Transcript Making Services Accessible for People with Disabilities

Making Services Accessible for
People with Disabilities:
Human Rights Tools and
Practical Tips
Wendy Porch, CWGHR
Vangelis Nikias, Council of Canadians with
Disabilities
Keith Hambly, Fife House
Workshop Overview
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Overview and Intersections between HIV and Disability. Wendy Porch,
Disability Specialist and Education Coordinator, CWGHR
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Human Rights Tools. Vangelis Nikias, Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities Manager, Council of Canadians with Disabilities
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What Can You Do Make Your Services More Accessible To People With
Disabilities? Case Study: Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.
Wendy Porch
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Fife House’s Experience with Accessibility. Keith Hambly, Executive
Director, Fife House
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Community Consultation: Help us to advocate. Tell us what you need to
better support people with HIV andéor other disabilities
Canadian Working Group on HIV
and Rehabilitation
• Established in 1998, CWGHR bridges the traditionally
separate worlds of HIV, disability and rehabilitation
• CWGHR is a national charitable organization aiming to
address the complex and fluctuating health and social
needs of people living with HIV and other episodic
conditions by improving access to rehabilitation care,
support and services
• Currently working to raise awareness of disability human
rights tools in the HIV and other communities
Why HIV and Disability?
``If you have a wheelchair and you go to an AIDS service
organization and the first thing you see are all these
flight of stairs, you are immediately discouraged.
Secondly, HIV testing and counseling services are
supposed to be confidential. But if you’re deaf and you
go into this service, you have to go with someone who
can interpret for you, which takes away the
confidentiality part. So in the end, people don’t turn up.”
Winstone Zulu
HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis activist, Zambia
HIV and Disability
• People with disabilities are more
vulnerable to HIV and less likely to have
access to prevention and education
programs
• Impairments/disabilities can result from
HIV, for example arthritis, some types of
cancer, neuropathy, cognitive issues
Disability and HIV
• Persons with disabilities may be excluded or turned
away from HIV education forums or programmes
• Low literacy and a lack of accessible formats makes it
difficult to get prevention and treatment knowledge
• Confidentiality is difficult for persons with disabilities,
• In settings with limited access to ART, persons with
disabilities considered a low priority for treatment
• Negative drug interactions
Adapted from UNAIDS, CWGHR HIV, Disability and Mental Health:
What are the links? January 2012
What are the Commonalities?
• Stigma and discrimination
• Difficulties finding/keeping employment
• Interactions with social assistance/benefits
systems, poverty
• Interactions with health care and social service
systems that are not designed to see overlaps in
categories
• Lack of power/lack of choice in health care
Supporting Human Rights for All
•We share many human right related barriers.
•Hoped that we can share human rights tools to ensure
that we all live free from discrimination and as part of an
inclusive community.
Figure 1 The three dimensions of the HIV-disability field evolving over time.
Hanass-Hancock J. & Nixon S.A. The fields of HIV and disability: past, present and future. Int AIDS Society
2009; 12:28
What Can You Do Make Your
Services More Accessible To
People With Disabilities? Case
Study: AODA
Wendy Porch
CWGHR
Cartoons throughout
by John Callahan
Accessibility Principles
• AODA is Ontario legislation
• Can provide a useful structure for breaking
down the various areas in making your
services accessible
• Generally good practices for all
organizations
The AODA Overview
• First law of its kind in Canada, but other
provinces are considering similar
legislation (Manitoba, Quebec)
• Five standards:
• Customer Service Standard
• Integrated Accessibility Standard (Employment,
Transportation, Information Technology)
• Built Environment (in process)
Underlying Principles
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Dignity
Independence
Integration
Equal Opportunity
AODA Customer Service Standard
• Differentiates between organisations with less
than 20 employees or more
• All organizations (private, public, non-profit):
– create a plan for serving customers with disabilities
– train staff in serving customers with disabilities
• 20 or more must also:
– put it on paper and make it available on request
including alternate formats
– submit a compliance report
Develop a Customer Service Plan
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Communication
Assistive Devices
Allows service animals
Welcomes support persons
Lets customers know when accessible
services aren’t available
• Invites customers to provide feedback
Top Tip: Communication
• If you are unsure ask clients with disabilities how
they would prefer the communication be
conducted
• Everyone is different and preferences may vary
• Electronic documents in text or Word often a
good option
Top Tip: Assistive Devices
• Broadly defined- scooters, wheelchairs, cane,
laptop with assistive technology software
• Do a ‘walk through’ yourself, watch out for
narrow spaces, cords, obstructed walkways
• Provide access to plugs for laptops and notetakers
• Don’t touch people’s assistive devices unless
asked ex. scooters and wheelchairs.
Top Tip: Service Animals
• Are allowed anywhere there are not other
restrictions against their presence
• Do you have any spaces where they
would be restricted i.e. food preparation
areas? Find alternatives
• Remember - service animals are working
and can be distracted if you pet them
Top Tips: Support People
• Can be a formal ‘attendant’ (employed to
provide support) or can be a friend or
family member
• If you must charge a fee for a support
person make sure this information is
provided publicly in advance
• Don’t speak to the attendant, speak to the
person they are supporting
Top Tips: Service Disruption
• If services are to be interrupted, especially
accessible services (i.e. bathroom), let
people know in advance.
• Put a notice up on your website, add
something to your voicemail, tell people
when they call.
Top Tip: Feedback
• Ensure that you have a way for people
to provide feedback on the accessibility
of your service provision.
• Make sure the feedback system is
accessible too! Some automated
feedback systems on websites are not
accessible.
Employment Accessibility
• Make people aware throughout that you have
accommodation policies and can provide them
• Individual Accommodation Plans and/or Return
to Work Plans
• Make sure for employees who might require
assistance in the event of an emergency that
there is a plan in place and they are aware of it
(by January 2012)
Transportation Accessibility
• Transportation providers must develop
accessibility plans
• Transportation providers including taxis
not supposed to charge person with
disability extra for same trip at same time
of day or a surcharge for stowing
wheelchairs etc.
Information Technology Standard
• Websites, brochures, flyers, invoices,
order forms, feedback forms, etc
• If information is provided electronically,
web accessibility required – that means
your web site too!
• Can request alternate formats if possible
(undue hardship standard)
How Technology Makes a
Difference…
• E-Text: People who are blind previously had to learn
Braille in order to read or write
• Skype Video: People who are deaf don’t have to rely on
TTY phones to communicate in public spaces
Assistive Technologies
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Voice recognition, e.g. Dragon Dictate, Via Voice
Range of keyboards and mice
Kurzweil, Let’s Read
On-screen keyboards
Switch equipment
Screen readers, e.g. Jaws, Hal,
WindowEyes Braille displays
DAISY
OCR software
The PEARL
Screen magnifiers, e.g. ZoomText, SuperNova
Browser, OS settings for colour and/or font
What is Web Accessibility?
• It means making your web site in such a way
that people with disabilities using these
technologies can access it.
• Standards to follow: Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines 2.0
http://www.w3.org/WAI/
How Can You Check your Website
for Accessibility?
• Free web accessibility checkers
– AChecker
http://achecker.ca/checker/index.php
– WAVE http://wave.webaim.org/
– PDF Checker
http://accessibility.egovmon.no/en/pdfcheck/
Other Alternate Formats-Braille
• Braille: Used by people who are blind and have
learned it (not everyone!), system of raised dots.
• How to get it:
• TBase Communications tbase.com
• Crawford Technologies crawfortech.com
• Canadian Braille Press
http://canadianbraillepress.com/index.html
Alternate Formats – Large Print
• This can be made yourself using Word
and zooming up the
text size.
• Sometimes reverse colour contrast helps
Alternate Formats- Electronic
Document
• Many people can access well formatted Word
documents.
• Use the heading settings in Word to assign
heading levels (Heading One is highest, heading
two is next down in importance)
• Detailed guidance can be found here:
http://adod.idrc.ocad.ca/
The Built Environment
From Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot, by John Callahan
Built Environment
• Building accessibility resources:
– Facility Accessibility Design Standards by the
City of London (free to use if requested)
http://www.london.ca/d.aspx?s=/Accessibility/
accessibilitystandards.htm
– Checklist provided as handout
Complaints and Resources
• ARCH Disability Law Centre www.archdisabilitylaw.ca/
• HIV and AIDS Legal Clinic (HALCO)
http://www.halco.org/
• Provincial or Federal Human Rights Commission
• Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
http://www.aidslaw.ca/EN/index.htm
• Disability organizations
• Municipal human right’s offices
• HRSDC Office for Disability Issues
• MPPS, MPs
Questions?
Wendy Porch
[email protected]
416-513-0440 x240
Community Consultation
• Please take a few minutes to complete our
community consultation survey
• Results will be compiled and used to
develop an overview that may be
submitted to the Government of Canada’s
Office for Disability Issues.
Thank you!
• This work was funded in part by: