Author: gschweizer

In-person consultations to inform the development of planned accessibility legislation announced

August 23, 2016 Whitby, Ontario Employment and Social Development Canada

Today, the Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities, visited the Abilities Centre in Whitby, Ontario, and hosted a panel with three young Canadian innovators to discuss how accessibility drives innovation. The Minister toured the centre, noting the accessibility measures in place there, which serve as an example for other communities across Canada. Minister Qualtrough also announced the schedule of the in-person consultations organized to inform planned accessibility legislation.

Minister Qualtrough participated in a dynamic discussion with the three young Canadian innovators:

Maayan Ziv, the creator of an online platform that uses crowdsourcing to pinpoint the accessibility status of locations on an interactive map;
Micah Rakoff Bellman, the designer of Lift, a height-adjustable and movable table with integrated storage that provides home cooks a comfortable and flexible work surface in the kitchen; and
Quayce Thomas, an architecture student who has developed Timsle, a Fitbit-type app that promotes healthy, active living using social networks.
Many more thought-provoking discussions such as these will happen in the next few months, as the Minister travels across the country to engage and consult with Canadians about what an Accessible Canada could look like. In-person public sessions will be held in 18 cities from September to December. Canadians are encouraged to visit Canada.ca/Accessible-Canada to find an in-person consultation session in their area. These sessions will provide all Canadians with an opportunity to share their ideas on how to improve accessibility and inclusion across Canada.

Canadians can also participate in the consultation exercise online at Canada.ca/Accessible-Canada, and can follow @AccessibleGC and the hashtag #AccessibleCanada on Twitter and Accessible Canada on Facebook. The consultation process will run until February 2017.

Minister Qualtrough also encouraged young people from across Canada to apply to participate in the National Youth Forum on Accessibility, which will take place on November 1st. This event will provide Canadian youth who have experience and expertise in disabilities and accessibility with an opportunity to engage in the policy discussion. More information is available at Canada.ca/Accessible-Canada.

Quotes

“Today we are taking another exciting step in our discussion on accessibility. Increasing accessibility is not only the right thing to do, but it also has social and economic benefits for all Canadians. Canada is well positioned to become a global leader in innovative service delivery, technology and universal design. Together, we will reshape the landscape for Canadians with disabilities.”

– The Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities

Further Information

News Release: What does an accessible Canada mean to you?

Planned Accessibility Legislation

#AccessibleCanada

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Contacts

Ashley Michnowski
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities
819-934-1122 / TTY: 1-866-702-6967

Media Relations Office
Employment and Social Development Canada
819-994-5559
media@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca
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Backgrounder

Abilities Centre

The Abilities Centre is an internationally renowned, innovative community hub where people of all ages and abilities enrich their lives by engaging in social, health and cultural programs. The centre delivers sports, health and fitness, arts and culture, leading-edge research, education and life skills programming in a welcoming, positive, energetic environment. The Abilities Centre is a not-for-profit corporation and a registered charity operating in Whitby, Ontario. The centre is a 2016 winner of the Ontario David C. Onley Award for Leadership in Accessibility.

Consultation to inform the development of accessibility legislation

Minister Qualtrough, Canada’s first Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities, was mandated by the Prime Minister to lead an engagement process with stakeholders—including Canadians with disabilities, provinces, territories and municipalities—that would inform planned legislation to transform how the Government of Canada addresses accessibility.

The consultation process is now open, until February 2017.

Starting in September, Canadians across Canada will be able to participate in the in-person consultation engagement process. In-person public consultations are planned to take place in the following cities:

St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador / November 3, 2016
Halifax, Nova Scotia / December 9, 2016
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island / December 8, 2016
Moncton, New Brunswick / October 20, 2016
Québec, Quebec / November 10, 2016
Montréal, Quebec / November 16, 2016
Ottawa, Ontario / November 30, 2016
Toronto, Ontario / February 8, 2017
Thunder Bay, Ontario / October 12, 2016
Winnipeg, Manitoba / October 3, 2016
Regina, Saskatchewan / September 28, 2016
Calgary, Alberta / October 13, 2016
Edmonton, Alberta / October 7, 2016
Vancouver, British Columbia / November 26, 2016
Victoria, British Columbia / November 7, 2016
Iqaluit, Nunavut / September 24, 2016
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories / September 26, 2016
Whitehorse, Yukon / September 22, 2016.
For the most up-to-date information on in-person venues and dates, and to participate online, please visit Canada.ca/Accessible-Canada.

Minister Qualtrough will also participate in roundtable discussions, as well as a National Youth Forum that will engage Canadian youth with disabilities in the policy discussion.

National Youth Forum

Minister Qualtrough, as part of her mandate to consult with Canadians on the development of new accessibility legislation, will host a one-day National Youth Forum in Ottawa on November 1st 2016. The Forum will provide an opportunity for Canadian youth with disabilities to discuss what accessibility means to them, share ideas for the new legislation, connect with peers and celebrate youth leadership in building a more accessible Canada.

Applicants must:

– be between 15 and 30 years old in November, 2016;

– be residents of Canada;

– have a disability or have life, academic or work experience related to disability and accessibility; and

– demonstrate their leadership or involvement in an area related to disability and accessibility in their community, region or nationally.

The deadline to submit an application is September 15, 2016. Successful applicants will be contacted by The Office for Disability Issues in the fall.

For more information about how to submit an application to participate in the National Youth Forum please visit: Canada.ca/Accessible-Canada.

Innovator Bios

Maayan Ziv – Founder and CEO of AccessNow

Mayaan has a passion for creating a more accessible world for people who use a wheelchair. Mayaan created the AccessNow mobile app, which uses crowd sourcing to collect and share accessibility information all around the world.

Micah Rakoff Bellman – Winner of the 2016 annual Innovative Designs for Accessibility (IDeA)

Micah is a student at Carleton University’s Industrial Design program. Micah has developed an invention called Lift, which is a height-adjustable, movable table which integrates storage that provides home cooks with a comfortable and flexible surface in the kitchen. The device strives to give more freedom to older individuals and people with disabilities.

Quayce Thomas, Winner of the 2015 annual Innovative Designs for Accessibility (IDeA)

Quayce is an entrepreneur and architecture student at Carleton University, has seen his app taking the top prize in the IDeA competition in 2015. Timsle is an app that promotes healthy active living by checking in to make sure users are meeting the goals they’ve shared with their social network. This “accountability network” helps meeting academic or other goals and preventing depression.

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Starting in September, Canadians across Canada will be able to participate in the in-person consultation engagement process. In-person public consultations are planned to take place in the following cities:

St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador / November 3, 2016
Halifax, Nova Scotia / December 9, 2016
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island / December 8, 2016
Moncton, New Brunswick / October 20, 2016
Québec, Quebec / November 10, 2016
Montréal, Quebec / November 16, 2016
Ottawa, Ontario / November 30, 2016
Toronto, Ontario / February 8, 2017
Thunder Bay, Ontario / October 12, 2016
Winnipeg, Manitoba / October 3, 2016
Regina, Saskatchewan / September 28, 2016
Calgary, Alberta / October 13, 2016
Edmonton, Alberta / October 7, 2016
Vancouver, British Columbia / November 26, 2016
Victoria, British Columbia / November 7, 2016
Iqaluit, Nunavut / September 24, 2016
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories / September 26, 2016
Whitehorse, Yukon / September 22, 2016.
For the most up-to-date information on in-person venues and dates, and to participate online, please visit Canada.ca/Accessible-Canada.

This morning, June 22, 2016 CCB President Louise Gillis and other Canadians with disabilities attended a speech by the Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister for Sport and Persons with Disabilities. Minister Qualtrough made an important announcement on an engagement process that will lead to the passage of Accessibility Legislation.

The Halifax based Access & Awareness NS Chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind is pleased to announce that registration for its one day Workshop entitled “Technology on a Budget” is now open.  This Workshop is open to blind and partially sighted individuals, their families and supporters.  We encourage you to register early as space is limited and priority will be given to blind and partially sighted registrants.  The email address for registration is noted below. The deadline date for registration is Friday, May 27, 2016 at 4 p.m.

 

The Workshop will run from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m., with registration beginning at 8:30 a.m. in the gym at the Atlantic Provinces Education Authority (APSEA), 5940 South Street, Halifax.  It’s the first building on the left as you go down the driveway and parking is available in the lot on the right side of the driveway. APSEA is an accessible location. Sighted guides will be available at the door.  Morning refreshments, a boxed lunch and afternoon beverages are free and tickets for a wide variety of door prizes can be purchased for the sum of $1.00 per ticket upon registration.

 

We are pleased to welcome, as one of our presenters, Jeffrey Stark from Kanata, Ontario.  Jeffrey manages a program for the Public Service of Canada which has been internationally recognized for the unique services which it provides to persons with disabilities, injuries, or who require technical or ergonomic adaptations in the workplace. Jeffrey is one of the founding members and lead developer for theInclusiveAndroid.com community site which provides a place to share

information, ideas, apps and tips among the community of people with disabilities who are Android users from across the world and he will be sharing his extensive knowledge and experience with us.

 

Other Workshop leaders will include well known local technology aficionados Barry Abbott from our CCB “GetTogether with Technology” program, Chris Judge, technology specialist with CNIB Halifax and Maggie Lyons-MacFarlane, a graduate student in Education at Mt. St. Vincent Universitywho will share her insights and lived experience with technology from the perspective of a student with low vision. In our panel on funding and supports, we will explore the question of what resources are available to help people with disabilities who require assistive technology.

 

This Workshop promises to be exciting and information packed so, again, please register early!

 

To register please email:  CCBWorkshop16@outlook.com When registering, the following information is required:

1. Your name,
2. Your email address or telephone number,
3. Which workshop from each of the four concurrent sessions you wish to attend, and
4. Whether or not you have any dietary concerns.

Attached is the Schedule for the day on which the concurrent sessions are listed. Please remember to note which sessions you wish to attend when you are registering.

 

If further information is required, please email Chapter Chair, Pat Gates, at

patricia.gates@bellaliant.net

 

We look forward to meeting you there!

 

Patricia (Pat) Gates

Chair,

CCB Access & Awareness NS Chapter, on behalf

of the 2016 Workshop Planning Committee

Below are interviews from white can week.

The Nova Scotia Health Authority (Central Zone)  is taking steps to create a more diverse workforce that better represents the communities we serve. Post-secondary students who identify as African Nova Scotian, Aboriginal, immigrant or a person with a disability are invited to apply for a diversity bursary. Students must be:

• Continuing studies in a health profession
• Attending a Canadian post-secondary institution that is recognized by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
• A resident of Halifax Regional Municipality or West Hants with an intention to practice in the area.

 

Applications are available at  http://www.cdha.nshealth.ca/diversity-inclusion.  For more information please contact Anna Jacobs, anna.jacobs@nshealth.ca, (902) 460-6888.

Applications will be evaluated by Community Health Boards on a number of factors including: community involvement, financial need, educational goals and field of study in health care.

Treatment Access for Canadians Living with Wet Age-Related Macular Degeneration May be Restricted

Do you have age-related macular degeneration (AMD)? Then, this story matters to you. Do you care about fair and equitable access to safe medications? Then, this story matters to you too.

This story matters to Canadians living with AMD because regulators are getting ready to make recommendations that could restrict access to sight-saving drugs across the country. But, this is also a much bigger story that matters to all Canadians because this particular regulatory decision would set a new precedent regarding the use of off-label medications.

Because this is such an important decision, the Foundation Fighting Blindness has been working closely with the CNIB and the Canadian Council of the Blind to be sure that patients’ perspectives and experiences factor into the decision making process. Today, we are sharing this update because we want our communities to know that we have taken a firm stance together and have formally asked the regulators to suspend their decision making process until adequate safety data is available.

Inequitable Treatment across Canada

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in people over the age of 50. There are two forms of AMD – dry AMD and wet AMD. Dry AMD is the most common form of the disease and is characterized by the gradual loss of central vision. Sometimes, this dry form of AMD will progress into the wet form of AMD, which is when most vision loss occurs. Wet AMD can have a sudden onset and is characterized by abnormal blood vessel growth in the eye. Fortunately, there are effective sight-saving treatments for wet AMD called anti-VEGF drugs. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is normally produced in our bodies and is involved in the growth of blood vessels. However, the uncontrolled growth of blood vessels in the eye causes vision loss in wet AMD. Anti-VEGF therapies prevent (and even reverse) vision loss by removing excess VEGF from the eye. In Canada, there are two anti-VEGF drugs, Lucentis (ranibizumab) and Eylea (aflibercept), which have been approved to treat a variety of retinal diseases, including wet AMD. Avastin (bevacizumab) is an anti-VEGF drug that was designed to treat cancer, but is used “off-label” to treat retinal diseases.

Notably, Avastin is significantly cheaper than both Lucentis and Eylea. In addition, some studies have shown that is functions effectively as a sight-saving treatment. For these reasons, many doctors have opted to use Avastin as a first line of treatment, especially when their patients cannot afford the alternative.

Who pays for your medications?

In Canada, we consider health care to be right. Across the country, many of us are fortunate to receive excellent medical care, paid for by Canadian taxpayers. Accessing medically necessary drugs, however, is less straightforward. Some people have private insurance while others depend on publicly funded drug programs, such as the Ontario Public Drug Program, which is widely used by people over the age of 65.

If the public drug program in your province covers the drugs that you need, then everything usually works out well. Unfortunately, not all drugs are covered, and different provinces cover different drugs. This means that you have access to different drugs depending on where you live. In Alberta, for example, the newest anti-VEGF drug for treating wet-age related macular degeneration (Eylea) is not covered by the public drug program.

Comparing Different Treatment Options to “Optimize” the Approach

Regardless of where you live, your access to anti-VEGF drugs to treat retinal diseases, including wet AMD, is at risk. This is because the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) is currently evaluating the monetary cost and clinical efficacy of different anti-VEGF drugs (including Lucentis, Eylea and Avastin). They are conducting this “Therapeutic Review” with the goal of making recommendations to “optimize” how these drugs are covered by provincial drug plans. The word “optimization” is used to signify that decision makers are looking for ways to save money without having a negative impact on health outcomes. Optimization implies that decisions are being made within constraints; for example, each province has a limited amount of money to spend on its public drug program. If you are interested in the fine details of the review, you can learn more on the CADTH website.

In brief, CADTH is conducting this review because they realize that the prevalence of people living with wet AMD and other retinal diseases will increase significantly as the population ages, and they are aware that Avastin is considerably less expensive than the other anti-VEGF drugs. (Avastin is an anti-VEGF drug that was developed to treat cancer, but is sometimes used “off-label” to treat wet AMD.) In addition, there are now some results from clinical studies that compare the effectiveness of the different available anti-VEGF drugs.

Patient Evidence Matters

At the beginning of this review process, the Foundation Fighting Blindness was invited by CADTH to submit patient evidence. To do this, we collaborated with the CNIB and the Canadian Council of the Blind to share the experiences of people who are taking anti-VEGF drugs to treat their eye diseases. To learn more, we developed a short survey and invited people to share their stories. Thank you to everyone who provided feedback!! Because of you, we were able to develop a patient evidence submission that contained a diversity of experiences with voices from across country.

In the patient submission, we emphasized that patients care about safe and equitable access to drugs. We told CADTH that some people were having difficult experiences in British Columbia, where access is more restrained. We told CADTH that although many people shared positive experiences with taking anti-VEGF drugs, others also shared more negative experiences. Because people had different experiences with different anti-VEGF drugs, we emphasized the importance of patient choice. You can read the full collaborative submission of patient evidence on the CADTH website here.

Recently, CADTH released a “Draft Science Report” that summarized the evidence that they considered (including our patient submission). As a patient group, we were invited to provide feedback on this Draft Report.

After reading the Draft Science Report, we were all surprised for two reasons. First, the report seemed to misinterpret the patient evidence that we submitted. Second, even though the report repeatedly acknowledged the lack of available safety data, it concluded that the drugs have equivalent safety risks. To us, this was a red flag because safety is so important to patients. In fact, sufficient safety data is a necessary criterion for embarking on a Therapeutic Review.

For these reasons, we have asked CADTH to suspend making any further recommendations until there is sufficient safety data available to justify the analysis. We sincerely hope that CADTH will consider our feedback because we believe that patient evidence is an essential component to effective decision making for the health of Canadians.

Your voice still matters. Please take the AMD survey or call to let us know about your experiences with anti-VEGF drugs. There will be additional opportunities for patient input before a decision is made. As a patient group, our job is to bring your voice to the table. We are honored to have this responsibility.

The white cane week 2014 Magazine has been released. You can view a copy by clicking here, download a copy by clicking here, download an audio copy by clicking here, or by contacting the CCB.

 

 

Vocaleye descriptive arts society

is a non-profit organization located in vancouver, bc. we describe theatre, arts and culture for those with vision loss.