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Assistive Technology Links (AT-Links)

Accessible News #30 — Spring 2007

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Upcoming Canadian Conferences

June will see Canada front and centre on the world stage, with two major international conferences/exhibitions.

From June 15-20, the Festival of International Conferences on Caregiving, Disability, Aging and Technology takes place at the Sheraton Centre in Toronto. Visit the FICCDAT website (www.ficcdat.ca) to find out more. Industry Canada will be represented in the Service Canada booth. Come by and say hello.

From June 18-22, the 11th International Conference on Mobility and Transport for Elderly and Disabled Persons (TRANSED) will take place at the Palais des congrès in Montreal. More information on this event can be found at the TRANSED website : www.tc.gc.ca/transed2007/ .

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CSUN Wrap-up

The 22nd Technology & Disability Conference (CSUN: www.csun.edu/cod/) drew more than 3,500 participants and 175 exhibitors over its four-day run next to the Los Angeles Airport. Once again, there was a very visible contingent of Canadians exhibiting, presenting and attending the show. The Industry Canada booth was staffed by Mary Frances Laughton, Deb Finn and Chuck Letourneau. There were a number of other Canadian government personnel who stopped by with offers of assistance during the run of the show.

There was significant controversy during the show about CSUN's plans for the exhibits next year. The show has simply outgrown its current location and the University considered using a tentlike structure for next year's exhibit. Concern about this move brought the industry together and ADIO staff met with various members of the ATIA (Assistive Technology Industry Association) to offer our support to them. In May, it was announced that a solution had been found and the exhibits will be moved to another Airport-area hotel, the Marriott Renaissance Montura Hotel, which was the site for the new category of presentations that was added to the Conference this year, dealing with aging and older adults.

Visitors to the Industry Canada booth (#336) were steady throughout the conference and interest in Canadian assistive technology, products, systems and services and in Canada as a country remains high and enthusiastic. We provided a listing of the 13 Canadian booths on the showfloor, the number of which surprised many visitors. One of our most important tasks is pointing attendees to the booths of our Canadian partners at the show.

We demonstrated the Accessible Procurement Toolkit (www.apt.gc.ca) and showcased product literature from over 30 of our industry partners, many returning and some first-timers. We were able to provide specific information on some products to booth visitors or sometimes we simply handed out a kit of information.

By having a place to meet, Industry Canada provides a focus for doing business for Canadians. The large Canadian flag and our distinctive red and white draperies make us easy to spot in the exhibit hall and we are always happy to have our industry representatives make use of our location in support of their business networking activities. Two companies used us this year as their "office" for the show and both are speaking about having their own presence at next year's exhibit.

The keynote speaker was John D. Kemp, a lawyer who was born without arms or legs. In his address, he made an impassioned plea to ensure people with disabilities are not left behind the rest of society by the digital divide that currently persists. He noted that in industrialized countries, there is much that still needs to be done to reduce the barriers that exist for people with disabilities and even more that needs to be done to ensure the rights of people with disabilities everywhere are respected. Far from preaching to the choir, Mr. Kemp's address included some pragmatic suggestions for improving and maintaining high levels of accessibility.

Our Canadian flag pins continue to be a popular give away. Nearly everyone has a positive story to relate about Canada when they come by the booth.

As part of our work in LA, we provided information on the standards and business aspects of importing accessible cell phones into Canada, discussed the ability of Canada and the US to better share electronic information materials through improved copyright permissions, provided information on employment in the disability field in Canada and provided information on the accessibility aspects of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games. We answered questions on business and tourism opportunities in Canada. We also answered questions on possibilities of investing in Canada and companies looking for distributors for their products in Canada.

We came away with over 30 business cards, each of which has an action item on the back. Some want more information on investing. Some want to be remembered to friends not present this year. A number of visitors to our booth told us that they were familiar with our newsletter, Accessible News, as it had been passed along to them by colleagues and they asked to be added to our distribution list.

We also had enquiries about some of the products and systems that were developed by companies that have gone out of business. Even though these companies have left the market for various reasons, the accessible technologies they developed continue to enhance Canada's reputation for leading-edge AT development.

CSUN is often used as an event to announce or launch new products and this year was no exception. Compusult Limited (www.compusult.net) and the Neil Squire Society (NSS: www.neilsquire.ca) announced that Compusult will manufacture the Hands-free Adapters (HFA) product line developed by the NSS Research and Development group in collaboration with Nokia Inc's Accessibility Group. The HFA will make wireless communication accessible to people with severe mobility and dexterity impairments. Compusult and NSS collaborated previously on commercialization of the Jouse and Jouse2 alternate input device.

Clearly, Canadian companies are developing products and systems that international industrial partners recognize as must-haves to integrate with their own technology!

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News From T-Base

Ottawa's T-Base Communications (www.tbase.com) has been busy this spring. In April, the company announced the request for nominations of blind and partially sighted athletes for the 2007/2008 T-Base Sponsorship. This annual sponsorship is awarded to a blind or partially sighted athlete dedicated to a competitive sport who exemplifies the drive for success and commitment in his/her athletic endeavours. Deaf blind speed skater Kevin Frost was the recipient of last year's sponsorship, supporting his ambition to become Canada's first Paralympic speed skating competitor and gold medallist.

In order to submit a nomination, please send emails to Deanna White (dwhite@tbase.com) on or before July 31, 2007, including the name of the athlete in the email message subject line and an explanation (40 lines or less) outlining the goals and ambitions of the nominee, plus the location, if any, of additional information on which your nomination is based (i.e. Website, articles, etc.) T-Base sponsorship eligibility is limited to North American residents. For further information please contact: Deanna White, T-Base Communications Media Relations, tel.: 613-236-0866 Ext. 231, toll-free: 1-800-563-0668.

In May, T-Base announced a strategic alliance with an American electronic commerce and payments company,
First Data Resources (www.firstdata.com), to provide specialized statement services to First Data's clients for their customers who are unable to access their financial information in conventional print. This new partnership ensures that all of First Data's clients are in a position to offer their blind or partially sighted customers full access to their private financial statements in the format of their choice, including Braille and large print.

First Data expects to make the service available in the third quarter of 2007. Issuers and billers who do not process their portfolio with First Data will also be able to use the service.

Also in May, T-Base announced an exclusive, long-term partnership agreement enabling Australians and New Zealanders who are blind or who have low vision to access their financial, telecom and utility statements, and other private and personal information in Braille, large print, e-text and audio formats. Under the terms of the agreement, T-Base will work in partnership with Vision Australia to develop and deliver accessible products to meet the diverse information needs of their clients.

"Vision Australia is pleased to announce the selection of T-Base, the North American leader in the provision of accessible statements and private consumer communications," said Gerard Menses, CEO of Vision Australia. "T-Base adheres to the highest standards of privacy, security, quality and accuracy around sensitive consumer information, ensuring that the sensitive personal information of Australia's blind and low vision community is afforded the same protection as for the fully sighted population."

Sharlyn Ayotte, President and CEO of T-Base Communications stated, "With the announcement of this important relationship, we demonstrate the flexibility and reach of the T-Base AccessAbill solution. Vision Australia is a pioneer in the provision of accessible services, and is now poised to offer their clients T-Base Communications' best-in-class AccessAbill service, and help leading financial services companies, telecom service providers and utilities in Australia to better serve their customers who are blind or have low vision".

For media inquiries regarding the Vision Australia announcement, contact Deanna White, Media and Partner Relations, T-Base Communications, tel.: 613- 236-0866 Ext. 231, email Deanna White : dwhite@tbase.com or Megan Denyer, Public Relations Officer, Vision Australia, tel.: +61 2 9334 3308, email Megan Denyer : megan.denyer@visionaustralia.org

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First Call for Papers for ISAAC Conference

You are invited to submit a paper to the 13th Biennial Conference of the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC), which will be held next year in Montreal, August 2-7, 2008. The conference theme is Leadership. Individuals who use AAC for their daily communication have increasingly taken on leadership roles in many different ways. Examples of leadership will be showcased as part of the 2008 conference program and since 2008 is the 25th anniversary of ISAAC, the Society will be celebrating the history of ISAAC and AAC, which has changed enormously and will continue to evolve in the future.

Proposals will be selected based on quality, content area, significance, and program balance. Only unpublished papers may be presented, and the program must not be used by individuals to take orders for or sell products or materials. All program presenters are expected to follow accepted procedures to protect human subjects. ISAAC will own the copyright of all proposals accepted for the conference. The short abstracts will be published in the Conference Final Program, and the extended abstracts will be published in the Conference Proceedings. Both will be provided to all Main Conference registrants at no cost during the event.

Deadline for submissions is October 1, 2007. The main language of the conference is English. Some sessions will be offered in French. Submissions will be accepted in English or French. Paper proposals must be submitted electronically. To submit a proposal, please go to the ISAAC website (www.isaac2008.org) .

The 2008 Conference will include the following formats: 70 minute oral presentation, 30 minute oral presentation, or poster presentation. Paper types will include personal experience, clinical or educational paper, or research paper.

For more information, please contact the Conference Co-chairs, Ann Sutton and Jeff Riley, at: ISAAC 2008 Conference Secretariat — JPdL, 1555 Peel, Suite 500, Montreal, Quebec H3A 3L8, tel: 514-287-1070, fax: 514-287-1248,
email ISAAC : isaac2008@jpdl.com .

Contents.

CHRC Launches A Guide for Managing the Return to Work

Absences due to disability or illness are among the most challenging human resource situations facing employers today. Indeed statistics show that costs generated by disability and income programs are steadily rising, as are productivity losses. The National Institute of Disability Management and Research estimates that at any given time, 8 to 12% of Canada's workforce is absent due to illness or injury.

Several factors are contributing to Canada's growing rates of prolonged employee absenteeism, including stress related to technological change and organizational restructuring, an aging workforce that is more susceptible to long-term illness, and difficulties balancing work and family responsibilities.

The Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) receives many complaints based on disputes regarding the transition back to work after a prolonged employee absence. The Commission is committed to helping employers manage these cases so that the employee can return to work safely, quickly and efficiently. That's why it has developed this booklet of guidelines, A Guide for Managing the Return to Work, to support managers and supervisors in handling return-to-work situations. You can find the Guide on the Web at:
www.chrc-ccdp.ca/publications/gmrw_ggrt/toc_tdm-en.asp?lang_update=1 .

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Telecommunications and Electronic and Information Technology Advisory Committee (TEITAC)

TEITAC had its third meeting May 22-24 in Washington DC. Mary Frances Laughton of ADIO sits on this committee as one of four international representatives. The committee is in the final stages of recommending changes to the regulations for Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act and Section 255 of the US Telecommunications Act. These recommendations will go the US Access Board.

The Committee works through sub-committees on which a number of Canadians serve. Regular teleconferences for each of these sub-groups are open to all. These sub-groups are examining each clause in the existing regs to see if they should stay as is, change or be deleted. The goal is to have a set of regulations that are technologically neutral and will last for at least five years.

An Editorial Working Group is taking all the sub-group input and drafting a new set of regulations that will serve both Acts. A message will be sent to Canadian industry in early July to alert them that the recommendations are ready for comment.

The next TEITAC meeting is scheduled for July 16-18. At that meeting, a decision will be taken as to whether the final report will be delivered to the Access Board in September or November. This decision will be based on the amount of consensus arising from the early July draft of the regs.

Harmonization of standards is one the key elements of the work of TEITAC. Many of the people involved also sit on the JTC1-Special Working Group on Accessibility. Please see the TEITAC website : http://TEITAC.ORG for information on the work of the committee.

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WCAG 2.0

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (WCAG WG) invites you to comment on an updated draft of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0), published on 17 May 2007. WCAG 2.0 addresses accessibility of Web content for people with disabilities. The updated WCAG 2.0 Public Working Draft incorporates changes in response to comments received on the 27 April 2006 WCAG 2.0 Last Call Working Draft.

Because there were a number of substantive changes, WCAG 2.0 has returned to Public Working Draft status and expects to advance WCAG 2.0 to a second Last Call Working Draft after this Public Working Draft. W3C/WAI encourages you to review this document and submit comments on any issues which you feel could present a barrier to adoption and implementation of WCAG 2.0. Comments on this Working Draft are due by 29 June 2007.

The Working Group requests that comments be made using the online or downloadable comment form available at the
W3 website : http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/comments/ . If this is not possible, comments can also be
emailed to W3 : public-comments-wcag20@w3.org .

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News Bits

  • The Resolutions from the 23-27 April 2007 meeting of the JTC-1 Special Working Group on Accessibility (SWG-A) held in Hamar, Norway are available at the JTC1 website : www.jtc1access.org/documents.htm as Document SWG-A N 263. Also available at this site are the other documents which have been created during the three years of the Special Working Group. This includes the User Needs Summary and the Inventory of Accessibility Standards. One of the projects underway for the SWG-A being led by Mary Frances Laughton, is found in documents 255 and 256. Any inputs would be gratefully received at Mary Frances' email : laughton@crc.ca .

  • In April, it was announced that a special issue of "The Information Society" would be published on accessible and inclusive technology and would be edited and feature articles by members/colleagues of the Disability and Information Technologies (Dis-IT) Research Alliance. The guest editors of this special issue are Gary Annable (Dis-IT), Deborah Stienstra (University of Manitoba), and Gerard Goggin (University of Sydney). The six articles are: "A Three-Way Dance: The Global Public Good and Accessibility in Information Technologies" by Deborah Stienstra, James Watzke, and Gary Birch; "The Business of Digital Disability" by Gerard Goggin and Christopher Newell; "Engaging the Business/Industrial Sector in Accessibility Research: Lessons in Bridge Building" by Aldred H. Neufeldt, James Watzke, Gary Birch, and Denise Buchner; "Accessibility and Product Ecologies" by Jim Tobias; "Crossing the Digital Divide: Possibilities for Influencing the Private Sector Business Case" by Helen Maskery; and "Working for Barrier Removal in the ICT Area: Creating a More Accessible and Inclusive Canada" by April D'Aubin. The Information Society is available in print and on-line formats available to most university faculty, students, and staff. Dis-IT will also be able to provide the articles in various formats. Abstracts/summaries of each article are available at: www.indiana.edu/~tisj/inpress/index.html .

  • Dr. Morris (Mickey) Milner is the recipient of the Canadian Standards Association's 2007 John Jenkins Award. The Award is CSA's most prestigious honour, bestowed upon the person who is judged to have rendered distinguished service in the development, advancement, and application of voluntary standards. In addition to his many years of working with the CSA, including the Chairmanship of the Strategic Steering Committee on Community Health and Safety, Dr. Milner is the President and CEO of htx.ca — The Health Technology Exchange and is also a Professor Emeritus at University of Toronto. The John Jenkins Award will be presented to Dr. Milner at the CSA's Annual Conference, which takes place from June 10-15 in Halifax.

  • The Canadian Standards Association has published a new national standard to provide guidance on how to make the components of a wide range of electronic, electro-mechanical and mechanical devices more accessible and easier to use. CAN/CSA B651.2-07 "Accessible design for self-service interactive devices" can be applied to devices as diverse as vending machines, pay and display machines in parking lots, point of sale terminals and check-in kiosks at airports. To find out more about this standard or to purchase it, visit the CSA's Online Store, which can be found through www.csa.ca .

  • The Canadian Alliance for Animal-Assisted Services (CAFAAS) has announced its agenda for next year's Animal-Assisted Services Bridge Builders Initiative, which will take place at the North Grenville Municipal Centre in North Grenville, Ontario from April 25-27, 2008. To find out more about this or about CAFAAS, please contact Joanne Moss, President, CAFAAS, P.O. Box 279 Winchester, Ontario K0C 2K0, tel.: 613-774-0001, email CAFAAS : cafaas@cyberus.ca .

  • US-based Assistive Technology News has announced the launch of a new Web site called ATechNews.com (www.atechnews.com) to help the 56 million Americans with disabilities stay abreast of assistive technology products. The site promises to include everything from new product announcements to advocate profiles, product evaluations and interviews with leaders in the public and private sectors working on disability issues.

  • On May 17, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC: www.crtc.gc.ca) set out a new policy with respect to closed captioning that applies to all television licensees. Under the policy set out in Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2007-54, English- and French-language broadcasters will be required to caption 100% of their programs over the broadcast day, with the exception of advertising and promos. In light of the specific challenges associations with the captioning of French-language programming, the Commission is prepared to consider requests to tailor the 100% requirement, with the onus on broadcasters to demonstrate that it is impossible to meet the 100% captioning requirement. To address concerns over the current quality of captioning, the Commission has also called on the broadcasting industry to establish working groups for the development and implementation of measures to improve the quality of captioning in Canada, including the development of universal standards in English and French. The Commission has not, however, established any timetable for either the establishment of these captioning standards or for the implementation of the 100% captioned broadcast day.

  • US-based Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D: www.rfbd.org) and HumanWare (www.humanware.com) have announced that the HumanWare family of BrailleNote mPower, PK and Maestro accessible PDAs will have the ability to play AudioPlus recorded books from RFB&D as of early June 2007. HumanWare Canada has long been a supplier of the Victor Reader Family of digital audio book players to RFB&D's members, all of whom have print disabilities. When played on the HumanWare Victor Reader digital players, AudioPlus recorded books can be navigated much like a print book, allowing the reader to move from chapter to chapter, section to section or jump directly to any page.

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Our Web Site

Our Web site can be found at www.at-link.gc.ca. At this site are all our old newsletters as well as different listings and links to other sites of interest. Should you be using these old newsletters, please bear in mind that the web addresses were correct when the newsletter was created but that they may not be accurate now. We do not plan to change the back issues of the newsletters.

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Communications From ADIO

If you would prefer to receive our newsletter on disk or by e-mail, please contact us at the address below.

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Where To Find Us

For more information or to get on our mailing list, please contact:

Mary Frances Laughton or Deb Finn
Assistive Devices Industry Office
Industry Canada
P.O. Box 11490 Station H
Ottawa, Ontario
K2H 8S2

Tel: 613-990-4316 or 613-990-4297
fax: 613-998-5923
TTY: 613-998-3288
email: adio@crc.ca

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Date Modified: 2010-03-01

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