Access Tourism NZ TOURISM FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES, SENIORS, AND AGEING BOOMERS IN NEW ZEALAND AND WORLDWIDE

DisabledGo reports that a new website – My Access London -  has been created in anticipation of next years Olympics and Paralympics.  If you want to find out about the disabled access at venues or attractions across the capital this site has information to over 17,000 venues, including major tourist attractions like the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, London Zoo and the O2 Arena. All have been visited and assessed in person.   The site which officially launches at the beginning of June has been entirely funded and developed by DisabledGo, in response to feedback from disabled people and partner London boroughs who wanted to see an access guide totally dedicated to London.

The website offers an unprecedented choice of personally surveyed access guides.  Access Tourism New Zealand commends DisabledGo’s commitment to never publish self-assessed, non-verified information, that is, information provided by for example tourism venue owners such as accommodation providers or attractions unless it has been independently assessed.   As a research project in NZ has found (Rhodda, 2007), only about a third of tourism operators correctly self-assess their access for people with disabilities.

The number of venues featured on www.myaccesslondon.com will significantly increase during 2011 in the build up to next year’s Olympic Games. In July alone, 2,000 additional venues will be added thanks to new partnerships with London boroughs. If you would like more information about www.myaccesslondon.com please contact Rachel Felton, External Relations Manager. E: rachel.felton@disabledgo.com T: 01438 842710

The John F. Kennedy for the Performing Arts and partners are holding a conference on Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability (LEAD) in August.  LEAD has been engaging cultural administrators from around the world in a conversation on accessibility, disability and inclusion for more than 10 years. Two days of conference are preceded by three days of relevant pre-conference workshops. The conference is aimed at cultural organizations such as museums, galleries, and theatres, and at state and local governments, universities and colleges and anyone involved in the arts with an interest in access for people with disabilities. It will consider a broad range of access topics, such as web accessibility, social media, captioning in theatres, the Americans with Disabilities Act, access evaluations, staff and volunteer training, effective access planning, effective communication for people who are blind/low vision, and/or deaf/hard of hearing, audio description, funding, grants, and much more.  LEAD is a professional network focused on expanding the breadth and scope of accessibility services and programming across the USA and around the world. The network:

• explores practical methods for implementing accessibility in cultural environments;
• communicates information about arts and accessibility, and;
• shares resources and knowledge among professionals in the field of accessibility.

 A variety of helpful tip sheets can be found here.

Museums across Australia have been offering audio tours for some time but now there is a way for Deaf and hearing impaired Australians to gain access to this information: through a smart phone! The Smart Auslan (Australian Sign Language) service has been introduced at the National Sports Museum in Melbourne. Each year, approximately 150,000 people visit the National Sports Museum and listen to audio descriptions of the exhibitions.  Now Deaf and hearing impaired Australians can access the same information.  Visitors use this application (or a preloaded device available at the museum) to scan a Quick Response code at each exhibit. The device then plays a video with Auslan sign language translation and captions.

This North American spring (2011), a company called Up & Away Ballooning will become the first hot air balloon operator in the United States to offer wheelchair using  adventurers the opportunity to soar above the California’s Sonoma County.  Up & Away Ballooning ordered specially-designed easy-access basket from London, designed to include everyone. The basket measures approximately 4 feet by 7 feet and can carry a wheelchair rider and up to three others.  Mike and Patti Kijak, owners of Up & Away Ballooning made the decision to purchase the wheelchair accessible basket in response to numerous inquiries from private individuals and travel agents with clients seeking to experience Northern California’s picturesque Wine Country from a balloon.   “It’s a dream three years in the making,” says Mike.  You can watch a YouTube presentation about ballooning  over Sonoma Valley in a wheelchair here, and listen to a Big Blend radio interview about the project here.  

 Contact: Mike Kijak, Email: flightinfor@up-away.com, Phone: 707-836-0171, Toll Free within the states: 1800-711-2998

A new UK website that has articles on accessibility to gardens has been launched .   Accessible Gardens has a Directory of gardens in England and Wales written by disabled people for disabled people.  The reviews are also helpful for others who need access information, for example, parents with pushchairs and seniors.   Reviews can be submitted to the website by garden visitors thus giving realistic evaluations by users.  Created by Bella D’Arcy, a community garden designer and writer who uses a stick and sometimes a wheelchair or mobility scooter, the website so far has reviews of gardens in 18 counties.  Its ambition is to cover the whole of the UK with independent reports of the accessibility of gardens written by people with disabilities, to assist gardens with their accessibility and with the information they put on their website, and to cover other areas of access and gardens.

In February, the USA  Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the winners of the fourth annual “Building Healthy Communities for Active Ageing Award”.  The principal goal of the Award program is to raise awareness across the US about healthy synergies that can be achieved when communities combine and implement the principles of smart growth with the concepts of active aging.  

What began as an initiative by the World Health Organization in 2007 has now trickled down to cities across the US, Canada, Europe, Latin America, and beyond. In its push for the continued creation of environments that foster social inclusion and social participation, WHO stresses that “Active ageing is a lifelong process, …[therefore] an age-friendly city is not just ‘elderly friendly.’

Smart growth principles include  communities designing places that increase mobility and improve quality of life. Neighborhoods that integrate homes with shops, services, and parks and recreational facilities allow residents—especially older adults—to pursue an interesting and active life without depending on a car.  Active aging takes place when elders regularly participate in structured and unstructured physical activities.  By 2030, the 65 and older population in the United States is expected to reach nearly 20 percent, or more than 70 million.  Communities can promote Active aging by implementing a diverse array of accessible physical activity programs or self-directed activities such as walking and biking to local parks and greenways.

The EPA Achievement Award winners are public sector entities or neighborhood or non-government organizations that demonstrate excellence in building healthy communities for active aging.  One of the 201 winners was the City of Charlotte, North Carolina.  In the last five years, Charlotte has built sixteen miles of greenways, 88 miles of bike facilities and 106 miles of sidewalks have been completed. By retrofitting dozens of streets and adding ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) ramps at intersections, the City has made improvements for pedestrians of all ages and abilities.  The other recipient was Brazos Valley Council of Governments, Texas. Brazos improved biking and walking facilities, developed a wheelchair accessible trail system at Wolf Penn Creek, and a LifeTrail™, a fitness circuit designed to meet the needs of persons of all abilities, amongst other things.

Meanwhile, Colin Milner, CEO of the International Council on Active Aging points out that those 50 and older represent a huge market.  ”While there’s bound to be some segmentation, certain values, principles, and social-economic forces are converging to the point where we can make some predictions for the market as a whole.”  These include growth of “green exercise” and green communities. “Hiking, trail walks, meditation gardens, labyrinths, cycling paths, gardening, and eco tourism will flourish going forward,” says Milner

 Sources: US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

 Members of the Pacific Disability Forum (PDF), including Governments of countries in the Pacific region, as well as development organizations, non-governmental and civil society organizations and human rights institutions in the region attended the Second Pacific Regional Conference on Disability. The Conference was held from 4 to 7 April in Auckland, New Zealand, under the theme “Promoting Actions on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in the Pacific Region”. The outcome document included a list of recommendations to all stakeholders to take significant and tangible steps to further implement the Convention and empower persons with disabilities and their organizations. Members of the Pacific Disability Forum called on all Pacific island Governments and development partners to recognize (amongst other things)  the rights of persons with disabilities in recreational, leisure and sporting activities as mandated in Article 30.5 of the CRPD.

Taupō District Council has released a new brochure designed to make it easier for people who have a mobility issue to get around and enjoy what the district has to offer.   The Taupō District Access Brochure is a joint venture between Taupō District Council and the Taupō Mobility Access Reference Group (TMARG). TMARG is a community group who meet regularly to look at access issues in our community on behalf of people with a range of restricted mobility, sight and hearing impairments.  

The brochure will inform community members and visitors to the district of accessible facilities, such as banks, ATMs, accommodation, dining, parking, public toilets, respite care and medical facilities.  The brochure will be available from Taupō district i-Site’s and respite/retirements homes, and will also be on the Taupō District Council website. 

The six month project involved auditing every public facility in the CBD of Taupō, Turangi and Mangakino, and giving a rating of poor, moderate or good. Accessible Taupo Project worker Lucinda Stone, together with TMARG member Chance Anderson – who has skills gained from his Barrier Free Audit training – took on the task of checking and rating the facilities.  Access Tourism NZ applauds the fact that assessments of facilities have been done independently.  “Too often in Access brochures, opertors such as accommodation owners rate their own facilities as accessible, when quit frankly, they have no idea of what true access is” said Sandra Rhodda of ATNZ.    ”Kudos to this council for going the extra mile and doing the job properly”.

Production of Taupō District Access Brochure is kindly supported by Lakeland Disability Support Trust.

The Annals of Leisure Research is seeking papers for a special issue that examines the inclusion and citizenship of people with disability in “cultural life” (recreation, leisure, the arts, sport, or tourism).  The purpose is to:

a)      clarify what the terms inclusion and citizenship mean in different cultures;

b)      to place inclusion and citizenship to ‘cultural life ‘(recreation, leisure, the arts, sport or tourism) across discourses relating to economic, social and environmental contexts that affect people with disabilities participation; and

c)       to discuss the terms inclusion and citizenship from the ideological frameworks of government, researchers, providers of service or disability advocacy groups.

Submissions are sought from the consumer (demand), providers (supply) and coordination/regulation (government) sector perspectives. The guest editors invite interested researchers to contribute theoretical, methodological or empirical papers related to the theme of this Special Issue. The topics of potential papers include but are not limited to:

• The role of inclusion and citizenship in the construction of ‘cultural life’(recreation, leisure, the arts, sport or tourism) environments and experiences;
• What is the impact of inclusion/exclusion on the person and their experiences?;
• The social and/or cultural construction of inclusion in ‘cultural life’(recreation, leisure, the arts, sport or tourism) activities and experiences;
• The role of inclusion in the construction of cultural, sub cultural and personal identities of different societies;
• The role of inclusion in the construction and/or deconstruction of the intersection with gendered, ethnic and sexual identities within the experience of ‘cultural life’(recreation, leisure, the arts, sport or tourism);
• How experiences of inclusion compare and contrast between different dimensions of disability (e.g. mobility, vision, hearing, cognitive, sensitivities etc.);
• The impact of inclusion and citizenship within space and place making

Important Dates:

• Abstract deadline: 30 June 2011 to Jerome(at)dal.ca
• Notification of acceptance of abstracts deadline: 1 August 2011
• Submission for double-blind reviewing process: 30 November2011
• Review Process Notification: 30 January  2012
• Special issue publication: June or December 2012

For submission guidelines and more, continue reading……………..

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The Pacific Rim International Conference on Disabilities (Pac Rim) will this year include a number of themes in the realm of tourism.  These are:

• Best practice for inclusive and accessible tourism which includes destination, products, and services
• Accessible tourism best practices, information, guidelines, audits for tourism products
• Universal design (i.e., design which includes all people) for tourism, sport, and recreation, international accessibility standards, and technologies
• Community tourism as a means to reduce poverty and prevent disability or provide accessibility or services

The Pac Rim conference takes place April 18 and 19^th in Honolulu.   Pac Rim – run by the Centre on Disability Studies, University of Hawaii – has been widely recognized over the past 25 years as one of the most “diverse gatherings” in the world.   Each year the conference hews to its traditional areas which have bred much of the interdisciplinary research and educational advances of the last three decades. But each year new topics are introduced to foment discussion and change. The intent is to harness the tremendous synergy as generated by the intermingling of these diverse perspectives.  The event encourages and respects voices from “diverse” perspective across numerous areas, including: voices from persons representing all disability areas; experiences of family members and supporters across all disability areas; responsiveness to diverse cultural and language differences; evidence of researchers and academics studying disability; stories of persons providing powerful lessons; examples of program providers, natural supports and allies of persons with disabilities and; action plans to meet human and social needs in a globalized world.

The World Leisure Journal announces a special issue on Leisure, Health, and Disability aimed at a wide range of topics. Empirical research (both qualitative and quantitative), systematic reviews, scholarly descriptions, brief reports, and book reviews are invited.

Sample topics may include:

•  Models of disablement and their implications for leisure and health research
• Intersections of aging and disability
• Disability demographics and statistics as they apply to leisure behavior and services
• World Health Organization’s ICF and its implications for leisure and health services
• Research on service provision for individuals with disabilities (including therapeutic
• recreation)
• Policy and systemic issues relating to disability, health, and leisure
• Medical and health-related travel and tourism
• Accessible travel and tourism
• Trends and issues in leisure and health service provision for individuals with disabilities
• Research and service gaps in leisure and health for individuals with disabilities
• New methodologies for researching leisure, health, and disability phenomena
• Technology’s impact on the equalization of opportunities for those with disabilities

 For more information, continue reading……………….

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Visitors to London with specific accessibility needs will soon find it easier to plan and make the most of their stay in the capital using information from a new website – Inclusive London – launched today.  People planning a trip to the city will be able to use InclusiveLondon.com to find out about the accessibility features of hotels, restaurants, pubs, shops, museums and tourist attractions, the 2012 Games venues and more.   The user-friendly site, which will continue to run after the Games, allows people to post reviews and give feedback about the accessibility facilities offered by a place they have visited. Businesses are being encouraged to log on and sign-up to the site so they can register their details and advertise the accessible facilities they offer. The plan is for the site to become a first port of call for people who will be planning a trip to the capital in 2012 and beyond.  The spending power of disabled people in the UK is estimated to be in the region of £80billion each year.

 “At the Beijing Games in 2008 the Mayor said that the next Games in London would be the most accessible ever. I also want everybody to have the same opportunities to experience the wonders of this great city whenever they come, whether it is experiencing a great event or touring its wonderful attractions from its museums and theatres to its shops and restaurants.  This is a first for a host city and I am confident that as users add information to the site it will become a valuable one stop shop to help visitors with specific access needs to get around the capital and make the most of their stay,” said Deputy Mayor of London Richard Barnes.

Chris Holmes, Director of Paralympic Integration at the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), and a former Paralympian said: “InclusiveLondon.com is a fantastic tool that will help us to deliver the most accessible and inclusive Games ever. The site is an invaluable resource for anyone with additional access needs, whether you’re a sports fan planning a trip to the city or simply someone who wants to soak up the party atmosphere during the Games.”

Joyce Cook, Chair of Level Playing Field, said: “One of the biggest challenges faced by any travelling disabled sports fan is to find reliable information on accessible accommodation, tourist spots and travel around a city. We very much welcome this new website which will most definitely be of great help to disabled travellers visiting London 2012 for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

Grant Kennedy, Chief Executive of Direct Enquiries (which operates a national guide to accessible businesses – Inclusive Britain – which receives millions of hits every week), said: “Direct Enquiries are delighted to work in partnership with the GLA on this exciting project. InclusiveLondon.com will provide valuable information to millions of people who require specific access and facilities. This site will lead to disabled and older people having greater choice and will assist companies to improve their service for a wider audience’.

Inclusivelondon.com can filter search results by various accessibility features, such as whether a location has wheelchair or pushchair access, if there are hearing loops available, if there are baby changing facilities, whether assistance dogs are welcome and details of parking and toilet facilities. It can also help people plan their trip to the capital by providing a direct link to the Transport for London Journey Planner.  It has been developed by the London 2012 team at City Hall working with Direct Enquiries.   InclusiveLondon.com can be accessed via VisitLondon.com, the capital’s official visitor organisation which receives around 1.5 million visits a month.   Currently more than 7,700 locations have accessibility information against them.  Business and individuals are being actively encouraged to visit the site and add information that is available. Over the course of the next year the information will be increased, and organisations involved in the hospitality industry will be contacted to ask them to add their details.  Individuals are also being urged to play their part and add information and review the places they have visited.

With the European Union  estimating the Access Tourism market in Europe to be worth €80B, it is foolish not to take the chance to look make the Vuokattin region of  Finland  a destination of choice for everybody to enjoy regardless of their physical capabilities.   So says Danny Silva, Project Manager of the ELMA project at Vuokatti For All.    The  ELMA Project is committed to serving the region and all those who select Vuokatti and Kainuu as their destination of choice whether it be for holiday, business or any other reason.  It aims to create a high level sport and leisure environment for people with disabilities (PwDs).   “In my personal opinion (although influenced by proven research) sport is a pleasurable and healthy activity for all and Vuokatti’s main potential is sport and leisure tourism and the fact that a barrier-free sport and leisure environment is a rare but very desired thing, we now have the tools to become unique and a sought out destination” says Silva.    ELMA want to support all individuals and inspired entrepreneurs who look to develop in the Accessibility markets.   Silva reminds people that being accessible is not just about ramps and elevators but also about hospitality, friendliness, security, support and lots of fun.

 ELMA is also working with Snowpolis – a unique technology park with 27 companies specialising in wellness and sport – to coordinate the “Able Access for All Exchange” program (AAAE).  The AAAE is a European Union Calypso Project  for low season tourism exchanges for PwDs and others to travel to Europe’s holiday spots.  The AAAE will involve 2 other member states: Portugal and Cyprus.  Snowpolis will coordinate the activities of this project and the participating countries. The activities aim at studying, testing and proposing the possibilities of creating tourism exchange programs between organizations of different member states whilst using specific target groups to experience unique programs of the visited countries and promote low seasonality as a key period for a holiday.

The National Center on Accessibility at Indiana University has a training course in April called ”Retrofitting for Accessibility” which focuses on the application of the Americans with Disabilities accessibility standards and proposed guidelines to the built environment and outdoor developed areas. The course (which doesn’t have the most positive of titles) includes an introduction to the draft final accessibility guidelines for outdoor developed areas, barrier removal, safety issues associated with accessibility, and ongoing facility maintenance to assure optimum access for visitors including those with disabilities.  It will be of interest to maintenance professionals, construction specialists, facility managers, trails supervisors, architects, forest access coordinators, landscape architects, civil engineers, parks planners, visitor services specialists, program development specialists, preservation supervisors, concessionaires, safety officers, and accessibility coordinators.  Sessions will also provide an understanding of the characteristics and needs of people with disabilities, and has an active field-based component identifying design problems in existing facilities.

UK companies have been urged by the CEO of People 1^st  – the sector skills council for the hospitality, leisure, tourism and travel industries – to ensure their services are “disability-friendly” and accessible ahead of the London Olympics and Paralympics 2012.  Brian Wisdom said that businesses would be short-sighted if they do not make moves to improve accessibility, as more than 20% of Britons have a disability.  The estimated annual purchasing power of people with disabilities in the UK is £80 billion.  BBC commentator and Paralympic gold medallist Marc Woods notes that there are simple steps businesses can take to welcome people with disabilities.  These include being friendly and respectful, because 66% of disabled people choose businesses renowned for good customer service and 83%  percent have taken their business to a more accessible competitor.

According to the London Organising Committee of the Games, thousands of applications to become Games Maker volunteers have been received from disabled people.  A new campaign to train 200,000 hospitality and tourism staff ahead of the Games has been launched by People 1st with backing from VisitEngland.  The WorldHost training programme includes learning modules on serving customers with disabilities. It covers topics such as knowing the right language to use and being aware of feelings, misconceptions and biases

On the official Rugby World Cup 2011 website (RWC2011), it states on a page headed “Accessible Information” that the cup “will be an event for everyone to enjoy and as such we want to make it as easy as possible for fans to find the information they need on this website.”  However, there is no facility on the RWC2011 site to search for information about access, and there are other problems with access information on the site and with access to the games.  Now to make matters worse, taxis and private vehicles will be banned from Wellington’s Westpac Stadium during the games because they are considered a security threat. Wellington Combined Taxis GM Kevin Braid says the company is concerned for elderly and disabled people trying to get to the stadium.  New Zealand Taxi Federation secretary George Tyler has said the decision is ridiculous and bad news for the elderly.  ”On a cold and wet day when you’re 83 like me, it’s a bloody long way to walk [to the stadium].  I don’t think it is a best image for New Zealand or for Wellington.”   Information about this ban has already appeared on international websites.  Taxis and private vehicles are already also banned during some other events, such as the AC/DC Black Ice Tour later this month.  Wellington buses are not accessible for mobility scooters and not all bus stops are wheelchair accessible.  There is as yet no information on the NZ Tourism Guide website on how mobility scooter users, or wheelchair users near inaccessible bus stops are to get to the games.   In fact, the NZTG site states that “most urban transport buses are not equipped to cater for the disabled.”  Hopefully, this will change before RWC2011 so that people with disabilities can partake of the games as is guaranteed in NZ’s disability legislation and in international instruments that we have signed, such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities (CRPD).  CRPD specifies that States Parties shall “ensure that persons with disabilities have access to sporting, recreational and tourism venues”, amongst other things (Article 30).  Clearly, this is not happening yet.

Planning is well underway for the 18^th International Symposium of Adapted Physical Activity (ISAPA 2011) in Christchurch, New Zealand, and registration is now open.   The conference is being held at the Hotel Grand Chancellor, July 4-8 2011. The International Symposium on Adapted Physical Activity (ISAPA) is held every second year to provide physical activity professionals with an opportunity to share their knowledge and experience.   Adapted physical activity (APA) is a professional branch of kinesiology / physical education / sport & human movement sciences, which is directed toward persons who require adaptation for participation in the context of physical activity.  ISAPA programmes include research presentations, building sessions for the discussion of new ideas, practical workshops for new activities and an international film contest. In addition to the ISAPA, regional conferences are held regularly by the Asian, European, and North American regional organizations.  International Symposia are held alternate years.  ISAPA adds new details regularly to their website about New Zealand, visa requirements, accommodation, and biographies and photos of keynote speakers.   

If you have any queries about ISAPA 2011 please contact them by emailing isapa2011@tcc.co.nz or visit the website at www.isapa2011.com.

Equal treatment and equal access for Europeans with disabilities in all spheres of life – that is the goal of the European Commission’s new European Disability Strategy 2010-2020, which was unveiled in Brussels on the 15 November.  The plan outlines how the EU and national governments can empower the one-in-six (80 million) people in the European Union with disabilities so they can enjoy their rights.  Specific measures over the next decade range from the mutual recognition of national disability cards, the promotion of standardisation to a more targeted use of public procurement and state aid rules.  The strategy includes a list of concrete actions and a timetable.   It focuses on eliminating barriers and includes “Participation” as one of the eight main areas for action.  Participation includes the right to full access to cultural, recreational, and sports activities, and the Commission will work to “improve the accessibility of sports, leisure, cultural and recreational organisations, activities, events, venues, goods and services including audiovisual ones”.

The Commission will regularly report on the plan’s achievements and progress complying with its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities which it has signed.  The Convention specifies participation in cultural life, recreation, and sport as a right, including the right to access tourism venues and services (Article 30). 

The commission “will also consider proposing a “European Accessibility Act“, which would set EU standards for products, services, and public buildings.”

In a first for New Zealand, The New Zealand Tourism Research Institute at Auckland University of Technology has created a Research Programme Area in Access Tourism headed by Sandra Rhodda. 

 NZTRI’s Access Tourism programme aims to research and develop Access Tourism in NZ.  Access Tourism is tourism, travel, and hospitality for people with permanent or temporary disabilities, seniors, parents with strollers, and any person with a need for improved access.  This is an interdisciplinary research area that addresses the challenges and opportunities presented by Access Tourism.

The Access Tourist already represents a sizeable proportion of our tourism markets.  Between 17 and 20% of the population in our main markets already report a disability, and this percentage is bound to grow because the large Baby Boomer cohort is ageing and disability increases with age.  Those aged 45 or older already comprise almost half of our domestic and international visitors (and over 70% of our cruise ship visitors).

Areas of interest include:

• Research and policy development
• Understanding the Access Tourism market
• Awareness promotion and education of government and industry to the potential of Access Tourism
• Access Tourism product development and marketing in NZ
• Promotion of cooperation in a developing Access Tourism sector, including in the public and private sector
• Access Tourist satisfaction and motivation
• Economic and social benefits of Access Tourism
• Access Tourism as an important factor in tourism sustainability
• Relationship of Access tourism to Health, Wellness, and Medical Tourism
• Opportunities for Access Tourism legacy development around major events such as RWC2011

Andy Kennedy writes in  Access Anything’s The Traveler about several changes in regulations in the USA concerning recreation.  In July,  Attorney General Eric Holder signed final regulations revising the Department’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations , including its ADA Standards for Accessible Design. The Department has prepared fact sheets identifying the major changes in the rules which include those at recreational facilities, including swimming pools, playgrounds, golf courses, amusement rides, recreational boating facilities, exercise machines and equipment, miniature golf courses and fishing piers; as well as for such public facilities as courthouses, jails and prisons.   In October, the Twenty-First Century Communications & Video Accessibility Act came into effect.   This new law ensures that Americans with disabilities can more fully participate in society and enjoy all that new technologies have to offer–especially Internet-based and mobile services.

The law will make it easier for people who are deaf, blind or have low vision to access the Internet, smart phones, television programming and other communications and video technologies. It will also make sure that emergency information is accessible to individuals who are blind or have low vision. In addition, $10 mil­lion per year will be allocated from the Interstate Telecommunications Relay Services Fund for equipment used by individuals who are deaf-blind.   The law also applies to on-board entertainment in airline travel, which hasn’t been captioned for deaf travellers as of yet, despite the fact that all movies and TV shows must be captioned (the airlines actually remove them). “Finally, 30 million Americans with hearing loss will be equal to the rest”, writes Kennedy.  Meanwhile a new website called “Fix the Web” has launched in the U.K. which allows people to report inaccessible web sites after which volunteers will report complaints back to site owners.

Common issues that arise when disabled users surf the web include:

• sites which are incompatible with screen readers
• text that is difficult to read
• websites that prohibit access for non-mouse users
• over-fussy and distracting layouts.