Disability Access News

Romford Recorder 04 April 2008

CHEAPER gym access for the disabled could become a reality if leisure bosses and Havering Council cave-in to pressure.

A special meeting was called yesterday at the office of Havering Association for the Disabled (HAD) to thrash out ideas on what could be done to help get members into the leisure centres at lower cost during the day - when footfall is at its lowest.
Romford Recorder

Chief Executive of HAD, Mary Capon, said: "Just because someone is disabled doesn't mean they shouldn't be able to maximise their health.

"We would like to see some sort of concession for disabled people, as most are on state benefits.

"I have heard repeatedly that pools and leisure centres are not operating at full capacity during the day, and at least 10 per cent of people in Havering can be qualified as disabled."

Havering Council Leader Michael White has previously hinted cheaper prices may be in the pipeline.

He wrote in an e-mail: "It may be that we can agree some reduced pricing during the day to encourage increased usage by community groups across the borough.

Just a matter of weeks after nationwide condemnation of England captain John Terry for parking his Bentley in a disabled spot while he enjoyed a long lunch, Rochdale Online has been sent photos by a reader of a police van parked in the disabled parking bays at ASDA supermarket on Dane Street last Sunday (30 March).

The photos have caused controversy, especially after the police backed ASDA’s stance over the selfish abuse of disabled parking spaces.

In a move that was welcomed by disability groups ASDA recently started fining drivers who park in disabled and parent and child spaces when they shouldn't £60.

Helen Smith, director of policy and campaigns of National disabled charity, Mobilise said: "We fully support ASDA's decision to fine people abusing parking bays. Since 2002, our organisation has been putting pressure on supermarkets to tackle this problem, so I am glad they have decided to deal with it head-on. Not being able to park in a disabled bay means some disabled people will not be able to do their shopping. We sincerely hope other supermarkets follow ASDA's lead."

Local MP Paul Rowen also praised the ASDA initiative at the time of its announcement saying: "Selfish drivers who park in these spaces do not realise the misery they can cause. Some of our most vulnerable simply rely on them to do their shopping.

"I hope that other major supermarkets can look at the example of ASDA and take firm action against those who can’t be bothered to tow the line.

Asked by Rochdale Online for his response to the poor example being set by the driver of the police van, Mr Rowen unequivocally condemned Greater Manchester Police.

Mr Rowen, who recently wrote an Early Day Motion supporting disabled people, said: “I have long campaigned against the misuse of disabled parking spaces and I am stunned at these photos. The police should be setting an example and I hope that the police carry out an investigation into the officer responsible and give him a firm warning. I would further hope that ASDA look to fine Greater Manchester Police the £60 fixed penalty.”

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: "All GMP officers are advised with regard to their responsibilities when parking their vehicle and they should keep this in mind at all times.

"GMP is currently examining the circumstances surrounding the photographs, in order to establish whether the police van that was parked at Asda was responding to an emergency incident.

"It is not acceptable for police vehicles to park in disabled bays generally and if it is found that officers were not responding to an emergency call then appropriate action will be taken."

Mr Rowen's Early Day Motion

That this House recognises that parents of young children and disabled people gain tremendous benefit from more generously sized parking bays; disapproves of the selfish use of these special parking bays by people who do not need them; congratulates ASDA on its plans to charge drivers parking at its stores if they wrongly park in a space reserved for parents with young children or disabled people; welcomes the fact that all profits generated from the charges will go to baby charity Tommy's and Motability, the national disability charity providing the leading car scheme for disabled people; further notes that the trial in North West England saw the number of available parking spots in the disabled and parent section rise by up to 60 per cent.; encourages other supermarkets to follow suit; and suggests that supermarkets consider making parking bays in future developments larger to benefit all their customers.

By RUTH EGLASH
The Jerusalem Post

Thousands of people with physical, mental or emotional disabilities not officially classified as such feel a high level of isolation within Israeli society, according to a first-of-its-kind study published this week.

Some 16.7 percent of disabled Israelis, or roughly 50,000 people, are significantly disabled but either do not meet government criteria or simply chose not to apply for state benefits, according to the study, conducted by the University of Haifa's Prof. Arie Rimmerman, an expert in disability research and civil and social participation.

He holds the Richard Crossman Chair for Social Welfare and Planning at the university.

The researchers interviewed a representative sample of some 600 people with disabilities and 600 without,

"This was a big surprise for us," Rimmerman told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday, adding that in the US the rate of non-recognized disabled was 12%.

"This group has a higher participation in society than those who are recognized as disabled but they are much less involved socially than the general public," he said.

The study also found that almost one-third of Israel's non-recognized disabled said they had not had any social visits in the last month and a large proportion felt like outsiders in society. Sixty percent are single and 40% do not work.

"We always knew that compared to the rest of the Western world, Israel was less tolerant of the disabled, but this study really draws that out," Rimmerman said. "Not only are they not considered disabled and not entitled to any benefits, but they are also isolated by the rest of society."

Part of the problem was that the "threshold for [determining] disabilities is quite high," he said.

More than 250,000 people collected disability benefits either from the National Insurance Institute, the IDF or another official body last year. Together with the unrecognized disabled, the number of Israelis with disabilities could total more than 300,000.

Asked why some people chose not to claim benefits even if they might fit the criteria, Rimmerman said this might be because the amounts were "so low."

"Some of these people who do not claim benefits probably do fulfill the criteria but to apply and go through such a tortuous system to determine their disability levels for [roughly] NIS 2,000 a month is not worth it for them," he said.

The study, which initially questioned 13,000 Israelis, was funded by the National Insurance Institute (70%) and the Richard Crossman Chair (30%). It will be officially released next week at the second annual Haifa University Conference on Social Responsibility.

John Lamb

Disabled people have so far lost out on many of the benefits that technology has brought. But changes are on the way

Technology is supposed to make it easier for everyone to live and work, but for the 10 million disabled people in the UK, many of whom find it difficult to use a conventional keyboard and screen, life is much harder than it need be.

Everyday business activities such as accessing information or using email are complicated or impossible for those with physical or sensory impairments, because websites and in-house systems cannot be adjusted to cater for their needs.

On the face of it these adjustments seem simple enough: the ability to make text bigger, change colors, have onscreen text read aloud or to plug in special hardware and software. In fact many alterations that disabled people need can be achieved just by changing Windows settings.

Wake-up call

However, many organizations have struggled to make their IT accessible. Until recently only organizations with a high proportion of disabled users, such as government departments and banks, took much account of the fact that their customers and employees might not be able to use a screen and keyboard unaided.

Accessible IT may sound like a good idea, but to many CIOs it looks complicated and expensive to provide for a comparatively small number of users. But things are changing. Firms increasingly recognize that the UK's Disability Discrimination Act puts the onus on them to carry out "reasonable adjustments" to their websites and in-house systems to make them usable by everyone.

Improved and less expensive accessible technology makes it easier for even severely disabled people to access IT, and more difficult for IT departments to cite cost as a reason for not taking action. So far as expertise is concerned, there is an increasing number of accessibility specialists.

And there is pressure from a generation of tech-savvy older people determined to stay online and work into their 60s and beyond -- one-third of disabled people are now between the ages of 50 and 64.

The business case for accessible IT is that companies without it are missing out on a market among disabled people worth at least £80bn (US$159 billion) per year; and passing up a hardworking and loyal addition to their workforce. The case though is being made more cogently than ever before.

In response, CIOs are taking on the accessibility agenda. Last year the Royal Mail , a public company with a long track record of catering for its disabled employees, put its money where its mouth is and paid for the publication of the IT directors' guide to accessible IT, produced by the Information Technologists' Company.

"There is a big opportunity for IT directors to take a lead on this issue," explains Royal Mail Group's enterprise IT director, Wendy Powney, who was behind the initiative. "You can ensure that accessibility is part of your policy. You can make certain that members of your department are aware of their responsibilities and enrol them in the process. You can talk to suppliers about the accessible systems you require."

Royal Mail has set up a 20-strong diversity group, which has built accessibility into the company's formal design processes. Behind the diversity group are individuals who have an interest in disability and can use their authority to get things done. However, Powney acknowledges the organization still has some way to go, particularly in being able to get a fast turnaround on requests for special equipment and adaptations.

Business taskforce

More recently, a group of IT heads from a clutch of blue chip organizations held an inaugural meeting in London of the Business Taskforce on Accessible Technology, which aims to put the business case for accessible IT, influence regulators and lobby suppliers to improve the accessibility of their products.

The group, chaired by chief operating officer at HMRC, Steve Lamey, could provide a boost to the uptake of accessible IT with a heavyweight line-up that includes B&Q, BUPA, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Goldman Sachs, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), Intercontinental Hotels, KPMG, Lloyds TSB, Royal Mail, Sainsbury's and the Serious Organized Crime Agency.

The taskforce is the brainchild of Susan Scott-Parker, head of the Employers' Forum on Disability (EFD), which represents some 400 companies in the UK.

"EFD's job is to make it easier for companies to get it right in employing disabled people and serving disabled customers -- accessible IT is crucial to that," says Scott-Parker.

User viewpoint

"Our members are only just beginning to understand the procedures that allow disabled people to use their systems. Buying IT that is not accessible is like buying a car without wheels -- it is no use. Our objective is to see IT accessibility positioned in the same way as IT security."

Scott-Parker points to insurance company Legal & General's experience in redesigning its website to make it more accessible. The move increased sales by 90 percent, achieved a return on investment in 12 months and produced savings of £200,000 per year on site maintenance.

The lesson has not been lost on other organizations. Ford Motor Company, for example, set up a taskforce in January to look into website accessibility with a brief to revamp all the company's internal sites by this autumn.

Meanwhile, the taskforce aims to spearhead work on improving IT by defining and communicating the business benefits of accessibility. The group wants to help CIOs develop practical corporate governance on accessibility and to work on producing better standards.

Accessibility standards are particularly important because there are few clear guidelines for CIOs at present. The World Wide Web Consortium has produced standards relating to website content accessibility although they are difficult to apply. There are no all encompassing standards.

The taskforce aims to plug the gap by circulating standards that its own members have developed. Members such as the DWP, Lloyds TSB and HMRC, which is currently reviewing the accessibility of its systems, already have considerable experience in developing inclusive IT.

One area that Scott-Parker hopes that the taskforce will also be able to make an impact is in boosting the training and accreditation of IT professionals. She wants to make it impossible to hire an IT person who doesn't know how to make a system accessible.

Suppliers and regulators are also in the taskforce's sights. "We want suppliers to do more to adapt their products to the needs of disabled people. It is a matter of raising our game on both sides," she maintains. "We need to help suppliers to better meet the needs and expectations of their corporate clients."

Many suppliers are already taking action. A group which includes Adobe, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and Novell recently formed the Accessibility Interoperability Alliance to help make it easier for disabled people to plug devices such as screen readers, magnifiers and text-to-speech systems into their products.

Supplier reaction

Disability discrimination law in the UK focuses on employers, which are required to make adjustments. There is no equivalent requirement for suppliers to build accessibility into their systems, although many US companies may have already done so in order to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which includes a section insisting that all federal agencies provide adaptations.

That has not stopped some well-known suppliers from being pursued by disabled civil servants. In one recent case a blind employee of the State of Texas sued Oracle because he could not access information about his expenses from its systems.

The taskforce also wants to influence EU lawmakers so that they push accessibility standards more rigorously. "It is a case of some of the largest spenders (on IT) coming together to make sure that the regulations that are emerge are useful," Scott-Parker explains.

Accessibility specialists welcome the taskforce. "A high-level initiative to wake up CIOs and suppliers could be a very significant development, although it depends on what happens next," says Bill Fine, consultant at AbilityNet, a charity that provides information on accessible IT to employers. "CIOs need to help each other in this area."

IT departments may have a steep learning curve on accessibility, but if efforts by a small group of pacemakers pay dividends then millions of people stand to benefit. The big question now is whether these leaders can persuade the rest to follow in their path.

Paterson As a Person, Not a 'Disability Case'
By Susan LoTempio

With the overload of breaking news about New York's new governor, David Paterson, the media placed initial emphasis on Paterson's race, and only later started to explore the fact that he is the state's first legally blind governor.

One radio station I listened to reported that he is the first disabled governor. Not so. Franklin Roosevelt, who had polio, led the state from 1928 to 1932.

Once the media started to develop the disability story, the old stereotypes came into play: His "rise to governor has served as a great source of inspiration to blind Americans," The Associated Press reported. The headline on that story: "Paterson's Ascension Inspires Disabled." "Inspiring" is one of those clichés that the media use to describe just about all people with disabilities. But in Paterson's case, the "inspiration" tag faded away when he and his wife admitted to extramarital affairs.

In a political profile, the New York Post hinted at how Paterson views his own disability. According to the Post, Paterson told The New York Times in 2006 that "he disparaged efforts to make him a 'disability' case. 'Every single white political consultant that I ever worked with likes to promote my disabilities. And I suspect it's to mitigate race -- to give me, in their eyes, an honorary white status.'"

Let's take heed of his words, and avoid labeling him either black or disabled. Just governor will do.