Daily Archives: 1 February, 2010

ACTION ITEM (United States): Ask your rep to co-sponsor the Technology Bill of Rights for the Blind

If there’s an action item you’d like to draw our attention to, please email us with a tip.

I received the following via email today:

National Federation of the Blind Applauds Measure To Ensure Blind People Equal Access to Technology

Washington, DC (January 27, 2010): Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) today introduced the Technology Bill of Rights for the Blind (H.R. 4533), which will mandate that all consumer electronics, home appliances, kiosks, and electronic office technology provide user interfaces that are accessible to the blind.

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “The National Federation of the Blind appreciates the wise and decisive action taken today by Representative Schakowsky. In recent years, advances in microchip and digital technology have led to the proliferation of everyday products–such as dishwashers or copy machines–that have visual displays and other user interfaces that are inaccessible to individuals who are blind or have low vision. Inaccessibility of these devices is a major barrier to a blind person’s independence and productivity. The Technology Bill of Rights will ensure that manufacturers make their products accessible to all consumers, and that blind people will not be left behind as technology continues to advance.”

“The importance of access to technology in today’s society cannot be overstated. In many cases, a person’s livelihood depends upon the ability to use technology,” said Representative Schakowsky. “This bill will allow people who are blind or have low vision to compete on a level playing field with their sighted peers and remain productive members of society.”

This Bill is currently before the Committee on Energy and Commerce. It has no co-sponsors yet.

If you are living in the US, please considering contacting your representative and asking hir to co-sponsor Bill H.R. 4533, the Technology Bill of Rights for the Blind.

Write your Representative

Website Addresses for Representatives

Please pass the word to your friends and networks!

Recommended Reading for February 1st

Warning: Offsite links are not safe spaces. Articles and comments in the links may contain ableist, sexist, and other -ist language of varying intensity. Opinions expressed in the articles may not reflect the opinions held by the compiler of the post. I attempt to provide extra warnings for material like extreme violence/rape; however, your triggers/issues may vary, so please read with care.

Modus Dopens: De-centering non-disability: part 2

So for a long time I didn’t express anger. I didn’t feel like I was allowed to even be angry. I apologised incessantly to people. I wrote about that here. Short version: it was detrimental to me.

When a CNDP objects to my anger, they are failing to see all the structural stuff that affects me every day. They are also failing to see that it’s not something I can ignore or tune out, because I can’t ignore needing to pee, or needing to get to class.

NTs are Weird : New Diagnostic Criteria

Apparently, to be “fully” autistic, one must meet the new diagnostic criteria – one must be unsuccessful and unhappy.

Gianna Lauren: Halifax Media Co-op: Audio Vision: Campus and community stations transform to accommodate people with disabilities

Staff support was crucial in enabling Noble to establish CHSR as a functional space for the Blind. “When I started at CHSR the staff and volunteers were very excited to work on making the station accessible,” he says. “The first job was to put Braille labels on all of the equipment in the master control room as well as the production studio.”

Making a space accessible for disabled persons also involves educating the able-bodied people who share the space. For instance, there are programmers who peel away at the Braille labels – an anxious habit while hosting on air – and eventually remove the labels unknowingly.

Michael Uniacke at The Age: Memo cinema chains: the deaf enjoy movies too

In the 17 years since the enactment of the Disability Discrimination Act, the grand result of 50 complaints and fruitless negotiations with cinema chains is that 12 cinemas in the entire country show three screenings a week of captioned films. The cinemas decide what films will be captioned, and show them all at off-peak times. For example, who goes to the movies on Wednesday mornings?

Four of the cinema chains – Hoyts, Village Roadshow, Greater Union and Readings – have now applied to the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) for an exemption from complaints made under the Act for a period of two-and-a-half years, after originally asking for five years.

Melbourne Leader: HAVE YOUR SAY: Disabled pleas ignored in Swanston St revamp plan

Melbourne Council has ignored pleas to allow wheelchair accessible taxis into Swanston St after a $25.6 million strip revamp.

NJToday.net: Theater Continues Sensory Friendly Films® Program

In order to provide a more accepting and comfortable setting for children with autism or other special needs, AMC movie auditoriums will have their lights brought up and the sound turned down. Families will be able to bring in their own gluten-free, casein-free snacks, and no previews or advertisements will be shown before the movie.

Additionally, audience members are welcome to get up and dance, walk, shout or sing […]

The Times of India: Surging crowds prove to be a handicap for disabled runners

This quartet had come to Kasturchand Park to show the world that their disabilities were no match for their hardy spirit. Unfortunately, the otherwise encouraging crowd proved to be uncharacteristically unsympathetic towards them. As a result, the four wheelchair-bound men – Sumit Kumbhare, Mohammed Afzal, Mohammed Shahid and Gyasuddin Ansari – were blocked off by this literally unmoving crowd, and they failed to register their participation in the Nagpur Marathon on Sunday morning.

Only you know your own experience

A few days ago, I had a conversation with a medical professional that went something like this:

MP: So you’ve been feeling tired?
Chally: Yes, not as tired as I have been, but still pretty tired. I’ve been waking up at 5am[1. As I’m writing this, my body has happily decided to switch to 7-7.30am. Which is both good and ?!?!]. Not this weekend though.
MP: Why? Are you depressed?
C: No, I’m not. I’m not sure why that keeps happening.
MP: You don’t seem like you’re depressed. So do you have recurring thoughts when you wake up?
C: No. I just wake up, then I log on to the computer and check my emails to see what came in overnight. Do you think it could be the sunlight waking me up?
MP: No, the sun isn’t up that early. Do you have to check your emails?
C: No, I just do. I don’t want to leave the room and wake the household, so I just stay there and check my emails.
MP: So is it a compulsion?
C: No, I don’t have to check my emails, I just do it because I want to and that’s what’s there to do. It’s not a compulsion.
MP: Do you wash your hands a lot? Do you have lots of recurring thoughts?
C: No. I don’t have any symptoms of OCD.

That last moved the conversation on quickly.

I’m telling you this story so you know something very important. Medical professionals are people, with their own biases and experiences. Sometimes they will make mistakes and the wrong judgments. They will try to fit you into convenient boxes, tell you things about yourself that just aren’t true. Your trust isn’t always well placed when placed in authority. Remember that doctors aren’t the sole arbiters of experience. At the end of the day, only you know what’s going on for you; your experience of what you’re going through is valid.