Assistive Devices Industry Office (ADIO) June 2001 ACCESSIBLE NEWS No 11 WHAT'S NEW AROUND OUR SHOP Since the last issue of Accessible News, Industry Canada, including the Assistive Devices Industry Office (ADIO) has been very busy. In January, our Minister, the Honourable Brian Tobin was confirmed when the new session of Parliament was convened. Minister Tobin, like his predecessor, the Honourable John Manley, is an enthusiastic champion of assistive technology and disability issues. The Speech From the Throne, which opened the Parliamentary session, included the Government's commitment to invest in new and innovative technology, including assistive technology for people with disabilities. This commitment was also stated in the Prime Minister's response to the Throne Speech. What this means for ADIO is that we have been working very hard on the development of a proposal for an expanded program to support the assistive technology industry. We will update you on this, in our next newsletter. NATIONAL LIBRARIAN LAUNCHES COUNCIL FOR ACCESS The National Librarian, Roch Carrier, announced the launch of the Council for Access to Information for Print-Disabled Canadians at an event on Parliament Hill, February 22. The Council was established as a follow-up to last summer's series of public consultations conducted by the Task Force on Access to Information for Print Disabled Canadians and the October release of its final report, "Fulfilling the Promise". In his remarks to those gathered to witness the launch of the Council, Mr. Carrier said, "progress will be made in providing access if individuals from the public, private and not-for-profit sectors work together. This is an issue of concern to all media -- print, television and radio -- and to all Canadians. The Council has 11 members from across Canada. The purposes of the Council are to provide advice, identify funding requirements, monitor progress and make recommendations to the National Librarian regarding the implementation of "Fulfilling the Promise". The group will also identify and recommend to the National Librarian opportunities for the Council to connect, inform and facilitate the work of the federal government in the advancement of the Federal Disability Agenda. The Council's first meeting was on February 23-4. At that time, the group reviewed the recommendations set out in "Fulfilling the Promise" and have them into four groups: those which can be implemented now, those for which work can begin in the short term, those which can be the focus of presentation and discussion at the next meeting and those which require more discussion, consultation and study. The second meeting was in May. The Council reviewed its workplan, which is on the Web site and set a number of processes in place for the summer. The next meeting will be in the late fall. It is intended that the Council will continue in existence for several years, with its Terms of Reference being reviewed on a regular basis to ensure their ongoing relevance. Meetings will be open to others, as appropriate and all official documents will of course be available in both official languages and in the format of the Council members' choice, be it traditional print or alternate format. More information on the Council can be found on its Web site at www.nlc-bnc.ca/access . FIRST COURSE IN COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND DISABILITY by Nancy Marlett, University of Calgary We live in a globalizing economy. One manifestation of this complex process is the restructuring of the welfare state through a combination of cutbacks to public service/supports and privatization. As this entrepreneurial culture takes hold, individuals are increasingly expected to create their own solutions to what have previously been viewed as problems of the larger social body. Nowhere is this impact more pronounced than in the area of work/paid labour. Here, governments of all stripes are addressing problems of unemployment through policies and programs that foster self-employment and small business development. Because of their varied needs and limited (capital) resources, some disabled people and their allies question the viability of these strategies. They argue instead for sustained processes of community economic development. There are few formal models or best practices related to disability. The Community Rehabilitation and Disability studies program at the University of Calgary has secured innovations funding to enable Dr. Kathryn Church to connect knowledge and practice from disability studies, community development and economic development. This summer, twenty students from University of Calgary, University of Toronto and Concordia University, will meet on-line and in person with experts in consumer led small businesses that are using Community Economic Development (CED) practices to create/extend intellectual and practical resources for people with disabilities by training practitioners to use CED as a strategy to extend autonomy, build community and enhance democratic participation in work and employment. It is anticipated that content will be available on line and an annual collaborative course will be offered by participating universities. The ongoing course will create project teams made up of students from different perspectives and consumer communities wishing to start new businesses based on CED practices. For more information contact Nancy Marlett, 403-220-5657, marlett.ucalgary.ca or www.crds.org. FEDERAL/PROVINCIAL/TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENTS LAUNCH FIRST "ONE-STOP" INTERNET SITE FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES For the first time, persons with disabilities across Canada have a dedicated Internet site, Disability WebLinks (www.disabilityweblinks.ca), that will provide them with quick access to information on government-related disability programs and services. Disability WebLinks was announced on April 25 by the Honourable Jane Stewart, Minister of Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) and the Honourable Harry Van Mulligen, Minister of Saskatchewan Social Services on behalf of Federal/Provincial/Territorial Ministers Responsible for Social Services. Developed in consultation with persons with disabilities and service providers, the site contains information on disability related programs, services and initiatives, as well as key contacts. Information on the site is categorized under key topics such as: accessibility, education, employment, health, financial and personal support, housing and residential services, tax programs, and transportation. Staff at all levels of government and others who serve persons with disabilities and have access to the Internet will also be able to use the site as a quick, convenient, supplementary information resource to assist their clients. "I am very pleased that all governments across Canada are participating in this initiative," said Minister Stewart. "Disability WebLinks is a collaborative and practical tool that helps ensure persons with disabilities and other Canadians have access to an easy-to-use Internet resource that gives them quick and up-to-date information on disability related programs and services." HRDC is managing the site under the direction of the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Ministers Responsible for Social Services. The site has been specifically developed for persons with disabilities and the site design, layout and technical features reflect the requirements identified by members of the community and internationally accepted guidelines for accessibility. "The Internet is a growing communication and information tool that more and more Canadians are using," said Minister Van Mulligen. "It is important that governments and other information providers ensure the needs of persons with disabilities are reflected when making information available on the Internet. Disability WebLinks is a very good site and I hope others will follow this example." To ensure Disability WebLinks remains relevant for persons with disabilities, comments submitted on the site and other feedback mechanisms will be used as part of an ongoing evaluation process. INCLUSION BY DESIGN - PLANNING THE BARRIER-FREE WORLD The Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work (CCRW) hosted an international event, "Inclusion by Design - Planning the Barrier-Free World" at Montreal's Palais des Congrİs from June 1-5, 2001. The congress highlighted the benefits of a barrier-free and inclusive world for all people regardless of diversity, age, ability or disability. Inclusion by Design had three major themes: Inclusive Employment, Inclusive Communities and Developing Universal Access. In addition to plenary sessions each day, there was also a series of workshop presentations, given by a wide range of speakers from all points on the globe and ADIO was among the exhibitors, showing off our Accessible Procurement Toolkit. About 20% of the 500 people who attended the conference came from outside of Canada and the US and included delegates from such places as Australia, Brazil, Burundi, Cameroon, Finland, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Nepal, Singapore and Sweden, to name a few. The conference produced a declaration on Universal Design, which was tabled in Parliament by Carolyn Bennett, Chair of the House Sub-committee on Disability Issues. For more information about Inclusion by Design, visit the CCRW Web site at www.ccrw.org. COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS WRAPS UP WORK ON IMPACT OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES The Council of Europe's Committee of Experts on the impact of new technologies on the quality of life of persons with disabilities completed its terms of reference at a meeting in Strasbourg, France, March 26-28. The Committee has developed a set of recommendations that will be forwarded to its parent group, the Committee on the Rehabilitation and Integration of People with Disabilities when it meets in The Hague at the end of June. A number of important events are taking place or have recently taken place in several of the Council's member states. The Committee of Ministers have agreed to adopt the principles of Universal Design into their countries' curricula in areas that include engineering, architecture and design. Portugal has recently mandated the use of Priority One of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines for government Web sites and has instituted Web design training to make this happen and a number of other countries are also in the process of adopting the Guidelines. The Council's E-Europe Plan includes the concept of E-participation to increase access to electronic information and services by people with disabilities and older adults and an E-accessibility group has been formed to further these goals. CSUN ROUND-UP Canada, once again, was very well represented at CSUN, both on the show floor and with presentations. Victor(TM) the DAISY digital talking book player, developed and marketed by Montreal-based company, Visuaide, competed head to head with the only other talking book system, Plextalk, which is the product of a Japanese company, Plextor. The two products were tested on a number of criteria, including ease of use, speed, accuracy, ruggedness etc. and Victor(TM) was the winner, on all points. DAISY is the new international digital talking book standard which links natural speech and a text stream. Victor(TM) provides print-disabled persons (blind, low vision and learning disabled) with fast and easy navigation of talking books recorded on CD-ROM. Users can jump straight to a specific section or passage, skip pages, consult the table of contents and insert bookmarks. Industry Canada was involved in a very early contract in the development of Victor(TM). The VisAble Video Telescope(TM) was introduced at CSUN and created quite a buzz. It is a hand-held portable video vision aid developed by Betacom Corporation of Mississauga, Ontario, in conjunction with the Centre for Sight Enhancement (University of Waterloo), the Ontario Rehabilitation Technology Consortium and the Wilmer Eye Institute (Johns Hopkins University). Due for release in Canada and the United States this spring and in Europe later this year, the VisAble Video Telescope(TM) provides partially sighted users with the high magnification, wide field of view and contrast enhancement normally associated with video reading stations (CCTVs). This means visually impaired people will be able to use video for more than just reading. It will allow them to scan an intersection, spot a correct bus, recognize a friend, examine a cash register receipt, find a dropped object on the floor or a product on a store shelf, read a menu in a dim restaurant or perform other routine sight-related tasks that would otherwise difficult or impossible to accomplish independently. Industry Canada assisted in the development of a very early prototype of this product. Presentations can be found on the CSUN Web site at www.csun.edu/cod. ANNOUNCING ATLAS AND GPS-TALK FOR CANADA Sendero Group, a Davis, California company is now taking take orders for the long awaited Canadian version of its talking map and GPS system, Atlas and GPS-Talk. The early development of this product, originally called Atlas Speaks, was in part carried out by Visuaide with some support from Industry Canada. The current Atlas and GPS-Talk products were developed with input from blind and visually impaired Canadians and with the cooperation of Statistics Canada, GDT Corporation and the CNIB. The result is the first accessible location information product for blind and visually impaired people in Canada, Atlas and GPS-Talk. Special introductory prices are available on-line from Sendero for a limited time only. For more information or to purchase Atlas and GPS-Talk go to www.SenderoGroup.com/Canada.htm. You may also call toll free within Canada, 866-757-6800. NEWS BITS The Accessible Procurement Toolkits were demonstrated at the Government on the Net conference in Hull, Quebec, April 23-4. Audience reaction to the Toolkits has been very favourable and several federal departments around Ottawa are already making use of the databases' requirement statements, including them in their procurement contracts to ensure the technology and services they buy will be accessible to employees with disabilities. This spring, Betty Dion Enterprises released its final report on a study the company conducted on Accessible Dispensing Machines. This study was commissioned by Transport Canada's Transportation Development Centre and the Canadian Human Rights Commission. Issues such as problems in using electronic check-in kiosks at airports, automated parking lot attendants, carwash and gas pump automated payment systems were identified. The report's findings will be of assistance in the preparation of a draft Canadian Standards Association (CSA) standard. The CSA is expected to establish a Barrier-Free Design sub-committee to develop this standard and ADIO's Deb. Finn will chair that sub-committee. Ottawa-based company, ADAPTIF has completed an overview study of the Canadian assistive technology industry for the ADIO. The report identifies some of the industry leaders, key success factors and the strengths and weaknesses of the Canadian AT industry. The findings of this report will be instrumental in the development of a comprehensive picture of the industry and help Industry Canada determine strategies for its further growth and penetration of world markets. ADIO has been researching companies that manufacture and sell orthotics/prosthetics. This sector of the Assistive Devices Industry is quite large with 1,301 companies. The breakdown by province is: 143 companies in British Columbia, 51 companies in Alberta, 11 in Saskatchewan, 25 in Manitoba, 539 in Ontario, 450 in Quebec, 36 in New Brunswick, 20 in Nova Scotia, 19 in Newfoundland, 6 in Prince Edward Island, and 1 company serving the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut. ADIO has assembled a list of these companies and a list of Canadian Orthopaedic Shoe Manufacturers. Please contact us if you would like a copy in electronic format. The Winnipeg office of HRDC is the lead on the Government-on-line Disability Cluster which was successful in getting funds in the lasted round of GOL funding. ADIO is one of the partners in this initiative. For more information, contact Ian Cumming 204-983-1755 e-mail: [log in to unmask] FPS-JAN had its latest partner day on June 11. There were presentations on environmental sensitivities, the CTA Airport/Flying Accessibility Survey, the Accessible Procurement Toolkits, the government response to the Lyrette Task Force and the CIDA and HRDC Act Centres. For more information, contact Noreen Leblanc. The CSA (www.csa-international.org) released a new standard, B651.1-01 Barrier-free Design for Automated Banking Machines this spring, making Canada the first country to develop and adopt such a standard. Deb. Finn was a member of the sub-committee responsible for the development of this ground-breaking document. The report of the House of Commons Sub-committee on Disability. "A Common Vision: Interim Report", was tabled in the House on June 12. One of its recommendations is to increase support to the AT industry. The report can be found at: www.parl.gc.ca/InfoCom/CommitteeReport.asp?Language=E&Parliament=8&Joint=0&CommitteeID=149 The Information Highway Applications Branch (IHAB), home of CAP, Schoolnet, Volnet and 11 other programmes has a new Director General. He is David Fransen who was last at Health Canada in the Population Health Directorate. Web-4-All, one of the IHAB projects has just been awarded funding for pilots through the Government On line initiative. For those of you who use Canadian Company Capabilities (CCC), there are two new tags to sort disability related capabilities. They are Multiple Format Producers and Accessible Web Consultants. If there are other breakdowns that would be useful, contact us. You can get to CCC through our Web site: strategis.ic.gc.ca/adio. ADIO is working on the development of the Manager's Guide to Multiple Format Publishing. You can find more information on this project and make comments by going to: www.galbraithcom.com/guidebook. PALS, the Participation and Activity Limitations Survey which is the postcensal survey on disability , will be in the field in the early fall. If you are contacted, we urge you to participate. We need better statistics on which to base our planning. If you want more information on the PALS, contact Ren*e Langlois Survey Manager Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS) Statistics Canada 1 B-18 Jean Talon Bldg. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0T6 Tel: 613-951-0878 Fax: 613-951-4378 e-mail: [log in to unmask] OUR WEB SITE Our Web site can be found at strategis.ic.g.ca/adio . At this site are all our old newsletters as well as different listings and links to other sites of interest. Should you be using these old newsletters, please bear in mind that the web addresses were correct when the newsletter was created but that they may not be accurate now. We do not plan to change the back issues of the newsletters. COMMUNICATIONS FROM ADIO If you would prefer to receive our newsletter on disk or by e-mail, please contact us at the address below. WHERE TO FIND US For more information or to get on our mailing list, please contact: Mary Frances Laughton or Deb Finn Assistive Devices Industry Office Industry Canada P.O. Box 11490 Station H Ottawa, Ontario K2H 8S2 tel: 613-990-4316 or 613-990-4297 fax: 613-998-5923 Internet: [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask] Aussi disponible en français.