of our nation’s civil rights laws,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division…

Challenges with telehealth persist for Deaf patients and others

February 14, 2024 | Source: KSBY

For a lot of people, scheduling a telehealth appointment with their doctor takes two seconds. You just go to your provider’s app and with a couple of finger taps, you’re good to go. That’s not always the experience for those with disabilities. “One of the provider’s platforms didn’t have any captioning and there was no ability to add in an interpreter so I couldn’t add a third person on the screen like we’re having right now. So, it’s not just barriers, it’s that it’s literally impossible to use that platform for me,” said Jessica Kennedy, president of the advocacy organization DeafHealth…

Stroke survivor struggles with Paid Leave Oregon, fears losing her home

February 14, 2024 | Source: KPIC

Paint swatches on the wall in Michelle Grimes’ living room are evidence of the color scheme she and her daughter Brook Grimes tested for their new home. “It’s the first home that I have ever bought, and I’m 53. I was very proud that I was able to do it,” Michelle Grimes said in tears. As a single mom and a nurse, she said she worked multiple double shifts through the pandemic to save for a down payment on the home. Plans to repaint the home came to a screeching halt after she suffered a stroke while at work…

Co-op Support of Accessibility Ramp Project Helps Members in Texas

February 15, 2024 | Source: NRECA

It’s amazing how a stack of 2x4s, some plywood and a labor of love can equate to freedom. But that is the blissful result for dozens of electric cooperative members in Texas who have new mobility in their lives, thanks to an accessibility ramp project championed by CoServ and other co-ops. Working with the Texas Ramp Project, volunteers and DIYers from Corinth-based CoServ are nearing their 40th ramp since 2017. The response from appreciative members says it all, such as the build for a woman in Argyle with a double amputation…

Michigan resident launches YouTube channel, Disabled in Nature, promoting accessibility awareness

February 15, 2024 | Source: Second Wave Media

When you’re at work, are you going to be able to use the bathroom if you need to? What about when you go to the park for a walk? This is something that Marisa Spain, 27, who grew up in Marysville considers before going anywhere. Spain has Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSH), a progressive hereditary disease that causes muscle weakness in several areas of the body, and uses a power wheelchair to get around. “I don’t go to places that aren’t guaranteed to have an accessible restroom,” Spain says…

A place in the world: Deaf artist hopes mural at D.C. Starbucks sparks conversations about inclusion, accessibility

February 15, 2024 | Source: Starbucks Stories

Ryan Seslow, a New York City artist and college professor of digital art and design, always knew he wanted to spend his life making art. Seslow, who identifies as Deaf and hard of hearing, fondly remembers Saturday mornings growing up – eating a bowl of cereal, watching cartoons alongside his brother and putting tracing paper on the television screen and trying to draw what he saw. Later, he was inspired by artists like Pablo Picasso, Louise Bourgeois and Fernand Léger…

Jack Fact — New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show youth smoking at a historic low, with just 1.9 percent of high schoolers lighting up in the past month. Youth vaping is also at its lowest level in a decade at 10 percent, and cigar use is down to 1.8 percent from 2.8 percent the previous year.

Hit The Road Jack — 10 Ski Events That Make Winter Sports More Accessible for Everyone and Accessibility Review of the Drury Plaza Hotel at Disney Springs

International News

Is accessibility legislation coming to Alberta?

February 8, 2024 | Source: Fort Macleod Gazette- Canada

Improving accessibility for people with disabilities remains on the government’s radar, but confirmation hasn’t come yet that United Conservatives will introduce legislation in 2024 to align Alberta with much of the rest of Canada. Marie Renaud, the NDP critic for community and social services, told her legislature colleagues last month that accessibility legislation is long overdue in her province. “Alberta is one of the only jurisdictions in Canada without accessibility legislation, which means we have not even begun our journey to barrier-free,” Renaud said Dec. 4. “That needs to change. We need accessibility legislation right now.”…

MPs are told accessible housing is at breaking point… and they are partly to blame

February 8, 2024 | Source: Disability News Service- England

MPs have been told that the provision of accessible housing in England is “at breaking point”, partly because of their own failure to act to end the crisis. Members of the cross-party levelling up, housing and communities committee were hearing evidence this week from witnesses as part of their inquiry into housing for disabled people. But Mikey Erhardt, policy and campaigns officer for Disability Rights UK, told them that decisions made in the House of Commons and by other organisations “have led to this crisis” and that disabled people had been “consistently failed”…

Busby ramping up accessibility at new 90 Mulcaster space

February 9, 2024 | Source: Barrie Today- Canada

Taking over an historic building in downtown Barrie is going to be a definite boon for the Busby Centre, but it’s not coming without work. The building, located at 90 Mulcaster St., and which initially served as the Sisters of St. Joseph convent as of 1885 until it became St. Joseph’s High School in 1946, wasn’t constructed with accessibility in mind. But with provincial regulations now in place under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA), building owners are required to meet certain requirements intended to reduce and remove barriers for people with disabilities…

Greenwood-Coxwell theatre making live performances more accessible

February 9, 2024 | Source: CityNews- Canada

For those with disabilities, attending a show at just any Toronto venue isn’t that simple. That’s why one local theatre in Greenwood-Coxwell is trying to change that. The Redwood Theatre has been a staple in the neighbourhood for over 100 years and the building has seen many changes. In 2017, condo developers were about to take it over until Greenwood-Coxwell resident and inventor Maria Karam bought the building to transform it into a performing arts hub, one that’s accessible to everyone who comes in….

Express View on disability access: Everyone in movie halls

February 10, 2024 | Source: Indian Express- India

Eight years after a landmark piece of legislation enshrined the rights of all persons with disabilities (PwDs) “to participate in recreational activities equally with others”, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, on January 8, issued its draft “Guidelines of Accessibility Standards in the Public Exhibition of Feature Films in Cinema Theatres for Persons with Hearing and Visual Impairment”. The guidelines, for which stakeholder comments are invited till February 15, constitute another welcome step towards ensuring that an experience that most movie buffs take for granted can be accessed by a section of Indians who continue to be largely excluded from it…

Advocates worry federal disability benefit program won’t be fully funded in upcoming budget

February 10, 2024 | Source: CBC- Canada

A coalition of anti-poverty and disability groups are calling on the federal government to honour its commitment to bring the incomes of all provincial disability support program recipients above the poverty line by fully funding a new federal disability benefit program. Many advocates who cheered on Bill C-22 are now concerned the benefit still won’t receive the funding it needs in the 2024 federal budget to make a real difference in the lives of people with disabilities…

Accessibility of pavements in Greater Chennai Corporation will be improved, says J. Radhakrishnan

February 10, 2024 | Source: The Hindu- India

The accessibility of pavements in the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) will be improved to help persons with disabilities, said Corporation Commissioner J. Radhakrishnan while speaking at MUKTI Inclusive Sports Meet, which got under way at A.M. Jain College in Meenambakkam on Saturday, February 10. He also said the design should enable those using wheelchairs to ascend and descend the pavements via slopes, and added that the civic body was working towards implementing this. Notably, the GCC had floated tenders in January to construct pavements in several locations of zone 9…

‘It’s discriminatory’: Regina advocacy group challenges government on disability program in court

February 10, 2024 | Source: CTV News- Canada

A Regina advocacy group says the provincial government is being discriminatory when it comes to those on the Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability (SAID) program. The Regina Anti-Poverty Ministry is claiming the government is forcing those who are on the program to take out their Canada Pension Plan money at age 60. “It’s discriminatory because people who are forced to take out their CPP early due to disability then have to deal with the long range consequences of poverty because they were forced,” said Peter Gilmer, an advocate with the group…

Urban ministry told to amend bylaws for easy accessibility to the disabled

February 11, 2024 | Source: The New Indian Express- India

Aiming at easy access to Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), the Centre has directed the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) to encourage the state governments to adopt accessibility guidelines. The directions were issued after the review meeting of the Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) chaired by Cabinet Secretary. The ministry was further asked to appropriately amend local bylaws to institutionalise easy building access to specially-abled individuals…

Floating bus stops go against accessible design

February 12, 2024 | Source: Times Colonist- Canada

“Floating or island” bus stops located between bike lanes and the road, away from the curb, pose ongoing danger to all pedestrians, but particularly blind transit users. We, more than anyone else, rely on this essential service. A provincial review of our public infrastructure is taking place with a report pending in March. Provincial politicians, however, have an incompetence unworthy of their designated social standing that reveals a callous disregard for proven endangerment…

‘The first of its kind’: new inclusive playground sets the standard for accessibility in the UK

February 14, 2024 | Source: Able Magazine- UK

There are one million disabled children in the UK. But research from Scope has shown that half (49%) of parents with disabled children say there are accessibility issues at their local playground, and more than one in ten families living with disability (13%) were unable to enjoy the playground because their children were not able to play together. The Fair Play playground in Barnet directly addresses the challenges faced by the disability community and empowers disabled and non-disabled people of all ages to play together without exclusion or bias…

Accessibility: Mumbai’s lifeline can make lives of people with disabilities easier, but how?

February 15, 2024 | Source: Citizen Matters- India

Fransisca Dantas, a visually challenged teacher, has a unique accessibility challenge while boarding the Mumbai local trains. She travels five days of the week from Andheri to Dadar by the local train for work. At Andheri, announcements about the arrival of trains, whether they are 12 or 15 coach, are erratic. This means passengers don’t know where the women’s compartment will be. Like other women commuters, she cannot run to get into the women’s compartment once the train arrives. “If it is a 15 coach, people start running helter skelter…

Accessibility Kit changes on way to help colour-blind rugby fans

February 14, 2024 | Source: Morning Star- UK

Ireland and Wales are set to play each other in their traditional plain green and red shirts for the final time during a Six Nations game. The green-red combination is a particular issue for colour-blind supporters, and it will surface again in next week’s Dublin clash between the countries. Around one in 12 men suffer from colour vision deficiency (CVD) and one in 200 women, globally. World Rugby regulations will come into force from January next year aimed at assisting those with CVD…

Netherlands best, Czechia worst in Europe on rail accessibility

February 15, 2024 | Source: Railway Technology- Europe

UK stations found to have ‘alarming’ accessibility inadequacies

February 15, 2024 | Source: New Civil Engineer- UK

The Netherlands has been ranked the best railway nation in Europe for accessibility, while Czech Republic was marked as one of the worst in a new report. Created by online booking comparison website Omio, the report looked at three key points to determine its rankings: the percentage of stations with barrier-free entry to platforms, the percentage with tactile paving on platforms, and the percentage with digital information displays. The Netherlands achieved its ranking because 99% of its stations have tactile paving and digital displays, 97% have barrier-free entry, though Sweden and Norway recorded the highest percentages for the latter, both with 99%…

EU Disability Card goes some way to improving accessibility across the bloc

February 15, 2024 | Source: Euractiv- EU

While broadly welcomed for harmonising accessibility measures across the bloc, the agreement on the EU’s first bloc-wide Disability Card is only a first step in securing true freedom of movement within EU countries for people with disabilities, an expert told Euractiv. Around 87 million people in Europe live with some form of disability. As member states currently recognise these disabilities according to varied criteria, with corresponding national disability cards, thousands of people regularly encounter barriers when travelling or visiting another member state due to the lack of homogeneous recognition…

WestJet CEO apologizes for accessibility failures, defends airline’s record

February 15, 2024 | Source: Toronto Star- Canada

WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech is apologizing for incidents where the airline failed to accommodate people living with disabilities. The chief executive says that more than 99 per cent of the 700 daily customers who require support had a good experience, but that each case of mistreatment is “a case too many.” Several incidents have surfaced at Canadian airlines over the past year, including when a man with spastic cerebral palsy was forced to drag himself off of an airplane and when former Paralympian Sarah Morris-Probert hauled herself up the aircraft stairs rather than being able to board using her wheelchair…

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