Recently in Event Category

Companies should think of improving disability access ahead of the London 2012 Paralympics as a way of boosting business, a new Government report has claimed 

Up to a million disabled visitors are expected in London in 2012 for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, bringing with them millions of pounds in business.

Disabled consumers are an often-overlooked market worth £40-£80 billion ($62-$123 billion) annually, according to the report - 2012 Legacy for Disabled People: Inclusive and Accessible Business - jointly commissioned by the Business Department and the Office for Disability Issues.

Universal Access in Airports 2010 

Presented by

Open Doors Organization & International Air Transport Association 

Tues., October 19th - Thurs., October 21st
Crowne Plaza Houston-Downtown 

Open Doors Organization has hosted this 2-day conference, held biennially since 2006. It offers an open exchange of ideas and best practice solutions on customer service and accessibility for travelers with disabilities and the mature in the aviation industry.

Who Should Attend: Airport executives, airport facilities managers, airline executives, ground transportation operators, disability service coordinators, airport planners, airport safety and standards managers, airport traffic and operations engineers, architects, concessionaires, environmental graphics designers, and transportation-related government agencies.

2010 Topics Include:

            ■  Laws and Regulations

            ■  Technology-Now and Future

            ■  Accessible Websites & Outreach

            ■  Emergency Preparedness

            ■  Service Gaps & Ground Transportation

            ■  Service Animal Relief Areas

            ■  Training

For more information, contact Open Doors Organization:

CBM Regional Advisory Committee Eastern Mediterranean Region officially opened by HRH Prince Raad Bin Zeid

Amman, Jordan, July 17 2010

The CBM Regional Office Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) invited regional key experts involved in promoting the rights of persons with disabilities to form a CBM Regional Advisory Committee EMR. The Committee will be a means for the involvement of rights holders- and partner representatives in all stages of programme development, as recommended in Article 4.3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

CBM is an international disability and development organisation committed to improving the quality of life of persons with disabilities in the poorest countries in the world. CBM is recognised by the World Health Organisation and obtained roster consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

The CBM Regional Advisory Committee EMR was officially opened by HRH Prince Raad Bin Zeid.

HRH Prince Raad Bin Zeid expressed his appreciation for the work of CBM in the region, as well as his full support for the establishment of its Regional Advisory Committee which promotes the inclusion of the perspectives of persons with disabilities in CBM`s strategies and programmes.

Members of the CBM Regional Advisory Committee EMR are Disability Activists, as well as experts from different governmental and non-governmental organisations in the region. The members will give CBM feedback and recommendations on regional strategies and plans. In addition, the committee will give advice on regional policies and concept development.

During the first meeting of the CBM Regional Advisory Committee EMR, the former President of the World Blind Union, Ms Kicki Nordström, elaborated on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities "Governments will not freely ratify, implement or monitor the convention by themselves! We must urge them to do so! I therefore urge you to cooperate with all DPO's in your country (...), I think we could as an international movement, become extremely powerful! Challenge your State so that people with disabilities may experience full human rights, fundamental freedom and equal opportunities in your homeland and elsewhere. Always recall the slogan: "Nothing about us, without us"!"

The CBM Regional Director EMR, Ms Tanja Kern, explained "We have a lot to learn on our way to become a fully inclusive organisation. We are here to share, listen and learn from you. Let us celebrate diversity and work together for our common cause!"

The next meeting of the CBM Regional Advisory Committee EMR is planned to take place in November 2010.

Visit our website www.cbm.org

CBM Regional Office Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR)

Nibelungenstr.124, 64625 Bensheim, Germany

Email: emro@cbm.org

A United Nations meeting held in Bangkok August 20 has encouraged
businesses to embrace the rights and concerns of persons with disabilities,
highlighting the untapped consumer power represented by an estimated 400
million people in the Asia-Pacific region.

Over 60 participants at the two-day regional meeting on South-to-South
Cooperation on Disability, including Government officials and
representatives of businesses and disabled persons' organizations, explored
ways in which business development plans and employment practices could
become more inclusive.

The meeting, held at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the
Pacific http://www.unescap.org/ (ESCAP) in the Thai capital, adopted a
statement urging leadership development of persons with disabilities and the
promotion of socially inclusive business development as priorities for the
next regional decade on disability.

The Second Asia-Pacific Decade for Disabled Persons will conclude in 2012,
and the Bangkok meeting recommended that governments in the region proclaim
a new regional decade on disability starting from 2013.

"Many of the 400 million or so persons with disabilities in the region live
in rural and isolated areas in conditions of abject poverty, encountering
deep and persistent barriers," noted Nanda Krairiksh, Director of the Social
Development Division of ESCAP.

"Viewing them as contributors to our region's economic dynamism, as
entrepreneurs, employees or an emerging market segment enhances everyone's
prospects for prosperity," she said.

The meeting, organized by ESCAP and the Asia-Pacific Development Centre on
Disability (APCD), in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA), also reviewed the implementation of the Biwako Millennium
Framework for Action - a regional plan for a barrier-free and rights-based
society for persons with disabilities.

For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news

You will be hearing more about the Play for Life event on inclusion and play as I prepare a presentation for it on play, disability, and travel. 

Meanwhile, first call for meetups in the Twin Cities to all those planning to attend:

Since 2003, StoryCorps has been recording and preserving the voices of everyday people, one conversation at a time. For the past five years, the producers have shared one of these stories each week on NPR. Now, StoryCorps brings its Peabody Award-winning storytelling to public television in collaboration with POV (Point of View). StoryCorps' new animated shorts feature some of the series' best-loved radio stories.

Animated by Mike and Tim Rauch and using original StoryCorps audio recordings, these short films capture the intimate and emotionally resonant conversations that have become renowned as NPR's quintessential "driveway moments." The series of six documentary shorts will take viewers from an intimate conversation between a boy with Asperger's syndrome and his mom, to a Brooklyn couple remembering how they fell in love and recognizing that they now must learn to let go, and to several other memorable places in between.

The StoryCorps documentary animations will air this summer with selected feature-length films starting on Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2010. Additional StoryCorps films will be presented on POV in 2011, as well as being presented as standalone films in partnership with PBA 30 (Public Broadcasting Atlanta). The StoryCorps collection is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. For trailers, press releases and downloadable art, visit www.pbs.org/pov/pressroom.

POV, now in its 23rd season, airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on PBS. (Check local listings.). POV continues weekly through Sept. 21 and concludes with a special broadcast on Oct. 5. American television's longest-running independent documentary series, POV is the recipient of a Special Emmy for Excellence in Television Documentary Filmmaking.

Tuesday, Aug. 24, airing with "The Edge of Dreaming":

·       Q&A - Joshua Littman, a 12-year-old boy with Asperger's syndrome, interviews his mother, Sarah. Joshua's unique questions and Sarah's loving, unguarded answers reveal a relationship that reminds us of the best -- and the most challenging -- parts of being a mother.

About StoryCorps:

The first StoryBooth opened on Oct. 23, 2003, in New York City's Grand Central Terminal. In May 2008 the new flagship StoryBooth opened in Lower Manhattan'sFoley Square. StoryCorps currently operates StoryBooths in New York City, San Francisco and Atlanta. Two StoryCorps MobileBooths travel across the country, partnering with local public radio stations in various cities for one month at a time. StoryCorps' first two MobileBooths hit the road on May 19, 2005.

I was in Washington, D.C. the last week of July for the National Summit on Disability Policy, sponsored by the National Council on Disability. The event was designed to do two primary things: commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and to hammer out disability policy recommendations for the decade to come.

As with any event of this magnitude and importance, the range of subjects and policies was expansive. I had the opportunity to speak with a number of attendees during the four days of the summit, and we agreed that while perhaps more time could have been spent on ways to move disability policy forward, valuable lessons and ideas were nevertheless uncovered regarding where we are and where we need to go.

Hundreds attend WebExtra on disabilities The NFPA Journal WebExtra presentation on July 22, which featured Allan Fraser, senior building code specialist at NFPA, was attended by more than 300 participants. Fraser's presentation, "We Have Seen the Enemy and He Is Us: Including People With Disabilities In All We Do," examined the variety of ways that NFPA codes and standards contribute to the safety of people with disabilities, as well as emerging disability issues that promise to shape future versions of the codes. To see an archived version of Fraser's presentation, along with other archived WebExtras, and for information on upcoming WebExtras, visit nfpa.org/webextra. AUDIO A Q&A with NFPA senior building code specialist Allan Fraser  The definition of "disability"?  NFPA's interest in "disabilities"?  Examples of NFPA codes / standards that cover disabilities?  What issues remain to be tackled?  More audio clips

The full name of the event offered a lot of appeal for attendees: "National Summit on Disability Policy 2010: ADA 1990-2010 Retrospective and Future Policy Directions - A comprehensive dialogue to shape the national disability agenda." There were more than 475 attendees, representing an incredibly wide range of interests and experiences, not to mention 48 states and the whole spectrum of disabilities. The formal program began on Monday, July 26, with hundreds of attendees applauding the opening ceremony that included the U.S. Marine Color Guard and Band playing the national anthem. In his opening remarks, NCD Chair Jonathan Young said that the dialogue and recommendations of what we all need to do for, and within, the disability community to address inclusiveness in all aspects of society have been on the table since 1996. This summit isn't necessarily about generating new recommendations on what to do, he told the crowd; we know what to do. Now it's time to decide how we get them done.

Full story:

http://www.nfpa.org/publicJournalDetail.asp?categoryID=1344&itemID=48424

From Disability Direct:

Promises made to the world that the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be the most accessible ever for disabled people will be broken predicts Dee Doocey, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Olympics spokesperson, unless disabled people are at least given access to a network of Olympic road lanes during the 2012 Games.

Detailed research carried out by the London Assembly Member has revealed that many disabled people will face public transport journeys twice as long as those faced by non disabled people. Straight forward journeys on the London Underground will be complex and lengthy for disabled Londoners and visitors - often involving four or even five changes on the tube due to the limited number of accessible tube stations.

A further discovery from Dee Doocey's research is that Transport for London's journey planner actually claim that no public transport journey to the Olympic Park is even possible for disabled people starting their journey from Stansted or Gatwick airports. Such inaccurate information is routinely provided to disabled people because TfL fail to provide information about accessible network rail overground stations for disabled travellers. In complete contrast Transport for London do provide information about network rail journeys for non disabled people , so assisting them in making the easiest journey across London.

If you watch this interview with Robert "Bobby" Coward on YouTube. Note the accessibility feature for those with a mild print disability called "Interactive Transcript." 

 Câmara Municipal, por iniciativa do vereador Jooji Hato, tem a hora de convidar-lhe para a solenidade na qual será homenageado o Diretor da Turismo Adaptado, Ricardo Shimosakai, pelos serviços prestados à cidade de São Paulo.

O evento acontecerá dia 13 de agosto de 2010, às 19h00 no Salão Nobre. Após o término da sessão, será oferecido um coquetel de confraternização no Restaurante Escola São Paulo, no 1º subsolo deste prédio. Todos estão convidados.

Local: Palácio Anchieta

Viaduto Jacareí, 100 - 8º andar (Salão Nobre)

Bela Vista - São Paulo/SP

Data: 13 de agosto de 2010

Horário: 19h00

Many wheelchair users in the US know of Braun Corporation's longstanding status as an innovator and reliable supplier of accessible vehicles. This press release presents further evidence of their commitment to the transportation needs of people with disabilities. Thank you, Braun!