Category Archives: Awareness

Seeing past the shell and through to the soul….

Cranky Old Man

What do you see nurses? . . .. . .What do you see?
What are you thinking .. . when you’re looking at me?
A cranky old man, . . . . . .not very wise,
Uncertain of habit .. . . . . . . .. with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles his food .. . … . . and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice . .’I do wish you’d try!’
Who seems not to notice . . .the things that you do.
And forever is losing . . . . . .. . . A sock or shoe?
Who, resisting or not . . . … lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding . . . .The long day to fill?
Is that what you’re thinking?. .Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse .you’re not looking at me.
I’ll tell you who I am . . . . .. As I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, .. . . . as I eat at your will.
I’m a small child of Ten . .with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters .. . . .. . who love one another
A young boy of Sixteen . . . .. with wings on his feet
Dreaming that soon now . . .. . . a lover he’ll meet.
A groom soon at Twenty . . . ..my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows .. .. .that I promised to keep.
At Twenty-Five, now . . . . .I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide . . . And a secure happy home.
A man of Thirty . .. . . . . My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other . . .. With ties that should last.
At Forty, my young sons .. .have grown and are gone,
But my woman is beside me . . to see I don’t mourn.
At Fifty, once more, .. …Babies play ’round my knee,
Again, we know children . . . . My loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me . . . . My wife is now dead.
I look at the future … . . . . I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing .. . . young of their own.
And I think of the years . . . And the love that I’ve known.
I’m now an old man . . . . . . .. and nature is cruel.
It’s jest to make old age . . . . . . . look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles .. .. . grace and vigour, depart.
There is now a stone . . . where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcass . A young man still dwells,
And now and again . . . . . my battered heart swells
I remember the joys . . . . .. . I remember the pain.
And I’m loving and living . . . . . . . life over again.
I think of the years, all too few . . .. gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact . . . that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people .. . . . .. . . open and see.
Not a cranky old man .
Look closer . . . . see .. .. . .. …. . ME!!

Originally by: Phyllis McCormack; Adapted by Dave Griffith

www.rollamile.com

5 Reasons to make your business more accessible (and more profitable)

1 ♦ Expands reach, improves corporate perception, customer satisfaction & consumer loyalty

2 ♦ Canadians with disabilities spend $25 billion / year and consumers seeking accessible environments,  products & services have $2 trillion dollars to spend

3 ♦ Impact of AODA implementation on the retail sector over the next 5 years from $3.8 – 9.6 billion in increased spending

4 ♦ Accessible societies are more innovative, productive, competitive, prosperous and healthy

5 ♦ It’s the law. Compliant businesses avoid fines for non-compliance up to $100 thousand /day


To learn more about the accessibility, visit

www.rollamile.com

Accessibility. That’s how we roll.

Some facts from: The Martin Prosperity Institute (MPI) & Adaptive Technology Rescource Centre (ARTC) at OCAD University & The Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity (ICP), June 14, 2010, “Releasing Constraints: Projecting the Economic Impacts of Improved Accessibility in Ontario”. Retrieved April, 2012.

Disabilities Act

My eleven year old step-daughter had to do her current events assignment on a recent item in the newspaper about human rights. So humbled she chose mine. This is what she wrote:

Disabilities Act

My current events article is about the new Disability Act that has new laws that all businesses have to follow by January 1, 2012. These laws are to help make it easier for people with disabilities to access goods and services. There are a lot of reasons why it is good for businesses to do this, not just because it is the law.

The new laws don’t really cost the businesses any money, they just have to make new rules about customer service and teach their employees these rules. This helps make sure everyone who works for them understands what accessibility is, why it is important, and how to help people with disabilities. The new laws also mean businesses have to have rules about letting in service animals, and assistive devices like wheelchairs or scooters.

The connection to the Focus on Faith theme, human rights and responsibilities is that all people deserve equal opportunities and access to goods and services and that they can do this while being independent and keeping their dignity. This means that people with disabilities don’t have to ask for help or rely on someone else for help. Ways businesses can do this are to teach their employees to understand sign-language, or to use a pen and paper to talk to people who are deaf. It could mean having a Braille or large print menus for someone who is blind or has trouble seeing.

The new laws make a lot of sense. They help people with disabilities to get goods and services. The new laws were made to help make sure people with disabilities have dignity and independence. They also help businesses to make more money. If more customers can buy their products, the business will make more money. And if their customers have good experiences with employees and accessibility, they will come back again, and spend more money. The new laws in the Disability Act will help people with disabilities and businesses.

Piper J., 11 yrs.

Why Legislating Bullying Won’t Work

Our society has made bullying acceptable, so how can we really punish children for repeating behaviour that we taught them? Can we really expect them to do as we say, not as we do? Bullying is so pervasive in our everyday lives, that most of us are so immune, we no longer notice it at all. To prove this, one simply need turn on the television.

Now, I know not to sit down and watch “Real Housewives from Anywhere” or “Bad Guy Wives” with my children in the room, but bullying has become so pervasive in television that it’s becoming so I can’t watch anything but kid shows with them around. For some reason, it seems that producers have become convinced that people want to watch bullying, and sadly, ratings reinforce both the producer’s belief and the social acceptance of the bullying behaviour.

And it’s not just prime-time comedies where characters frequently refer to each other as “dumbass” or “jackass”, that now have titles like “I Hate My Offspring”. One long-running prime-time comedy, while never being family-friendly viewing, now doesn’t have a single episode that doesn’t feature multiple violent shots to the face.

Admittedly, these shows have appropriate viewer-warnings, but bullying has become so pervasive that even real-estate / renovation / redecorating shows are filled with disrespect and vulgarity. One show features a realtor and a renovator going head to head to convince homeowners to either move or remain in their renovated space. Not a bad premise. It’s the language and bickering and producer-staged skits / fights that I take issue with. The manner in which the professionals speak to each other, co-workers, contractors and even the home-owners themselves, is downright rude, insulting and antagonistic. This is not how we should be speaking to each other. Other home and garden focused shows are the same. Scripted skits about time-delays and performance, poorly executed by decorators berating co-stars and contractors alike.

Other shows have entire premises’ based upon bullying and conflict. One program actually pits future mother-in-laws against each other in the planning of their childrens’ wedding. One of the worst I’ve seen lately has stage-mothers pitted against coaching professionals where the fallout of their behaviour on the child-performers is actually abusive.

Even commercials for coffee makers are about bullying. Barcodes are exclusive cliques whose members are discourteous to anyone who doesn’t belong. In fact, one of these commercials contains the line “What’s with those milk people?” Substitute the word milk with a race or offensive label and it wouldn’t be considered appropriate, so why are we allowing it? The most recent of these ads now resorts to the use of physical violence to gain acceptance into the barcode clique.

And no one seems immune to the bullying. A major retailer is now “Taking On Santa” in their ads. Really, Santa? The character that is nothing but benevolent, distributing toys to children throughout the world? The fellow who is looked up to and revered by children the world-over is now the object of antagonistic ridicule.

How can we realistically expect to reduce bullying when we fail to even recognize it? Legislative bullying won’t make it go away. It’s a great first-step, but society has to learn to recognize bullying and stop tolerating it. Only then can we hope to reduce it.

Donna Jack

Letter to the Editor

http://www.wellingtonadvertiser.com/index.cfm?page=letters

A win and a win

Dear Editor:

Re: Preposterous Law

There is a focus on cost and inconvenience of accessibility, when the cost for most to comply is negligible, establishing customer service policies and training staff.

The banking industry spent billions reinforcing floors for ATMs and most businesses have retrofit to accommodate technological advancements. Business is not static and change is often required to remain competitive. With one in seven Canadians having a disability, spending upwards of $25 billion dollars a year, why wouldn’t businesses want to be accessible to their entire market?  Plus, accessibility improves corporate perception, customer satisfaction and consumer loyalty. Win, win.

As the recent letter demonstrates, there is an obvious need for increased awareness. As with all movements of social change, we not only have to overcome barriers, but ignorance and resistance. As a person with a disability, I understand most barriers to access exist simply as a lack of awareness, not an act of malice.

Training staff in accessibility awareness provides adaptive service skills to improve interactions. All staff don’t have to know sign-language, but front-end staff knowing simple signs like “thank-you” can be beneficial.

Training won’t significantly impact the bottom line, but improved communication creating increased and repeat sales will.

The laws were not designed to inconvenience or bankrupt businesses. Restaurants spend thousands a year on crayons to entertain children, yet independence and dignity can be preserved for a few dollars for Braille and large-print menus so patrons need not be read to like a child. And it’s not just about shopping.

Frequently, I have been prevented from performing my job and earning a living, and others have been critically injured, stuck or stranded as a result of inaccessibility.

I am appreciative of people who offer their assistance, but I really don’t want help, just access so I can do it myself. But I am appreciative of any act of courtesy, disability or not.
Donna Jack,

Owner, Roll a Mile

FERGUS

in response to:

‘Preposterous’ law

Dear Editor:

I am not disabled, but I have travelled many places with a baby stroller on my own. I know it is frustrating when the handicap buttons on doors don’t work, or worse, aren’t even there. I know it is difficult when there is no ramp. However, I have never assumed that any business was discriminating against me or my children.

The Disabilities Act, which forces businesses to prepare to deal with all types of disabled customers, is preposterous. The problem is not that we lack laws to help those in need. The problem is our society is increasingly amoral. It used to be most people would rush to the aid of a mom struggling with a baby carriage, a blind man crossing the street, or a wheelchair-bound woman trying to reach something from the shelf in a store. And it used to be that those in need would graciously accept the help.

No one would cry, “Discrimination” because everyone knew there wasn’t any. Real discrimination is a sign in the window that reads, “No colored allowed” or “Public swimming pool: Whites only.”

It is impossible to accommodate every situation. Should grocery stores have shelves no taller than four feet so someone in a wheelchair or scooter can reach all the items? Should all businesses have someone on site who is trained in sign language? Should every restaurant offer menus in braille?

Legislating morality rarely works. Common sense, humility and kindness should suffice in all situations.
Andrea Black, SALEM

In our house, lazy is a four-letter word

In our house, lazy is a four-letter word. Probably not for the reasons you think.

I once had a co-worker confess that whenever she saw a person who was overweight and using a mobility-scooter, she couldn’t help but think that if they just got up out of the chair and walked around they would loose some weight, be more mobile and no longer need the scooter. She failed to realize that for people relying upon mobility scooters, degree of mobility is not a matter of choice.

Believe me, I would much rather be walking around a big-box store than trying to manoeuvre with my walker or wheelchair. On days where I am in bed until noon, it is not a choice, or a matter of being lazy, I am physically unable to get out of bed and would rather be doing anything but having to rest. Including standing on-line at the bank, anything productive.

In fact, before mobility and pain became issues in my life, I swam five miles a week and ran two. At twenty I commuted 40 km by bicycle from the suburbs of Weston to downtown Toronto daily. As a competitive swimmer, I probably logged more hours in the water than in bed my teenage years. Lazy isn’t the issue, ability is.

Normally, I believe that when it comes to accessibility, there tends to be too much focus on terminology, focus that would be better served improving awareness and accommodation. With the obvious exception of the “R-word”, one of the most offensive terms there is with regard to disabilities. Other than in a strictly clinical sense, and preferably not even then, it should not be used. Ever.

But for me, the word lazy, has negative, failure, choice-related connotations that get under my skin. It also implies a belief in the mind-over-matter theory that can have similar connotations of failure. That if you really try, really put your mind to it, you can. And that those of us who can’t, just aren’t trying hard enough. While I am beyond-words thrilled for those who overcame a “will never walk again” diagnosis, for persons with disabilities who do not overcome the odds, imposing additional feelings of failure are neither helpful, nor healthy.

I realize too, that in our household when a step-child uses the dreaded lazy, it is most likely an innocent interpretation of their mother’s “it’s a beautiful day outside, get off the couch and stop being lazy” quote from the mother handbook. But still, it gets under my skin.

www.rollamile.com

Accessibility isn’t about having a ramp, and having a ramp doesn’t make your business accessible!

New accessibility regulations under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (A.O.D.A.) coming into effect for Ontario businesses January 1, have more to do with your customer service policies, procedures and staff training than about your physical facility.

The first of five standards, the Customer Service Standard requires businesses provide accessible customer service to persons with disabilities. The other four standards; Information & Communication, Employment, Built Environment and Transportation, will follow over the next few years.

Not only is accessibility law, it makes sound business sense. Currently, 1 in 7 Canadians has a disability, and persons with disabilities spend $25 billion/yr in Canada. Accessibility helps ensure your products and services are available to the entire market while improving corporate perception, customer satisfaction and consumer loyalty.

Is your business accessible? We can tell you.

Need assistance implementing and complying with accessibility laws? We can help.


To learn more about the new accessibility laws, visit

www.rollamile.com


Business Accessibility – It’s Not About Having a Ramp

Ontario businesses must comply with new accessibility rules by January 2012. Under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA), five standards are being developed to improve accessibility by identifying, removing and preventing barriers in the key areas of: Customer Service; Information and Communications; Employment; Built Environment; and Transportation. The Customer Service Standard is the first to come into effect, and all businesses providing goods or services to the public or to third parties in Ontario are required to comply. While the physical structure of a building plays a large role in accessibility, it is not all about the building.

These upcoming requirements do not apply to the physical structure of a business but relate to customer service and the establishment of policies, practices and procedures identifying and outlining the accommodation of persons with disabilities. While business owners may be concerned about prospective costs of complying, accessibility does not have to be costly to implement.  There are simple, cost-effective solutions to ensure your business is accessible. For businesses with fewer than twenty employees, implementation of these new accessibility standards is primarily administrative and involves the establishment of customer service policies, practices and procedures that include: policies allowing persons with disabilities to be accompanied by their service animal, support person, and / or assistive devices, and, if applicable, whether an admission fee would be waived for that support person.

Feedback and complaint protocols must also be established and identify how complaints regarding access to products and services will be responded to. A procedure to notify customers in the event of a temporary service or facilities disruption may also be required. Customer service policy and procedure documents should be made available in an accessible format (i.e. larger print), upon request.

Training of staff is another valuable requirement of the standard and can significantly improve the overall accessibility of your business. Front-line staff, employees, and contractors should be aware of accessibility policies and procedures, and taught practical, adaptive skills to effectively communicate with clients and prospective customers on your behalf. Businesses with twenty or more employees and public sector organizations should already be in compliance and may have additional responsibilities under the standard.

As well, accessibility just makes good business sense. With one in seven Canadians having a disability, accessibility ensures your products and services are available to the entire marketplace. Canadians with disabilities spend $25 billion a year, and if customers can’t access your products or services, they can’t spend. Accommodation expands reach and improves corporate perception, customer satisfaction, and consumer loyalty.

In addition to the accessibility requirements outlined in the A.O.D.A., there are other cost-effective solutions to improve overall accessibility and ensure all areas of your business are barrier-free. Simply having a pen and paper available at customer interaction points, such as a retail cashier station, can be useful in aiding communication with a hard-of-hearing individual, or even through a language barrier, with a few written words or basic diagrams. Similarly, the strategic placement of chairs can go a long way towards accommodating customers with mobility, stamina or chronic pain concerns.

Accessibility doesn’t just assist people with disabilities; a conveniently placed chair might also help an expectant mother. Wide, obstruction-free aisles are necessary for wheelchairs, but also convenient for those with strollers or shopping carts. Accessibility assists the community as a whole, and by increasing awareness of issues; you can help to make this world more accessible for all.

Most barriers exist simply as the result of a lack of awareness. An increased understanding of disability issues can go a long way towards helping to effectively identify, communicate, accommodate and service people with various disabilities, thus ensuring all areas of your business are accessible.

~ For more information on accessibility compliance and accommodation ~

www.rollamile.com

What Disability Looks Like

Several months ago a friend referred to me as being “sometimes-disabled” and I’ve been “spinning” about it ever since. I think that what he meant was that some days I suppose I look “more disabled” than others, but I guarantee you, I am constantly disabled. In fact, one of the biggest barriers I face is the fact that I don’t always “look disabled”.

My days do range in severity in terms of mobility and pain and on a “great day” I might be out without any assistive devices and not “appear obviously disabled”. On a “good day” I will usually have an assistive device, ranging from one or even two canes, my walker, or my wheelchair, depending upon where I am, what I am doing and which is most feasible. A friend with Cerebral Palsy is known to say, “The walker’s for me, the cane is for you.” By this she means that she brings her cane as it is an easier device to manage, though the walker is the most accommodating option for her.

Unfortunately, as I am not swift moving, it is on “good days” that I am most jostled by others around me in public. People just aren’t aware that you are unable to move with the ebb and flow of the crowd. On crowded subways, for example, people don’t often bump into each other as they are able to move with the crowd and adjust their paths subtly and subconsciously. As a result, I usually carry a cane on these days as a visual clue to others.

Great days and good days, I am able to be “out in the world”. Bad days I am at home, and again, this may range from working from the home office to being unable to get out of bed. There is a wide range in my days. I often joke that at least it keeps from getting monotonous, I mean the same thing every day might get tedious.

Though upon closer observation there are clues. One will note that I move purposefully, and slowly. Every movement is considered and I have to be constantly aware of my surroundings. I suffer from tremors as well, so often appear to “shake” which occasionally attracts the odd look. I have been informed that when I am in pain, I ball my fists with my thumb tucked beneath my forefingers. But you would have to know me very well, or read my blog, to know this about me and recognize it as a sign of pain. During meals I have to rest my elbows on the table to support myself and when out at restaurants, worry this is noted as poor etiquette. Similarly, when out with my mother I worry that people will think me rude for sitting in a chair and not offering it to my mother.

There are thousands of invisible disabilities, and millions of Canadians with those disabilities. In fact, with one in seven Canadians having a disability, and the majority of those disabilities being non-visible, it is impossible to know who has a disability and who does not.

~ For more information on accessibility compliance and accommodation ~

www.rollamile.com