There are some excellent shirts here...the only problem is which one(s)!!
The Nth Degree Catalog: Advocacy Shirts: "SAME STRUGGLE CLOSER LOOKsame struggle shirt image see text description below ORDER IT DESCRIPTION: Black shirt with white handwritten message on front saying 'Same struggle, Different Difference.'"
This is a great article by the great athlete Tanni Grey-Thompson. I do agree with her view completely.
With inclusion at its heart, London will transform lives - Times Online: "With inclusion at its heart, London will transform lives With five years to go, our correspondent says the capital will provide a platform for disabled athletes to effect real social change Tanni Grey-Thompson So the Games are coming home. Today, exactly five years before our Paralympic Games begin, the London 2012 road show is completing its summer UK tour at Stoke Mandeville, near Aylesbury. It was here, in 1948, that a wheelchair competition involving injured Second World War veterans gave birth to the modern Paralympic movement. Sir Ludwig Guttmann, the pioneering neurosurgeon, who came up with the idea of sport as an aid to rehabilitation, was inspired as much by budget constraints as he was by social altruism. The soldiers were proving a drain on his hospital’s stretched post-war resources. A similar sense of pragmatism lay behind my advice to the Games Select Committee, shortly after the bid win. I told them that I couldn’t comment on the proposed Paralympic performance model; it would depend how many of our forces were injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. The collective eyebrow-raising was priceless, but false sensitivity is a waste of time when you’re faced with a win-win situation."
My favourite podcast has been the Skeptics Guide to the Universe (even if they cannot spell sceptic properly). I listen to the show each week, and find the conversations very interesting & stimulating. It is quite odd listening regularly to these type of podcasts, as you do get to know the different characters involved. So I was quite saddened to learn of the passing of one of the "sceptical rogues"; Perry DeAngelis. I did not agree with all his politics (as he was a quite bit more "to the right" of my own), but I always found his comments amusing, and stimulating. Even though I never met him, I will miss him passing, and my thoughts are with the rest of the panel from SGU, his family & his friends.
There were a number of different people abusing the parking bays in and around the Harbour at Hermanus. I was not able to take photos of them all...as I could not park!! If you are, or happen to know, the owner of CA 658 899, and the diver or passenger is disabled then could you suggest that their permit is displayed when parking in a designated accessible parking bay. If the occupants are not disabled, then perhaps we need to point out that stupidity does not qualify...
This is a very honest, open admission:
www.skillsportal.co.za | employment_equity Disability is a thorn in the side of the skills development strategy: "Disability is a thorn in the side of the skills development strategy
23-MAY-07
By Ivor Blumenthal - CEO of the Services Seta
It is difficult to publicly admit. Seven years into the Skills Development rollout it is apparent that even where we are meeting our paper targets established by the National Skills Development Strategy, where Setas are tasked to ensure that 4% of our benefits is spent on people with disabilities, we are nevertheless failing people with disabilities terribly, especially those with mental disabilities."
Why shouldn't we try the same here?
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan - Pakistan’s first Internet caf� for the blind inaugurated: "Pakistan’s first Internet caf�for the blind inaugurated
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The country’s first-ever Internet caf�for the visually impaired was inaugurated here on Tuesday. The project was funded by the World Bank and the Pakistan Foundation Fighting Blindness (PFFB).
The WB granted Rs 1.5 million to the facility that promises to help bridge the technological gap between the blind and those blessed with eyesight. The caf�would also link national and international blind communities.
IT Helpline Project Director Zahid Abdullah said the caf�involved the use of the JAWS software that provides voice output for every command given to the computer, enabling the blind to know what their fingers are doing. Aqil Sajjad, the first visually impaired Pakistani pursuing his PhD at Harvard introduced the software in Islamabad in 1999. The software was developed in the US 20 years ago."
Hmm... whenever I look at these sort of figures, I wonder how South African politicians really believe that the prevalence of Disability is a fraction of these figures in South Africa?
Rolling Rains Report:: US Census Reports Releases Statistics on Disability: "US Census Reports Releases Statistics on Disability
U.S. Census Bureau releases disability statistics
The Census Bureau recently released a Fact Sheet on Disabilities
in preparation for the 17th Anniversary of the Americans with
Disabilities Act. Updated numbers show the following:
* 51.2 million people have some level of disability
(18 % of population).
* 32.5 million have a severe disability (12% of whole population).
* 4 million children have a disability (or 11% of children
ages 6 to 14)
To view the entire fact sheet, go to:
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/
facts_for_features_special_editions/010102.html"
I am watching this latest development "The Elders" with huge interest & hope!!! Please have a look at http://www.theelders.org/elders/ and show your support...
this is a very good article, which could be written about any country I feel, certainly the situation in South Africa is even worse. I hope that the soon to be launched African Employers' Forum on Disability will skirt to tackle such situations.
BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Who cares: "Having a degree and excellent skills count for little if you are disabled and live in residential care. Why?"
Putting people first � UK usability market to grow 20% in 2007 - new report: "The UK market for usability and accessibility will grow by 20% in 2007 to a value of around �180 million, according to a new report published this week by E-consultancy.
Research for the 2007 Usability and Accessibility Buyer’s Guide found that increased competition in the online marketplace is driving investment in a user-centred design approach"
Please go to this website, and even if you don't sign up, read up on the issues...
The ONE Campaign | Issues: "MORE AND BETTER AID
International assistance saves lives, directly helping and empowering individuals to help themselves. Increasing international assistance by an amount equal to just ONE percent of the U.S. budget will:
* Reduce by half the number of people in the world who suffer from hunger.
* Provide free access to primary education for 77 million out-of-school children.
* Provide access to clean water to 450 million people and basic sanitation to 700 million people.
* Prevent 5.4 million young children from dying of poverty-related illnesses each year.
* Save 16,000 lives a day by fighting HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria."
This bit of news is really frightening. I am not sure which is worse; the fact that People with Disabilities only comprise 0.7% of the workforce...or that the figure has dropped by 30% in 4 years!? I am furious that this is being under-reported. Why was Jimmy Manyi allowed to concentrate on just one aspect of employment equity, which by comparison is streets ahead of Disability. We, as a country, are failing People with Disabilities... There needs to be a mind shift in corporate SA, and the wider society. One thing that I believe would help is an active African Employers Forum on Disability. I can only say "watch this space"! More news as soon as I can...
www.skillsportal.co.za | employment_equity Manyi believes that racism still prevalent in the workplace: "The representation of people with disabilities in the workplace had also gone down since 2000. After starting at .9% in 2000, the representation of people with disabilities had risen to 1% in 2002 but was back down at .7% in 2006. "
Another interesting use of modern technology... I don't think of myself as a geek...but I do get a kick out of how different new technologies can be used to remove barriers that have in some cases been put there by other (older) technologies.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Smart hat brings play to disabled: "A 'smart' cap that allows disabled children to 'drive' radio-controlled cars and boats, has been launched.
The Dream-Racer device has four motion sensors that detect small movements of the head, which are then fed wirelessly to control the toy's direction.
The UK invention has also been adapted to allow disabled people to play games on Sony's PlayStation consoles."
Hmm; a counter point to the previous post, Alison was able to point out some issues with VeeSee. I decided to do some more research (I apologise for posting before doing co earlier!). I think her comment to my previous post is well founded. Perhaps, as I come form a country ahead there is precious little sign language available, that I tend to get excited whenever I see that more may be more accessible to a wider audience...
Noesis: VeeSee: "VeeSee is a website that has been launched in the UK by an interpreter, Susie Grant. The site is operating under the Deafeatures Ltd.
Before I go any further, I really want to be positive about online development, but I'm really struggling here. More about that later. The site has a very strange mix of web 1.0 content and design, mixed with a web 2.0 approach through a social network. On the face of it, the site offers:"
Another interesting development
BBC NEWS | Technology | IPTV for deaf people takes off: "A new web-based television service, or IPTV, for British Sign Language (BSL) users has recently launched in the UK.
VeeSee TV airs news and other programmes in BSL and is available 24 hours a day.
The channel can be viewed on a computer or via a set-top box and is the brainchild of BSL interpreter Susie Grant."
An interesting development of Tablet PC technology (which I am already sold on!)
BBC NEWS | Technology | Motion-sensitive laptop developed: "Motion-sensitive laptop developed
Tilting the laptop moves a cursor
A motion-sensitive laptop which can be controlled much like a Nintendo Wii remote is under development.
The tablet PC laptop has been adapted to respond to a user when moving the machine up or down, side to side, or forwards and backwards.
It is hoped the BT Balance system can help people with disabilities or the elderly, for whom using a keyboard or mouse can be difficult."
The website is:
http://www.sweetskinz.com
This is just madness! In a World where the conflict of different religions are causing such issues for us all, we should be looking to the different religious leaders to be trying to build bridges. Still, given my own experiences of religious leaders, I am not at all surprised, but still rather saddened, that they can be so thoughtless... Religions (of all denominations) have much to be ashamed of in this world. This just adds to their list...maybe their God will forgive them... but I don't believe we should.
BBC NEWS | Europe | Unholy row at clergy soccer game: "A friendship-building football match between Muslim and Christian clergy in Norway was called off after a row over the participation of women players.
Muslim Imams had refused to play against women because it went against their beliefs about close physical contact with the opposite sex.
But when the church decided to drop its women players, the priests' team captain walked out in protest."
this is an impressive achievement!
IOL: Blind pilot flies halfway round the world: "Sydney - A blind British pilot landed his microlight aircraft in Sydney on Monday to complete a record-breaking flight halfway around the world.
Miles Hilton-Barber left London on March 7 and flew more than 21 000km to raise funds to fight blindness in developing countries.
'It's the fulfilment of an amazing dream,' the 58-year-old adventurer said after touching down at Sydney's Bankstown airport. 'I've been wanting to do this flight for about four years.'
Hilton-Barber flies with a sighted co-pilot but relies on speech output from his navigation instruments to steer his course, directing the plane from a wireless keyboard."
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