And it continues! The challenges of unequal access to education

This is what I am presently facing as I move into the final stages of my law degree. Things started off so well but since 2016, this university has started to slide backwards in its provision of accessibility services to students with special needs.

In short, what it advertises on its website is not exactly what it provides. It is no longer providing texts in alternate formats. Its virtual learning experience is far from being accessible. Statute books are not accessible

and come exam time it is extremely difficult to convert statute books in PDF formats that have not been appropriately tagged for accessible content.

Above all, it is becoming more difficult to extract timely responses from the special arrangements department.

I can only hope that this changes soon.

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 http://www.donnajodhan.com

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.

Follow me on Twitter @accessibleworld and @author_jodhan

And like me on Facebook at

www.facebook.com/donnajodhan and at www.facebook.com/authordonnajodhan

Continuing problems at Toronto's International Airport

I can only hope that sooner than later those nagging problems at Toronto's Pearson International Airport would somehow disappear or at least become less of a problem. I do not think that these problems are just confined to this airport alone; it may be a common set of problems at many other airports around the world. At least at those larger international airports.

What kinds of problems? Security agents not telling you what they are doing with the items in your carry-on as they proceed to remove them, placing them on the counter and not telling you where they have placed them. Then they do not even offer to help you replace them in your carry-on. Some special needs agents do not provide you with proper guiding techniques, choosing to take your arm rather than allowing you to take their arm. No way for a cab driver to find help for you when you arrive at the sidewalk outside the terminal doors and you are forced to put up with some rude and impolite agents who tell you to move along and when you ask for help they turn their backs on you. Agents often insisting that you need to sit in a wheelchair despite the fact that you keep telling them that you prefer to walk rather than take a wheelchair.

I, as a blind person, choose to walk and take the arm of an agent rather than be pushed in a wheelchair. I believe that many of my fellow blind community prefer the same. So how do you overcome these types of problems? Through persistence and more persistence.

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

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This is a personal message from author Donna Jodhan
"Each time we raise our voice at someone else we are engaging in bullying! Each time we raise our hands to slap or punch someone else we are also engaging in bullying and each time we engage in actions to either manipulate or force someone else to do what we want we are also engaging in bullying!

There is no room in this world for bullying and each day we fail to take action against bullying it is another day that we allow others to bully us and our kids. Our heroes and role models are the ones who have made us proud; those brave young men and women who gave their lives for us in past wars and those who continue to do so. They are not the ones who choose to be racists and those who believe that their bad behaviour in public is acceptable.

I write and record audio mysteries that are being used at such events as murder mystery evenings as well as at public awareness and team building events. I promote understanding, tolerance, and problem solving and my audio mysteries continue to be broadcasted around the world and you can listen to them anywhere! On the plane or train! In the car or right there in your home! On your i device or computer!

Please join my campaign against bullying (CAB) by supporting my efforts to keep on writing and recording!
If you truly care then you will certainly dare!"

Music Helps Me

In a world where most of us often crave a corner to stop and think, or one to escape the white noise, I do it all with music.  I don't think that it has anything to do with not being able to see; it's my way of coping. 

Whenever I wish to think, remember, create, or just get away from noise, I listen to my music.

 

I have carefully built a collection of my favorite songs and I use these to remember and replay.  Colors come dancing across my mind.  Faces come clearly into view, and sounds within my music help me to regenerate. 

 Some of my friends have told me that as a blind person, my imagination may be apt to be more active than that of a mainstream person.  I don't really know but this could be a topic for a next blog. 

 

Whatever it is, music helps me to remember, create, and focus.

 

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

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.

Why I Learned to Ice Skate

Growing up in Canada often means that ice skating is par for the course, but what about for blind and visually-impaired kids? Many of you may think that it is not possible but I am here to tell you that it most definitely is. Really!

You're probably trying to figure out how or why would someone want to skate on ice if they are unable to see where they are going. Why would they want to put themselves through such torture? How on earth would they be able to retain their footing and keep from falling? These are all very logical and legitimate questions.

I'll be very honest with you. I took the step to learn to ice skate in order to improve my confidence. Skating without much vision can be very daunting and scary, and that was indeed my experience when I first started, but I was determined to overcome.

When I first learned to ice skate I had some vision; so it was not too bad for me; it has helped me tremendously to continue on now that I have lost most of my vision. I managed to complete four of six levels and learned to do such things as: glide on one foot, skate backwards, skull, do cross cuts and hockey stops, plus more. I still skate regularly, but without much vision I have to use different techniques in order to stay on my blades.

Ice skating gives me the feeling of power, self-control, and togetherness. Up until five years ago, I used to skate on my own with limited guidance, but now I skate by holding on to a friend’s arm. Ice skating brings me freedom! The feeling of pure bliss and exhilaration! I can be myself when I step on to the ice. I can fly high by feeling the wind on my face and smelling the fresh air and as Whitney Houston says in one of her songs: “Give me one moment in time. When I’m more than I thought I could be! When all of my dreams are a heartbeat away and the answer is all up to me.”

When I am on the ice, I am on the top of the world and sight or the lack thereof really does not matter to me. I know that when others see me ice skating they stop and stare but I do not really care. My friends often tell me that occasionally skaters bump into each other while staring at me. Let them! I am blind but I can skate and have fun just like them.

I even played ice hockey! No, not within the mainstream environment, but with a team of blind and sighted players. This hockey team has been in existence since the 1970s and has traveled to such places as Russia and Finland to play other teams of blind players. If you would like to learn more about this team, then please visit www.iceowls.ca.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your accessibility and special-needs business consultant inviting you to go out there and tell everyone that yes! Blind and visually-impaired persons can learn how to ice skate and enjoy it like anyone else.

Why I Touch Light Bulbs

As a rule of thumb, the mainstream person with enough vision can usually tell when a light bulb has had it; they can usually do this after turning on the light switch and noticing that the bulb is not lighting. For me, it is very different. When I had enough vision, it was no problem for me to tell whether or not a light bulb was lighting, but ever since losing my vision over five years ago, it is a different story.

I now have to use a different method to tell me if the good old light bulb is lighting up. Often times if a light bulb is ready to quit lighting, you would usually hear a "pop" sound when you turn on the switch but you can't always depend on this indicator. So, I have to use another technique. Yes, you got it! I have to touch the light bulb to see what's going on or, if the light bulb is close enough to me, I can just bring my hand close enough to feel if there is any heat coming from it.

The other day, I went to turn on a switch in my office and as I did so I heard something go "pop." I immediately realized that one of the light bulbs had blown; but which one of the two was it? I took my step ladder and climbed towards the light bulbs. First I had to locate them by feeling along the ceiling for the chandelier. Next I had to stretch all the way to see which one was hot and which was cold. After a minute or so, I found the culprit and then had to climb back down, turn off the switch, and then climb back up and repeat the process of finding the chandelier. Upon locating the blown light bulb, the cold one, I removed it and then returned with a new light bulb. But there was more to come!

After screwing in the new light bulb, I climbed back down, switched on the light, and returned to make sure that the new light bulb was lighting. I tested both light bulbs with my hand and, lo and behold, the new light bulb was not lighting. It was cold. So down I went to repeat the process all over again. After a few minutes, I had things working again.

Last year, I discovered a little gadget that I can use to tell if lights are on in a room. If you turn it on and it buzzes, then there is light but if it does not buzz then there is no light. A very handy little thing for telling if my computer screen is on or off but be careful now! It will only work if there is no residual light close at hand. For example, daylight. I will hasten to add that I could not have used it in the incident described above because there were two light bulbs for me to deal with.

You may be asking yourself if I am unable to see the light, then why do I bother to turn on lights? Very simple! It is for the sighted world, in case I should have visitors. And, somehow it makes me feel as if I am still part of the sighted world.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your accessibility and special needs business consultant wishing you a terrific day and reminding you to go out there and tell others what blind and visually-impaired persons do in order to tell if light bulbs are working.

To learn more, Visit Independent living aids (ILA) at http://www.independentlivingaids.org.
Tel: 1-800-537-2118
Or Maxi Aids at: http://www.maxiaids.com
Tel: 1-800-522-6294

Hosting Companies Not Good Hosts

As a blind business woman, I depend heavily on my hosting company to help me with various functions which in the normal scheme of things can be easily performed by anyone who is sighted and has a bit of technical knowledge. Why is this so?

For the most part, it is practically impossible for persons with vision impairment to be able to access and work with hosting panels. Consequently, blind and visually-impaired persons have to depend on their hosting companies to help them with such functions as domain registrations and renewals, website maintenance and updates, web design and development, and more. Up until January 2009, I had the good fortune to have had a hosting company that truly understood the meaning of the word service. They went above the call of duty to ensure that my needs as a blind person were met. Since then, it has been a bit of a rocky road for me.

I have researched over 25 hosting companies across North America and to my chagrin I am here to report that almost all of them were unwilling to help me. Surprising you ask? Not really! Most hosting companies are only concerned with collecting their revenues and not too concerned with customer support and satisfaction. They claim that their hosting panels are easy to navigate but truth be told, they are not. If you are not technically savvy then you are in trouble and add to this the extra burden of having to work with these congested panels when you are unable to see what you're doing. In one sentence, most hosting panels are inaccessible and unusable to persons who are not technically savvy and to those who are unable to see. In short, most hosting companies are not very good hosts towards many of their customers.

So how can we begin to tackle this problem? As I see it, through education. We need to convince hosting companies that they need to design and develop hosting panels that are more accessible and usable. If they are more accessible and usable, then many more customers would be enticed to use their services. Aging baby boomers did not grow up in the age of technology and are the market that hosting companies should be gravitating towards. Too often, companies as a whole seem to forget that there is a real market out there with real consumers and real demand: consumers who are not technically savvy, consumers who did not grow up in the era of the Internet and modern technology, and consumers who are visually impaired.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan wishing you a terrific day and reminding you to go out there and start educating your hosting company on how they can become bigger and better hosts.

Internet Service Providers Not Providing

I sort of grew as a businessperson along with the era of the Internet and modern technology. However, there is still so much for me to get used to and it is growing on a daily basis. It is one thing to have been involved in this growth all along, but quite another to be able to keep up with it; and, when you are blind or do not have enough vision to see things, there is a huge gap.

The mainstream person (someone without stereotypical special needs) who is lucky enough to be able to see and learn things, who can easily understand and fix technical problems, and who knows how to communicate with technical support teams at their Internet service providers, can consider themselves lucky. However for me, the picture is different. Yes, for the most part when a glitch occurs in my Internet service I can understand what is going on, but the trouble starts when I try to communicate this to technicians at my Internet service provider.

You see, my Internet service provider is staffed with technicians whose first language is not English and their culture is one where they have not been exposed to persons who are either technically disabled or otherwise disabled due to anyone of the following: hearing, sight, or physical impairments. So whenever I phone them with a problem, they are at a loss as how to communicate with me. 99% of the time, I spend the first 15 minutes trying to explain why I am unable to give them the requested info about my modem. The conversation goes something like this:

Technician: "Please give me the model number on your modem."
Donna: "Sorry, but I can't because I am blind."
Technician: "Well, do you see the lights on your modem?"
Donna: "No, I do not see any lights on my modem because I am blind."
Technician: "Okay, then what color is your modem?"
Donna: "Sir, I told you that I am unable to see because I am blind."

After about 15 minutes of this type of conversation the technician finally gets it and understands that something is wrong with me, and he then informs me that maybe my modem is not working. This occurs after much wasted energy and only after I have convinced him to check to see if there is a signal to my modem from his end. He tells me that there is no signal, so the modem is dead. He is going to order a new modem for me but guess what? I will not be able to install the modem when it arrives because it requires vision to do so.

We haggle on the phone for another 15 minutes, and in the end I am told that there is no one from the company to help me with this at the present time. A technician will not be available until about three days later. So in the meantime, I will have to do without Internet service. Tough. If I really want to restore my Internet service sooner than this, I will need to pay a technician about $100 to come to my home office and install the modem which the Internet service provider is only too willing to send to me via priority post.

So what is the problem here? As a general rule of thumb, most Internet service providers do not provide on site technical support to their customers. If you need help over and above phone support, you are out of luck and you will have to pay out of your pocket for on site technical support. What disturbs me greatly is that my particular Internet service provider falls woefully short when it comes to both phone support and lack of on-site support. Yet every month they are more than happy to accept my payments, but if you make the mistake of missing a payment one month, then see how quickly they will cut your services.

What Internet service providers need to understand is this: Their bread and butter consumers of tomorrow will be those who did not grow up in the age of technology. Aging baby boomers, retirees, seniors, and the ever-growing number of those with physical, hearing, and vision challenges. If they continue to ignore these consumers, then much sooner than later they will find themselves facing a massive exit of customers seeking better services or even more serious may be a series of lawsuits by customers who will take them to court over inadequate service.

Internet service providers need to provide better support services to their consumers; phone support by technicians who can communicate better in English, and reliable on-site support. This can all be accomplished but we need to have cooperation and communication between Internet service providers and their consumers.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan, your accessibility and business needs consultant, wishing you a terrific day and reminding you to start educating your Internet service providers as to how they can better serve their bread and butter consumers of tomorrow.

The Problem With Warning Signs

Believe it or not, warning signs play a very crucial and important part in our daily lives. We put them up when we need to warn others of pending danger or perils, and we also depend on them to tell us when we need to be aware of something that could potentially harm or hurt us. 99.9% of the time, these signs are very easy to see because they are constructed using extremely bright and garish colors and are almost always strategically placed so that they are easy to spot. However, there is one huge factor that most of the sighted world still seems to miss: Warning signs don't talk. Allow me to explain why this is an issue by giving you a real-life example.

A few weeks ago when I stepped out of my condominium to walk to the elevator, I was greeted by a strong smell of paint. I immediately knew that the workmen were painting close by, but what I did not know was precisely where. I decided to be super careful as I walked but soon ran into trouble when my jacket came in contact with wet paint on the wall close to my door. Before I knew it, the sleeve of my jacket was covered with paint.

When I went to the management office to ask that in future they let me know when and where they would be painting, their response was, "Well, did you not see the wet paint sign tacked onto your door?" When I told them that I did not because I am blind, they replied, "Maybe you should simply be more careful whenever you smell paint."

This interaction totally frustrated me, as it is only one in a long line of such incidents throughout my life. Before leaving the office I told them that maybe in the future they should try to develop a sign that would talk to me instead and would let me know what I needed to. Unfortunately, this did not go over very well and a few days later I returned to the office to have a chat with the management team to try to enlighten them about such matters.

The lesson here is that it accomplishes nothing for me to be sarcastic to the staff at the management office or any of the myriad places where obstacles – both literal and figurative -- occur. Instead, I need to find ways to help them to understand why it is important for them to ensure that warning signs are communicated to all tenants, both mainstream as well as those with special needs. Working with them to find a solution is what is best for all concerned.

I was able to convince them that they need to communicate with all of the condominium dwellers whenever they are putting up warning signs because doing this will not only benefit me, it will also benefit those who are unable to read easily due to an age- or medical-related disability.

There are millions of persons in our world who are unable to read for various reasons, and they are classified as "print disabled." Warning signs are of great value if you can see them, but for those of us who are either unable to see or read them, they become literally useless and more of a hazard if we end up bumping into them and injuring ourselves. It is time for the rest of the world, starting with those around us, to be educated. These are issues the sighted world has never considered, so it is my mission to start the process, and I'm delighted to do so. If we all keep the sighted and special-needs communities in mind as we go through our daily lives, it will help more people than we can imagine.

An Introduction: If I could see what you see...

... what a better world it would be!

Five years ago my world came crashing down when I lost almost all of my vision. I was born blind but was able to see colours, shapes, shadows, and light. Then, when I was a teen I received one of the most precious gifts in life; new vision due to a cornea transplant. My whole world suddenly opened up and expanded, and my life changed drastically. My new life lasted for almost 25 years but sadly, it came to a sudden, unexpected end on one of the coldest Canadian winter days in January of 2004. On that day, as fat snowflakes chased each other outside and the frigid winds howled at the landscape, doctors crowded into an operating room in downtown Toronto to try to save my sight. The team of surgeons and residents fought valiantly, but in the end they had to admit defeat.

My retina had detached in three places; it was one of the worst detachments that they had ever seen and blood had trickled in to the eye causing damage to the cornea. The end result was devastating: 99% of my vision was gone and it was to herald the start of a new path for me. While it is true that I was born with a visual impairment – to put it more bluntly, I was born blind -- but what most of the world does not fully realize is this: Every bit of vision counts and when you go from being able to see light to barely seeing shadows, the change is traumatic!

I have spent the last five years living as a person who is almost totally blind. I have gone from a kid with useful vision, to a teen with a lot of vision, to someone who is now fighting to keep my head above water in the fall years of my career. As a realist, I know that as I approach retirement within the next decade, life is only going to get more challenging for me. However, I am not prepared to limit my life, shrink my world, or change my persona in any way. And, I fully realize I am not alone. Many are facing challenges and becoming part of the special-needs community, especially as the population ages.

No, what I am going to do is produce blogs that you can use to help others. To help your kids overcome challenges, show your parents and friends how to deal with disabilities and drawbacks, and make companies and governments accountable to you whenever they fail to respect your rights as human beings.

I am going to use my life experiences and skills as an accessibility and special-needs business consultant to help you.

My most heartfelt mission is to ensure that the children of the future have equal access to information and job opportunities. I have many supporters and motivators to keep me going, and whenever I feel myself stumbling all I need to do is to remember the final words of my brother Robert who succumbed to cancer in May of 2007.

As he began his final approach to the other side, he managed to take one last look at his wife and doctor and softly plead, "Somebody do something!" It breaks my heart every time I think of his plea, and that they were unable to do anything.

But I know I can do something…something to help. I faithfully promise that I will not give up.

So, I invite you now to walk with me, and during our time together I will tell you all about some of the most common problems that you could and would encounter both as a person with a disability and/or someone who knows someone with a disability. I will also provide you with suggestions and solutions from both myself and from others.

Until next…