DisABILITY Accessibility Information Resources
November / December 2008
Number 47
e-Bility News is back, packed with information and kindly sponsored by Flash Cab Australia. Flash Cab have been providing accessible vehicles to the private sector since 1991, when the first modification attracted much attention and the often repeated comment "that's a very flash vehicle". A recent initiative, Flashcab Rentals, now provides these accessible vehicles to rent from the Gold Coast for short and long term hire.
What's new on e-Bility.com?
Brochure stand
Braille Window Project
An initiative of Braille Space, the Braille Window Project is an accessible, community-based art project built on braille. It incorporates writing, video, sound and live performance - the 'act' of reading braille - on a city street-front window whilst the world streams by.
Keren's Place
Enjoy the rustic charm of Keren's Place, a fully self-contained 2-bedroom cottage with wheelchair access and bathroom facilities for people with disability and older people with access difficulties.
Disability classifieds
Wheelchair accessible properties for sale
Two spacious wheelchair accessible homes have recently been listed by real estate agents in Western Australia and Queensland.
Second hand equipment for sale
There are a wide variety of items listed under Buy & Sell, including MOTOmed gym equipment, manual or power wheelchairs, Roho pressure care cushion, FloCon car wheelchair lifter, hoists, Borringa portable commode, recliner lounge, folding ramps, children's equipment (Micah-V Special Needs Tricycle, Josh chair, Jenx Humphrey standing frame, R82 Flamingo shower/commode chair) and more.
Second hand accessible vehicles for sale
The vehicle listings have experienced a growth over the last few months with items being updated on a regular basis.
SWAP Shoes
Several new single shoes and mismatched pairs have been added to the Shoes Without A Partner (SWAP Shoes) database. Feedback on the usefulness of this service and any suggestions would be appreciated as an upgrade of the site is planned for 2009.
Exhibit Hall
Flashcab Rentals
Flashcab Rentals provide wheelchair accessible vehicle hire SE Queensland. They have a range of purpose built vehicles to suit your needs while on holiday or for getting out and about with friends and family.
Disability news
Access All Areas Film Festival
Don't DIS my ABILITY and The Festivalists present the inaugural AAA Film Festival - NSW's first fully accessible travelling film festival.
Bombs Away for Louis Braille's Birthday
2009 will be a time for blind people to celebrate the gift beyond price that Louis Braille gave to the world. In Sydney BOMB (Braille on Manly Beach) will be making a braille message in the sand to mark the occasion.
Carer's Summit
The Carers Virtual 2020 summit explores the big ideas that will support Australia's carers and their families. Participation is open to all carers and anyone who wishes to comment.
Social Accessibility Project
The Social Accessibility Project harnesses the power of the open source community to help make Web pages more accessible to people with disability. This pilot service focuses on users of screen readers, who can report problems to the Social Accessibility server, where volunteers can respond by creating and publishing the requested accessibility metadata.
Daden Launches Accessible Web Browser for Second Life
A new publicly available web browser for Second Life that is based on technology originally developed for people with vision impairment, so if a web site is accessible it should work well with Daden Navigator.
Web 2.0 Access Technologies
Research into accessibility of Web 2.0 technologies for people with vision impairment aimed at understanding the sighted user's experience and mapping this to audio for people who are blind.
RNIB Surf Right Toolbar
The Surf Right Toolbar is designed to make adjusting certain options within Internet Explorer quicker and easier, using either the mouse or keyboard.
Fair Trading Consumer Information
The New South Wales Government Office of Fair Trading has recently published a series of consumer information resources as audio files to assist people with print disability.
Articles
Maritime inclusive environments and practice
The Waypoint-Backstrom Principles assume the principles of Universal Design but with emphasis on maritime environments and accessibility of water craft by passengers with disability, including issues of embarkation and debarkation, intermodal transport, personal safety, and human impact on the natural environment.
Wheelchair basketball with 'sporting wheelies'
Wheelchair Basketball is a spectacular team sport modelled on the able-bodied game of basketball. In Australia, and internationally, there are programs catering for members who want to have fun, socialise and learn new skills as well as elite athletes who wish to play competitively.
Have Wheelchair Will Travel - Part 2
The continuing travel diary of an around-the-world wheelchair accessible family holiday, England to USA, visiting New York, California and Mexico.
Re-inventing the Wheel[chair]
An innovative folding wheel that enables a full sized wheelchair wheel as well as wheelchair frame to be folded into a compact and convenient package for transportation and storage.
Integration through playing
Every Friday the staff of the Disability Community Centre (DCC) in Kenya heads off to attend an outdoor Integrated Play Group where groups of children with disability have an opportunity to enjoy play experiences that encourage social interaction.
Wheelchair adventure travel and kayaking in Glacier Bay Alaska
All travel is adventure travel when you have a disability & dangling there over the 34 degree Fahrenheit water of Glacier Bay Alaska, I was on my way down to the tandem kayak …
Zach's story
A young person's perspective on living with the skin condition epidermolysis bullosa
What's new on the WWW?
Traumatic brain injury training kit
The Brain Injury Unit, Liverpool Hospital has been funded to provide an on-line kit to assist staff working with people who have a traumatic brain injury. The kit includes 8 self-study modules for staff working with people with TBI as well as downloadable presenter notes for use by trainers who are running workshop sessions for staff working with people with TBI
Web Anywhere
WebAnywhere is a web-based screen reader for the web that has been recently launched as an Alpha Release. It requires no special software to be installed and enables blind people to access the web from any computer they happen to have access to that has a sound card.
Presentations from the 2008 Communications Consumer Dialogue Conference
Speaker's papers and thoughts on how technology has enabled them to foster a sense of community and achieve equitable access; regardless of age, ability, background or socio-economic status are now available for download.
Print What You Like
A Google bookmarklet that lets users select areas they want to print (eg only the textual or graphical content). Includes adjustments for font style, size, isolated sections, widening or narrowing columns, removing background images and other useful options for producing more readable, print-friendly pages.
Ghotit Context Spell Checker Service
A free access on-line contextual iterative speller. Ghotit was founded by people with dyslexia, and have developed unique spelling algorithms to meet the needs of people with learning difficulties.
System Access To Go
A free online text reader that works on any computer with Internet access and sound.
ZAC Browser
ZAC is the first web browser developed specifically for children with autism. It focuses on the children and their interaction, allowing the child to interact directly with lots of games and activities that cater specifically to kids who display the characteristics of autism spectrum disorders. Games include social skills, communication, and cover a wide range of interest.
Journal of International O&M
The first journal on orientation and Mobility for people with vision impairment is now available and is free for those in Australia
Disability Studies Quarterly (DSQ)
DSQ is the journal of the Society for Disability Studies. It is a multidisciplinary and international journal of interest to social scientists, scholars in the humanities, disability rights advocates, creative writers, and others concerned with the issues of people with disabilities. This quarter is now available on-line and entirely open access.
Easy YouTube
A simplified YouTube video interface, with big button controls, sizing options for the video screen and reduced distraction from background content.
Ombo-Info
An electronic newsletter service distributed three times a year has been announced by NSW Ombudsman to help promote good conduct and fair decision-making in the interests of the NSW community. Newlsetter topics cover information on issues such as the deaths of people with disability in care, complaint handling in family support services, support for foster carers of Aboriginal children, the National Child Protection Framework, new community language resources and more. Subscription is free to both organisations and individuals.
MyTime
MyTime groups provide local support for mums, dads, grandparents and anyone caring for a young child under school age with a disability or chronic medical condition. Each group is supported by two workers – a facilitator for parents and a play helper for children. A facilitator works with parent groups, helping them get to know each other and decide on topics or activities for their group to discuss. Groups have at least four parents and usually meet once a week for a couple of hours.
