Making Services Accessible for People with Disabilities: Human Rights Tools and Practical Tips

1. Making Services Accessible for People with Disabilities: Human Rights Tools and Practical Tips Wendy Porch, CWGHR Vangelis Nikias, Council of Canadians with Disabilities Keith Hambly, Fife House

2. Workshop Overview • Overview and Intersections between HIV and Disability. Wendy Porch, Disability Specialist and Education Coordinator, CWGHR • Human Rights Tools. Vangelis Nikias, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Manager, Council of Canadians with Disabilities • What Can You Do Make Your Services More Accessible To People With Disabilities? Case Study: Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. Wendy Porch • Fife House’s Experience with Accessibility. Keith Hambly, Executive Director, Fife House • Community Consultation: Help us to advocate. Tell us what you need to better support people with HIV andéor other disabilities

3. Canadian Working Group on HIV and Rehabilitation • Established in 1998, CWGHR bridges the traditionally separate worlds of HIV, disability and rehabilitation • CWGHR is a national charitable organization aiming to address the complex and fluctuating health and social needs of people living with HIV and other episodic conditions by improving access to rehabilitation care, support and services • Currently working to raise awareness of disability human rights tools in the HIV and other communities

4. Why HIV and Disability? ``If you have a wheelchair and you go to an AIDS service organization and the first thing you see are all these flight of stairs, you are immediately discouraged. Secondly, HIV testing and counseling services are supposed to be confidential. But if you’re deaf and you go into this service, you have to go with someone who can interpret for you, which takes away the confidentiality part. So in the end, people don’t turn up.” Winstone Zulu HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis activist, Zambia

5. HIV and Disability • People with disabilities are more vulnerable to HIV and less likely to have access to prevention and education programs • Impairments/disabilities can result from HIV, for example arthritis, some types of cancer, neuropathy, cognitive issues

6. Disability and HIV • Persons with disabilities may be excluded or turned away from HIV education forums or programmes • Low literacy and a lack of accessible formats makes it difficult to get prevention and treatment knowledge • Confidentiality is difficult for persons with disabilities, • In settings with limited access to ART, persons with disabilities considered a low priority for treatment • Negative drug interactions Adapted from UNAIDS, CWGHR HIV, Disability and Mental Health: What are the links? January 2012

7. What are the Commonalities? • Stigma and discrimination • Difficulties finding/keeping employment • Interactions with social assistance/benefits systems, poverty • Interactions with health care and social service systems that are not designed to see overlaps in categories • Lack of power/lack of choice in health care

8. Supporting Human Rights for All • We share many human right related barriers. • Hoped that we can share human rights tools to ensure that we all live free from discrimination and as part of an inclusive community. Figure 1 The three dimensions of the HIV-disability field evolving over time. Hanass-Hancock J. & Nixon S.A. The fields of HIV and disability: past, present and future. Int AIDS Society 2009; 12:28

9. What Can You Do Make Your Services More Accessible To People With Disabilities? Case Study: AODA Wendy PorchCWGHR

10. Cartoons throughout by John Callahan

11. Accessibility Principles • AODA is Ontario legislation • Can provide a useful structure for breaking down the various areas in making your services accessible • Generally good practices for all organizations

12. The AODA Overview • First law of its kind in Canada, but other provinces are considering similar legislation (Manitoba, Quebec) • Five standards: • Customer Service Standard • Integrated Accessibility Standard (Employment, Transportation, Information Technology) • Built Environment (in process)

13. Underlying Principles • Dignity • Independence • Integration • Equal Opportunity

14. AODA Customer Service Standard • Differentiates between organisations with less than 20 employees or more • All organizations (private, public, non-profit): • create a plan for serving customers with disabilities • train staff in serving customers with disabilities • 20 or more must also: • put it on paper and make it available on request including alternate formats • submit a compliance report

15. Develop a Customer Service Plan • Communication • Assistive Devices • Allows service animals • Welcomes support persons • Lets customers know when accessible services aren’t available • Invites customers to provide feedback

16. Top Tip: Communication • If you are unsure ask clients with disabilities how they would prefer the communication be conducted • Everyone is different and preferences may vary • Electronic documents in text or Word often a good option

17. Top Tip: Assistive Devices • Broadly defined- scooters, wheelchairs, cane, laptop with assistive technology software • Do a ‘walk through’ yourself, watch out for narrow spaces, cords, obstructed walkways • Provide access to plugs for laptops and note-takers • Don’t touch people’s assistive devices unless asked ex. scooters and wheelchairs.

18. Top Tip: Service Animals • Are allowed anywhere there are not other restrictions against their presence • Do you have any spaces where they would be restricted i.e. food preparation areas? Find alternatives • Remember - service animals are working and can be distracted if you pet them

19. Top Tips: Support People • Can be a formal ‘attendant’ (employed to provide support) or can be a friend or family member • If you must charge a fee for a support person make sure this information is provided publicly in advance • Don’t speak to the attendant, speak to the person they are supporting

20. Top Tips: Service Disruption • If services are to be interrupted, especially accessible services (i.e. bathroom), let people know in advance. • Put a notice up on your website, add something to your voicemail, tell people when they call.

21. Top Tip: Feedback • Ensure that you have a way for people to provide feedback on the accessibility of your service provision. • Make sure the feedback system is accessible too! Some automated feedback systems on websites are not accessible.

22. Employment Accessibility • Make people aware throughout that you have accommodation policies and can provide them • Individual Accommodation Plans and/or Return to Work Plans • Make sure for employees who might require assistance in the event of an emergency that there is a plan in place and they are aware of it (by January 2012)

23. Transportation Accessibility • Transportation providers must develop accessibility plans • Transportation providers including taxis not supposed to charge person with disability extra for same trip at same time of day or a surcharge for stowing wheelchairs etc.

24. Information Technology Standard • Websites, brochures, flyers, invoices, order forms, feedback forms, etc • If information is provided electronically, web accessibility required – that means your web site too! • Can request alternate formats if possible (undue hardship standard)

25. How Technology Makes a Difference… • E-Text: People who are blind previously had to learn Braille in order to read or write • Skype Video: People who are deaf don’t have to rely on TTY phones to communicate in public spaces

26. Assistive Technologies • Voice recognition, e.g. Dragon Dictate, Via Voice • Range of keyboards and mice • Kurzweil, Let’s Read • On-screen keyboards • Switch equipment • Screen readers, e.g. Jaws, Hal, • WindowEyes Braille displays • DAISY • OCR software • The PEARL • Screen magnifiers, e.g. ZoomText, SuperNova • Browser, OS settings for colour and/or font

27. What is Web Accessibility? • It means making your web site in such a way that people with disabilities using these technologies can access it. • Standards to follow: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0http://www.w3.org/WAI/

28. How Can You Check your Website for Accessibility? • Free web accessibility checkers • AChecker http://achecker.ca/checker/index.php • WAVE http://wave.webaim.org/ • PDF Checker http://accessibility.egovmon.no/en/pdfcheck/

29. Other Alternate Formats-Braille • Braille: Used by people who are blind and have learned it (not everyone!), system of raised dots. • How to get it: • TBase Communications tbase.com • Crawford Technologies crawfortech.com • Canadian Braille Press http://canadianbraillepress.com/index.html

30. Alternate Formats – Large Print • This can be made yourself using Word and zooming up the text size. • Sometimes reverse colour contrast helps

31. Alternate Formats- Electronic Document • Many people can access well formatted Word documents. • Use the heading settings in Word to assign heading levels (Heading One is highest, heading two is next down in importance) • Detailed guidance can be found here: http://adod.idrc.ocad.ca/

32. The Built Environment From Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot, by John Callahan

33. Built Environment • Building accessibility resources: • Facility Accessibility Design Standards by the City of London (free to use if requested) http://www.london.ca/d.aspx?s=/Accessibility/accessibilitystandards.htm • Checklist provided as handout

34. Complaints and Resources • ARCH Disability Law Centre www.archdisabilitylaw.ca/ • HIV and AIDS Legal Clinic (HALCO) http://www.halco.org/ • Provincial or Federal Human Rights Commission • Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network http://www.aidslaw.ca/EN/index.htm • Disability organizations • Municipal human right’s offices • HRSDC Office for Disability Issues • MPPS, MPs

35. Questions? Wendy Porch wporch@hivandrehab.ca 416-513-0440 x240

36. Community Consultation • Please take a few minutes to complete our community consultation survey • Results will be compiled and used to develop an overview that may be submitted to the Government of Canada’s Office for Disability Issues.

37. Thank you! • This work was funded in part by: