Skip to main content

Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2023

 I was fortunate enough to be invited as a panellist for GenU's inaugural webinar for the Global Accessibility Awareness Day. 

The GAAD aims to raise awareness and promote global accessibility for people with disabilities in the digital space.

We are all aware that in the developed world physical access to the community is a human right but we now live in an increasingly digital space with most of us living a big chunk of our lives online. 

This can either be more empowering for the disability community or sometimes disempowering depending on how much thought the technology companies put into accessibility to their digital products. 

I personally have used the digital world to increase my independence since the early nineties. I was the youngest person in the southern hemisphere to use Dragon Naturally Speaking, the voice dictation software, that first came out. I still use the software to this day and supplement it with other voice recognition programs such as Apple's Siri and the microphone app in google search. 

The pandemic had a surprising benefit in terms of digital accessibility for people with disabilities with the rapid adoption of things like video conferencing, webinars, and online education. For me and other people with disabilities these technologies increase our earning capacity. 

Also the adoption of more text to voice coding embedded in government websites has made it easier to navigate the internet and find the information I need to. I would encourage all companies and website builders to make this an automatic feature of your websites.

Podcasts and social media platforms have also increased my ability to independently access.

On this Global Accessibility Awareness Day I encourage everybody to adopt a universal access mindset because if the world is more accessible to people with disabilities then it is accessible to everyone. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sexuality Through the Ages

 It is twenty years this year since I was first approached by the School of Occupational Therapy to speak on the topic of transition to adulthood, disability, and sexuality. Since that time I have expanded to deliver disability education across Australia and yet disability and sexuality is still the most common topic I get asked to speak on.  With this in mind I am going to shock you all by saying I wish I had never had to speak on the topic. Sexuality is such a fundamental part of life that from the teenage years till death it should be assumed that anyone engaged in helping a human being with the occupation of life should automatically include the topic of sexuality.  Society has conflicting views when it comes to talking about and expressing sexuality. Add the word disability into the mix and people tend to run away or shut their eyes.  I started my sexual life like all young people by going through puberty. In the mid-nineties the environmental factors and condit...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lights! Camera! Rhyme Time!

Chris Van Ingen and William McInnes on set of Rhyme Time Photo credit: Charlie Kinross  For regular readers of this blog it is no secret that acting is my life, and my life is acting. I can now share with you a joyful experience I had shooting a film called Rhyme Time . Rhyme Time  is a thought provoking, sweet comedy about an old school librarian coming to terms with an ever changing modern world.  Throughout my career I have been lucky enough to be billed alongside great casts such as Rachel Griffiths, Claudia Karvan, and Matt Nable to name a few.  Rhyme Time continues my blessed luck working with Australian legends such as William McInnes from Blue Heelers , Sea Change , and NCIS Sydney fame. William is joined by Emily Havea best known for her work in Wentworth . The cast was rounded out by an amazing group of adorable and rambunctious children that completely stole the show and made the final act of the film one of the sweetest things I've ever seen. Lastly I ha...
Post a Comment
Read more

Circle of Life or Circle of Tech

 I have written extensively about how assistive technology helps me be independent. In blog posts such as More Than a Test Drive and Tony Stark's House (an Assistive Technology Dream) . My disability has turned the circle of life into a circle of tech.  Every few years I have to go through the assistive technology merry go round because all of my equipment seems to break down at the same time.  I am in the process of applying for a new hoist and sling, shower commode chair, bed, front door opener, and new abductor cushion.  I also am aware in the not too distant future I will have to attempt to try and get a new wheelchair. Every time I have to apply for a new piece of equipment my therapists and I have to make the case as to why that particular piece of equipment is 'reasonable and necessary'.  The frustrating thing about this is, even though it might be clear that I need a piece of equipment, one or two words in the funding form can make a difference on wheth...
Post a Comment
Read more