Category Archives: signal boost

Web Event: Accessible World Tek Talk presents Dean Martineau discussing Speech Recognition, July 19, 2010

Would you like to write documents by speaking to your computer, rather than typing, or are you somebody who needs to perform all your computer operations with little or no use of your hands? While still challenging, these feats are becoming ever more possible with the steady improvement of speech recognition technology.

Dean Martineau will provide an overview of the available resources to make this all possible on Tek Talk on July 19 at 5:00 P.M. Pacific Time, 8:00 P.M. Eastern time, 00:00 Tuesday GMT. He will provide guidelines to help you evaluate which of the available speech recognition options might be for you, and will demonstrate some aspects of them. This will be an opportunity for you to learn about the state of the art in speech recognition as it pertains to the blind, and to ask questions about your own situation.

Presenter: Dean Martineau
Email: dean@topdotenterprises.com

Date: Monday, July 19, 2010

Time: 5:00 PM PDT, 6:00 PM MDT, 7:00 PM CDT, and 8:00 PM EDT
and elsewhere in the world Tuesday 00:00 GMT

More details below:
Continue reading Web Event: Accessible World Tek Talk presents Dean Martineau discussing Speech Recognition, July 19, 2010

Disability Rights Fund Releases 2010 Round Two Request for Proposals

BOSTON, MA – The Disability Rights Fund (DRF)—a grantmaking collaborative between donors and the global disability community which supports the human rights of persons with disabilities—today announced its second 2010 “Moving Rights Forward” grants round. Grantmaking in this round will be targeted to disabled persons’ organizations (DPOs) in four regions and twenty countries: in Africa: Ghana and Uganda; in Asia: Bangladesh; in Latin America: Ecuador, Nicaragua and Peru; in the Pacific: Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

The broad objective of the Fund—which was officially launched in March 2008 and is a Project of Tides—is to empower DPOs in the developing world and Eastern Europe/former Soviet Union to participate in ratification, implementation and monitoring of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CPRD).

In the second round of 2010 grantmaking, applicant organizations from eligible countries may apply as: a) single organizations or partnerships for 12-month Small Grants and/or b) national DPO-led coalitions for 24 month National Coalition Grants. Grants to single organizations will range from USD 5,000 to 20,000 and will support efforts to build CRPD skills and to develop rights-based advocacy and monitoring on the CRPD. Grants to national DPO-led coalitions will range from USD 30,000 to 50,000 per year (60,000 – 100,000 over 24 months) and will support advocacy toward ratification of the CRPD, passage of specific legislation to accord with the CRPD, or the production of alternative/parallel reports to UN monitoring mechanisms.

Interested organizations are urged to review the full eligibility criteria and application details posted at the Fund’s website. Any questions on the proposal process should be directed to info@disabilityrightsfund.org. The deadline for applications is August 19, 2010.

In 2009, the Fund made 82 one-year grants to organizations in 14 countries (India, Mexico, Ukraine; Ecuador, Nicaragua, Peru; Ghana, Namibia, Uganda; Bangladesh; and Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands), totaling USD 1,933,050. Grants ranged from USD 5000 – 70,000 and supported CRPD skills-building, local rights advocacy, and national-level CRPD promotion, implementation and monitoring by DPO-led coalitions.

DRF’s donors include Aepoch Fund, the American Jewish World Service, an anonymous founding donor, the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), the Open Society Institute, The Sigrid Rausing Trust, and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID).

Event: Hundreds to gather at Nathan Phillips Square on July 20th at the 7th annual disability pride celebration in Toronto

TORONTO—To mark the 7th annual disability pride celebration in Toronto, Simply People: Celebrating Our Lives & Identities, hundreds will gather at Nathan Phillips Square on July 20th from 5:00PM to 8:00PM. This free outdoor event is open for all to attend (rain or shine).

On stage, there will be several guest speakers, along with performances by singers Joel Martin and Serena Pryne, humorist Libby Thaw, writer Carol Krause and the bands Symphony of Nine and Ordain. There will be a number of display tables setup by organizations/groups to provide information about their products/services.

“Our vision is to bring as many people together to celebrate our lives and identities in an inclusive environment of positive synergies and attitudes of being proud,” says Uzma Khan, a founder of this annual event.

One of this year’s guest speakers will include John Rae, the first Vice-President of the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians. He will be discussing the progression of the disability rights movement and his 30+ years of advocacy work.

“Canada’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provides rights holders and their allies a new tool to remove barriers and expand opportunities for all Canadians with disabilities,” says Mr. Rae.

This event is brought to you by Canada-Wide Accessibility for Post-Secondary Students (CANWAPSS) and friends of CANWAPSS, including LinkUp Employment Services, Abilities Arts Festival, VoicePrint, Easter Seals Canada (Access 2 Entertainment), diversityworX and Scadding Court Community Centre.

ASL interpretation, attendant care and transcription services will be available onsite.

For more information about this event, please e-mail the organizers at info@disabilitypride.ca or visit Disability Pride. Join our Facebook group at Simply People – Disability Pride Celebration in Toronto.

Online University Course: Introduction to Disability and Diversity Studies

Please see below for a graduate level Introduction to Disability and Diversity Studies course I am teaching online in the Fall. I welcome students from across the U.S. and internationally. The course is offered via the University of Hawaii Outreach College for individuals who are non-UH students and non-residents pay the resident fee because the course is entirely online.

OFFERED ONLINE FOR FALL, 2010!

INTRODUCTION TO DISABILITY AND DIVERSITY STUDIES (DIS 683)

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Megan Conway
Email: mconway@hawaii.edu Tel: 808-956-6166

WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS COURSE?

This course is designed for graduate students and professionals in a variety of disciplines concerned with disability and diversity issues. The course is open to currently enrolled UH students and to non-UH students (via the UH Outreach College).

This is a core course for the interdisciplinary Disability and Diversity Studies Certificate Program http://www.cds.hawaii.edu/main/certificates/ but can also be taken as an elective. Emphasis will be placed on introducing students to knowledge and theories about disability rights, policy, and culture from a diversity perspective in the context of multiple disciplines.

WHEN: Wednesdays, 1:00pm – 2:30pm HST, August 25th – December 8th

CREDITS: 3

REGISTRATION INFO: (UH Students only) Fall 2010 CRN 77335; (Non-UH and UH Students via Outreach College) Fall Extension 2010 CRN 1237

WHERE: Via Elluminate (live online interactive sessions) and Laulima (online course materials and discussion board)

Signal Boost: Girls with Disabilities’ Event, Michigan, US

Girls with Disabilities’ Event
Michigan Disability Rights Coalition
DATE: August 13, 14, 15
LOCATION: Camp Cavell, Lexington, Michigan

Are you a high school girl with a disability between the ages of 14-19?
Would you like to meet other girls with disabilities from across the state of Michigan?

Then you need to register TODAY for Michigan’s girls with disabilities event: Her Power · Her Pride · Her Voice

As a group, we will explore what it means to be a girl teen with a disability, in today’s world.

You will challenge stereotypes and shatter myths about what it means to be a girl with a disability. The media and some adults are continually telling us how us how we are supposed to act, who we are supposed to be, and what we are supposed to look like. It is time for us to CHALLENGE it all.

At this interactive weekend, we will use art-based activities to learn from each other and how to teach the world how we see ourselves. You will find and use the your POWER. You will find your disability PRIDE. You will find your VOICE.

*This event is only open to high school girls with disabilities (any visible and/or invisible) ages 14-19.

For more information, contact the Michigan Disability Rights Coalition.

Disability-Centered Writing Wanted!

Redstone Science Fiction is running a contest!

Towards an Accessible Future

Redstone Science Fiction is calling for contest submissions that incorporate the values discussed in the essay The Future Imperfect by Sarah Einstein.

What does a world, or space station, or whatever look like when it has been designed to be accessible to everyone and how would people live together there?

The submissions should portray disability as a simple fact, not as something to be overcome or something to explain why a character is evil. The submissions should also incorporate the portrayal of disability in a world where universal access is a shared cultural value.

Check out all the details!

AND!

Popular Genres and Disability Representation

Romance novel or western, detective serial or horror film, the genre of a text affects how we “read” it, including our understanding of disabled characters. Genre forms may impose constraints upon the creators of texts, such as a particular setting or narrative structure, but they may equally open up new possibilities for representation. In science fiction, for example, new technologies, alien bodies, and alternative environments can challenge understandings of what constitutes disability or impairment. Michael Bérubé speculates that the genre is “as obsessed with disability as it is with space travel and alien contact.” What opportunities (and what constraints) might science fiction present, then, with regards to disability representation? More generally, how do the structures and conventions of genre forms, such as the need for heroine and hero to be united in romance, affect the representation of disability?

This special issue of JLCDS will explore the interplay of genre and disability with a focus on popular genre texts, whether in fiction, film, television, or other media. Submissions might consider representations of disability in particular texts or authors, in specific genres, or in mainstream texts that enter into dialogue with genre; alternatively, they might examine disability theory in relation to genre theory, or the role of fan communities. This list is not exhaustive, so submissions on other topics related to disability and genre are very welcome.

Get all the details!

Signal Boost: Questionnaire about UN Convention on Rights of Disabled

The European Network on Independent Living (ENIL) launches quick questions to ask what’s happening with the UN Convention:

Do you think the Convention will make a difference in the next 12 months? What do you think could strengthen the Convention? Have you seen any changes by your governments? Have you seen any changes around article 19?

Questionnaire

Plain text copies are also available contact d.pearson@enil.eu

I took the questionnaire. There are 22 questions, two of which want your to type your thoughts. It’s focused on EU countries, and asks about how you feel about your government’s ratification (or not) of the UN Convention.

Call to Action: Tell Parliament to Stop Discrimination against people with disabilities who immigrate to Canada

An awesome way to guarantee that you will not be allowed to immigrate to most countries – even if you otherwise completely qualify – is to have a disability, or have a disabled immediate family member.

Despite the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms explicitly guaranteeing that laws in Canada cannot be written to discriminate against people with “mental or physical disabilities” (Section 15 of the Charter), Canada’s Immigration Act allows someone who otherwise passes all of Canada’s immigration requirements to be denied immigration because they “might reasonably be expected to cause excessive demand on health or social services”.

What has this meant in practice? Well, in 2009 Chris Mason, an immigrant from the UK who was injured on the job while working legally in Canada, was deported back to the UK because of his disability. In 2010, Ricardo Companioni was initially denied immigration to Canada from the US because of his HIV-positive status, but managed to argue in Federal court that he and his partner would pay for their drug treatments and thus not be part of Canada’s care system – a solution that is not available to many people. In May, the Barlagne family lost their appeal to be allowed to stay in Canada, as their youngest daughter has Cerebral Palsy. The reasoning was that the court did not believe the Barlagnes would be able to pay for their daughter’s care.

None of these stories are unique. Even when the Bill was being debated in Parliament, Members were bringing up concerns about how the “excessive demand clause” would affect people whose families had disabilities. In 2000, when Wendy Lill, a Member of Parliament, asked:

We have a charter of rights which talks about each Canadian being entitled to equality under the law. The Will to Act Task Force, which was established several years ago, talked about equality of citizenship for persons with disabilities.

Clause 34 talks about how a foreign national or other permanent resident would be inadmissible on health grounds if their health condition might reasonably be expected to cause excessive demand on health or social services. This is the only clause in the bill which seems to me would in any way relate to a person with a disability making an application to come to Canada.

I would like to know if a family with a child who has a disability such as Down syndrome or cerebral palsy would be accepted in this country. [emphasis added]

She was assured by the then-in-power Liberals that:

I think it is internationally accepted, in the Geneva convention and other statutes, that the best interests of the child can indeed be defined. In the case of a disabled child, I believe that the intent is to prevent abuse. The abuse might be that the only reason for someone wanting to come to Canada would be to seek free health care of some type.

However, in the case of family reunification, if we are talking about bringing a new family to Canada, if a child has a disability, frankly, I am absolutely confident, having met the men and women who work in citizenship and immigration, that we would take all of that into account and we would not allow it to stand in the way. [emphasis added]

I’m very happy for the no-longer-in-power Liberals that they were certain situations like the Barlagnes would never happen in Totally-Awesome-To-People-With-Disabilities Canada, but since we live in this Canada, I think their optimism was misguided. As has been amply demonstrated by reality.

The Council of Canadians with Disabilities has recently written yet-another-letter urging the Hon. Jason Kenney, Minister of Immigration, to review the “excessive demand clause”. You can read the letter in full at their website.

I have adapted their letter to send to Mr Kenney, as well as my MP, and provide that letter for my fellow Canadians to adapt or use in any way they see fit.

This is a discriminatory policy. People with disabilities and their families are not drains on the Canadian economy. We are people, and we should not be denied equal rights because of our disabilities.

My letter is below:
Continue reading Call to Action: Tell Parliament to Stop Discrimination against people with disabilities who immigrate to Canada

International Disabilities Alliance Disability Rights Bulletin May 2010

Global News

Spain first country to submit its initial report to the CRPD Committee

On May 3rd, 2010, Spain submitted its initial report, on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (the CRPD Committee). This means that Spain has become the first country to submit a report to the Committee on how the rights of persons with disabilities are being implemented. For the moment, the report is only available in Spanish. Please click the following links to have access to the report and its annex: Spanish report and Annex.

Elections for the CRPD Committee

The election of six Members of the CRPD Committee to replace those whose terms are due to expire on 31 December 2010, and to increase the membership of the Committee from twelve to eighteen persons as a result of the 80th ratification of the CRPD, will occur during the Third session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Convention. The Conference of States Parties will take place in New York from 1-3 September 2010.

On May 3, the Secretary-General of the UN sent a letter asking States Parties to nominate candidates to the Committee by July 1. The CRPD Committee has recently published a section in its website on these elections. For further information on the elections for the CRPD Committee, please click here.

IDA has prepared a number of documents explaining the process as well as a questionnaire to be filled in by candidates. Please click here to access these documents and to get more information on these elections.

IDA is including in its website, information on those nominations that have been decided at national level. To have access to the information on the candidates, please click here.

OHCHR

The OHCHR has recently published on its website on disability a new tool: “Monitoring the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Guidance for Human Rights Monitors.” Please click the following links to see this publication: pdf version of report or word version of report.

CRPD ratifications reach 86

The ratification of the CRPD by Nepal, on 7 May 2010, has increased to 86 the number of States Parties to the CRPD. Ratification by Nepal of the Optional Protocol (OP) increased to 53 the number of the States Parties to the OP. The number of signatures to the CRPD is 144, while the OP has 88 signatures.

Treaty Bodies

The CAT Committee, in its 44th session, considered from 26 April-14 May 2010 reports from Austria, Cameroon, France, Jordan, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen. To have access to the disability analysis of the Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee during this session, please click here.

IDA prepared a number of documents (uploaded on the CAT Committee website) with suggested recommendations for the Concluding Observations, which were adopted by the Committee in this session. Some of these recommendations have influenced the Concluding Observations of the reviewed States such as Austria, to which the Committee recommended to cease immediately the use of net beds as it constitutes a violation of article 16 of the Convention.

Universal Periodic Review

The UPR Working Group has held its 8th session from 3-14 May 2010. In this session, the following countries were reviewed: Kyrgyzstan, Kiribati, Guinea, Lao People´s Democratic Republic, Spain, Lesotho, Kenya, Armenia, Guinea-Bissau, Sweden, Grenada, Turkey, Guyana, Kuwait, and Belarus. The review of Haiti was scheduled for this session but was postponed.

For an analysis of the refer ences to persons with disabili ties in the UPR Working Group reports, please click here.

Upcoming Meetings

The 54th session of the CRC Committee (25 May-11 June 2010) will consider reports from Argentina, Belgium, Grenada, Guatemala, Japan, Nigeria, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Tunisia. OPSC: Argentina; Belgium; Colombia; The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; Japan and Serbia. OPAC: Argentina; Colombia; Japan; Serbia and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Click here for the references to persons with disabilities in the States’ reports, lists of issues, and written replies.

Upcoming Session of the Human Rights Council

The 14th session of the Human Rights Council will take place from 31 May-18 June, 2010, in Geneva. Click here for further information on this session.

IDA has prepared a disability analysis of the following reports prepared for the 14th session of the Council.

Special Procedures

The following Special Procedures reports, which have been prepared for the 14th session of the Human Rights Council, include references to persons with disabilities: Independent Expert on cultural rights; Special Rapporteur on migrants; Special Rapporteur on education; Independent Expert on extreme poverty; Special Rapporteur on racism, and the Independent Expert on Haiti. For detailed information on the references to persons with disabilities in these reports, please click here.

UPR

All UPR Working Group reports, which were prepared at the 7th session of the UPR (February 8-19, 2010) and will be presented to the 14th session of the Council, include references to persons with disabilities. Click here for the disability analysis of these reports.

Other reports

IDA has undertaken an analysis of other reports that have also been prepared for the 14th session of the Human Rights Council. Click here to access this analysis.

About the IDA Disability Rights Bulletin

This bulletin is intended for experts advocating for the rights of persons with disabilities, in particular within the Geneva-based human rights framework. It is prepared by the IDA Secretariat, which also provides support to the Group of States Friends of the CRPD.

For more information about IDA, its CRPD Forum and its member organisations, please visit: www.internationaldisabilityalliance.org.

Contact us via email at: stromel@fundaciononce.es.

Signal Boost: Online Web Study on How People Give Route Instructions

The DiaSpace project in Bremen is running a brand new quick (5 minute) online web study into how people give route instructions in dialogue. This will be our final call for participation so we hope you can take this study!

The goal is that our findings will help us develop more responsive wayfinding systems so that people who can’t manually control their wheelchairs can interact via dialogue instead. Another application which we’re working on is about helping elderly people find objects in their home by describing where they are in an understandable way. So it’s all in a good cause!

Please participate, and just as important, please forward this email on to your friends! We’re really having a hard time getting enough participants who are native English speakers, as DiaSpace is based in Germany. The only conditions for participation are that participants be native or very fluent speakers of English and 18 years old or older, and not visually or cognitively disabled.

Here’s the link to the experiment.

The experiment only takes 5 minutes, and if you’re using Windows Vista, you’ll need to run it on Firefox, as it won’t work on Internet Explorer for Vista. (It works on Internet Explorer for other operating systems than Vista though.)

[I completed it and I assume it worked fine in Google Chrome.]

It also really is a very short experiment.