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Accessible News #9 — June 2000
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:
Common Look & Feel
Common Look and Feel is the name of a new Treasury Board of Canada standard that will ensure that all Government of Canada Web sites and electronic services will be clearly identifiable as such, by the end of 2002. It will have the effect of standardizing and harmonizing such things as Web and e-mail addresses, departmental identification, and especially the general appearance and navigational features of federal Web sites. The standard is comprised of three major sections relating to federal identity policy, official languages policy, and universal accessibility requirements.
The universal accessibility requirements state that Government of Canada Web sites shall address all priority one and two checkpoints contained in the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT). This corresponds to "Double-A" compliance with the W3C's recommendations.
A number of toolkits are available to help government Webmasters and page-designers meet the requirements of Common Look and Feel standard. For federal identity and official languages, these include sample page layouts, the text of standard and common messages (like copyright, disclaimers, etc.), libraries of standard images (official logos, identifiers, navigation buttons, etc.), and guidelines for typography. The accessibility toolkit includes hints, tips and sample code that can be used or adapted for use to improve the accessibility of Web sites. The Web site Accessibility Testing Service (WATS) is another tool provided by Treasury Board to help government Web masters identify and correct accessibility problems in their designs.
WATS
In the last edition of Accessible News we reported that the Treasury Board of Canada had begun a pilot project to help the Government of Canada ensure that their new Web site designs are accessible to persons with disabilities. The service is called the Web site Accessibility Testing Service or WATS for short. The pilot project was completed at the end of March 2000.
We are pleased to announce that the Treasury Board has renewed the project for the 2000/2001 fiscal year. The Public Service Commission has graciously agreed to continue hosting the service in its Enabling Resource Centre in downtown Ottawa. A team from Starling Access Services, an accessible-Web consulting firm, performs the evaluations.
WATS allows Government of Canada Web masters and page designers to see firsthand how persons with disabilities experience their sites. This will help the government meet its goal to connect all Canadians who want to be connected to the Information Highway.
For more information, contact the Treasury Board of Canada (Deirdre Bagot, e-mail: bagot.deirdre@tbs-sct.gc.ca), or Starling Access Services (Chuck Letourneau, E-mail: info@starlingweb.com)
Advisory Committees: Sharing Information with Our Colleagues
The Advisory Committee on Assistive Devices (ACAD) has been in operation since the early 1990s, when it was established to advise the Minister of Communications. This dynamic group of individuals, many of whom have disabilities, advises the Minister of Industry on the best ways to ensure that all Canadians have access to the information and services they need and makes recommendations on the programs, policies and services of the Department and its Portfolio agencies. This covers everything from computer input and output to the electronic delivery of information and services. ADIO provides secretariat support to this committee.
In order to effectively share information on what is going on elsewhere in the government, the Departments of Transport, Human Resources Development and the National Library all have observers at the ACAD meetings and Industry Canada has an observer who attends meetings of the Minister of Transport's Advisory Committee on Accessible Transportation (ACAT). ACAT advises on federally-regulated aspects of travel, including air, rail and marine travel and intercity bus systems that operate in more than one province.
2000 National IWAY Award Winners Announced
Dr. Charles Laszlo is the recipient of the 2000 National IWAY Award for Adaptive Technologies. This is one of five awards developed by CANARIE Inc. (Canada's Advanced Internet Development Organization) to recognize Canada's top innovators, educators and entrepreneurs in information technology. The awards were presented at a ceremony on April 3.
Dr. Laszlo, who is the Chairman of Assistive Listening Device Systems Inc.(ALDS) in Richmond, B.C., was honoured for his innovative work in the development of adaptive technology for hard of hearing persons. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Institute for Hearing Accessibility Research at the University of British Columbia. With his graduate students at the Institute, he set up ALDS Inc. in 1991 to expedite the transfer of their research to the manufacturing stage.
In the course of his career, Dr. Laszlo has been responsible for the development of some very impressive leading edge technologies, including a portable infrared communication system for one-on-one conversations, an electronic note-taking system which is used in classroom settings, a training device to help hearing aids wearers to use the telephone and most recently, FlightSound, the world's first "airworthiness certified" infrared communication system for in-flight use by hard of hearing travellers.
Dr. Laszlo has been a leader in efforts to standardize telephone magnetic emissions for coupling telephones and for the establishment of government regulations which ensure access to telephone services for all hard of hearing Canadians. He is a member of ACAD as well as a member of the Order of Canada.
The Adaptive Technologies award is sponsored each year by Newbridge Networks Corporation to honour those people who provide leadership in the promotion, development and enhancement of the information society. The other IWAY Award winners this year were: Antoine Paquin, CEO of Philsar Semiconductor (New Technology Development award), Murray Goldberg, President of WebCT Canada (Application of Technology award), LiveWires Design Ltd. (Community Service award) and John Roth, Vice Chairman and CEO of Nortel Networks (Public Leadership award.)
Although the IWAY Awards are in their fifth year, this is only the third year that the Adaptive Technologies award has been in existence. The previous winners of this award were Randy Marsden, then-President and CEO of Madenta and now principal of Madentec, who was honoured in 1998 for the development of the Tracker alternative pointing device system for people with severe mobility disabilities and Sharlyn Ayotte, President and CEO of T-Base Communications, who was honoured last year for the development of InfoTouch, an electronic information delivery system that provides affordable alternative format documents on an as-needed basis.
CSA Update
The Barrier Free Design Committee of the Canadian Standards Association continues to work on updating the standards for accessible buildings. This is the first complete overhaul of the standard, B651, since its publication in 1995. The standard includes information on areas such as the widths needed in hallways to allow wheelchair access, how to ensure items that stick out from walls such as signs, payphones, water fountains etc. are detectable by a white cane user and how to make sure stairways and ramps are safe.
The B651 Committee is also the parent of the subcommittee currently putting the finishing touches on the proposed standard for accessible Automated Banking Machines (ABMs). It is expected that the ABM standard will go to balloting by the voting members of the Barrier Free Committee towards the end of June and be published this fall.
ICTA-NA
The International Commission on Technology and Accessibility, or ICTA, is one of six commissions under the auspices of Rehabilitation International, an international not for profit non-governmental organization. ICTA is concerned with all areas of accessibility: primarily habitat, transportation, and communications in developing countries, and access to high technology and employment in developed countries.
While ICTA has enjoyed (and continues to enjoy) strong and active representation in Europe, Asia and Africa, the North American milieu has been largely ignored — until now. ICTA recognizes that North America supports a well-developed and extensive communications and information infrastructure. However, there are many areas in business, the community, and government where access to the rapidly advancing technologies has not necessarily kept pace with the ideal.
ICTA-Global recently constituted a North American chapter whose aim is to help decision makers and policy planners in business, governments and the community to identify barriers and solutions in the areas of technology and accessibility.
In the short term, ICTA-NA will focus on raising awareness of industry leaders and business and industry associations on the issues, technologies and solutions available to them — especially with respect to the hiring, accommodation, retention and advancement of people with disabilities in technology rich work places.
ICTA-NA membership is comprised of a volunteer network of experts in various fields, mostly relating to technology and accessibility, including rehabilitation engineers, accommodation service specialists, assistive technology researchers and developers, employment equity policy analysts, access standards developers and others from governments, academia, the private sector and the community, in both Canada and the United States. ICTA-NA is actively seeking membership from across the continent. If you feel you have some expertise to offer, ICTA would be pleased to hear from you. Time commitment is expected to be minimal, and most of the organization's business will be carried out via e-mail or on the Web.
For more information, or to join ICTA-NA, please contact:
Chuck Letourneau, President, ICTA-NA, e-mail:
icta@starlingweb.com, or
Carl Raskin, Vice President, ICTA-NA, e-mail:
craskin@storm.ca.
A Web site for the North American chapter is under development and can be reached through the parent site: http://www.ictaglobal.org/.
ICTA-NA is also pleased to announce the "6th International Congress on Serving Children with Disabilities in the Community", taking place October 23-25, 2000 in Edmonton, Alberta. For more information, please contact: Janis Douglas, Coordinator 6th Congress Secretariat, c/o The Canadian Association for Community Living, Kinsmen Bldg., York University, 4700 Keele St., Toronto, Ontario CANADA M3J 1P3 Tel: 416-661-9611, TTY: 416-661-2023, Fax: 416 661-5701, e-mail: childcongress@cacl.ca
Neads Year 2000 Conference Sponsorship Opportunity
The National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS) will be holding its seventh National Conference titled "Networking, Educating, Advocating: Delivering Success in the New Millennium," at the Delta Hotel in Ottawa from November 10 - 12, 2000. This conference is the only one of its kind in Canada that brings together college and university students with disabilities, personnel who provide disability-related services in higher education and government officials, among others. This year, a higher than normal attendance is expected, including participants from outside Canada. NEADS is seeking companies or organizations who would be interested in partnering with the Association as sponsors or exhibitors.
For more information, contact:
Jennison Asuncion,
Vice President Internal & Year 2000 Conference Chair
Tel: (514) 931-8731 #3594
E-Mail: jennison.asuncion@neads.ca or
Frank Smith, National Coordinator
Tel: (613) 526-8008
E-Mail: frank.smith@neads.ca
The NEADS Web site (www.neads.ca) has the latest details on the conference.
News Bits
- On March 20, Industry Canada's new Deputy Minister, V. Peter
Harder, took over the reins from Kevin Lynch. Mr. Harder comes to
us from the Treasury Board and Mr. Lynch has moved over to the
Department of Finance. Mr. Harder has shown his interest in
disability issues as he was the person who commissioned the
Access for ALL through Technology Task Force (Lyrette) that the
ADIO was involved in over the winter.
- Two resource guides are available on the CAP Web site: they
are " What Can You Do to Make Your CAP Site Accessible ", which
is at http://cap.ic.gc.ca/english/barriers.html and the "
Assistive Technology for CAP Sites Resource Guide " at
http://cap.ic.gc.ca/english/contents.html .
- HRDC is leading two initiatives in support of the Federal
Disability Agenda, one is the development of Access and Inclusion
Lenses and the other is working on the development of an
accountability framework and reporting format. More information
on these activities can be found by contacting the HRDC Office
for Disability Issues. Their Web address is:
http://www.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/hrib/sdd-dds/sdd/odi/ .
- Efforts are underway to ensure that Rehabilitation and
Assistive Technology Research are properly supported in Canada. A
group of Rehab Engineers met in Ottawa in May to discuss this
issue and will be developing an action plan over the summer. We
will be able to report more in the fall issue. If you want more
info, feel free to contact the ADIO.
- The University of Toronto is offering a course called
"Current Topics in Assistive Technology" in the Undergraduate
Department of Occupational Therapy and a similar course in the
Graduate Department of Rehabilitation Science. Mary Frances
Laughton was invited to participate as a leader in both courses
and was thrilled to meet some of the industry leaders of the
future. She is looking for other similar programmes where she
could meet more students.
- Remember that you can find information on upcoming Disability
and Seniors Conferences at
http://www.starlingweb.com/adp/index.htm .
- The annual meeting of the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative
Steering Committee (now renamed to be Advisory Committee) was
held in Boston on May 2-3. The major discussion elements were how
to respond to Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act and how to
ensure that the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are used and
usable.
- For the first time with Issue 8, this newsletter is part of
the Depository Services Program. The is a programme of the
Federal Government that places government information in selected
libraries to ensure that all Canadians have free access to the
information products of their government.
- This year's winner of the CNIB Library For the Blind Dr.
Dayton M. Forman Memorial Award is the Calgary Public Library,
which was honoured for its outstanding work in providing
alternative format materials for its blind and print-handicapped
customers and for its community outreach services.
- Watch our Web site for the announcement of the Accessible
Procurement Toolkit going live. It should happen within the next
6 weeks.
- Check out the Canadian Transportation Agency's web site to
find out more about their traveller's survey. It can be found at
http://www.cta-otc.gc.ca/ .
- To follow what is going on with regard to disability issues
in Parliament, check the site of the Sub-committee on the Status
of Persons with Disabilities of the Standing Committee on Human
Resources Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities
at
http://www.parl.gc.ca/36/1/parlbus/commbus/house/CommitteeMain.asp?Language=E&am
p;CommitteeID=104 .
- Mary Frances was featured in the latest issue (Volume 2
Number 1) of " A Day in the Life of the Public Service of Canada
" a publication of the Leadership Network. It can be found on the
web at: http://leadership.gc.ca .
- Microsoft announced a licensing arrangement on June 1 with
Labyrinten Data AB and isSound that will enable text-to-audio
synchronization of eBooks created for the Microsoft Reader
format. Publishers will be able to add additional information to
their eBooks that will enable consumers to either read text on
screen or listen to it through sound output. This will make more
reading material available to blind and print-handicapped
consumers. A portion of the revenues generated from the licensing
deal will be donated to the DAISY Consortium, the international
nonprofit group dedicated to defining a standard for digital
talking books. Both VisuAide and the Canadian National Institute
for the Blind are active participants in DAISY.
- FPSJAN, the Federal Public Service Job Accomodation Network for Employees with Disabilities is creating some buzz throughout the Government. The network was launched at the beginning of February by the Treasury Board and includes a number of Federal partners who come together to facilitate greater access to advice, policy interpretation and services both for employees with disabilities and for managers wanting to accommodate more effectively employees with disabilities in the workplace. At its June 8 meeting partners heard from HRDC that e-ACT, an Adaptive Computer Technology (ACT) information portal will open soon at www.act.gc.ca and that the Canadian International Development Agency's ACT Centre is expected to open in a few weeks' time. Further details on FPSJAN will be featured in the next issue of Accessible News.
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 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, 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: June 2000
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