November 30, 2006
The DisAbled Recreation Club of Perth, Australia
On 3rd December 2006 the DisAbled Recreation Club of Perth, Australia, in partnership with ACROD WA are having an all day party - Celebration of Ability - and you’re invited.
To celebrate the United Nations International day of People with a DisAbility and the launch of the DisAbled Recreation Club, we are having an exhibition promoting participation and what people with disAbilities can do rather than what they can’t do!
We have two pavilions at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre full of fun filled activities, demonstrations, speakers and exhibitors. Be inspired by the guest speakers including Paralympian Janet Shaw, awed by a demonstration of a hand controlled motorbike and impressed by the skills of the Wildcats who’ll play a game of wheelchair basketball against the Wheelcats and that’s just a few of the events that will be happening throughout the day.
November 29, 2006
Dear Santa: Can I Have Universal Design, Please?
Over at Wheelie Catholic somebody is asking the right question. When will Visitability ("Universal Hiousing" in Australia) bring joy to the holiday season?
Every holiday, I receive invitations to go to parties at friends and families' homes. The bottom line is that I can't get into these events because no one's home is accessible. It isn't a matter of just getting in the front door, although that can be daunting in itself - I'm getting flashbacks here of using pieces of plywood to roll up eight concrete steps - but once inside, the hallways may not be passable and of course, the bathroom may not be accessible.My friends with disabilities have accessible housing by necessity so I can always be with them, but they live many miles away. It is discouraging as a person who works toward inclusion to discover that the friends I have who are not disabled might as well be living in a castle with a moat with alligators in it!
Read more:
http://wheeliecatholic.blogspot.com/2006/11/dear-santa-can-i-have-universal-design.html
2nd International niversal Design Conference: Kyoto
Valerie Fletcher tells it like it is in Kyoto: at the 2nd International Conference for Universal Design:
The conference reinforced that what it means to be old is changing. Many people over the age of 70 are staying active, whether it’s someone in Norway (a world leader in universal design along with Japan) extending their career or a grandparent in sub-Saharan Africa taking care of an HIV-positive baby whose parents have died of AIDS. It isn’t just polite to make their world accessible: it’s imperative.For many other retirees, mental and physical isolation is the challenge. A major antidote, says Dr. Jane Barratt, secretary general for the International Federation on Aging, is creating “age friendly cities. It’s about creating enabling environments. Public space is an important opportunity.”
Relatedly, there was a debate at the conference about whether governments can or should mandate the creativity and innovation necessary for good UD. “I think fixed standards and regulations make design more predictable,” if not outright boring, says Valerie Fletcher of Adaptive Environments in Boston. “It becomes, ‘Just tell me what I have to do.’”
Source:
http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=2407
November 28, 2006
Travel Impact Newswire
Imtiaz Muqbil in Bangkok writes Travel Impact Newswire.The current issue contains a report on the UK's recent sutdy on global warming:
Calling climate change the “greatest market failure” ever seen, a report prepared for the U.K. Treasury says the aviation industry is likely to be “among the fastest-growing” contributors to the problem by 2050. It has called for both the aviation and shipping industries to be slapped with a “carbon pricing” structure to curb emissions of greenhouse gasses.Released with much fanfare in the U.K. earlier this week, the conclusions of the so-called Stern Report are sure to put the lifeblood industry of travel & tourism on the defensive to account for the environmental downside of deregulation, liberalisation and unbridled open-sky competition that has seen more people take to the air than ever before in recent years.
Source:
TRAVEL IMPACT NEWSWIRE -- Edition 73 -- Thursday, 02 November 2006
One might also hope that as environmental accountability comes into vogue so will human-centered design issues.
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Travel With Wheelchair Dancer
Wheelchair Dancer has several posts on her recent travels.
"On my last trip to NYC, I had the misfortune to meet the TSA person from hell."
http://cripwheels.blogspot.com/2006/11/wcd-meets-tsa-ii.html
Two Posts on NYC:
http://cripwheels.blogspot.com/2006/11/subway-not-accessible.html
http://cripwheels.blogspot.com/2006/11/thursday-in-nyc.html
Disabled Toilets:
http://cripwheels.blogspot.com/2006/11/disabled-toilets.html
Explore Southern Brazil by Wheelchair
The Brazilian non profit Caminadores is part of the vibrant national market for inclusive leisure and adventure travel. Activites include trail walks, orienteering, rappelling, as well as infrastructure building and marketibng projects such as tourist maps and accessibility audits of tourism venues.
London: Getting Around Underground
Youreable.com reports:
London Underground, in partnership with Direct Enquiries, has commenced assessments of all of their 274 stations, as part of a commitment to improve access for customers.The assessments, conducted by Direct Enquiries (the Nationwide Access Register), are the first step in a campaign to make access details of London Underground more accurate, timely and widely available. This follows on from work to determine where actual improvements to access could and should be made.
The assessments will provide London Underground with detailed reports on all public areas of the network, allowing them to understand the access routes and facilities available to people who have specific requirements. This includes disabled people, older and younger people, parents with pushchairs and people with luggage.
Once the assessments have been completed, the information will be made available to the public through www.directenquiries.com, the TfL journey planner and paper-based customer information products.
November 27, 2006
Fly With Steve Wright
Here's a sample of travel writing by somebody with real life experience:
When your spouse uses a wheelchair, your travel options aren't so much limited as they are dependent on creativity and flexibility.Long cross-ocean flights, for example, are not out of the question. But a wheelchair user with stiff joints, constant pain and prevalent fatigue due to severe rheumatoid arthritis will cope much better with eight-plus hours of flying if he or she can be accommodated with the roominess of a business-class seat.
The same goes for a place to sleep far from home. On a trip to Spain, we found there are barrier-free hotels, hostels, palladores and apartments, but that only about one in 50 is wheel- chair-accessible and about one in 10 of those advertise the fact that they can accommodate a disabled traveler.
And some places somehow come to the conclusion that they are wheelchair-accessible even though the only route to the front door is via eight steep, slippery steps.
Find our more about Steve Wright here. Find Steve Wright's full article at the Plains Dealer, "Call to Make Sure..."