Hi everyone:
As previously promised, we are pleased to share a summary of the recently concluded tele town hall that was held on October 29.
We invite you to share your feedback with us by writing to LetUsGetItOutThere@gmail.com.

Please find our summary notes pasted below.

Some time in January, the Let’s get it out there tele town hall team will be convening to plan another meeting which we are hoping to host in the early spring and we will be keeping you abreast of our plans.

In the meantime, may we take this opportunity to once again thank you for your continuing interest and to wish you the very best for the holiday season. May 2017 be a bright and prosperous year for you.

Yours sincerely,
The Let’s get it out there tele town hall team

*****
Summary of Proceedings: Let’s Get it Out There Teleconference Town Hall October 29th, 2016, 1pm – 3:30pm Eastern

Moderator: Jane Blaine of Canadian Blind Sports

Special thanks to Louise Gillis of Canadian Council of the Blind, Pat Seed of Citizens with Disabilities – Ontario, and Robin East for their behind-the-scenes work on this teleconference session. CCB generously provided teleconferencing services for the call.

Panelists:

– Richard Marion (British Columbia) – He has been involved in blindness
and cross-disability advocacy for over 25 years. Richard has seen many improvements in accessibility over the years but at the same time, he feels that the issue of accessibility for people who are blind still needs to gain greater attention by society and decision makers.
– Albert Ruel (British Columbia) – A 60 year old totally blind father,
grandfather, and brother, as well as a partner for life to Brenda Forbes. He worked for 19 years in the forest industry when the visual world was available to him, and in the not-for-profit rehabilitation and consumer sectors since 1992 when his vision was perfected to total blindness.
– Melanie Marsden (Ontario) – Has been an advocate for over 30 years.
She has a degree in social work which she obtained while raising two boys.
She is the mother of three. Personally and professionally, Melanie advocates for safe, effective parenting and believes that when we all work together, acknowledging that each person has a voice, we accomplish more.
– Anthony Tibbs (Quebec) – Has more than six years of experience on the
national board of the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians, as treasurer and then president, and has served on a number of other boards over the years including Guide Dog Users of Canada and Media Access Canada. With a business and law background, Anthony’s day to day job is as a litigation lawyer, but he continues to support the charitable and not-for-profit organizations that play such an important role to the community.
– Paul Edwards (Florida) – Was born in San Francisco and has lived in
Canada and Trinidad. Currently living in the U.S., Paul is a father and grandfather and has been a teacher, rehab counsellor, and administrator.
Retired now, Paul derives much pleasure as a volunteer advocate at the local, state, and national levels. Paul is proud of what every blind person everywhere accomplishes every day.

Notice to Readers

The notes below represent a summary of the comments, positions, and anecdotes which were made during the course of the town hall teleconference call. They are not attributed to any particular participant. While the comments have been paraphrased and edited for duplication and redundancy, a conscious effort has been made in the preparation of these notes to ensure that all perspectives on the issues raised have been acknowledged. All views are those of the speakers alone and do not necessarily represent the views or positions taken by any of the panelists, organizers of the teleconference call, or any organizations that any participant or organizer may represent or be involved with.

Question 1: In order to ensure that people who are blind, partially sighted, or deaf-blind continue to have a strong voice in Canada, what do you think the national consumer movement should look like in the future?

Panel Comments
– All consumers organizations need to actively engage with youth to
introduce them to advocacy, and give them the tools, networks, and experiences to engage in advocacy
– Many basic needs now better met (thanks in part to technology), so need
to determine the burning issues for the next generation
– Need to recognize and acknowledge the history and move on, albeit hard.
But as people who are blind and visually impaired, we need to be at the table in a united front and a united voice.
– Find consensus on issues between organizations. United voice is
important because when there are disagreements within the community, government and others do not take us seriously or choose to do nothing rather than choose one competing view.
– Organizations must provide some personal benefit to members in addition
to advocacy activities
– Must remain independent (acknowledge difference between a service
provider and a consumer organization) and have respectful relationships
– Collaboration does not mean uniting into a single organization

Discussion
– Major challenge is to ensure we can obtain enough financial funding to
carry out the organization’s activities. In order to do so, we have to ensure our organizations’ respective mandates are strong enough to put forward to potential funders
o How do we fund what is seen by many as an “intangible” (advocacy)?
Organizations have to find creative ways to raise funds, perhaps by providing value-added consumables or services, because the reality is that advocacy is what we do today to improve the situation five or ten years down the road – the results are not immediately measurable.
o Pursuing funding opportunities requires a specific goal. For example,
many people with physical disabilities are eligible for direct funding (attendant care), and that program has just been given a significant funding increase. Establishing projects and programs to support blind and visually impaired people may be one way to attract funding
– Question: How have ACB and NFB worked together in the U.S.?
o ACB and NFB in the U.S. are not necessarily a great example to follow
because while they sometimes work together and are strong when they do, information exchange, collaboration, and communication do not happen (at the national level at least) nearly as much as they should. At the local and state level there are some stronger ties.
o Setting up systems for continuing sharing of points of view and
building consensus is a key to success.
– How do we include youth from various backgrounds (sighted youth/blind
parent, blind parent/sighted youth, etc.)?
o With respect to the college and university population, many of our
organizations offer scholarships or other programs that touch this population, but we do not offer much beyond that to keep them connected.
Need to look at what we can offer these future leaders: networking?
mentoring?
– Need to look at other countries and other communities (e.g. women’s
movement) where organizations are operating effectively: how did they do it and what can we learn?
o Consider whether this research is itself a fundable (capacity-building)
project
o In the UK, there is a model whereby consumers have “taken over” what
was originally a service provider organization. How can we move from a “for-the-blind” service agency to an “of-the-blind” service agency?
o In Australia, there is a very strong single consumer organization that
provides input at the state and federal level
o In New Zealand, there is a hybrid model
– Multiple Canadian organizations should join together to establish an
arms-length advocacy entity to pursue common issues
o CNIB has a new more proactive advocacy program that may help to unite,
but in the end advocacy must be consumer-led
– Must recognize and, without judgment, accommodate stratification and
the multiple dimensions within the “blind” community:
o vision level (low vision, legally blind, totally blind, deaf-blind)
o newly blinded/experienced blinded/congenitally blind
o retired vs working vs unemployed vs student
o anglophone vs francophone
o independent travellers vs those who rely on other means (ParaTransit,
etc.)
o technologically equipped and literate vs others

Question 2: Canada is a small country in population; however, it is geographically quite large. Would it be better in Canada to ensure that, on a national level, there is one organization of blind working on projects and advocacy to help strengthen community activities provincially and locally?

Panel Comments
– The answer is not “one organization” as each organization may be
meeting different needs within the community. Working together in a cooperative and collaborative way is more important than the form it takes.
– Each organization should allocate resources (people, etc.) to
developing joint position papers that could then be supported by all the organizations that exist in Canada
– Need to strengthen existing coalition-building activities to ensure
these can withstand changes in personalities at the coalition table
– Funding and granting organizations are often pleased to see strategic
partnerships and collaborative relationships, so there may actually be an advantage to presenting a “united front” across several organizations when applying for such funds

Discussion
– There are different organizations but there aren’t so many that we
cannot work together, and each organization has a very different focus so that there is little overlap.
– The specialization of certain organizations on can be a valuable
resource that others can utilize and build upon where needed for advocacy initiatives (e.g. Guide Dog Users of Canada, Braille Literacy Canada)
– For unity to work, each of us must be respectful and non-judgmental
about the differing needs of others. Society has imputed an implied belief that in order to be ‘independent’ or ‘successful’ you must do X, Y, or Z perfectly, but as a community we must recognize that we don’t need to be a “perfect blind person” to be deserving of respect and inclusion in the community
o “We must see every person for who they are, and where they are. We
cannot judge people by what they can do; we have to judge them instead by what they do every day. Being blind every day can be hard, but it is also something we can be immensely proud of, and we must come to a point where every person who is blind is equally respected and valued where they are, not where some of us think they need to be.”
o Example: not everyone has the same ability (or interest or motivation
to develop the ability) to travel wholly independently, or to use a computer for advanced work, and we need to be willing to work with these different skill sets.
o Example: not everyone needs or wants to receive the same type of
service in a restaurant setting.
– Education needed about the difference between a consumer organization
and a service provider.
o This education has to happen in the blind community, but also needs to
involve decision-makers at all levels, so that they understand the very different messages that come from the blind and those who speak on our behalf
o Whenever the issue of the service provider (CNIB) is raised, it is
difficult to address because community members seem to be afraid of conflict, punishment. As a community we do not feel empowered.
o Need to be careful about this “consumer organization” vs “service
provider” distinction: consumer organizations could very well become service providers
– A service provider has no place doing advocacy and would have no place
being a part of any kind of coalition or network of consumer groups.
o On the other hand, the support services that a service provider can
offer to a coalition can be very helpful: preparing research documents, secretarial/admin support, funding support
o Ideally we should be sufficiently resourced to not require their
involvement
– Any single national organization will need to recognize our linguistic
duality which may be difficult. Many years ago, the federal government funded more translation projects that helped national organizations become more bilingual but this has not been a governmental priority for some time.
– Recognize that a national organization cannot meaningfully address
local issues. National bodies should focus on national issues (telecom, interprovincial transportation, etc.). However, national organizations should facilitate networking between local cross-organizational groups to advocate on specific local issues (e.g. LRT in Ottawa). At the same time, local experiences should be documented and communicated nationally because issues arising in one city are bound to arise elsewhere, too.
– Public and organizational awareness about the fact that there are
multiple consumer organizations within the blind community, and that no single person can speak for all (multiple opinions matter) is required.
Organizations which require input from the blind community need to be educated about the array of organizations with which they could consult and the need to consider input from more than one source.
– Grassroots: Any national organization must be respectful of the
grassroots and people’s local needs, which might be delivered through chapters and personal advocacy, in collaboration with whomever the local service providers might be
– Education of and to the public sector is an important starting point
toward larger changes

Question 3: National, provincial, and local organizations have tried working in coalitions. Are you aware of any activities that these coalitions have done? Would you support a more formal working relationship between the existing national organizations of the blind?

Panel Comments
– There are rooms for coalitions at all levels of advocacy (local,
provincial, and federal – e.g. government contacts).
– Experience in the US has shown that bringing everyone into the room,
including any proverbial elephants, works best in the long run. But for this to work effectively, the service provider must be a true member of the coalition and be committed to standing united with the coalition viewpoint.
This is particularly true where a service provider has a powerful voice to decision-makers and a powerful voice to the public.
– A formal working relationship and agreement to participate in a
coalition on a specific issue works best to ensuring continued success even as representatives and personalities change
– Active participation and support of cross-disability initiatives and
undertakings can help to foster supportive networks that we can then call upon when advocating for the blind community

Discussion
– Common issues that we can likely all agree need to be addressed:
o Employment, whether that is being trained, skilled, employed,
self-employed, entrepreneurship – there are great opportunities to forge collaboration. Universities do not necessarily prepare the blind for employment. In the US there are dozens of organizations with the overlapping goal of facilitating employment and entrepreneurship for the blind. Why not here?
o Rehabilitation service delivery models. DASM (Developing Alternative
Service Models) was a report done by BOOST many years ago. If we want to change how rehabilitation services are provided in Canada, we need to present viable alternatives and working together to consider what those models may look like would be a first step forward and may dovetail with defining the future role of the consumer movement.
– Benefits of coalitions (uni-disability and cross-disability):
o Enabling organizations to come together over clearly defined issues
o Develop goals and objectives in the advocacy sphere
o In a cross-disability context, this also helps different communities
learn about the needs of others (so that advocacy initiatives intended to help one community do not inadvertently undermine accessibility for another)
o Differences between organizations and viewpoints can be worked out
behind closed doors, away from the public eye
o Organizations can then speak as one unified voice
– Cross-disability coalitions can be powerful provided that (1) the blind
community is prepared to effectively present our positions and needs, and
(2) the blind representatives are willing to fight and stand up to have our needs given the same priority as others. If we are to be expected to support other groups, they must support us.
– Networking (meeting to discuss and propose solutions to specific
issues) solves problems when we are working with other entities and are not at cross purposes, without losing any individual autonomy in the process.
Example: When the Ontario government cut funding for the O&M training program at Mohawk College, BOOST initiated a meeting with all the different organizations and proceeded to network (which was the word used with the media and the service provider). The result was a continuation and extension of the funding.
– Question: Should a blindness-specific coalition be restricted to member
organizations that have at least 80% of their governing body be blind or partially sighted individuals?
o Regardless of the number chosen, in a coalition of consumer groups, by
definition most consumer organizations will meet such a requirement.
However, there can also be a need for expertise, resources, and information from outside of our own sphere of what we have and can provide to such an initiative. Cutting out organizations by bright line rules risks losing out on expertise and feedback.
o This would be nice to have, but it isn’t necessarily a requirement
particularly on an issue-specific coalition. There are a lot of cross-disability networks and coalitions which have been very successful (e.g. AODA Alliance and Barrier Free Canada, each of which have a mixture of consumer organizations, service groups, etc.). Service organizations do have a level of expertise they can bring to that, as well as administrative resources that the consumer groups may not have.
o Bringing on board other professionals and entities in the blindness or
disability field, even though they do not meet the criteria as indicated, may be important on specific issues.
o Being a ‘member’ and ‘involved’ in a coalition does not necessarily
make one a ‘voting’ member: service providers could participate and support without setting coalition direction

Question 4: Why do you think the blindness community is so fragmented in its approach to advocacy and community activities?

Panel Comments
– “Fragmentation” is likely not real when it is applied to specific
issues. If we coalesce around making change and building coalition as core values, the fragmentation that exists across organizations will become irrelevant.
– As discussed above, accessibility needs across the “blind” population
vary considerably (to say nothing of those who may have additional needs beyond blindness). In a group of ten blind restaurant patrons, one might well need a sighted reader as well as large print, high contrast, braille, audio, and e-Text menus to accommodate everyone’s abilities or information access preferences.
– We lack the singular community identity of “blind”: we use many
different euphemisms to describe “blindness” (blind, visually impaired, partially sighted, etc.). Should we refer to it as the ‘blindness spectrum’
instead?
– “When two blind folks get angry with each other, a new organization is
born.” We lose focus and get tied up in ego and mistrust and we see disagreements on issues as an ending place. We need to view our disagreements as a starting place to find common ground, build trust and respect, and check our egos at the door.
– Funders want people who present a united front, who will be working
together with other organizations to achieve more.

Discussion
– Is there really fragmentation? To be sure, we are diverse and have
diverse needs, but perhaps the community is not truly fragmented.
– New communication mechanisms offer new opportunities to overcome
geographic fragmentation, if we are willing to work with it and make an effort to make it work for us
o Online streams (e.g. ACB Radio) and podcasts represent a new frontier
that we could use to build consensus in Canada if organizations can work collaboratively together to create programming
o E-mail has sometimes not served us well as a community, as it is too
easy to put a literal understanding on the written words and adopt contrary positions (or the mistaken belief that there are contrary positions), rather than working through to find commonality
– We need to build more “blind pride” into the very core of our being,
and more use of the word “blind” (to include the various levels of visual
impairment) so that we do try to unify ourselves.
– This may be a difficult sell to older individuals who are losing their
vision. Education is needed on the range and the spectrum, but whether describing everyone as ‘blind’ will succeed at uniting us.
– In 1975, the Cuban government said to the disability community, “this
is your revolution so get organized”. As a result, the president of each national disability group has a seat in the national assembly, and blind people are integrated in every level of society as a result. The Canadian disability act consultations represent the closest chance we’ve ever had to a revolution of our own in Canada.
– Some years ago, there was the formation of the Consumer Access Group
(CAG), which was hoped to bring, particularly, consumer organizations closer together. What CAG doesn’t appear to have found is the one burning issue that will motivate all these organizations to move in a single direction
– We need to get away from the “shackles” that prevent forward progress:
the one agency (CNIB) that is perceived as being “in charge” of all the names and addresses of blind people all over Canada.
o Federal government dollars flowing to CNIB for its Ottawa office, which
has no business “advocating” for the blind, really ought to have gone to consumers to make resources happen to the consumer movement
o In order to get funds from the federal government, it should put in
place programs that demonstrate its attempts to reach out and include the consumer organizations and consumers.
o The perception that the ‘service provider’ is a risk or fragmenting
force varies by province. In Quebec, where rehabilitation services are provided by the government, there is less of a divisive stance
– Fragmentation, if it exists at all, can be overcome by inclusive
advocacy that is done for all, with the whole community in mind, including those with other disabilities
– Important to recognize that we are not all, individually, experts on
everything – network is important to have individuals we can refer to for specific situations and needs (overcomes fragmentation)
– Egoism, lack of respect and unprofessional behaviour between advocates
limits our ability to move forward, and it is time for the community as a whole to step in and implement zero-tolerance policies toward that behaviour.
– Inclusion and universal design must be accomplished within our
organizations. People have different styles of approaching advocacy and different skill sets, and we have not (as a community) necessarily been very accepting of different approaches.
– Must recognize that people who are newly blinded often feel a great
deal of shame about their vision loss, thanks to the prejudice that courses through our society about blindness. If we can help to make it “ok” to be visually impaired, “ok” to be blind, in the eyes of the greater community, and begin to collect those people into our group rather than having them hide in the closest by themselves (unaware of resources and possibilities), this could help to unify and grow our advocacy community.
– Peer support activities, such as GTT-style groups, bring together a
diverse group of individuals with varying skill sets and backgrounds over a common uniting theme (technology) to allow information sharing and learning, which should help to narrow technological gaps in the community
– A coalition can be a coalition of three people. We need to build the
organizations just the way they are for now, and once we have a critical mass of people in the organizations, then the organizations can get together and work.
– Some fragmentation exists in that there is a gap in service and
attention to those between perhaps 25 and 60 who fall above the reach of “children and youth” programs and below the reach of “seniors” programs, but who nonetheless have a wealth of information, experience, and skills to contribute

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Barrier-Free BC Bulletin – September 29, 2016

Delegates at the UBCM convention passed Resolution B62 (details below) on Wednesday afternoon. Our profound thanks is extended to Councilor Jeremy Loveday
and the City of Victoria for sponsoring this resolution and promoting its support amongst his fellow delegates. We also wish to thank the City of Victoria’s
Access Working Group under the leadership of Linda Bartram for distributing Barrier-Free BC handouts to UBCM delegates as they arrived at the convention
on Monday morning.
While the passing of this resolution is a giant leap forward and makes the reality of a British Columbians with Disabilities Act that much closer, we still
have a significant challenge ahead and we mustn’t let up on our resolve. More than ever now is the time to contact your MLA, be it by telephone, Twitter,
email or a personal visit to encourage their support for disability legislation.

One supporter of the Barrier-Free BC campaign wrote a very personal letter to each party leader which they emailed earlier this week. The very same day,
Dr. Andrew Weaver, leader of the BC Green Party wrote back a personal response the same day in which he said, “Thank you very much for your personal letter
regarding enacting a British Columbians with Disabilities Act. I agree that the barriers facing British Columbians with disabilities must be removed and
the creation of new barriers prevented. We support providing economic support and accessibility measures for people with disabilities and will integrate
this policy into our platform.” Dr. Weaver’s response is evidence that your personal letter or contact will make all the difference and assist us all in
achieving our goal. Please make the effort to make that contact today.

Sincerely,

Rob Sleath
On behalf of The Barrier-Free BC Steering Committee

Text of Resolution

B62 – Legislation and Action for a Barrier-free BC – sponsored by the City of Victoria
Whereas British Columbians with disabilities encounter a variety of physical, sensory and technological barriers as well as ones related to communication,
education, employment, attitudes and many others on a daily basis;
And whereas the Government of British Columbia launched a non-mandatory, non-legislated initiative entitled “Accessibility 2024” in 2014 with the goal
of making BC the most progressive province in Canada for people with disabilities by the year 2024;
And whereas both the Province of Ontario and the Province of Manitoba have enacted disability legislation with the Province of Nova Scotia working toward
the introduction and enactment of disability legislation in 2016:
Therefore be it resolved that UBCM believes it is important to achieve a barrier-free province for all persons with disabilities and calls upon BC’s Legislative
Assembly to enact a strong and effective British Columbians with Disabilities Act.

Endorsed by the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities

UBCM Resolutions Committee recommendation: Endorse

UBCM Resolutions Committee comments:
The Resolutions Committee advises that the UBCM membership has not previously considered a resolution requesting specifically that the provincial government
enact a British Columbians with Disabilities Act. However, the Committee notes that members have consistently endorsed resolutions seeking to reduce barriers
and provide accessible places and services for individuals with disabilities (including but not limited to 2015-B8, 2015- B110, 2015-B118, 2014-B12, 2013-B55,
2013-B140, 2012-B43, 2011-A2, 2011-B62, 2011-B67, 2010-B70, 2010- B70, 2009-B145, 2009-B167, 2009-B174, 2008-B157, 2008-B158, 2008-B159, 2007-B106, 2007-B191,
2007-B199, 2006-B73, 2006-B132, 2002-B62, 2002-B94, 2000-B113).
If the Provincial Government were to proceed with legislation for a barrier free BC, UBCM would look forward to collaborating with the government to ensure
that the new legislation would provide communities with adequate flexibility and control to reflect local circumstances, and to ensure that local governments
are provided with adequate funding and other supports necessary to implement any new requirements.
Copyright © 2016 Barrier-Free BC, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this notice because you asked to be included as an interested party or supporter of the Barrier-Free BC campaign
To contact us, please send an email to
Info@BarrierFreeBC.org
Visit our web page at
http://www.BarrierFreeBC.org
Follow us on Twitter @barrierfreebc
Like us on Facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/BarrierFreebc
Our mailing address is:
Barrier-Free BC
c/o 200 – 5055 Joyce Street
Vancouver, BC V5R 6B2
Canada
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Winnipeg Resource: Public Transit and VIRN

Albert A Ruel, 55 mins, BrandonThanks to VIRN for working out this sort of respectfull access to public transit.

On Aug 27, 2016, at 9:55 AM, Vic Pereira <vic.pereira@virn.ca> wrote:
Hello everyone

VIRN has reached another milestone in the realm of inclusion for our community. As a bit of background, in Winnipeg anyone who is eligible to use Handi-Transit services is able to right “regular” transit at no cost. This concession is offered to everyone with a disability not just those of us defined as legally blind.

As smart card technologies advanced VIRN worked with Transit to have us included as they moved forward to using these cards to replace conventional bus passes, tickets and paper transfers. Of course the fare boxes still accept cash.

Winnipeg Transit didn’t want to do away with concessions, because it is more economical for them to allow people with disabilities to use conventional transit instead of their parallel service. The fleet was replaced with easy access buses, operators are permitted to let people off between stops if it is safe to do so and providing a concession removes another barrier. Out of 6000 registered clients using Handi-Transit they estimate only 900 people are taking advantage of no charge public transit on the “regular” system. They would like to improve on these stats to reduce the burden on the parallel service.

After working and testing with Transit they have been able to issue PegGo cards that recognise the fact there are people eligible to have concessions. To avoid fraud, our cards have a photo, but since the readers detect the card regardless of how it is placed on the sensor it is possible to be discrete. Not a problem for me of course, because I use a guide dog or mobility cane. This is a significant step forward for those people in our community whose disability is not quite as obvious. Now they are no longer singled out, thus making some people feel less vulnerable.

Another advantage of Transit issuing smart cards to all of us is ridership data is now tracked. This means that city departments who are responsible to maintain sidewalks, streets, accessible pedestrian signals and other components of the city’s infrastructure can get reports from the system. They can then see what areas have the highest usage of people with disabilities. They can then prioritise work on snow removal, infrastructure repairs and updates to make getting from points A to B and all in between easier for more people. In addition there is no personal information visible on the PegGo cards. For people visiting Winnipeg Transit operators are very good about recognising guide dogs, mobility canes and other aids such as wheelchairs. For our community who have a significant amount of useable vision other cards are still recognised as well, but they are just shown to the operator.

It is a wonderful feeling to be included with the masses. No more listening to people asking why didn’t that person pay or having to engage in those types of conversations with people at transit stops who say how lucky we are being able to ride transit for free. And the list goes on. Although this might be seen as a small step or even an insignificant one by some people it is one that brings us a little closer as being seen as part of society. Winnipeg Transit is to be commended for not taking the easy route by offloading the granting of concessions. All of us working with VIRN are proud of this accomplishment.

Vic

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Resource Article: Canadian Copyright Bill for the Blind in Need of Fine Tuning

Michael Geist

——————————————————————————–
Canadian Copyright Bill for the Blind in Need of Fine Tuning

Posted: 19 Apr 2016 11:04 AM PDT

As the political world was focused on the Liberal government’s inaugural budget last month, Navdeep Bains, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, introduced his first bill as minister by quietly moving ahead with plans to reform Canadian copyright law to allow for the ratification of an international treaty devoted to increasing access to copyrighted works for the blind.

The World Intellectual Property Organization’s Marrakesh Treaty expands access for the blind by facilitating the creation and export of works in accessible formats to the more than 300 million blind and visually impaired people around the world. Moreover, the treaty restricts the use of digital locks that can impede access, by permitting the removal of technological restrictions on electronic books for the benefit of the blind and visually impaired.

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that the Canadian decision to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty is long overdue. The Conservatives announced plans to do so in last year’s budget but waited to table legislation days before the summer break and the election call. With that bill now dead, the Liberals have rightly moved quickly to revive the issue.

The treaty (and the Canadian bill) addresses three key issues. First, the bill establishes a new rule that permits non-profit organizations acting on behalf of persons with a print disability to reproduce copyright works in accessible formats without the need for permission from the copyright holder. This ensures that more accessible works will be created and distributed in Canada.

Second, once an accessible version of the work is created, the bill also allows the non-profit organization to make it available upon request to persons with print disabilities in other countries that are part of the treaty. With many countries signing on, this approach offers the potential to significantly increase the availability of accessible works with exchanges across borders.

Third, the bill amends the overly restrictive digital lock rules enacted in the 2012 copyright reforms. The Conservative government claimed that an exception for the blind addressed concerns that the law could create significant access restrictions, but the reforms represent a tacit admission that the exception is ineffective. Interestingly, the same restrictive language is used in an exception designed to address privacy concerns, suggesting that further copyright reforms are needed.

While the introduction of the bill represents an excellent first step, upcoming committee hearings offer the opportunity to fine tune the Canadian approach, which is more restrictive than required by the treaty. For example, the Canadian bill envisions the possibility of establishing additional fees payable by the non-profit organization to copyright collectives. The Marrakesh Treaty does not require adding royalty payments and many countries (including the United States) do not have such a provision.

The Canadian approach to exporting accessible works to other countries is also unnecessarily complex. The export exception does not apply to works that are “commercially available” “within a reasonable time and for a reasonable price” in the other country.

The limitation seems likely to create uncertainty and legal risks for those using the exception, creating the danger that some organizations may be reticent about exporting works for fear of running afoul of the law. The limitation is not found in proposed implementing legislation developed by international groups representing libraries and those with print disabilities.

Despite its shortcomings, the decision to focus on the world’s first user rights treaty sends a strong signal that the government recognizes the importance of ensuring that the law does not unduly restrict access to copyright works. With the Marrakesh Treaty nearly reaching the 20 ratifications necessary to take effect, the government must move quickly if it wants Canada to stand as one of the original group of ratifying countries.

The post Canadian Copyright Bill for the Blind in Need of Fine Tuning appeared first on Michael Geist.

Posted: 19 Apr 2016 11:01 AM PDT

Appeared in the Toronto Star on April 18, 2016 as Copyright Law for the Blind Needs Fine-Tuning

The Canadian decision to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty is long overdue. The Conservatives announced plans to do so in last year’s budget but waited to table legislation days before the summer break and the election call. With that bill now dead, the Liberals have rightly moved quickly to revive the issue.

Michael Geist holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. He can be reached at mgeist@uottawa.ca or online at http://www.michaelgeist.ca.

The post Copyright Bill for the Blind Needs Fine Tuning appeared first on Michael Geist.

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Quick Tip: Move From One Running App to Another in iOS 9.3

If you’re using VoiceOver with iOS 9.3, you can now flick left or right with 4 fingers to move from one open app to another, similar to using alt-tab in Windows or command-tab on the Mac. Thi…

Source: Quick Tip: Move From One Running App to Another in iOS 9.3

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Sorry Medicine, I Don’t Think More Empathy Is The Answer

Empathy is currently the fashionable thing to discuss in certain medical circles. Specifically, the need for health care professionals to adopt and exhibit more of it. Who could possible argue with…

Source: Sorry Medicine, I Don’t Think More Empathy Is The Answer

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GTT Edmonton On AMI TV

Hello GTT Followers: Those of you who attended the January 2016 Edmonton meeting will recall that AMI TV joined us to do a story on our group. The story will air tomorrow Friday March
18 at 8:30pm our time.
The TV program is called AMI This Week. You will find it on Shaw or Telus channel 888.

For those who may not know AMI is Canada’s accessible media channel where all TV programming on channel 888 has embedded descriptive video.

Here’s a link to the AMI-tv schedule:
http://www.ami.ca/AMI-tv/Pages/Program-Schedule.aspx

Here’s a link to where you can find AMI on your TV:
http://www.ami.ca/AMI-tv/Pages/Channel-Guide.aspx

IN a few days the GT Edmonton story should also be up on the AMI YouTube channel.

Best regards,
Gerry Chevalier
GTT Co-coordinator
gtt.edmonton@gmail.com
Tel: 780.465.7021
CCB National Blog and Resources
http://www.GTTProgram.wordpress.com

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When Fish are More Humane

The BC government shows no signs of re-instating $45/year subsidized bus pass for people with disabilities. Nevertheless, InclusionBC , TAPS and other advocacy groups are continuing their campaign…

Source: When Fish are More Humane

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Article: Windows Ribbons Explained by Christopher-Mark Gilland

Windows Ribbons Explained by Christopher-Mark Gilland
*Note: I thought some of our GTT Followers would get some benefit from this article so I’m sharing it here. If you have questions for Chris I will pass them on to him, so send them to Albert Ruel, GTTWest@CCBNational.net

Posted on Thu 3/10/2016 1:39 PM on the Windows 10 Screen Reader Users
List at, Subscribing: win10+subscribe@groups.io

I want to start out by explaining what exactly is meant by a ribbon. Let’s take this into literal terminology which could be probably compared to something concrete that you can visualize in your mind.

Do you know what a clothes line looks like? OK, you have this big long rod, right? It’s totally horizontal. It might span over say, 5 or 10 feet long from the left end to the right end in width. Basically just imagine a sheet of paper, then take a ruler and place it on the paper, in a horizontal left to right position going across the very top edge of the page.

OK, that’s the line itself. Now, imagine what it looks like when this line is full of clothes. It has maybe shirts, skirts, dresses, pants, sweaters, coats, whatever, kackies, you get the point, hanging from it with clothespins. So, if you can kind a visualize this for a second, you have this long horizontal rod running left to right from end to end. Dangling from it, you have a piece of clothing, then a teeny little bit of space, then moving on to the right, you have another piece of clothing which is dangling from the bottom side of the rod. Then a little more space, keep working to the other end of the line, you have a third set of cloting. Right? So on so forth. Are you following me so far up to this point?

OK. This is exactly how the ribbon bar behaves. The ribbon is basically two levels in height. Think of it like a 2 story house. You have an upper level, and you have a lower level. OK, let’s go back to the clothes line for a second here. Take all those clothes you have hanging from the rod. Let’s say you have three shirts. OK, so all three of those shirts are grouped together in their own section of the clothes line. Then, you have a little space, thenyou’re your pants are grouped together side by side. Then a little space, then say, maybe, oh, I dunno, maybe, you have a few dresscoats all aligned together side by side. In other words, each type of item is in its own group. Again, this is exactly how the ribbon works.

So, let’s go back now to the ribbon. Honestly speaking? Get the word ribbon totally out of your head! just forget entirely that you ever were told it was a ribbon. I think that was the stupidest! Term Microsoft ever could have used! Why? Because it doesn’t really per sé look like a ribbon. I know MS’s logic of thinking, and where they were trying to go with that, but honestly, they really made it harder than it has to be, and really have obviously confused a lot of people, both sighted or not with things by introducing that lingo. So, again, I want you to just totally throw the word ribbon away. It doesn’t exist for now.

I’m sure you understand how the menu bar looks though. You have menus which go across a horizontal line/bar, hence why they call it a menu… what?… bar! Going left to right, you have things in the top level of that bar, right? Things like File, Edit, View, Insert, Format, Table, Window, Help.

Once you navigate to one of those menus, what do you do? You down arrow to open it. right? Why do you do that?

Well? Think about it.

You have a virtical menu which pops open right below the top category, be it file? Edit? Whatever.

Within each of those menus, you may have a submenu, or as Window eyes users would know it, a pulldown. So, what is a pulldown/sub menu? Exactly! It’s a menu which branches off to the right of the original menu item. If you remember back in the days of Windows XP, you may remember under start, you had programs submenu. When you went to programs, what happened? It brought up another menu with all of your programs over to the right of the start menu itself. Correct?

OK, well, guess what! The um… word we’re not gonna remember… LOL? is the same way in escence.

So, think of it like this for your ribbon.

You have two levels. An upper ribbon, and a lower ribbon. Underneath your lower ribbon, you have items which are sectioned off into groups.

So, for example. Let’s take Outlook for instance. I’m not where I can open up Outlook right this second to give you the literal order/hierarchy of the Outlook ribbon, but that’s actually a good thing, as I don’t want you looking right now. I want you to totally do this cognitively in your head.

So, the top of your ribbon has these different categories. Those categories are called tabs, BECAUSE, ESSENTIALLY, SURPRISE SURPRISE, THAT’S ALL THEY ARE! Yes. You heard me 100% correctly. That’s all? they, are. Just tabs. No more? NO less. As you move across the top level, the bottom level will dynamically change and update accordingly. So, for instance. To access the ribbon, hit your alt key, doesn’t matter which one. Either your left or your right is fine, your choice.

You now will hear the last tab that you landed on. Now, if you left and right arrow, you will horizontally move and activate each of these tabs. So, say for example that you want to compose a new message. You’d hbit the alt key. Next, you’d arrow left and right across the top of the ribbon. Let’s say that you hear things like, Home, view, message, I’m saying this not in one big cluster, I mean as you move. So again, Home, View, Message, Format, Insert, so on so forth. Once you left and right arrow to either end of the bar, it will wrap you back around. So, say that the far left most tab was Home. The far right most tab was format. So if you’re on home, and you left arrow, you’d reach what?

Exactly! Format! So, say you’re on Format, and you right arrow once. Exactly! Now you’re on what? Home! Good job! See? This isn’t so hard, is it! All it did is wrapped you around, just as any menu/dialog box would do.

Once on the tab you want, though it visually! has dynamically updated your lower ribbon, we’re still on your upper ribbon, so we need to now activate that tab and get down inside of it. To do that, how do you activate most things in Windows? Exactly! You hit the enter key. Great job! So, that’s exactly what we’d do here. So, let’s go back to our little example. We want to compose a new e-mail message. Again, going across the top, let’s say that we have from left to right: Home? Message? View? Insert? and Format.

Which one of those tabs do you think most likely compose message would be inside? Well, obviously, it’s not going to be inside View. That would be for modifying the way things look. Would it be under Insert? No. You’re not insertting anything. What about Format? Nope. That would be for setting fonts and such. What’s left? Yes! Message it is.

So, you’d navigate left and right with your arrow keys. You’d hit alt to enter the ribbon bar. You’d arrow left and right until you heard Message tab. Now we need to get to the stuff inside of the Message tab. So, we now activate the message tab by pressing the enter key.

This now will drop us down to the lower ribbon. If you need to go back up to the upper ribbon, then just hit your up arrow key once.

OK, so now we’re down inside the Message tab. Now, you may hear something like Composition group: New Message Button. That’s what we need. So, we could just press enter.

OK, let’s now talk more about groups in your lower ribbon. Remember me saying that the lower ribbon has things in groups? So think of a group as basically what a classic based menu would call a submenu.

So Within our e-mail message, we want to make a bulleted list. Up to the ribbon we go with the alt key.

We now find the Format tab and activate it, again, how? Right! With the enter key.

Now, again, we’re in the lower ribbon. Again, left and right arrow, just like before, and we want to find the bullets button. Now here’s however where things get really cool! Let’s say that as you’re right arrowing, you hear things like color Group: Text color button. You right arrow, and hear Highlight color button. You go again and hear, center button. Again, Justified button. Again, bold button. Again, Italic button. Again, now, pay attention here. You hear the Following:

Paragraph group: Bullets button.

Look at how much work that took to get there! Gee! Willikers! After hitting enter on the Format tab in the upper ribbon, you had to then arrow 7 times roughly to the right before you hit that bullets button. Well, here’s the thing. There’s a way to move group by group.

If you press the alt key, you’ll get into the upper portion of the ribbon. This is where all your main tab categories reside. In this example, you’ll move across the top until you find the Format tab, then you’ll activate it with enter. Now, you’re again, in your lower ribbon. Right?

OK, now watch this. Rather than right arrowwing aa’aall? The, freaking, way, over to the bullets button, We know it’s not in the color group. Bullets have nothing! to do with color, do they? So, that doesn’t even make sense for them to be there. So, rather than waisting your time going through that whole group, just navigate with ctrl+Right arrow to the next group.

Think of it this way.

What do just the left and right arrow keys do when reading through a document? Exactly. They move item by item, or in that case, character by character. What if you want to jump in a bigger increment? Say, word by word? Excellent job! You’d hit ctrl+Left, or ctrl+Right arrow. So, Think of the items in your lower ribbon as individual characters. Then think of your Groups in the lower ribbon as words.

If you wanted quickly to get to the letter G in the word oranges in the following sentence:

The fruit on the plate consists of oranges, pineapples, and grapes.

You really don’t want to start on the capital T in the word, the, and then right arrow all the way over to the G, do you? Well, if you do, then O, Kayyy, more power to ya, but that’s really a waist of time!

You’d move item by item! Group by broup. Each group in that case would be like a word.

So The would be one group, fruit would be one group, on would be a group, etc.

So, you’d ctrl+right arrow to the, oranges, group, then within that group, the first item is, O. then you’d right arrow through that group on your lower ribbon, until you got to the G. Then you’d activate it with enter.

The final thing about the ribbon I’d like to talk to you about is something known as split buttons.

OK, so this is really easy! All that a split button is is, think of a button that has a virtical divider which extends across the whole virtical height of the icon. This virtical bar/line seperates the button in half. Think of the way a bandaid looks once it’s out of it’s rapper. You have two pieces of tape, with the little square pad in the middle. Right? Basically a split button is a bandaid. The little padded square is your split. It splits off the button, if you will, in two parts. I’ll give you a great example where you may have seen this, even if you don’t have Office.

Go to IE 11, and download a file. When your information bar pops up asking if you want to run or save the file, hit alt+N. Then tab. You’ll hear save split button. That’s because the save button is divided into two pieces. The left side is Save. This will do just that. It will save the file in your default location, probably your downloads. However, the righthand side of this same button is split off and says, Save as. This would bring up the standard save as screen letting you name the file, and choose where! to save it.

So, the way split buttons work is like this. If you press the enter key, you’ll activate the primary action of the button, which is the lefthand side of the button. If! however, you want to activate the secondary action of the same button, then once you land on the split button, instead of pressing enter, hit your down arrow key. Note: I’m speaking of your arrow keys not on your numeric keypad. I’m speaking of the invertted T arrow keys usually right below your 6pack on a desktop keyboard, and probably bottom right edge on most laptops.

What this will do is open a dropdown menu that you now can up and down arrow through to select either of the two actions. Arrow to the one you want, then, you guessed it. Hit enter.

One more way to think of the ribbon bar is like a multi-tab dialog, like you’d have in Control Panel, or whatever. Your tabs across the top which you could hit ctrl+Tab, and ctrl+Shift+Tab to move between would be basically like the top level of your ribbon. Things like General, etc.

Then, all of the content on that tab, populates directly under those tabs going across the top. The ribbon bar is the exact same principle. The ribbon is basically nothing more than a multi tabbed dialog, with the exception of pressing enter to activate the focused tab, and that you cannot ctrl+Tab nor ctrl+Shift+tab between the items in the upper ribbon. Aside that though, it’s identical!

Everyone have a great ribbon of a day! LOL! Just kidding.

albertruel

Disability; Assistive Technology; Blindness; Low Vision; Life; Adjustment; Peer Mentoring;

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Article: Windows Ribbons Explained by Christopher-Mark Gilland