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G20 Protest Disability-Related News Stories
Photo by Hillary Lindsay for the Toronto Media Co-Op, used under a Creative Commons License.
Emomotimi Azorbo, a Deaf man, was arrested in Toronto for stepping off the sidewalk and being unable to hear the police’s demands that he get back on the sidewalk. The police would not allow his friend, who knew Sign, to community with him, and handcuffed Azorbo, which prevented him from communicating with anyone.
According to the Globe and Mail, the Canadian Hearing Society’s Gary Malkowski said the police failure to allow an interpreter who was not an officer to assist communication violates Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Ubyssey [University of British Columbia Student Newspaper]: Deaf man released on bail: Exclusive Photos of g20 arrest
“It was a great deal of misunderstanding from both sides,” he said. “[Azorbo] bumped into police…and the police starting yelling at them to get back, he didn’t understand. His friends were trying to tell the police that he was deaf, trying to explain the communication barrier.”
“[The police] were about to let him leave, but then he got into their faces, and then was tackled,” added Thibault. “I think he was just intimidated.”
Toronto Mobilize: Support Emomotimi!
The Spoke: Deaf Demonstrator Released on Bail [in PDF, Text only transcription]
Toronto Media Co-Op (Grassroots Media): An Accessible Movement
Disabled people were setting the pace of Friday’s anti-G20 march, says Andrew Mindscenthy.
Mindszenthy is a member of Disability Action Movement Now (DAMN), a cross-disability coalition that includes disabled people and people affected by ableism.
Globe and Mail (Mainstream Media): Deaf man arrested in G20 protest granted bail
Toronto Star (Mainstream Media): Deaf protester expected in court today
Key Quote: “Handcuffing a deaf person is like putting duct tape over a hearing person’s mouth,” he said. “It’s a violation of their human rights.”
The above links focus specifically on disability-related news stories. For grass-roots and up-to-the-minute report on the G20 protests, the Toronto Police State, the 4 a.m. arrests of social justice activists, etc:
Rabble’s Staff Blog [Independent Media]
Steve Paikin’s twitter feed [Journalist]
The Toronto Media Co-Op (part of the Dominion newsgroup) has up-to-the-minute updates [Grass-Roots Media] (Community Organizers thrown in Unmarked Police Vans en Route to Press Conference on Targeted Arrests)
Illegal Soul is bfp’s tumblr, where she is posting updates from protestors she knows in Toronto.
Sabotabby is posting updates from Toronto.
Upcoming Events
Disability News Asia: First Conference in New Zealand on Access Tourism
October 4 2010 has been set as the date for the first conference in New Zealand on Access Tourism.
The conference will look at various aspects of Access Tourism, including some of the following:
The current situation NZ and worldwide, website access and information best practice, government strategy, policy, and obligations, best practice in transport , accommodation, and attractions access, training for access in the tourism and hospitality sector, legal aspects, and quality rating for Access Tourism products in New Zealand.
Website: Access Tourism NZ 2010 Conference
Disability News Asia: 3rd International Universal Design Conference: Hamamatsu 2010
The 3rd International Conference for Universal Design in 2010 will be held in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, for 5 days from 30th of October – 3rd of November 2010.
Petitions
United Kingdom: Against DWP Reforms for the genuinely sick and disabled
We believe that the constant vilification of sick and disabled claimants as work shy scroungers by the press has a great deal to do with increasing levels of harassment.
If you’re on Delicious, feel free to tag entries ‘disfem’ or ‘disfeminists,’ or ‘for:feminists’ to bring them to our attention! Link recommendations can also be emailed to recreading[@]disabledfeminists[.]com