News Articles

South Korean Prime Minister, Kim Hwang-sik, called upon the United Nations to provide support for initiatives in Asia and the Pacific region that will promote the human rights of persons with disabilities and to build a disability inclusive society. As South Korea ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Mr. Hwang-sik called for international support in creating ...

The Jamaican Council for Persons with Disabilities (JCPD) aims to create a reliable database to locate and register more people with disabilities within its systems. The new database is funded by the Inter-American Development Bank as a philanthropic effort, helping with the council’s budgetary constraints. The JCPD will launch the database in December 2012 and will focus on two goals, data...

Chicago will host the inaugural Accessibility Expo: Beyond the ADA from June 10-12, 2013. The expo will be coordinated by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and will focus on concerns associated with physical, vision, hearing, speech, and cognitive disabilities as they relate to safety awareness. The three day event will provide informative resources, discussions, and panels that...

The 15th Annual Accessing Higher Ground: Accessible Media, Web and Technology Conference has been announced for November 12th-16th in Westminster, Colorado. The conference is extremely relevant to the state as there are numerous Colorado cities currently renovating technologies in line with agreements made with the Justice Department’s Project Civic Access. The event is slated to have 28...

The Canadian Federal Government and Manitoba Local Government have opened a 37 unit building for low to moderate income families, and particularly for persons with disabilities. Place La Charette received more than $10.7 million in federal and provincial investment. Of this amount, a good deal was spent to construct the building in an accessible style in line with the Ontarian’s with...

Allsup, a leading national Social Security disability representation company, is providing resources to help reduce voting barriers and promote active citizenship for people with disabilities. Vote.Allsup.com provides resources such as an interactive map of information and important dates related to disabled voters’ registration, search functionality to find accessible voting stations and...

The United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is reminding travelers that any passenger in the UK that faces difficulty traveling within an airport, regardless of reason, is entitled to support services. As the holidays are quickly approaching, airlines are preparing for the busiest quarter of the year. The CAA would like to inform all people, particularly those with disabilities, that...

A recent election has added a new expert to the committee overseeing the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). The 18 member committee monitors and assists member states in the implementation of the Convention. Out of the nine African countries that participated in the election, it was Uganda’s nominee, Martin Mwesigwa Babu, who was appointed to the...

As part of the Justice Department’s Project Civic Access (PCA) Initiative, attorneys have come to an agreement with representatives from the city of North Adams, Massachusetts to implement Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards in their community. The agreement states that employees from the Public Works department must begin to create renovation plans so that all citizens may engage...

The Department of Education for the Philippines has partnered with three companies to provide computer training for students with vision disabilities. The Resources for the Blind, the Overbrook Nippon Foundation, Inc., and IBM Philippines, have pooled resources to provide a free training event, with transportation, lodging, and food included for students. The training camp is comprised of high...

The city of Winnipeg has announced the list of recipients of the 2012 Accessibility Awards. The five organizations that were selected displayed an admirable commitment to accessibility. Primarily, these organizations were praised due to their implementation of a barrier free and diverse environment for all people with disabilities, both in their organizations and within communities. The...

The Australian Government has announced that it will devote resources to creating an accessible environment for people with disabilities in the Pacific region. The government has determined that Pacific countries have very limited resources and as such, lack the tools necessary to create acceptable accessibility practices. Australia aims to rectify this by donating millions of dollars in...

The recent lawsuit between National Association of the Deaf and Netflix has come to an end. Both organizations have come to an agreement that all movies and television shows will be closed caption before 2014. Netflix began captioning videos in 2010, and prior to the lawsuit, 90% of programming was closed captioned. However, Arlene Mayerson, Directing Attorney for the Disability Rights...

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Joint Technical Committee on Information Technology have announced the approval of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 as the International Standard in accessibility requirements. As W3C has created extremely useful accessibility standards for the newest technologies before any other organization, they have been seen as the unofficial...

The 2012 Alabama Assistive Technology Expo and Conference (ALATEC) will take place at Auburn University’s campus on October 22nd and 23rd. The conference will be a collaborative effort between the University’s Office of Professional & Continuing Education, its Center for Disability Research and Service, the College of Education’s Department of Special Education, Rehabilitation and Counseling,...

The Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (CATEA) at Georgia Tech has been awarded $3.1 million in grants to pursue universal design practices in order to enhance work outcomes. The grants have been funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) as a means to more accurately measure the effectiveness of applying universal design...

After a recent forum, Haiti’s government has signed a declaration on public policy that will focus on inclusion for people with disabilities in 2013. The earthquake in Haiti in 2010 has left lingering effects, with nearly 10% of the population having disabilities. Haiti President, Michael Martelly, noticing this statistic, has stated that there needs to be a more accessible environment in...

The University of Illinois has been selected as the 2012 recipient of the Barrier-Free America Award. The award is given to recognize a higher education campus for the outstanding work accomplished in accessible practices. As the University provides both academic and non-academic support services to more than 1000 students with disabilities, they have rightly earned the award. Dr. Hedrick,...

The Australian Federal Government has announced a new program that will hone the leadership skills of 200 people with disabilities. Leaders for Tomorrow is an individual leadership program that will train relevant skills, boost confidence, increase knowledge base, and inform as to the typical activities leaders engage in, in the business, community, or government sectors, through mentoring...

The United States Federal Government has stated that organizations interested in bidding, and working with the government, are required to be compliant with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act standards. The importance of accessibility, especially for electronic and information technology (EIT), has grown to such a degree that businesses can no longer ignore implementation. The Federal...

The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) has announced a probable increase in accessibility for persons with mental disabilities in the Winnipeg Region, in the coming months. The initiative has been made possible due to the Canadian Government’s Enabling Accessibility Fund. The $50,000 in funds have allowed the CMHA to create a new facility in line with the Ontarians with Disabilities...

The National Spinal Cord Injury Association (NSCIA), a division of United Spinal Association, will host two free webinars in October in celebration of National Disability Employment Awareness Month. The webinars will focus on providing useful information, resources, and connections in career building for people with disabilities. The first webinar , Understanding Social Security Work...

The Ghana Federation of Disabled (GFD) has initiated a project to influence political parties to implement plans for the welfare of people with disabilities. Citizens of Ghana with disabilities are arguably the least represented in political reform and legislative policies. The project aims to inform the politicians of the key issues affecting these people and question what policies they will...

Leaders of the Construction Design Industries in Knoxville, Tennessee have met for the advertised East Tennessee Accessibility Event. The event, which was hosted by city officials and Construction Specification Institute experts, was the first large effort affair to promote accessible design and inclusive practices in the Tennessee area. The event was comprised of presentations,...

As part of its advancing HTML 5.0 initiative, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) , has proposed a plan that will incorporate HTML 5.0 as the standard by 2014. The plan focuses on stabilizing HTML 5.0 in order to increase usability, and better implement standardization amongst Web browsers. W3C hopes Web designers will find the new stability and standardization to be easier to implement and...

The United States Department of Labor, as part of its Disability Employment Initiative, has announced the distribution of $20 million in funding for seven states as a means to provide additional resources for people with disabilities. The initiative is jointly funded by the Employment and Training Administration and the Office of Disability Employment Policy. The funding will be distributed...

The 7th European e-Accessibility Forum will be held March 18th, 2013 in Paris, France. The forum will provide information on various themes: the accessibility profession today, the immediate business relevance and value in e-Accessibility training, strategies on how to plan, implement, and evaluate e-Accessibility skills, and spotlight the leaders of the e-Accessibility industry in terms of...

The United Stated Department of Education has awarded a $4.9 million grant to the University of Kansas to build a national disability center. The center will focus on providing students an inclusive environment in which they can receive an education. The key areas of support that the grant will be used for, in addition to the construction, will be: improving the knowledge and skills of...

As part of its Project Civic Access (PCA) program, the Pennsylvania Justice Department has announced a new agreement with Schuylkill County to improve access in the community for persons with disabilities based upon Americans with Disabilities Act standards (ADA). The agreement asserts that Schuylkill County will, among other changes, need to make physical modifications to facilities and...

INDIACSR, India’s Largest Network on Corporate Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility, has partnered with Choice International as a means to organize an international conference on effective disability practices in India. “Disability Equality and Accessibility”, is slated to show praise to individuals who have accomplished great achievements for the disability sector. The conference...