Resource Centre for Independent Living

By Philip Mills and Samantha Walsh In the 28 years since the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the first annual observance of the International Day of People With Disabilities, much has been done to recognize and promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in all facets of our society and in our communities. Still, the word ‘disability’ for many conjures the image of a person using a wheelchair. Despite the fact that many people with disabilities use assistive devices, this narrative leaves out a significant portion of people with invisible disabilities, including mental illness, chronic pain, seeing or hearing disabilities, and learning or cognitive disabilities. According to 2017 Statistics Canada data, 22% of Canadians have at least one disability. That’s one in five Canadians, or 6.2 million people. The breakdown by disability shows that a significant proportion of these are invisible, including those related to pain (14.5%), mental health (7.2%), seeing or hearing (10.2%), and learning (3.9%). Invisible disabilities highlight the immense difference between experience and stigma. It can seem like a person who uses a wheelchair is more disabled, and therefore the target of more stigma, because in a world designed for people who can walk, the barriers faced by someone using a wheelchair are evident. By contrast, someone’s experiences with dyslexia or anxiety will be less obvious to the casual observer, and are therefore viewed as less disabling. However, disability has no hierarchy. A person’s experience with disability, regardless of complexity, is not determined by devices they may or may not use. The social model of disability looks at disability from a cultural standpoint, and focuses on the needs and experiences of people with disabilities while understanding that not every disability is going to be visible. It opposes the medicalized model that views disability as something to be diagnosed and treated. Indeed, the last institution in Ontario for people with developmental disabilities was only closed in 2009. With a history of institutionalization not far behind us, society is still working on wrapping its collective brain around looking at disability more holistically. We still cannot fathom that ‘disability’ is in fact created by a society that fails to consider that we are a diverse community of people who move through the world in different ways. Disability is the only minority that is an open-ended category that anyone can join, and certainly the chances increase the longer we live. Yet, our discussions of accessibility and inclusion hardly go beyond the government-mandated minimum standards of installing ramps and elevators. In Canada, we still don’t have comprehensive disability legislation. Many of our public programs and policies are divisive, where only specific groups of people with disabilities are eligible for certain benefits or federal tax credits. People with invisible disabilities continue to face structural barriers to accessing programs and funding because they do not meet the strict eligibility criteria of narrow definitions of disability. If we’re going to have meaningful conversations about inclusion, accessibility and universal design, it’s time we expanded our thinking about disability at the societal and government levels to include all people with physical, intellectual, social emotional and learning disabilities. This includes engaging people with invisible disabilities in our communities to help create a society that can include everyone. No matter how well-intentioned policies may be, we continue to build our communities in ways that ultimately exclude people from them. We still have a long way to go. This is why the International Day of People With Disabilities on December 3rd is so important. It is the perfect opportunity for us to raise awareness of those living with invisible disabilities and to make our intentions of a more equitable, diverse and inclusive society a lived reality for those with disabilities. Philip Mills is the Executive Director of the Independent Living Centre of Waterloo Region (ILCWR) and Samantha Walsh is ILCWR’s Director of Service and the Second Vice Chair of Independent Living Canada. ILCWR is a non-profit organization in Waterloo Region that supports people with disabilities to live independently.

Another fun night at our Community Canvas Paint Night. Hope to see everyone on August 14th for our next event!!! Share this with all your creative friends & Like us on Facebook to stay up-to-date with future events!

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Another fun night at our Community Canvas Paint Night. Hope to see everyone on July 17th for our next event!!! Share this with all your creative friends & Like us on Facebook to stay up-to-date with future events!

This year is all about accessible technology. The Government of Canada has committed to investing $22.3 million over the next 5 years, starting in 2017-18, to co-fund development of "new assistive and adaptive digital devices and technologies" through the new Accessible Technology Program. Already, the Neil Squire Society has received $3.06 million for their LipSync project. Check out these stories from our consumers about how accessible technologies have impacted their lives: Eye Tracking Controlled Computer - Gary F. ​ VOICE DICTATION FOR EVERYONE - Stuart K. We are showcasing two accessible technologies that are making a big difference in helping to make the world more inclusive for everyone: StairSteady Right Hear If you would like to get involved in your community with accessible technologies, here are a few resources you might be interested in: Makers Making Change This is a platform for publishing and accessing open source accessibility solutions. Anyone can develop a project or utilize someone else's, and persons with disabilities, their family members, and disability professionals can connect with volunteer makers in their community who can help them complete the builds, offering affordable and customized solutions. The LipSync project started here! The Innovative Designs for Accessibility (IDeA) Competition This is a great initiative run by Universities Canada; the 2018 competition is already closed, but you can learn more about the candidates and their projects here.

This is the best feature available now on most new computers, cell phones and tablets today. I use mine all the time and it synchronizes between iPhone, iPad and android devices. It may not be available on your older computer. New equipment comes with this technology whereas before you used to have to buy a program like “Dragons Naturally Speaking”. Essentially, I type pretty much everything by voice dictation; emails (in Gmail, Android or Apple), Google docs, Pages documents, Text messages and even Google searches when I’m particularly lazy. It is SO easy. As a quadriplegic without finger movement, I started typing with my knuckles, then I took to using pencils with the erasers on the keys of the keyboard and rubber bands around the other ends, so they wouldn’t slip from between my fingers. However, this only works on an old physical keyboard and not on tablets or cell phones. Other than using a stylus now, voice dictation has replaced most of my typing needs, except for editing. And, by the way, your device will learn your voice and improve the accuracy the more you use it. The YouTube video attached below walks through using voice dictation. When you touch into a document like an email or a Google doc, your keyboard will appear. There will be a key for a microphone showing on the keyboard; on my iPhone and iPad it is the 3rd key from the bottom left, although on other devices it might be at the top as shown in the video clip. As soon as you touch that, dictation will be activated and everything that your device here’s will appear as type text in the document you’re working on. In addition to the punctuation mentioned in the video clip, you can say the words like “new line”, if you have ended a sentence or paragraph. To start a new paragraph and even the word “quote” will prompt the punctuation of before or after a word or phrase. Generally, I find it easiest to start the dictation and take my eyes off the screen to speak everything I want onto the page and not get involved in editing until I have finished a paragraph for a full thought. https://youtu.be/clkQ1WFGPpU Anyway, this technology is very valuable for everyone; disabled or not. Happy dictating, Stuart Kidd, North Bay PS: this message was dictated.

My name is Gary Froude and I am a 68-year-old quadriplegic living at home on a ventilation system requiring 24/7 care. This was due to an incident dating back to mid July 2013 when I was stricken by what has been described as a mysterious virus leaving me in my current state. I was lucky enough to get transferred to Toronto where I spent my first month in ICU at St. Michael’s Hospital where I could do nothing but blink my eyes. The next stop for me was a little closer to home; in the ICU in Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) in Barrie where I would spend the next year (almost) off and on as I recovered, and they attempted to free me of the ventilator. While at RVH, I was able to talk to the powers that be to relax their firewalls enough to allow me to use Skye. In fact, that was so far out of the norm that while at another hospital in Toronto they sent a film crew in to film a meeting we were having on Skype as it seemed to go against all security protocol. Once I arrived at Westpark Healthcare Center, I was immediately assessed by RT, OT, PT, SLP, DP, doctors, and for devices that would assist in my transition back to my community. The AAC team and I settled with the Tobii Dynavox computer; one that now has a camera that tracks my eye movement and a switch-to-switch to control the mouse. The process was tedious to say the least, but I became more familiar with the system. After I arrived home and was able to get myself off all the heavy drugs, I was alert enough to keep my eyes stable to begin to explore the potential of this device and I am pleased to say that I have progressed to a point where I can now receive e-mails, type documents, use excel spreadsheets, Skype, make phone calls, send texts, and create PowerPoint presentations. I have some custom mounting brackets on my wheelchair that allows me to take it with me to meetings, and it is Bluetooth compatible, so I can operate a mouse from the chair as well. It has taken me a long time to get to this point and I do intend to be using a dictation application once I get rid of this pesky trach and the voice gets clearer. Until then, I will simply rely on others to drag and drop, cut and paste. I am extremely grateful for CEP and the AAC at Westpark, for, without them, I fear that my sanity would be stretched to its limits. If it were not for them, I could not see myself doing nothing but laying around and not contributing to the day to day operations of the household and business. Gary Froude Port Carling

StopGap Parry Sound celebrated the unveiling of its hard work this past Saturday at its ramp launch party with a free BBQ! RISE would like to thank our partners Community Living, Home Depot, and the Love Your Block initiative by Lakeland Power and the Town of Parry Sound. We would also like to thank Josee, Artisan Construction, Nick Weber of Weeks Construction, for their expertise and helping to build the ramps, as well as Parry Sound High School and local public school students who volunteered their time to paint them and helped to make the Parry Sound StopGap project a success! Thank you also to participating businesses downtown: Wolf Den, White Squall, Dainty Delights, the Town Trading Post, Shelby's Hair Salon, Big Sound Buy & Sell, Kitchen Cupboard Bulk Foods, and Kenny's Shoes for helping to make our community more inclusive for everyone. Want to learn more about StopGap Parry Sound? Are you a local business interested in a StopGap ramp? Contact Kylee Labrosse at 705-746-6996 x106 or klabrosse@risercil.ca, or send a message to StopGap Parry Sound on Facebook!