India: Polling Booths to be Disabled-Friendly
Don’t fret over how your physically-challenged or pregnant relative will be able to cast his/her ballot in the upcoming civic polls. The state election commission has issued a set of facilities to be made available at polling booths to ensure that the pregnant, the physically-challenged and senior citizens will not have to queue up for long. Women with a child, besides those pregnant, will be given preference over others at the booth. “There have been instances when the pregnant, the physically-challenged and senior citizens were put off by the idea of incessantly waiting in line. This time, we are paying attention to every minute detail,” said Chand Goyal, additional chief secretary of the election commission.
From nsingit.wordpress.com, December 15, 2011
TechNews: Texting Glove Helps Hearing Impaired Send Texts
This unique device was developed by Oleg Imanilov, Tomer Daniel and Zvika Markfeld, where it literally transforms sign language into text on your Android-powered device, thanks to the help of a gyroscope, an ADK Board, Lilypad Arduino, finger sensors, and an accelerometer. Of course, hopefully the Texting Glove is sensitive enough to work with the software for super fast signage – after all, you don’t sign out individual letters but rather in words, so here is to the software being able to keep up. Alternatively, I would presume that the hearing impaired can always rely on standard text messages to get their, er, message across.
From www.ubergizmo.com, December 15, 2011
Feature: Global Development Voices: Living with Disabilities
There are estimated to be 1 billion disabled people across the world. Disability doesn't feature specifically in the MDGs, but many campaigners say lack of provision for the disabled is holding back development progress. Here 14 people with disabilities tell us about the challenges they face in their countries.
From www.guardian.co.uk, December 15, 2011
New United Nations Fund to Boost Action on Disability Rights
United Nations agencies have partnered on a new fund which will promote disability rights by supporting countries to improve their policies, data gathering and service delivery to persons with disabilities. The UN Partnership to Promote the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Fund launched today, aims to facilitate dialogue between governments and disabled people organizations in order to boost national action to address discrimination and marginalization.
From www.beta.undp.org, December 14, 2011
India: Pilot Project Scheme for Access to ICTs & ICT Enabled Services for Persons with Disabilities in Rural India
The Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) of India is considering interventions for access to ICT for disabled populations in rural areas. Schemes in this regard are to be evolved with due stakeholder participation. The scheme was presented at M-Enabling Summit, Washington, D.C., 5th-6th December 2011. Address by Joint Administrator, USOF at FCC Headquarters as part of International Panel on Policies and Programmes to promote Accessible and Assistive Mobile Services for Seniors and Persons with Disabilities.
From www.usof.gov.in, December 13, 2011
USA: Colleges Besieged with Disability Accommodation Requests
Requests for disability accommodations at college campuses are on the rise, leaving administrators struggling to determine whether or not flexibility is warranted in every case. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, universities are required to provide “reasonable accommodations” for students with disabilities. Often this means allowing those with special needs extra time or a quiet room for exams. But colleges from New York to Texas are reporting a dramatic increase in recent years in the number of students claiming that they need special accommodations, in many cases due to psychological conditions like depression and bipolar disorder.
From www.disabilityscoop.com, December 13, 2011
Qatar: IctQatar Introduces Electronic Accessibility Policy To Help Persons with Disabilities
IctQatar has implemented the Electronic Accessibility Policy, the first of its kind measure in the country that will ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy equal rights and access to technologies being served by both private and public sectors. Implemented as part of ictQatar’s Strategy ICT2015, the policy aims at ensuring persons with disabilities in Qatar have equal access to the technologies that can enrich their lives from a range of e-accessibility issues, including websites, telecommunications services, handsets, ATMs, government services, access to assistive technologies and digital content.
From globalaccessibilitynews.com, December 12, 2011
Saudi Arabia: Salman Center for Disability Research Wins Prestigious EU Prize
The Prince Salman Center for Disability Research (PSCDR) has been named one of the three winners of the prestigious European Union's Chaillot Award in Riyadh on Sunday. The center, a nonprofit organization in the Kingdom, conducts and funds laboratory and field research on disability. Luigi Narbone, head of the EU delegation in Saudi Arabia, announced the winners’ names at a special ceremony in the EU headquarters in Riyadh.
From arabnews.com, December 12, 2011
Australia: New App Gives Hearing Impaired Access to Public Announcements
The app, Silent Tweets, is a visual alert system for iPhone and Android smartphone users. It allows anyone who downloads the app to post and receive important information about public areas. Users are given 140 characters to write information to be shared with other users who are within the location that the announcement relates to.
From www.mediaaccess.org.au, December 12, 2011
Scotland: Unique Degree in British Sign Language (BSL) Interpreting Launched
The degree is the only one in the UK on which students will graduate as fully qualified and accredited BSL/English interpreters upon completion. This means they can start working anywhere in the UK straight away, without the need for further training. With 60,000 Deaf people in the UK and a national shortage of qualified BSL interpreters the degree could make a considerable contribution to the Deaf community, as well as offering good employment prospects to graduates.
From www.hw.ac.uk, December 09, 2011
