The Disability Information and Resource Centre

Recently, concerns about waiting lists for accessible taxis for Christmas Day have again been raised in the media.

This highlights that the availability of reliable transport continues to be an issue for people living with disability.

In response to this, Purple Orange is setting up a web-based feedback mechanism to collect the lived experiences of people who are relying on accessible taxis in South Australia over the next few months.

What information is Purple Orange interested in?

People’s experiences using accessible taxis. These experiences can be positive or negative.

Who can be involved?

Anyone who is using accessible cabs during this period can be involved, and families and friends are also welcome to record their experiences.

Purple Orange are also interested in feedback from personal support agencies who may be helping individuals to get out and about.

How can I access the survey?

You can access the survey via the Purple Orange website www.purpleorange.org.au or click here to begin the survey now.

If anyone has difficulty accessing a computer or using an electronic survey tool they can call Alicia Fidock, Purple Orange Research Officer on (08) 8373 8311 or freecall 1300 857 327 to complete the survey over the phone. They will be open until 5pm, 23 December 2011 and then back on 3rd of January 2012. If you don’t receive an answer you can leave a message.

How many times can I complete the survey?

You are invited to complete an electronic entry each time you use, or assist someone to use, an accessible taxi. The survey will be open until 15 January 2012.

What will Purple Orange do with the information gathered?

Purple Orange will use the information to identify ways to work with the state government and the taxi industry to improve taxi services.

The 1st International Australasian Conference on Enabling Access to Higher Education will be held at the University of South Australia West campus in Adelaide, Australia, between 5-7 December 2011. This inaugural conference is also the fourth in the series of NCEE (National Committee for Enabling Educators) biennial conferences and has as its theme: ‘Aspirations, Access, Attainment: Adding Value & Transforming Lives through Widening Participation’

Students who undertake access/enabling education are richly diverse in terms of age and social, cultural, ethnic and educational backgrounds. While their aspirations are frequently challenged by considerable socio-economic obstacles, government policies around widening participation, aimed at mitigating educational disadvantage, are increasingly prominent. This first International Australasian conference, to be held in Adelaide and hosted by the University of South Australia, invites delegates from around the world to exchange ideas, perspectives and experiences, whether as researchers, practitioners, policy makers, or students.

Invited speakers

• Emeritus Professor Denise Bradley AC
• Stephen Gorard, Chair in Education Research, University of Birmingham, UK
• Alistair McCulloch, Professor in Research Education, University of South Australia, Adelaide
• Thomas G. Mortenson , Senior Scholar, The Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education, USA
• Mary Tupan-Wenno, President of the European Access Network, The Netherlands

For more information visit the conference website at http://www.plevin.com.au/ncee2011/.

The Australian Network on Disability (AND) is a member based not for profit organisation that assists its members in developing better employment and customer services practices for people with disability.

Most of the major Australian banks are members of AND. AND are helping one bank review the objectives set out in their Disability Action Plan (DAP). The DAP is effectively a strategy for improving business practices which might currently result in discrimination against people with disabilities. Development of such a plan is encouraged by the Australian Human Rights Commission.

The bank’s DAP includes actions aimed at improving the customer service needs of people with disability. The review by AND includes a survey of bank customers with disability to assess the current accessibility of all of the major Australian banks.

As part of this project AND are seeking people with disability who are willing to complete a short survey on the barriers they face when doing their banking. The survey will take about 10 minutes to complete. The information can be provided anonymously and all questions are optional. No personal financial details are asked for in this survey – it is only about your experiences and suggestions.

All responses will remain anonymous and your privacy is assured.

http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/557738/AND-Banking-Customer-Service-Survey-June-2011

If you have any issues with the accessibility of the survey email info@and.org.au for assistance.

The Disability (Access to Premises – Buildings) Standards (Premises Standards) are due to come into force on 1 May 2011. They will lead to significant improvements in the level of access required in all new public buildings and existing buildings undergoing renovation. It is also anticipated that corresponding changes will be made to the Building Code of Australia at the same time.

This free two hour briefing is aimed at people with disability and non-government organizations who advocate for the rights of people with disability and ageing Australians. (People who work in the building industry are asked to register for one of the seminars advertised at: www.humanrights.gov.au/disability_rights/buildings/ps_registration.htm)

The briefing will cover:

• The objectives behind the Premises Standards
• Who is responsible for complying with the Premises Standards
• Main features including exceptions and concessions
• Areas of buildings and levels of access required.

The briefing will be presented by Michael Small from the Australian Human Rights Commission who has been closely involved in the development of the Premises Standards.

Where

Flinders University City Campus, 182 Tarndanyangga/ Victoria Sq Adelaide, Level 1, Room 1

When

Thursday 2nd September 2010 2:30pm – 4:30pm

Places are limited so you must register. If you would like to attend this briefing please RSVP by Wednesday 1st Sept 2010 to:

Julie Viney
HC Harrison Consultants Pty Ltd
47 Grey Avenue
Welland SA 5007

Ph 08 8241 5086
Fax 08 8241 5089
Email: julie@harrison-consultants.com.au

The venue is wheelchair accessible – if you have any other access requirements such as sign language interpreters please inform us when you register so that arrangements can be made. (Best accessible toilet on the ground floor)

Do you live in the City and have the following attributes?:

1. A broad appreciation of issues associated with living with disability and of access issues within the City of Adelaide
2. A demonstrated ability to work cooperatively and ethically with others
3. Experience of disability personally or indirectly through family members

The Adelaide City Council is seeking City residents with disability to become members of their Access Planning Group which monitors the Access Action Plan 2010-2012 as well as advising on access priorities and issues.

The group will meet quarterly during office hours at Council. The Council is particularly interested in making contact with residents living with hearing loss and deafness.

If this sounds like you please contact:

Felicity Schievenin
Community Planner
City Community

T. (08) 8203 7385
E. f.schievenin@adelaidecitycouncil.com

On Saturday 17 July, The Hon Bill Shorten MP launched the Cinema Access Implementation Plan. The Plan is an agreement between representatives of Village Roadshow, Greater Union, Hoyts and Reading Cinemas and disability sector representatives which will fast track implementation of new audio description and captioning technology in Australian cinemas.

The Cinema Access Implementation Plan will provide cutting edge technology to allow people with impaired hearing or vision to enjoy movies in more cinemas across Australia. By the end of 2014, captions and audio description will be available in at least one screen in every one of the 132 cinema complexes run by these operators, with 242 accessible screens to be available by 2014.

A copy of the Plan is available on FaHCSIA’s website.

Dr Denise Wood, researcher and senior lecturer in the School of Communication, International Studies and Languages at the University of South Australia, was recently announced as the winner of the inaugural Telstra-Telecommunications Journal of Australia Christopher Newell Prize for Disability and Telecommunications.

Do Wood’s paper was entitled “Communicating in Virtual Worlds through an Accessible Web 2.0 Solution”.

The Christopher Newell Prize is awarded for the best original paper which demonstrates the tangible benefits that an innovative use of telecommunications technology can deliver in assisting individuals with disabilities.

Full details here.

The prize will be awarded again next year. Details on the rules of the competition can be found here.

There is a new, fully accessible holiday home available for rent in Wallaroo.

For more details click here.

Related to our previous post on the Access to Cinemas Protest Rally, Action on Cinema Access have released the following statement:

“ACTION ON CINEMA ACCESS is a newly-formed community group of concerned citizens who are working together to improve access to cinema for people with a disability. ACTION ON CINEMA ACCESS is supported by a number of community organizations.

Millions of Australians are being denied the opportunity to go to the cinema because more than 99% of screenings are inaccessible. These sessions are inaccessible because the cinemas do not provide captioning or audio description.

Less than 0.3% of all screenings at public cinemas are accessible to people who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind or vision impaired.

Recently, Village, Greater Union, Hoyts and Reading cinemas applied for exemption from the Disability Discrimination Act for two and a half years. If the exemption is granted, cinemas will get away with providing a minimal amount of captioning and audio description in only 105 out of 41,370 screenings per week.

This is not good enough!

Federal legislation requires cinemas not to discriminate against people with a disability. The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) has been law for 18 years. Why has the cinema industry done so little in 18 years? Why has the cinema industry not complied with requirements of the DDA, the law?

People with sensory disabilities are being excluded from enjoying films that everyone else in the community can enjoy.

Young people miss out on sharing popular and current cinema culture with their friends and families.

Older Australians who are losing their sight and hearing cannot continue to enjoy the cinema. Everyone else expects to be able to go to a film of their choice, cinema of their choice, at a session of their choice.

People with a disability do not wish to be marginalised by being offered screenings at times when nobody else wants to go to the cinema. Everyone wants to go to the cinema with friends or family at convenient times. We all expect freedom of choice, spontaneity, convenience and flexibility when we go to the cinema.

all films, all cinemas, all sessions.

We expect that people with sensory impairments are offered the same entertainment opportunities as everyone else. A fair go for everybody when it comes to enjoying going to the cinema!

The community fully expects that businesses, particularly successful businesses, do not discriminate on the basis of a person’s disability when selling a product.

The federal government last year ratified the UN Declaration of the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities but what does this mean in practice?

450 people and community organisations responded in opposition to the application by the cinema chains for an exemption from the DDA 1992 demanding the following:

• Full compliance with the legislation
• Ensuring that people with sensory impairments have the same level of choice as the rest of the community
• Ensuring that all sessions of all films at all cinemas are accessible to Everyone

With 2009 Box Office takings of $1.09 billion, a 15% increase from the previous year, cost should not be a reason for failing to provide access.”

For more information you can contact spokesperson Dean Barton-Smith at dbartonsmith@optusnet.com.au, Paul Madden on 0419 313 518 or call Arts Access Victoria on (03) 9699 8299.

Further information can be found on the Action on Cinema Access Facebook page.

Australians with disabilities will soon find it easier to access government information online.

Minister for Finance and Deregulation Lindsay Tanner and Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities Bill Shorten said the Rudd Government had endorsed new website accessibility standards, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.

“This is an important step in making democracy more open, accessible and accountable for all Australians,” Lindsay Tanner said.

“It will encourage and enable people living with disabilities to more fully interact with, and get services from government online.”

The new standard replaces WCAG 1.0, a mandated requirement for agencies since 2000.

More information can be found here.