An example of breaking down barriers for people with disabilities.
What it takes to Create clear messages that contain important information to get to a person who is deafblind. My barriers may not be your barriers. The fact is one size does not fit all! Even within the population of Canadians who are deafblind there are differences. Among all people who have a disability, barriers are vastly different. When governments and organizations develop ways to be informed about barriers, they do not understand the difference between say blind and deafblind.
The public might conclude that deafblind Canadians who are totally deaf are served by having an ASL interpreter part of a news cast. The reality is that when the organizations who serve the deafblind want to be sure the clients receive the information; they have an interpreter who is wearing clothing that creates contrast to see the hands clearly. The background is carefully chosen, and the signing is done slower with more clear signs.
The news is spoken. Some people may feel that deafblind Canadians are helped if they do have some hearing. The fact is that words are spoken very quickly. The background often has sounds that are provided to bring excitement to a story or the background is real, traffic moving or wind blowing. So, what defines Barriers depends on the experiences of many different people. Therefore, Canada must include several types of disabilities when creating the Accessible Canada Act. I think the organization I see that has a clear understanding of this need is Barrier Free Canada-Canada Sans Barrieres, (BFC-CSB).
The Accessible Canada Act will not break barriers to Employment, access to important information or ability to enjoy other benefits under the Federal Government unless public consultation includes many Canadians with disabilities. Carefully choosing people from large organizations serving disabled people does little to obtain the reality as to what barriers exist and how those barriers can be efficiently removed.