A most humiliating experiences for me: No access when I voted in the Ontario Elections on June 7, 2018

Believe it or not, this was a total shock for me.  I could only say that it was one of the most horrible experiences for me when it comes to voting in Canada.

Prior to this experience on June 7, 2018, all of my experiences re voting in the Ontario Elections were excellent so just imagine my horror when I went to vote this time.  Here is the short story.

Staff at the polls were absolutely not trained to interact and communicate with a vision-impaired person.  They refused to communicate directly with me, choosing instead to insist that I sit in a chair and then communicating with my friend on my behalf.

They did not understand when my friend and I insisted that I be given my right to vote privately in the booth, insisting that either she or they could accompany me into the voting booth to cast my ballot.

They had no idea where to find the Braille templates or Braille documents.  They did not even know how to assemble the template and then slip the ballot into the template.  Most of all, the Braille was unreadable.

It is my right, just as it is the right of everyone else, to be allowed to vote in privacy. When staff such as these folks display such unawareness and lack of understanding I can only shake my head in disbelief and then do the right thing!  Take Elections Ontario to the Human Rights Tribunal!

This was totally unacceptable!

I’m Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advisor wishing you a terrific day.

If you would like to learn more about me as an author then I invite you now to visit
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Very frustrating: It's census time

Yes, indeed!  This is what it was a few months ago and as I got ready to do my civic duty to complete my census form I could not help but be apprehensive and hesitant. My gut feelings were, indeed, bang on the money.

Nothing had really changed for me.  I had to enlist the assistance of friends to help me locate the number to call if I needed help.  The forms appeared in my mailbox in print format and if I wanted to do my duty then I had to ask someone to read me the code contained in said form.

So I took the route of calling the number which I will say was displayed on TV screens across the country, but alas!  There was no audio version of the number to call.  In short, someone had to read the number on the TV screen to me.

I won't go on and on here but suffice it to say that at the end of it all, my privacy and confidentiality were once again trampled upon as I had to depend on an agent on the phone to help me complete my census form.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly accessibility advocate, wishing you a terrific day.

If you would like to learn more about me as an author then I invite you now to visit  jodhanmysterybook.club/about-the-author
There you will not only learn about me as an author but you will also gain insights into my campaign against bullying and why I strongly believe that you need to consider joining me in order to insure that the future of our kids with their wide-eyed smiles and infectious laughter is secured forever.

And now my weekly podcast!
From recipes to apps, and 5 minutes mysteries to tips for entrepreneurs and scam alerts!
www.takeanother5.com
And available for download from iTunes and Google music play

Follow me on Twitter @accessibleworld and at author_jodhan
And like me on Facebook at
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The Problem With PDF Content

So many content designers just do not understand. They continue to put all of their efforts into designing pretty PDF content, but at the end of the day it is totally inaccessible to blind and visually-impaired persons. Why you ask? Very simple. PDF content is made up of an image that cannot be deciphered by screen readers. In other words, PDF files are image-based instead of textual-based, and blind and visually-impaired persons use screen readers to surf the Internet.

More and more online forms are being designed in PDF format and as a result of this blind and visually-impaired persons are being deprived of their right to privacy and confidentiality. If a form is in PDF format it means that blind and visually-impaired persons need to depend on sighted assistance to help them complete it. It is frustrating, scary, and a downright violation of our right to confidentiality and privacy. There is a way for all of this to be dealt with and it starts with the content developer using the appropriate tags to format the PDF content so that it is made accessible and usable.

What most content developers still fail to understand is this: If they take the additional time to tag their PDF content appropriately, they will not only be making it accessible to blind and visually-impaired persons, they will also be making it accessible and usable to the print disabled, the technically shy, and to those who are not technically savvy. Before you start to wonder who all of these people are, please allow me to define these populations.

The print disabled - those who are unable to read because of either physical, mental, or visual challenges.

The technically shy or those not technically savvy - those who have difficulty coping with modern technology and who work better with more simple environments. In short, the millions of aging baby boomers who did not grow up with the Internet at their fingertips.

I personally find PDF content to be frustrating. It is a useless and time-consuming obstacle for me to deal with, and a downright insult to my right to privacy and confidentiality.

Here is a URL that you can visit in order to learn why PDF content does not benefit the blind and visually-impaired.

Visit http://www.rnib.org.uk/wacblog/pdf/why-pdfs-suck/

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your accessibility and special-needs business consultant wishing you a terrific day and urging you to go out there and start educating the rest of the world as to why PDF content does not benefit blind and visually-impaired persons.

I Am More Exposed to Identity Theft

The title of this blog is a true statement. I am making this observation because as a blind person I can see where this particular group of persons is probably the most vulnerable when it comes to identity theft. True it is that seniors and persons with other types of disabilities run a very close second, but please allow me to explain a bit further.

As a person with precious little vision, I have to depend on my sighted family and friends to help me navigate through the mounds of paper generated forms. When it comes to filling out those cumbersome online forms, it's a whole new ball game. How does this make me feel? I'll tell you: helpless, vulnerable, scared, and left wondering who is really listening or really cares?

Each time I need to complete hard copy forms, it means that I have no choice but to share personal and confidential information with someone else and it means that I have to trust that person to keep my information private and confidential. I have to trust that the information I give is what is going to be written down exactly as I wish it to be and that the person completing information on my behalf will not copy that information on a separate piece of paper for their later use. In addition, I have to trust that the person reading the information to me is reading exactly what is there and not reading something else that they may choose to make up.

When it comes to completing those cumbersome and complicated online forms, I have to depend on either my screen reader software to tell me exactly what is being required or, if that is not possible, I have to depend on sighted assistance. At the present time, screen reader software still faces many challenges when it comes to being able to decipher the contents of forms and why is this? Because many website developers do not take the time to ensure that the forms have been designed to be accessible and usable. Just think of it in this way: If sighted persons have difficulty completing forms online, then the challenge for someone who is blind or visually impaired becomes twice or thrice as difficult.

So, the picture is this: If I am unable to complete forms on my own, then I must depend on a person with sight to help me which requires that I place complete trust in that person to read accurately to me and write accurately for me. This puts me in a very vulnerable position and opens me up to identity theft. There is a growing demand for forms to be provided in alternate formats. This means that forms need to be provided in a format whereby blind and visually-impaired persons will be able to read and complete their own forms independently.

If you would like to learn more about the meaning of alternate formats then you can visit www.tbase.com. This Canadian-based company provides alternate formats to those who are print-disabled which includes blind and visually impaired persons.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your accessibility and special-needs business consultant wishing you a terrific day and encouraging you to go out there and start advocating for more information to be produced in alternate formats. It will not only help those with vision problems, but millions of others who are print disabled.