This summer the European Commission has launched a new campaign to raise awareness of passengers' rights.

Although the European Union has made great strides in recent years in establishing common passenger rights for those travelling by air or rail, not every European is yet aware of what he or she is entitled to.

This campaign sets out to make all air and rail passengers aware of what rights they enjoy under European legislation and how to make use of them.

ENAT is an Official Partner of the EU Passengers' Rights Campaign 

Why now?

In the summer holiday season, millions of Europeans will be travelling by plane and train in search of some well-deserved rest and relaxation. Being aware of their rights will prevent many problems for air and rail passengers.

How will it work?

The campaign is being conducted in all of the EU's official 23 languages so that people will be able to be informed about their rights in their mother tongue. Posters and leaflets will be available progressively from the end of June at airports and train stations in all 27 Member States.

In addition there is a website with more information at 
http://ec.europa.eu/passenger-rights.

Watch the video

Watch this 6-minute video about the rights of air and rail passengers with a disability or reduced mobility. (English text and subtitles).
To view the video in any other EU languages, follow this link

Washington, DC, August 10, 2010: - 

The Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT) applauds the U.S. Senate for passage of the "Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act" (S. 3304) by unanimous consent on August 5, 2010. COAT especially thanks Senator Pryor (D-AR), who introduced S. 3304, as well as co-sponsors Senators Kerry (D-MA), Dorgan (D-ND), and Conrad (D-ND). Passage of S. 3304 was also supported by Senators Hutchison (R-TX), Ensign (R-NV), and Schumer (D-NY).

S. 3304 requires captioned television programs to be captioned when delivered over the Internet, requires video description on television for people with vision loss, allocates $10 million per year for communications equipment used by people who are deaf-blind, ensures emergency information is accessible to individuals who are blind or have low vision, and provides for accessibility of advanced communications such as text messaging, email and web browsing on mobile devices, among several other provisions.

"The U.S. Senate takes us a huge step forward for accessible technology," said Jenifer Simpson of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), a COAT founding member. "They have given Americans with disabilities access to smart phones, other advanced communications technology, and video programming," she added.

"We are delighted that S.3304 ensures the availability of captioning for television programs on the Internet," said Rosaline Crawford of the National Association of the Deaf, another COAT leading organization. "Our community was left behind as television moved to the Internet, and S. 3304 takes a big step in the right direction," she added.

"Video description for television programs - the narration of visual elements during pauses in dialogue - is essential in this day and age," said Eric Bridges of the American Council of the Blind, another COAT leader. "More importantly, I thank the U.S. Senate for ensuring that we will now have access to the same emergency information everyone else has been seeing on television for years. Unbelievably, up until now, all the FCC has required is an audible tone on television to alert people who are blind or visually impaired that they should go seek out emergency information somewhere else. Having equal access to emergency information increases the safety of our community and will save lives!"

Among the other provisions in S. 3304 are requirements for accessible user controls for televisions and set-top boxes, and easy access to closed captioning and video description. Mark Richert of the American Foundation for the Blind, another leading COAT organization said: "The Senate's action last week brings people with vision loss so much closer to the access they deserve to advanced communications equipment and services, such as text messaging, email, and web browsing. These technologies aren't luxuries; they are essential tools for learning, working and participating in community. The U.S. Senate's leadership will bring people into the digital world, people who have been left out and left behind when industry fails to design accessibility into their products and services. S. 3304 will encourage companies to innovate to make advanced communications accessible on smart phones and other devices."

S. 3304 will now go to the House of Representatives.  

###

About COAT:  The Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology, or COAT,founded in March 2007, is a coalition of over 310 organizations that advocates for legislative and regulatory safeguards that will ensure full access by people with disabilities to evolving high speed broadband, wireless and other Internet protocol (IP) technologies.  More information is available at http://www.coataccess.org or by e-mail to info@coataccess.org.

Os próximos pontos da Centra lde Libras serão instalados nas

Escolas Municipais de Educação Especial (EMEE's) de jovens e
crianças surdas ou com deficiência auditiva

A Secretaria Municipal da Pessoa com Deficiência e Mobilidade
Reduzida - SMPED, cumpriu mais uma etapa do Projeto Piloto da
Central de Libras, Intérpretes e Guias Intérpretes - CELIG. No
último dia 22 de junho foi concluída a instalação da Central em
todas as 31 praças de atendimento das subprefeituras da Capital.

Desde o dia 26 de abril a SMPED tem percorrido todas as regiões da
cidade instalando webcans nos terminais de computador das praças de
atendimento das subprefeituras, configurando o sistema e transmitindo as
orientações para os funcionários responsáveis pelo atendimento
no local.

A Central conta com intérprete de libras que facilita o contato entre
o munícipe surdo ou com deficiência auditiva presente no local e o
atendente do órgão público, e também pode transmitir as
informações disponíveis pelo serviço 156. O atendimento é
oferecido de segunda a sexta-feira, das 8h às 17h.

O objetivo da SMPED é otimizar o atendimento público à pessoa
surda ou com deficiência auditiva, cumprindo assim o objetivo
estabelecido na Agenda 2012 da Prefeitura de São Paulo, que é
instalar a CELIG em 56 pontos até o final deste ano.

Além das subprefeituras, o serviço também está disponível
no Conselho Municipal da Pessoa com Deficiência - CMPD, na Rua
Líbero Badaró, 119 - 3º andar / Centro. Os próximos
pontos da CELIG que entrarão em funcionamento são as Escolas
Municipais de Educação Especial (EMEE) que atendem jovens e
crianças surdas ou com deficiência auditiva. São elas:

- EMEE Anne Sullivan. Rua Rodrigues Paes, 512 / Chácara Santo
Antonio;
- EMEE Mario Pereira Bicudo. Avenida Félix Alves Pereira, s/n -
Jardim Centenário;
- EMEE Madre Lucie Bray. Rua São Geraldo, 236 / Vila Constança;
- EMEE Vera Lucia Aparecida Ribeiro. Rua Benedito Pereira, 206 / Jardim
Líbano;
- EMEE Helen Keller. Endereço: Rua Pedra Azul, 314 / Aclimação.

Ainda deverão ser realizados ajustes técnicos em algumas
subprefeituras, devido ao congestionamento de rede disponível nesses
locais. A conexão da Central de Libras é feita via intranet. Ou
seja, por uma rede interna na Prefeitura que faz a conexão (link) com
os pontos de atendimento. No futuro, será possível agendar um
guia-intérprete para acompanhar surdocegos em órgãos
públicos municipais. Nessa fase ainda não é possível acessar
o serviço via internet.

Sugestões e reclamações:

celig@prefeitura.sp.gov.br <mailto:celig@prefeitura.sp.gov.br>

Secretaria Municipal da Pessoa com Deficiência e Mobilidade Reduzida
(SMPED)
Assessoria de Comunicação e Imprensa
Tel.: (011) 3113-8741 // 8778 // 8767 // 8793 // 8794 // 8741
Cel.: 9951-4983 // 8875-9732
lclopes@prefeitura.sp.gov.br / lincolnsilva@prefeitura.sp.gov.br

The first member of the House of Representatives with quadriplegia will preside over the governing body on Monday in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., will be the first person using a wheelchair to take the helm of the House. The opportunity is possible because of recent alterations to the House Speaker's platform making it wheelchair accessible through a series of lifts.

"I have long said that I may be the first quadriplegic to serve in Congress, but I won't be the last," Langevin, a five-term congressman, said in a statement. "This is an extremely proud moment for me and helps renew my spirit as we continue to remove barriers and strengthen the ADA for millions of Americans with disabilities in the decades to come."

Sandra Rhodda at Access Tourism NZ has picked up on this story about Sonja Gregory of the Hytte reading the signs of the times - right to the bank - and picking up some professional recognition for seeing the future of Inclusive Tourism:

 Usually self-catering occupancy runs around 55% - The Hytte achieved 87% in the first year and 97% in the second, a success Gregory puts down to positive word of mouth.  The Hytte has received regional and national awards in recognition of their commitment to access for all, including a gold Enjoy England Award in 2009.  

The team at Global Dialysis has launched a renewal effort because they are convinced that the need for dialysis should not keep people from traveling. 

From their web site: 

Global Dialysis is the premier resource for people looking for information about haemo and peritoneal dialysis around the world.  This is invaluable for people planning trips for travel, holidays and business.

Created in January 2000 and born out of our frustrations at being unable to find dialysis centres for travels, our database of dialysis information and centres has grown to almost 15,000 in over 300 countries.  We are now the premier resource for the dialysis community with over 1/2 million unique visitors each year.

 New developments We are undergoing an exciting redevelopment of our site at the moment and are planning regional profiles from areas of the world where people like to go for their trips away.  If you want us to feature a particular part of the world or you are a group of dialysis centres in a region and want to raise your profile just drop us a line! 

 Discover more at:

http://www.globaldialysis.com/

Dear Rolling Rains Readers,

From Australia Aging Agenda:

Older Australians are set to gain from the release of new voluntary standards for universal housing design.

Leaders from the housing industry and the disability sector worked together to develop the standards through the federal government's National Dialogue on Universal Design.

Master Builders Australia and the Housing Industry Association have also agreed to a target to make all new homes compliant with universal design principles by 2020.

The livable housing guideline establishes three levels of standards - silver, gold and platinum.

To meet the baseline silver standard, houses must have a stepless entry, wide doors and corridors, a ground-floor toilet and a bathroom with a hobless shower and reinforced walls.

The Older Persons Affordable Housing Alliance - made up of Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA) and Council on the Ageing (COTA) - said the decision was a milestone for older Australians.

COTA has been campaigning for a broad application of universal design principles for over a decade and COTA was directly involved in the development of the guidelines.

CEO, Ian Yates said the guidelines followed common sense and would prove useful for older Australians.

"One of the big issues that always gets raised is that it costs money to do this but in fact, the industry tell us that the cost is only two or three thousand dollars extra for each house and the more it is adopted, the less that cost will be," he said.

"At the moment, a lot of these things are non-standard items but if they are used more, they will become standard items and the cost will decrease.

"The amenity gained from these design characteristics far outweighs the cost and I would predict that in a few years, people will ask why on earth we didn't do this earlier because it will bring about enormous savings on retro-fitting."

The Older Persons Affordable Housing Alliance is now focusing on ways to upgrade existing homes to make them accessible.

ACSA CEO, Greg Mundy said the federal government should consider consolidating the various programs for renovating and restoring current building stock.

"There are lots of government programs that support home modification for older people but they are a little bit piecemeal and a little bit underdone," he said.

"It would be a good area for strategic investment because these modifications just require a one-off cost and they have the potential to be quite cost effective."

The federal government will contribute $1 million towards the establishment of an organisation that will promote the new livable housing guidelines.

María Jesús Ruiz, vicepresidenta primera y consejera de Medio Ambiente de Castilla y León y el consejero de Familia e Igualdad de Oportunidades, César Antón, han presentado en el Monumento Natural La Fuentona (Soria) el Programa 'Castilla y León, accesible por naturaleza' en un acto que contó con la presencia del responsable de Instituciones de Castilla y León de la Caixa, Gerardo Revilla; el alcalde de Muriel de la Fuente, Alfredo Lafuente, así como representantes de la junta rectora del espacio natural.

RAIVE by Solona is an entirely new approach to accessibility. It is a service that empowers people to independently gain information that would otherwise be impossible to ascertain. Although software can do many things, there are some things that are simply beyond the scope of OCR or image processing. There are many other visual objects that are inherently inaccessible and may contain important information.

Multimedia is woven into the fabric of our communications. Emails contain images more than ever before. Dynamic Flash-based web pages are becoming more and more common. Web forms may be image-based and not properly labeled. Product packaging is inherently inaccessible. Advertisers, service providers, and companies alike use rich image-based delivery that can be completely inaccessible for a visually impaired person. There is no limit to inaccessibility in our digital age.

RAIVE, which stands for "Remotely Analyzing (and) Interpreting Visual Elements", enables people to independently extract information from inaccessible visual elements. Users can submit a 'Package' which contains any visual element (picture, file, screen capture, PDF) along with a question. If it can be captured, scanned, or saved, it can be submitted in a Package. A Solona Operator will promptly examine the image and the question and return the answer to the user. This ensures that the user will receive highly accurate information in order to make a decision. Users normally receive a response within 30 minutes. Responses are automatically processed and sent to the user's registered email address.

Find out more:

http://www.solona.net/

A new European Award for Accessible Cities has been launched by the European Commission, aiming to promote accessibility for people with disabilities in four areas:

• the built environment and public spaces,
• transport and related infrastructures,
• information and communication, including Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and
• public facilities and services.

The four finalists of the European competition will be invited to attend the award ceremony that will take place in Brussels on 2 and 3 December 2010 at the European Day of People with Disabilities conference. The winner of the European competition will receive the 'European Award for Accessible Cities 2011' and will feature prominently in activities to promote accessibility at European level during 2011.

In addition, a special 'European Champion for Accessible Cities' award will be made to recognise the work of a network of cities or initiatives.

Accessibility is a broad concept that addresses the removal and prevention of barriers that cause problems for persons with disabilities in using products, services and infrastructures on equal terms as those without disabilities.

Accessibility to the built infrastructure, transport, services and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is essential for people with disabilities to be able to exercise their rights and participate fully in society. This includes the right to education, to engage in work, citizens rights related to voting, access to documents, and freedom of movement as well as access to leisure and cultural facilities (libraries, museums, theatres, cultural centres, concert halls, hotels, restaurants, etc.) Accessibility is also a fundamental part of the social sustainability of the urban environment.

More information about the awards will be made available shortly on theEuropean Commission's website.

You can already indicate your interest in the award and register to receive further information as it becomes available by sending your contact details to the EU Accessible Cities Award management team.

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
  
• Quality rating for Access Tourism products in New Zealand
  

It will also include brainstorming sessions on strategies for advancing the development of Access Tourism in New Zealand and developing collaboration as a tool to advance that development.  These topics are based on those most popularly picked from a list of possible topics in an online survey.   

The conference is being run by the New Zealand Tourism Research Institute at Auckland University of Technology, and will be a no frills sustainable event.  For more information, contact sandrarhodda@hotmail.com.

Brazil's Ministry of Culture will be awarding R $ 1 million for production, 
diffusion and distribution projects involving books in accessible formats 

The Culture Ministry reported in the Official Gazette (Section 3, pages 9, 
10:11), the Invitation for Promotion of Production, Dissemination and 
Distribution of Books in Accessible Format soliciting private and non-profit sector partnerships. 

visually impaired persons and persons who work with 
production of accessible books and found a lack of 
literary works available in formats accessible to 
blind or have low vision. 

"The democratization of access to the book also includes the 
need for the provision of accessible formats. Therefore 
the edicts of the Ministry of Culture, in the area of book 
and reading, have contemplated the need for these books 
formats, "said the director of the Book, Reading and 
Literature SAI / MinC, Fabiano dos Santos Piúba. The 
Director of Intellectual Rights of SPC / MinC, Mark 
Alves de Souza, adding that "it is possible to increase 
without demand to invest also in structures 
production and distribution of books, ensuring 
decentralized network and considering the peculiarities 
regional. " 

Categories of Notice 

In Class I - Infrastructure for the production of books 
accessible format will be selected at least three 
proposals up to $ 160 000 each. Resources 
can be used to create a center 
production of books in accessible format or its expansion. 
The books will be distributed exclusively to 
visually impaired people or entities that they 
meet (associations, libraries, etc.). 

The second category, focused on the production and distribution 
these books, will address adaptation projects and 
reproduction of books that should be distributed 
free to the public served by the institution. 
Will be selected at least two proposals, the value 
maximum of $ 200 000 each. 

The third category of the announcement is aimed at training 
and dissemination, being selected at least two 
initiatives and a maximum of $ 60,000 each. The 
projects may be training (through courses, 
trainings and other activities aimed at transcription, 
adaptation operation of programs and equipment 
involving the production and reproduction of books in format 
accessible) and diffusion (of information about books 
accessible, producing entities, existing collections or 
successful practices in this sphere). 

Entries must be made by email and 
all documentation must be sent by post. 
The selection of projects will be undertaken by a committee. After 
disseminating the results of each stage of selection, 
tenderer shall within five working days to lodge 
appeal. The result will be published in the Official Gazette 
Union and the site www.cultura.gov.br, and total 
responsibility of the bidder to follow update 
information on both. 

Other initiatives to support accessibility 

Until the 15th of June, the Ministry of Culture 
Bidding is to Culture More to Support Libraries 
open. In this announcement, only the request at all 
categories from a minimum percentage of the book accessible 
there is a specific category for the segment, facing 
supporting libraries accessible. Will be invested R $ 85 
thousand for each project, totaling 30. The value may 
be applied to purchase and collection of equipment and 
furniture for people with disabilities; 
employee training designed to improve the 
management and the care and services offered to users 
with disabilities; expansion or renovation of physical space, 
adapting it to people with special needs, and 
creation of socio-cultural programming. 

Along with the National Association for the Blind of Rio Grande do 
South (Acergs), MinC has developed the pilot project the  
National Network for Affordable Production of Books 
People with Visual Impairments. The project includes the 
structuring of a production center for books in formats 
accessible and qualification of human resources for 
working on this production. Along with the Association 
Brazilian Assistance Visually Impaired (Lamarão) 
Project develops the inclusion in the world of culture through 
access to writing and reading Braille, which provides for 
purchase and adaptation of Braille typewriters and 
production of explanatory material to enable 15,000 
students to have access to the blind world of reading 
through Braille. 

Moreover, accessibility is also addressed by requiring that all 
work published in Portugal should be available by publishers for sale to consumers  in an accessible or digital format.

Formatos Acessíveis

MinC lança edital de fomento a obras para pessoas com deficiência visual

Serão investidos R$ 1 milhão em projetos de produção, difusão e
distribuição de livro em formatos acessíveis

O Ministério da Cultura publicou nesta segunda-feira, 7 de junho, no Diário Oficial da União (Seção 3, páginas 9, 10 e 11), o Edital de Fomento à Produção, Difusão e Distribuição de Livros em Formato Acessível voltado para apoiar entidades privadas sem fins lucrativos. As inscrições encerram-se no dia 22 de julho.

Serão investidos R$ 1 milhão em projetos que fomentem a produção, difusão e distribuição de livros em formato acessível para pessoas com deficiência visual, ou seja, livros convertidos por meio de técnicas especializadas de adaptação, que proporcionem descrição ou narração das possíveis representações gráficas presentes na obra, nos formato Daisy, Braille, livro falado (voz humana ou sintetizada) ou outro formato que permita o acesso de todas as pessoas, prioritariamente aquelas com deficiência visual, ao seu conteúdo, excetuados os livros didáticos.

De acordo com dados do IBGE (Censo 2000), o Brasil tem 2,5 milhões de pessoas cegas
ou com deficiência visual severa

Pesquisa recente da Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV), encomendada pelo Ministério da Cultura, revelou que apenas 9% das bibliotecas públicas municipais possuem seção Braille. Aliado a isso, durante o ano passado, a Diretoria de Direitos Intelectuais da Secretaria de Políticas Culturais (SPC/MinC), juntamente com a Diretoria do Livro, Leitura e Literatura, da Secretaria de Articulação Institucional (SAI/MinC), realizou uma série de reuniões com associações que representam pessoas com deficiência visual e entidades que trabalham com a produção de livros acessíveis e constatou a carência de obras literárias em formatos acessíveis disponíveis para pessoas cegas ou com baixa visão.

"A democratização do acesso ao livro passa também pela necessidade de oferta de formatos acessíveis. Por isso que os editais do Ministério da Cultura, na área de livro e leitura, têm contemplado a exigência de livros nestes formatos", afirma o diretor de Livro, Leitura e Literatura da SAI/MinC, Fabiano dos Santos Piúba. O diretor de Direitos Intelectuais da SPC/MinC, Marcos Alves de Souza, acrescenta que "não é possível aumentar a demanda sem que se invista também em estruturas de produção e distribuição destes livros, garantindo uma rede descentralizada e que considera as particularidades regionais".