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Accessible News #5 — March 1998
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.
Contents:
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Canada Receives Prestigious Award for Progress on Disability Issues
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Budget 98: What Does it Mean for the Canadian Assistive Device Industry?
Project Funding In ADIO
As of this writing, the Assistive Devices Industry Office does not expect to have project funding available for the coming fiscal year, which begins April 1, 1998. If this situation changes, we will of course inform all the Canadians on our mailing list, but unless you hear otherwise from us, please do not contact us to ask about project funding.
Contents.CANADIA at CSUN
For the first time, the Assistive Devices Industry Association of Canada, or CanADIA, has its own booth at the CSUN Conference on Technology and Persons with Disabilities.
The Association hopes to follow on the excellent tradition of supporting Canadian companies that was started by Industry Canada's Assistive Devices Industry Office (ADIO). In fact, you may notice that the CanADIA booth looks a lot like the Industry Canada booths of the past four years:
- It is in the same location (booths #82 and 83),
- it will sport the same red and white colour scheme; and best of all,
- it will include the actual presence of Mary Frances Laughton and Deb Finn of the ADIO. By inviting Mary Frances and Deb to participate in the booth, CanADIA acknowledges the great contributions they have made to the growth of the Canadian industry over the years.
The booth, in the show hall of the LA Airport Marriott hotel, showcases Canadian made or developed products from some of our members, and provides information about the Association and its growing membership. If you have any doubt as to the growing international presence of the Canadian assistive devices industry, pick up the complete list of Canadian vendors and manufacturers displaying at CSUN. And, just as when Industry Canada had this space, we want you to consider our booth as an unofficial meeting place for Canadian conference goers -- as well as for our longtime friends and colleagues from other countries.
See you there!
Chuck Letourneau
Secretary, CanADIA
Canada Receives Prestigious Award for Progress on Disability Issues
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien was in New York March 2 to receive, on behalf of Canada, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Award, recognizing our nation's achievements in improving opportunities for people with disabilities. Canada is only the second recipient of this award, which was presented by the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in a ceremony held at the United Nations.
Industry Canada's role in helping Canadian businesses and disability organizations to develop world-leading devices and services to meet the needs of people with disabilities was featured prominently in the press kit that was given to the international press at the award ceremony. The formation of CanADIA, the Assistive Devices Industry Association of Canada, which is the world's first industry association devoted to assistive devices was one of the items highlighted in the press kit. Also highlighted in the press information was the creation of the Minister's Advisory Committee on Assistive Devices. The formation of CanADIA was supported by the Assistive Devices Industry Office, which also provides secretariat services to the Minister's Advisory Committee.
Canada was nominated for the award by the Resource, Education and Advocacy Centre for the Handicapped (REACH), an Ottawa-based advocacy group that supports the legal rights of people with disabilities and explores the legal and social aspects of issues that are important to the disability community. In his acceptance speech, delivered in the presence of a delegation of representatives of the disability community who were invited to accompany him to the award ceremony, the Prime Minister stated that "as we look to the future, it is with the knowledge that the full inclusion of Canadians with disabilities is a work in progress." He then went on to announce that the US$50,000 that was part of the FDR award will be given to the National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS), which is run by and for post-secondary students with disabilities.
Contents.Minister's Advisory Committee on Assistive Devices
This committee (ACAD) meets three times each year to provide input to the Minister of Industry on issues dealing with the assistive technology industry. It also provides input on the departmental planning process to ensure that the needs of people with disabilities are taken into account. For example, it was on the recommendation of the ACAD that the Information Highways Applications Branch included accessibility as a criteria in the applications process for the Community Access Program. ACAD will next be looking at issues of procurement as a development tool and making recommendations on how to ensure that people with disabilities are well served by the Connecting Canadians agenda.
Contents.Budget 98: What Does it Mean for the Canadian Assistive Device Industry?
When Finance Minister, the Honourable Paul Martin, rose in the House of Commons February 24 to deliver the 1998 Federal Budget, the message he delivered was good news for Canadians in general. The question is, what does it all mean for Canada's assistive device industry?
For starters, the reinstatement of 1994/95 funding support levels to the granting councils (the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Medical Research Council) means more money will be available for research and development of all sorts of technology, which in turn means more places for assistive device developers to go for support and innovation.
The Government's commitment to make Canada "the most connected nation in the world by the year 2000" will be realized by such means as the expansion of the Community Access (CAP) and SchoolNet programs, to reach into more communities and to bring Internet into each classroom, not just into each school. In the most recent call for CAP proposals, the application guidelines included specific references to ensuring applicant communities were looking at ways to ensure their community access sites will be accessible for people with disabilities. Thanks in part to the efforts of the Minister's Advisory Committee on Assistive Devices and the Assistive Devices Industry Office, the importance of making sure SchoolNet content is accessible to students who need alternative access methods to use online information has been recognized and acted upon. A new initiative called VolNet is in the process of being established to link 10,000 voluntary organizations from across Canada to the Internet and to each other. VolNe t can serve as a good way for organizations of and for people with disabilities to make sure they too are part of the growing electronic community. All three of these initiatives also mean there is an increased potential market for accessible hardware, software and service provision.
Contents.MADENTA Receives IWAY Award
Madenta Inc. of Edmonton, Alberta was this year's recipient of the National IWAY Award in the Adaptive Technologies category at a gala ceremony in Toronto on February 25. The IWAY Awards, which were developed as a joint initiative of CANARIE Inc. (Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry and Education) and CATA (Canadian Advanced Technology Association), are sponsored by the Royal Bank. This is the third year the IWAY Awards have been presented and the first year in which an award has been given to recognize excellence in adaptive technology.
Madenta, a company that was formed in 1988 and which became publicly traded on the Alberta Stock Exchange late last year, was honoured for the development of such products as its Tracker head-pointing device which uses light control the cursor on a computer screen, thus giving people with severe mobility impairments the ability to perform the same on-screen functions that are usually associated with a mouse; and its ScreenDoors software, which provides users with an on-screen keyboard.
The development of Tracker is one of the projects for which Madenta received development support from Industry Canada, through what is now the Assistive Devices Industry Office.
Four other IWAY Awards were presented at the same time as Madenta's Adaptive Technology award. The New Technology Development award went to Jean- François Meunier, President of CIFRA Médical Inc., of Sainte-Foy, Quebec; the Community Service award was presented to Dr. Paul Patterson, Senior Chairholder, NSERC/SSHRC Management Technology Change, University College of Cape Breton, in Sydney, Nova Scotia; the Public Leadership award was given to Lionel Hurtubise, Chairman, Ericsson Communications Inc., Town of Mount-Royal, Quebec; and last but not least, the Application of Technology award was accepted by Doug Hull, the Director General of the Information Highway Applications Branch in Industry Canada.
Doug Hull's branch is the one that has established SchoolNet, the Community Access Program and LibraryNet. It is also the branch that is in the process of setting up the new VolNet initiative to link Canada's voluntary sector to the Internet and to each other.
Congratulations go out to all the winners, but especially to Madenta's President and CEO, Randy Marsden and to our colleague, Doug Hull.
Contents.New Research Scholarship Endowment Announced by the CNIB
The Canadian National Institute for the Blind's 80th anniversary year marks the launch of the E. (Ben) & Mary Hochhausen Fund for Research in Adaptive Technology for Blind and Visually Impaired Persons. A $10,000 scholarship will be granted each year to and it will be available to people with a post-secondary degree. Scholarship options may include but are not limited to research projects, study at centres of excellence in technology, fellowships, development of prototypes and development costs for bringing important new products to market. The annual cut-off date for applications will be July 30. To find out more about the Fund and how to apply, contact The Canadian National Institute for the Blind 1929 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M4G 3E8.
Contents.Coming Soon: Accessibility Standard for Bank Machines
The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) has formed a working group to develop a national standard intended to make Automated Banking Machines (ABMs) more accessible for people with disabilities. The new standard, which should be completed in the spring of 1999, draws heavily on recommendations contained in two sets of draft guidelines submitted to the CSA by Betty Dion Enterprises Ltd. and the Canadian Bankers Association. The guidelines submitted by Betty Dion are also referred to as the Industry Canada guidelines, since the Assistive Devices Industry Office supported their development, through funding and participation on the committee which developed them. The ABM standard will make recommendations on how to make the route to a bank machine more accessible, define requirements for the physical space in which the machine is housed and provide guidance on how to make the use and operation of the machine itself easier for most customers, including those who have disabilities.
Deb Finn, who managed the contract to develop the Industry Canada guidelines, serves as a member of the CSA working group responsible for the preparation of the national ABM standard. The participation of representatives from national disability organizations, the financial community, ABM manufacturers and people whose expertise is in the design of accessible architecture ensure that the standard developed will be one that is both appropriate and achievable.
Once it is approved, this national standard will be incorporated into the CSA's Barrier Free Design Standard, which recommends such items as minimum height, reach width and related physical requirements for making buildings more accessible.
Contents.Our Web Site
Our Web site can be found at strategis.ic.gc.ca/adio . At this site are all our old newsletters as well as different listings of reports and projects 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.
We will be publishing a list of our 1997/98 projects early in the spring. It will be available on the Web and on request from the office.
Contents.Communications from ADIO
If you would prefer to receive our newsletter on disk or by e-mail, please contact us at the address below.
Contents.Where to Find Us
For more information, to discuss a project idea 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
Phone: 613-990-4316 or 613-990-4297
Fax: 613-998-5923
Internet-mail: laughton@crc.ca or finn.deb@ic.gc.ca
Date last modified: April 29, 1998
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