On National Public Radio, a feature about a Vancouver nonprofit organization that is reimagining traditional ways of providing support to adults with disabilities.

The group, called Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network (PLAN), helps to set up and nurture long-term support networks for individuals. It also spearheaded a successful nationwide effort to set up tax-deferred savings plans for people with disabilities in Canada. Family members say the savings plans offer their loved ones real financial security.

As a result, banks and other businesses are “beginning to see individuals with disabilities not as charity cases, but as consumers with buying power.”

A for-profit spinoff of the group, Tyze.com, provides online software that helps people use the Internet to build support networks for their loved ones.

Related story in the Toronto Star: The Tyze that bind

From the Wall Street Journal:

Parents and therapists say the Apple iPad tablet computer is providing an important new way to help kids with speech and communication difficulties. — and one that is both less expensive and more “cool” than anything previously available.

A growing number of speech-related applications, including Proloquo2Go, are being developed for Apple gadgets. Some allow the machines to “speak” on the child’s behalf, while others are used in speech therapy. Experts say the iPad’s universal appeal helps kids with disabilities bridge social gaps that may otherwise separate them from peers.

Unlike specialized speech devices, which cost about $7,000, the iPad generally is not covered by most government and private insurers. iPads cost between $499 and $829.

Earlier posts here.

From AP on MSNBC, with video; the Digital Journal; Wireless Week; American Foundation for the Blind release in the Kansas City Star:

President Obama has signed legislation that requires smart phones, television programs and other modern communications technologies to be made accessible to people who have impaired vision or hearing.

The legislation was hailed as “life-changing” by Paul Schroeder, a vice president at the American Foundation for the Blind.

“We’ve come a long way but even today, after all the progress that we’ve made, too many Americans with disabilities are still measured by what folks think they can’t do, instead of what we know they can do,” Obama said.

The new law “will make it easier for people who are deaf, blind or live with a visual impairment to do what many of us take for granted,” he said, from navigating a TV or DVD menu to sending an e-mail on a smart phone.

From the Washington Post:

Consumers with disabilities say the Internet and many mobile devices are leaving them behind, but legislation pending in Congress would pressure electronics companies to improve accessibility for all.

“This is simply about inclusion. You have an industry that is known for innovation, but they don’t have a cultural understanding of what universal design truly means,” said Rosaline Crawford, a legal director at the National Association of the Deaf.

Earlier post here.

Press releases from Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas) and American Association of People with Disabilities:

The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed a bill aimed at making the Internet and mobile phones more accessible to people who are blind or have reduced vision. Among its provisions, the measure:

• Mandates accessibility in smart phones, including compatibility with hearing aids;
• Requires closed captioning on some television programming shown on the Internet; and
• Requires that video programming devices be capable of closed captioning, video descriptions and emergency alerts.

A similar measure has already passed the House.

“The Internet and other emerging communication equipment are no longer a luxury. They are an essential gateway to learn, interact and conduct business,” said bill co-sponsor Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas). “This legislation will ensure all Americans, including those with disabilities, are able to fully participate in today’s online world.”

See also:

FCC issues order to make mobile phones more compatible with hearing aids — The Hill’s technology blog

House passes bill to make Internet more accessible for disabled — Post Tech blog, Washington Post

House votes to improve Internet access for disabled — Associated Press

From Reuters:

The U.S. Department of Justice this week issued proposals aimed at enhancing access for people with disabilities to commercial and government websites, Internet emergency call centers, and entertainment programming in movie theaters. The proposals, which are primarily aimed at improving access for people with vision and hearing impairments,  are expected to draw criticism from the business community.

“It is clear that the system of voluntary compliance has proved inadequate in providing website accessibility to individuals with disabilities,” the proposal said.

… “We’re generally supportive of the Americans with Disabilities Act but we need to come up with a reasonable way to provide these services,” said Randy Johnson, a senior vice president for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and worked on the 1990 law while a congressional staff member.

From TheHill.com:

A report by the Federal Communications Commission concludes that people with disabilities face significant barriers in gaining access to internet communications, including inaccessible hardware, software, services and web content, as well as expensive specialized assistive technologies.

“Only 42 percent of people with disabilities have high-speed Internet services at home — and an astounding 39 percent of all non-adopters have a disability,” said Joel Gurin, Chief of the [FCC's] Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. “This is not acceptable, and we are implementing an ambitious accessibility agenda to ensure that people with disabilities are not left behind.” (FCC technology access press release here.)

The report, Delivering on the Promise of Equal Access to Broadband for People with Disabilities, calls for the removal of barriers to access through such measures as improved enforcement of access laws and collaboration between public and private sectors.

It notes that people with disabilities have led the way to technological innovation in the past, with teletypewriters, touch screens, closed captioning, voice command technology and predictive text software. But gains have often been lost as new technologies have been introduced, the report said, leaving people with disabilities once again left behind.

From the report’s conclusion:

Indeed, delivering on the promise of equal access to the broadband infrastructure will be one of the “giant leaps” of our generation. Now is the time to engage in this endeavor in earnest and show that we do indeed believe that this is a big deal, for people with disabilities and for all Americans.