News

Tuesday night marked a significant step in the fight for more benefits for persons with disabilities in Canada, as the second reading of Bill C-22 passed with unanimous support in parliament.

In New Brunswick, the Coalition for Persons with Disabilities held a virtual rally aimed at fast-tracking that bill and seeking to get the attention of MPs.

During the rally that lasted well over an hour, many persons with disabilities and advocates shared their concerns with the current model, speaking on how critical adding those funds would be.

Who: Lawrence Young filed a class action lawsuit against the Ladies Professional Golf Association.
Why:
Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in New York federal court.

Who: A blind woman sued Modshop.
Why: The plaintiff says the retailer does not make its website accessible to those using a screen reader.
Where: The Modshop website class action was filed in a New York federal court.

Who: A legally blind woman sued the radio subscription company SiriusXM.
Why: The plaintiff says the company violates the law because its website is not accessible to those using a screen reader.
Where: The Sirius XM class action lawsuit was filed in a New York federal court.

The U.S. Supreme Court will soon hear arguments in a case centering on how families and schools go about resolving disputes over services for students with disabilities.

The justices said this month that they will take up the matter known as Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools, which raises two questions under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

The world is studded with tools to navigate life, but those resources – from the schedule posted at your local bus stop to the cellphone in your pocket – aren’t always accessible for people with disabilities. They may be forced to spend extra time, energy or money to access the same information or experiences as non-disabled people. Inventor Joshua Miele says it doesn’t have to be that way.

When the National Aeronautics and Space Administration uploaded the first photo of the early universe from its James Webb telescope to Twitter, it included a highly detailed description of the deep-field snapshot.

“Most stars appear blue, and are sometimes as large as more distant galaxies that appear next to them,” read one portion of the 126-word description posted by NASA on Monday. “A very bright star is just above and left of center. It has eight bright blue, long diffraction spikes.”

East Hanover, NJ. October 24, 2022. Unemployment rose slightly in September for people with disabilities, reflecting a net rise in individuals entering the labor force, according to today’s National Trends in Disability Employment (nTIDE) COVID Update. Experts referenced the increases in labor force participation and the employment-to-population ratio in this month’s nTIDE September Job Report released on October 7.

Like many Americans, I like to consume news first thing in the morning. After my wife and I prepare breakfast, we open our phones and catch up on the day’s headlines. But while my wife has finished the article and is ready to discuss it, I’m still working on the third paragraph. My wife likes to read with her eyes, but as a person with dyslexia, I like to read with my ears, something that is not always offered as a form of accessibility for written content.

It’s Disability Employment Awareness month, and as the workforce evolves, so must our communications.