Rolling Rains Report:

Us, Not You, for Person of the Year

Paul Lamb, founder of Street Tech, and colleague in the Community Technology Foundation of California Zero Divide Fellowship sent a note this morning as he delves into Universal Design. In a Computerworld piece below he addresses another issue of concern to the disabld community - affordability:

“Is anybody making technology and access to it for me, and not just for some rich kid?” I overheard a young student ask. At the time, I was in the classroom at Street Tech, a San Francisco Bay area technology training and job placement program for low-income and underserved adults.

The answer is complicated. Or is it?

Trickle-down technology is a fact of life in the U.S., just as are trickle-down employment, housing and wealth distribution. Thankfully, we as a nation believe in offering a safety net to keep people from slipping over the edge entirely. But we also harbor a competing set of beliefs that people get what they deserve and that working hard entitles one to certain “freedoms,” like unlimited wealth accumulation.

What if technology could help us to move beyond a “to the victor go the spoils” mentality? What if we all had similar access to the tools for success in a world that is being rapidly flattened, as Thomas Friedman suggests, by technology changes? That flattening already has some welcome partners, like municipal and community wireless broadband networks that are attempting to offer free and low-cost Internet access to everyone.

For full article click here.

New Zealand on Wheels

Simon O'Keefe is out to put New Zealand on the map - our map - the map that that tells us destinations and attractions that have earned our business by going out of the way to be accessible; to be inclusive.

The blog New Zealand on Wheels documents Inclusive Destination Development. Get to know this part of the world. At the blog read the new post by Sandra Rhodda. She is a researcher at Tai Poutini Polytechnic in Greymouth on the West Coast undertaking an audit and catalog of the accessibility of businesses in New Zealand - especially the West Coast of the South Island.

Been to NZ? help her out with your firsthand experience. Here's mine.

From New Zealand on Wheels:

NZ On Wheels started after a trip to Rotorua in September 2006. We were told over the phone that one of the main geothermal parks was fully accessible. On arrival we were given a map that indicated “limited” wheelchair access to at least half the park - but no explanation about what “limited” meant. This was illustrated by the international access sign with a cross through it… limited access, no access, or what? By this point we had already paid $25 each to enter the park so thought we’d investigate!

It turned out that the access was pretty good for a power chair - there were only a few tracks that we couldn’t get to. For a manual chair though, it would have been tough to see as much of the park without assistance as the tracks were gravel and there were some steep hills.

New Zealand is an amazing country and everyone deserves to see it. We decided that if good information wasn’t available, we would provide it…the NZ On Wheels website began a week later!

Source:
http://nzonwheels.co.nz/home/?page_id=25

Here's another tool for the traveler to New Zealand: Accessible Walks.

When Green & Universal Design Combine

Once again sustainable, environmentally responsible Universal Design is making the news. A press release on the BASF Near-Zero Energy Home states:

The BASF Near-Zero Energy Home is 80% more energy efficient than the average home... not only does it save energy, with the integration of solar energy, it produces energy, as well. "There are many days that the electrical meter moves in reverse allowing the homeowner to sell the excess energy back to the utility company," Armstrong stated. "In this way the project represents a carbon-neutral model for residential housing nationwide."

Touting other benefits, Armstrong added, "The BASF Near-Zero Energy Home also delivers increased durability, affordability, ease of construction and improvements in indoor environmental health and comfort."

In the first quarter of 2007, the home will be donated to St. Michael's Housing Authority and then turned over to a family with a teenage boy who is living with quadriplegic paralysis. As such, the home was designed to incorporate elements of universal design, demonstrating BASF's commitment to providing real-life solutions for people with diverse needs.

Source:

http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2007/1/emw499752.htm

Sailing: Mobility Cup 2007

2006 was just prelude. Mobility Cup 2007 hopes to make an even bigger splash.

Mobility Cup 2007 will be run by Sail Able Nova Scotia and hosted at the Dartmouth Yacht Club. It will run from Aug. 28 to Sept. 1, to include one day's training and four of racing. Sailing will be on the Bedford Basin, a sheltered body of water two miles wide and five miles long - where the WWII Atlantic convoys would gather.

"Mobility Cup 2007 will give a huge boost to the profile of disabled sailing in Halifax and the Maritimes," said honourary chairman Paul Tingley, of Sail Able Nova Scotia. "Our goal is to purchase some Martin 16 adaptive sailboats so that we attract more disabled sailors.

"We have the highest percentage of disabled people in the country and we want to provide them with a new recreational activity not dependant on their disability. It is sailing for all, and we want to get some Sip 'n' Puff technology here, too."

- From the press release.

The Halifax event site:
http://sailable.ca/mobcup.htm

Mobility Cup 2006:
http://www.mobilitycup.org/

AbleSailNetwork:
http://www.ablesailnetwork.ca/

The Universal Design "Twofer"

In the document, the Rio Charter: Universal Design for Sustainable and Inclusive Development, green and Universal Design

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology House Research Consortium (MIT House_n) and Bensonwood Homes are building a series of four prototype homes through the Open Prototype Initiative, designed to bring innovation to the construction industry.

Source:

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/6/prweb402364.htm

"The universal design elements of the home will enable it to adapt quickly and efficiently to our client's needs, changing as their needs change or as their mobility or health improves through rehabilitation," said Don Shumway, president and CEO of Crotched Mountain. "What we learn from this house and subsequent prototypes is very important because as people live longer, the term 'disabled' has taken on new meaning, and having a home that can serve a person or a family's needs throughout their life is something more and more Americans are looking for." Open_1 will also demonstrate "green" building concepts such as energy-efficient wall, window, roof, and lighting systems, advanced tracking of energy use, and provisions for the best possible indoor air quality. The design and construction processes will also demonstrate the ways that buildings of the future will come together with integrated systems for plumbing, heating and cooling, exterior siding, and more.

As its name implies, the Open Prototype Initiative is an "open source" process in which knowledge is shared among industry participants. Unlike other concept or prototype homes, the Open Prototype Initiative will produce real homes that through everyday use will test the deployment of advanced designs, materials, systems and fabrication strategies, with a goal of showing how high-quality, sophisticated and personalized homes can be built more cost-effectively and in less time.

"The way the construction industry builds homes hasn't changed in more than 150 years. The Open Prototype Initiative will engage people at every level of the construction industry, electricians, plumbers, builders and designers to show that we can change the way homes are built, creating new standards, allowing us to build high-quality, environmentally friendly and energy efficient homes," said Tedd Benson, president of Bensonwood Homes.

Anthony Thanasayan: Advocating Inclusive Tourism in Malaysia

"While Malaysia promotes itself as a tourist destination, it should also provide amenities for disabled tourists," writes Malaysia's Anthony Thanasayan in today's The Star Online piece "Consider Disabled Tourists."

Thanasayan is a well-known disability self-advocate and journalist in Malaysia. He has done both the Malaysian tourism industry and foreign visitors a service with this piece calling for an Incusive Tourism during Visit Malasia Year.

Mountains Without Barriers

No Barriers and the Verizon Foundation produced the film Mountains Without Barriers. You can find it here.

It might make you redefine the word "accessible!"

From the web site:

Mountains Without Barriers, sponsored by the Verizon Foundation, is an inspiring look at NO BARRIERS/DOLOMITI 2005, the festival held in the heart of the Italian Dolomites. This 24-minute film features the extraordinary people, revolutionary technologies, and a one-of-a-kind climbing adventure which comprised the festival. Mountains Without Barriers won "Most Inspirational Film" at the Boulder Adventure Film Festival and is currently touring numerous other festivals, including Taos Mountain Film Festival, Banff Mountain Film Festival, and the prestigious Banff Mountain Film Festival Traveling Show which tours hundreds of cities worldwide.

Nicky Lynch's recent article in the Banff Film Festival Magazine entitled, “Mission Possible in the Dolomites,” says it best.

"The jagged peaks of the Dolomites tower over three climbers as they approach a formidable rock wall. They are about to attempt the Cassin route on one of the three freestanding limestone towers known as the Tre Cime di Lavaredo.

The opening scene of Mountains Without Barriers begins as a straightforward climbing story. What isn’t immediately obvious is that the two of the three climbers, Erik Weihenmayer and Andy Holzer, are blind and the third, Hugh Herr, is a double-leg amputee. They are participating in the No Barriers Festival, which seeks to improve quality of life through spirit and technology. The festival creates opportunities for people with disabilities to learn new skills and to exchange ideas and dreams with those who create the technologies to assist them…

‘Seeing is believing, but a greater reality is that believing is seeing,’ says Weihenmayer. That belief is evident throughout Mountains Without Barriers."

Source:

http://www.nobarriersusa.org/mwb.html

George Braddock & Creative Housing Solutions

George Braddock, a general contractor whose business, Creative Housing Solutions, has done about 1,500 projects for people with disabilities.

"The disability movement had an advantage because it was so 'cross-cultural,' " Braddock says. "Disabilities can affect anyone at any time and at any level, and as a result it has attracted a fair amount of resources."

That attention intensified after 1990, when Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act, to prohibit discrimination in employment and public accommodation against people with disabilities.

"The ADA deserves a huge amount of credit for forcing the disabilities issue, but it's just a stepping stone," between public policy and the broader accommodations that allow disabled people to remain in their own homes, Braddock says.

Architectural and technological innovations developed especially to assist people with severe physical or mental disabilities also are finding new application in the "aging in place" movement that allows the elderly to remain in their own homes far longer than might have been possible just a few years ago, he says.

Call for Papers

The Association of American Geographers has announced the 2007 AAG Disability Specialty Group Student Paper Competition.

Association of American Geographers Disability Specialty Group (DSG)

Student Paper Competition - 2007

Call for Papers

Students working on topics concerned with the complex and multifaceted geographies of disability and chronic illness are encouraged to submit a paper to the 2007 AAG Disability Specialty Group Student Paper Competition. The goals of the award are to encourage student participation in the specialty group and to recognize outstanding emerging scholarship in geographic research on chronic illness and disability. The successful student will receive a cash prize of $100 and a year's membership to the DSG. Students do not have to be a current member of the DSG or AAG nor must they plan to attend the 2007 AAG conference to submit a paper. International submissions are also invited.

Eligibility criteria: Papers prepared for publication, conference presentation, and graduate or senior undergraduate courses, as well as entries written specifically for this competition, are eligible for submission. Each student may submit only one paper.

The paper should not exceed 25 double-spaced pages (including all notes, references, and figures). 12 point font is preferred along with standard margins.

A cover letter should accompany all entries and contain:

· Current title of the paper and a brief abstract (no more than 100 words).

· Academic affiliation

· Faculty advisor for the paper

· Names and affiliations of co-authors (if applicable)

· Information on where the paper was presented/submitted (or is to be presented/submitted)

· Mailing address

· E-mail address

· Phone number

All entries must be received by February 28th, 2007. Three hard copies of the paper should be mailed to:

Valorie Crooks

Chair, Disability Specialty Group

Department of Geography

Simon Fraser University

RCB 7123

8888 University Drive

Burnaby, British Columbia, CANADA

V5A 1S6

Students considering submitting are advised to contact Valorie by e-mail in advance at crooks@sfu.ca. She will also gladly address any questions or concerns regarding participation in this competition.

Reviewers will be secured and their recommendations will be sent to the DSG Board for the final award decision.

Award notification

The award recipient will be notified shortly after the 2007 AAG meeting in San Francisco. The cheque will be mailed to him/her shortly thereafter. Post-conference announcements will be found on the DSG website (http://isc.temple.edu/neighbor/service/disability&geography.html)

and the GEOGABLE listserv (http://isc.temple.edu/neighbor/service), as well as other appropriate venues.

Advice for Airline Operators from Australia

The following information is available online but bears duplication here in part:

Disabled travellers - a guide for airline operators

This information has been adapted from a presentation by Jane Buckley - Director of medical services, Australian Paralympic Team.

Disabled passengers have different needs to the 'average' traveller. The result could easily be a journey which is stressful for all concerned. It can also be a trip that is rewarding for staff, relaxing for the passengers concerned and enhances the airline's image for all those involved. The difference is mostly in the preparation.

If a passenger is travelling independently, allow them to tell you how it is best to assist them. There are several different ways of helping. Passengers may just want assistance with moving their legs during a transfer from their wheelchair to their seat. Lifting can be quite dangerous if done incorrectly.

When dealing with disabled people, airline staff need to be aware that some disabilities are not obvious. Patronising or speaking louder is not appreciated.

Booking the flight and checking in

Emphasise to passengers that they should get there early. Inform them about baggage allowances. It may be necessary to ask groups such as athletes to deliver excess baggage early to ensure it is ready for them at their destination.

There are regulations in force under national and international laws governing the carriage of dangerous goods by passengers.

Identify any specific needs well in advance of check-in. Passengers with severe disabilities should be accompanied by their own carer or assistant. Large groups will need co-ordinated planning by the airline and group organisers.

Wheelchair passengers

Passengers should be able to take their own wheelchairs to the gate. They should not be expected to surrender their chair at check in and have it substituted with an uncomfortable and often dangerous chair until they board the plane. Its a bit like expecting an able bodied person to surrender their legs until their journey was over. As well as being uncomfortable and inconvenient, it makes it difficult to do last minute things like shopping and going to the toilet.

Passengers like wheelchair athletes will have multiple wheelchairs. Their 'day chair' should be taken to the gate, tagged appropriately, and available at the gate on arrival at their destination. Day chairs belonging to passengers should NEVER be offloaded as excess baggage. Many "ambulant" passengers also use day chairs.
Battery-powered wheelchairs and mobility aids

For reasons of safety the carriage by airlines of battery-powered wheelchairs and mobility aids is regulated under national and international laws.

Further information on transport of battery-powered wheelchairs.

Boarding

Experienced travellers will have made arrangements for the physical aspects of boarding. Less experienced passengers will let the airline staff do the work. Cabin crew need to be familiar with the use of an aisle chair.

Take care when assisting. Ensure the passenger is lifted well clear of the armrests. Knocking them against the armrests can cause pressure areas.

Pressure area management is usually unique to paraplegics and tetraplegics. These passengers may want to sit on their own pressure relieving cushions. These should be kept with the passengers at all times, as they can be easily lost.

Source:
http://www.casa.gov.au/aoc/disabled/

Resources on Accessible Japan

Here is a link to a muli-year project documenting the accessibility of Tokyo, Kyoto, and Kamakura, Japan.

Our Rights, Our Convention, But for All: Korean Coincidence?

Yesterday's post on the Active Aging Conference this May in Korea and the WellAging blog brought in an announcement today from Disabled People's International (DPI) that their 2007 World Assembly will be held in Korea in September 2007. Is it pure coincidence or is Korea emerging onto the world stage as a force for human rights and inclusion?

Whatever history determines now is the time to submit a proposal for a presentation at the 2007 DPI World Assembly.

Our Rights, Our Convention, But for All

Disabled Peoples' International (DPI), is an International Human Rights organization focused on the full realization of the Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of the world"s 650 million people with disabilities. As such, DPI and our national assemblies from around the world have been centrally involved in the development and elaboration of the new United Nations Convention on the Human Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD).

Our 7th World Assembly is expected to draw over 3,000 people from all over the world. As such it will be the largest global meeting if disability activists since the CRPD was adopted in December of 2006. This gathering of people with disabilities and our allies, therefore, offers a wonderful opportunity to both celebrate the adoption of this historic new Treaty and commence serious deliberation on mechanisms and approaches for the implementation of the treaty at the national and international level.

DPI was founded over 25 years ago on the belief that the protection and promotion of human rights and the goal of equality for people with disabilities can only happen with the full input of all citizens, including most especially citizens with disabilities themselves.

To this end DPI’s 7th World Assembly will feature as part of the proceedings a series of concurrent workshops on various aspects of the new CRPD. We realize that we cannot cover all the articles and issues at one meeting, and as such have chosen to emphasize some key themes. For a complete list of proposed workshops please see the attached table.

The International Organizing Committee (IOC) encourages the submission of abstracts for presentations at this important international event to be held in South Korea on 5 - 8 September, 2007.

Each workshop will be 90 minutes in length, with four panel members, who will be allowed 15 minutes each for their presentation. Presentations will be followed by a question and answer period and an opportunity to make a contribution to the final Communiqué of the World Assembly, to be issued at the close of the event. Workshops will be co-chaired by members of the DPI World Council along with members of the host committee, our friends and colleagues from DPI-Korea.

Approved applicants will be notified as soon as possible after the deadline. Note: approval does NOT mean that DPI will be able assist with travel plans or expenses; these remain the sole responsibility of each delegate.
GUIDELINES FOR THE SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS:

Submit to: abstracts@dpi.org

Submit by: 23 February 2007

Languages: Spanish, French, Korean and English

Length: (part 5 below) Maximum of 250 words

What to include:

1. Name
2. Gender
3. Organization
4. Indicate whether or not you are a person with a disability, as this section of the program is intended to provide, first and foremost, a voice for persons with disabilities themselves.
5. Description of presentation
6. Please be sure to include the workshop code (included in brackets at the start of each workshop title in the attached agenda)

Click on the following link to download the agenda: DPI World Assembly Agenda (MS Word

Is Korea Accessible?

The truth? I'm not sure yet.

But I'll report on what I find after I return from speaking at the Active Aging Conference May 14 - 16 in Namhae, Korea hosted by WellAging

Meanwhile, I am scouring Tour2Korea.com for travel tips and diversions.

Wikitravel on Inclusive Travel

WikiTravel, which by the way will hold its annual gathering in Puerto Rico this year, has the following page on Travel Tips for Blind and Visually Impaired Travelers. Unfortunately it is listed under the pity-evoking category "Cope" instead of something like Inclusive Travel - but that's the beauty of a Wiki. It can be changed by simple editing. The eidt can be maintained by educating the wiki community.

Universal Design at Design Rag

The Design Rag blog has a commentary on the adoption of Universal Design in the post New Noblism in Architecture - Universal Design.

No Barriers 2007 Festival

The No Barriers Festival 2007 will be held in Squaw Valley , CA on June 28- July 2, 2007.

From the web site:

FESTIVAL 2007 seeks to share the techniques and technologies which enable people with challenges to live their dreams. Squaw Valley offers a beautiful natural environment for the Festival.

The spirit of No Barriers was conceived by a group of friends with a passion for the beautiful natural places of the world. Each of their lives was profoundly shaped by the mountains, and each in turn used the natural world to shatter barriers about what is possible. In 2003, they came together to form No Barriers, a not-for-profit organization with a goal of promoting innovative ideas, approaches, and assistive technologies which help people with disabilities push through their own personal barriers to live full and active lives.

Preliminary list of speakers:

BrainPort Vision Device - Aimee Arnoldussen, Ph.D.

Wayfinding Technology for the Blind - Michael May, Ph.D.

Powered Ankle Prostheses - Hugh Herr, Ph.D.

Adaptive Knee Prostheses - Hilmar Janusson, Ph.D.

Neural-Controlled Upper-Extremity Prostheses - Richard Weir, Ph.D.

Optimizing the Soft Tissue Seal of a Percutaneous Device - Jeffrey Morgan, Ph.D.

Overview of Wheeled Mobility Systems - Rory Cooper, Ph.D.

Wheeled Vehicles that Balance - Jerry Kerr

Powered Exoskeletons to Assist Limb Movement - Homayoon Kazerooni, Ph.D.

Exploiting the Natural Adaptive Capacity of the Nervous System for Motor Learning & Rehabilitation
- James Patton, Ph.D.

Perspectives on Neuroprosthetics from the View of a Neuroscientist and User
- Alexander G. Rabchevsky, Ph.D.

Challenges and Innovations in Rehab: Functional Electrical Stimulation in Evidence Based Practice
- Yitzhak Zilberman, Ph.D.

Oscillating Field Stimulation for Spinal Cord Repair - Jessica Duda

For more information, please contact us at:

No Barriers USA
200 East Blithedale Avenue, Mill Valley, CA 94941
415-381-4160 lagbtv@msn.com or info@nobarriersusa.org

No Barriers Board of Directors

Seminar on Accessible Tourism Organized in Cyprus

This 2006 conference is scheduled to be repeated in 2007:

Mansystems (Cyprus), JBR Hellas (Greece) and ΜΗΙ Turismo (Spain) delivered succesfully the first seminar on Accessible Tourism in Cyprus. As highlighted in the seminar, Accessible Tourism is continuously increasing in importance due to, on the one hand, the improvement in the living standard of disabled people and, on the other hand, the aging population: disabled people in Europe, USA, Canada and Japan number approximately 110 million while the total number of disabled and aged people in Europe is approximately 130 million. For Cyprus in particular, the potential for Accessible Tourism from its main source markets is equal to approximately 50 mn people.

A sine qua non for the succesful development of Accessible tourism is to have a holistic approach. Through numerous examples based on the principle of "Design for All" including infrastructure (e.g. pathways, metro), buildings (e.g. hotels, museums) and means of transportation (e.g. buses, boats), it was clearly shown that it is possible to design in a functional and aesthetically pleasing way for all users. Furthermore, such improvements impact posititively on every day life of all citizens in the area where they are made.

Source:
http://www.traveldailynews.com/new.asp?newid=33238&subcategory_id=107

Of Sex and Gooseberries

Sometimes the distance between mouth and ear -- or brain and lips -- is more obstacle-strewn than Heathrow at the height of vacation season.

That is especially true if you have Spasmodic Dysphonia. Sue Bayliss of Cairns, Australia recounts a story of the unexpected fruit salad that can result by mixing Aussies, Kiwis, six, sex, and Chinese Gooseberries. See Excuse Me Young Man?

US National Park Access

If you had an America the Beautiful Access Pass you might want to use it to visit the Delware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Here is information on accessibility.

For more in formation on the Access Pass see the USGS here.

ADA Service Animal Provision Being Challenged by Restaurant

A blind woman was denied service at a North Miami Beach Jumbo Buffet restaurant. The manager was arrested. Restaurant management has filed a challenge. See the news video here.

New Rail Europe Single Country Packages

For the first time, Rail Europe is offering single-country rail passes for Croatia and Ireland and two-country passes for Austria and Hungary and Italy and Spain.

Source: ARTA

50+ Housing Pioneers Universal Design

50+ Builder Magazine listed their top 50 exectuives for 2006. Among them, not surprisingly is long-time Rolling Rains Report supporter Susan Mack, president of Homes for Easy Living Universal Design Consultants. Congratulations, Susan!

Will we see Universal Design so prominently represented among the top designers of hotels, resorts, and cruise ships at the end of 2007? Let's hope so.

Is Paris Acccessible?

Global Access News has published Paris Passerelles - Wheelchair Accessible Travel In Paris - 2003 and the follow-up piece Wheelchair Accessible Travel in Paris – 2005. Search through the article archive here to find many more informative articles from around the world.

Kel Smith's Indirect Manipulation Blog

One of the thoughtful people that Jill Chamberlain's New York Times article on Universal Design reached yesterday was Kel Smith.

Kel writes the blog Indirect Manipulation subtitled "{ thoughts about development, design, architecture and other stuff }" Always encouraging to find articulate practitioners of Universal Design here's a snippet:

The idea of universal design isn’t new. In his book The Art of Innovation, Tom Kelley discusses the importance of “barrier jumping” to increase the number of successful affordances. A more approachable idea, he feels, is one that extends its benefits to all types of users. Readers of this blog already know my appreciation for Joel Spolsky; he cites the OXO Good Grips line of kitchen products (developed with soft rubber handles for people with arthritis) as an example of universal design done right:

They are ergonomically designed to fit into human hands comfortably. The handles are made of a soft, black rubber called Santoprene, which means you don’t have to squeeze tightly to keep them from slipping; even a weak grasp is enough. One in seven people suffer some form of arthritis - that’s almost forty million people in the United States alone. Designing a line of products for just that market niche was likely to succeed. But their market is not just people with arthritis: everybody likes OXO products. They are simply more pleasant to use.

As I’ve said over and over: designing for accessibility benefits all users. Perhaps a universal design principle can develop from the current standards movement, one that transcends the arguments supporting XHTML/CSS to encompass a more user-centric justification.

Universal Design in the New York Times

Design for Everyone, Disabled or Not by Lisa Chamberlain brings Universal Design to an ever widening a audience.

She is correct, if you heed her caveat "large scale", that this is "the first large-scale residential building in the country where all the units were built using what are called universal design principles."

University Neighborhood Apartments in Berkeley takes the prize for being the pace-setting pioneer in the field however.

Now, when will see luxury hotels adoup a 100% Universal Design policy? Resorts? Cruise ships?

Accessible Vacation Planning

Here's a resource for planning - the Youreable.com Accessible Vacation List.

"Lifetime Homes" as Universal Design

Back in October 2006 the Times Online reported that the Tories Plan Housing Revolution to Cater for Elderly Population. And here's some of that revolutionary rhetoric of Universal Design:

FEWER small flats and more bungalows and houses with gardens should be built to make it easier for elderly people to avoid going into care, the Conservatives said yesterday.

David Cameron, the party leader, told an Age Concern conference that houses should be designed to be suitable for every stage of life. “We must think in a new way about housing design and urban planning. Housing in Britain never seems to be built with a whole lifetime in mind,” he said.

New homes tend to be either small flats, which are not suitable when people have children, or tall houses, which aren’t suitable when people become old and less mobile. Although only a quarter of people say they want to live in flats, more than half of all new properties are flats.

Source:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2418319,00.html

Michael Chenail: Designing Inclusion into Destinations

Whether you know it or not, Michael Chenail is out there working for you.

Michael Chenail's professional mission is also a personal calling.

Chenail wants to make businesses and other public facilities more accessible to people with disabilities. The firm he founded in 2003, Compliance Alliance, provides consulting to businesses to help them achieve that.

"It's a unique kind of business," said Chenail, who is based in Midlothian and works locally and in the Southeast. "It's not something that the average businessperson would consider or realize is out there."

Passengers with Disabilities: Plan Ahead

Alfred Borcover took on some of the issues involved in travel with a disability in this article.

Segway on the Road in Ontario

Segway gets a real time test by people with disabilities in Canada:

Five years ago, it was billed as a revolutionary means of transportation that would one day make the automobile obsolete. Now, the two-wheeled gyroscopic scooter known as the Segway Human Transporter is finally getting an official test-drive in Canada.

A five-year pilot project is underway that makes London, Ont., the first Canadian city to allow the battery-powered Segways on sidewalks and streets, Ontario Transportation Minister Donna Cansfield said Friday.

People with disabilities over the age of 14 can now drive a Segway on any Ontario road, but London is the first municipality to allow the vehicles on sidewalks as well, to help gauge how well the Segway integrates into city life.

Age Friedly Cities Initiative by WHO

The World Health Organization is piloting a worldwide Liveable Communities program -- Age Friendly Cities. More information here: http://www.who.int/ageing/projects/age_friendly_cities/en/index.html

Selling Cyprus on Inclusive Destination Development

Alexia Saoulli quotes Dimitris Lambrianides, president of the Cyprus Paraplegics’ Organisation:

“Access to buildings, pavements, main shopping and entertainment areas are all vital in enticing disabled tourists to Cyprus. Hotels should also been given incentives to make the necessary changes to make them more accessible, beaches should be accessible by way of building wheelchair friendly passageways, and a public transport network or at the very least a private transportation service equipped to cater to people with disabilities is needed.”

Lambrianides said another area which needed much improvement were the disabled services at local airports.

“They should be there to meet them when the planes park, not keep them waiting,” he told the Cyprus Mail.

Source:
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=26359&cat_id=1