Canada

Donna Jodhan, who is blind, is taking the federal government to court because government websites are not accessible to blind and partially-sighted Internet
users.

Donna Jodhan was one of the first blind people in Canada to earn an MBA, in 1981, and one of the first in the world to obtain technical certifications from
software companies Microsoft and Novell.

So the Toronto accessibility consultant was shocked in 2004 when she had trouble applying for a position posted on the federal government’s jobs website.

Talk of inclusiveness and equal access for all is everywhere -- but that doesn't mean reality has caught up to rhetoric. As a Calgarian with a disability,
I constantly run up against barriers that turn routine activities into onerous challenges.

Improving accessibility for Calgary citizens has never been as high a priority for civic leaders as it should be, as Sharon Foo, a Calgary freelance writer
with a disability, noted in last Monday's Herald. I'd like to respond to the challenge she issued by setting out how, as Mayor of Calgary, I will confront
what is clearly a very personal issue.

Canada has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on the eve of the Paralympic Games in Vancouver.

“Canada is committed to promoting and protecting the rights of persons with disabilities and enabling their full participation in society,” Foreign Affairs
Minister Lawrence Cannon said Thursday after delivering the ratified document to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in New York City as activist Traci Walters
looked on, beaming, from her wheelchair.

Testing shows Vancouver2010.com and CTVOlympics.ca are almost impossible to use for some people with physical disabilities, and hard to use and understand for blind or deaf people.

John Furlong made a promise

In 2004, Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) CEO John Furlong
promised that the Web sites for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games would be accessible to disabled people. This was important, because a blind man in Australia
could not use the Web site of the Sydney 2000 Olympics and later won a human-rights case against the Sydney Olympic organizing committee and IBM.

The City of Mississauga’s seventh Accessibility Plan; 2009 Annual Report and 2010 Initiatives was received today at Council.

“Removing barriers to persons with disabilities ensures that all citizens have access to our services,” said Diana Simpson, City accessibility coordinator. 
“Our staff now have the tools to accommodate and better understand customers with disabilities.”

Simpson explained that the City’s focus for 2010 and beyond will be to develop a sustainment plan for delivering accessible customer service, to continue
to implement accessible improvements to Mississauga Transit and to monitor the provincial accessibility standards.

Imagine taking your blind child to your local library and finding an extraordinary collection that you can read together -- your son's fingertips following
along in braille as you read the words aloud.

Imagine your teenage daughter devouring every word of Twilight on her MP3 player -- and being able to join her sighted friends' conversation about Bella
and Edward's forbidden love.

Imagine your aging parent losing his sight to macular degeneration -- and seeing the joy on his face when he receives in the mail the latest shipment of
talking books and magazines.

Literacy is at the heart of how we connect with the world around us: our education, employment and participation in culture and civic life depend on our
ability to read.

Yet reading is something most people take for granted.

For 79,000 Albertans with vision loss, the right to read is in jeopardy. Without partnerships with our federal and provincial governments, the CNIB library
could be closed in two years.

TUNISIAONLINENEWS- Tunisia continues to give a particular interest to the disabled people in order to ensure their effective integration into everyday life.
In a view of the Tunisian-Canadian cooperation, the regional union of the blind in the governorate of Gabes, printed textbooks materials into Braille,
a tactile written system of communication for the blind or visually impaired.

This cooperation has also provided computer rooms for two primary schools and a college in the southern region of Tunisia. The regional union of the blind
in the governorate of  Gabes has also received a Braille printer as a gift from Canada.

The CNIB says it can no longer afford to run Canada's largest library of braille and accessible audio materials.

CNIB has used donated money to run the library for more than 90 years. But the charity said Tuesday that it can no longer sustain the $10-million annual
operating cost of the service.

Removing service barriers for people with disabilities means much more than simply making sure buildings are accessible, said a member of the Mayor's disability advisory committee.

"Yes, ramps are important but it really goes way beyond ramps," said Ian Greaves, of Niagara Falls.

For Jan Huebert, the new year will hopefully bring a new appreciation for guide dogs like her beloved Trillium.

Bad experiences, mostly involving store clerks or cab drivers, have been few, said the elementary school teacher. But those instances where her guide dog has been shunned have made it clear that more education and training is needed when it comes to serving people with disabilities.

The Ontario government ushered in new guidelines for customer service Friday under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. The guidelines
affect the public sector. The private sector -- retail outlets, restaurants and such -- have until 2012 to comply.