Blog [with]tv

Singing in Solidarity

Sometimes "it takes a village" to get through the National Anthem.  As this young man begins to struggle just a bit, the fans at Fenway Park join him in solidarity.

Disability Day at Fenway Park

Parking for Persons with Disabilities

Here is a headline from the Columbus Dispatch as of this morning:
Dayton-area police issuing $500 tickets to handicap-parking scoflaws.
(Nevermind the spelling error in the headline....)

Miami Township officers ticketed more than 20 cars this weekend, and each one of those tickets can cost up to $500.

The tickets were issued to drivers accused of using disability placards that were stolen, fake or belonged to relatives.

Police say one driver apparently photocopied his mother's placard and another couple was using a placard originally issued to a parent who had died.

Clearly they had not yet seen Penny L. Richards Public Service Announcement over at Disability Studies, Temple U.

Links:

Sting operation in Chicago

Report "Handicapped" Parking Fraud  (Just use discretion.  There are many people with invisible disabilities the rest of us can't see.)

Disability Discrimination

 

Avoid the Crowds

It's Black Friday at Amazon.com

To One and All...

 

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Thank you, T. Reid

The folks at [with]tv would like to thank Thomas Reid, of Reid My Mind, for adding Blog [with]tv to his blogroll.

New Article: Women's Access to Health Care

Congratulations to Kara B. Sheridan, of If the World had Wheels, for the recent publication of her article titled Women's Access to Health Care in New Mobility, The magazine for active wheelchair users.

"Considering the mountain of barriers blocking access to health care services for women with disabilities, it's easy to become overwhelmed..."

And Kara, a big CONGRATS for earning that Masters Degree as well!

Cross-posted on Planet of the Blind

Athletes in Transition

Written by: Jamie Lazaroff
Edited by: Bob Lazzari

November is a transition time for sports.  Baseball season is done and dusted, basketball is just getting started, and football season is rolling along. 

More on that later.  But first, speaking of transitions...

*This week's spotlight is on the great Special Olympic athlete Loretta Claiborne. Born partially blind and with a mild developmental disability, she was unable to walk or talk until the age of 4.  Eventually, though, she began to run.  And before she knew it, she had crossed the finish line of 25 marathons-- twice placing among the top 100 women in the Boston Marathon.  She's carried the torch in the International Special Olympics, has won medals in dozens of its events, and also holds the current women's record in her age group for the 5000 meters (17 minutes).  Today, Claiborne is a celebrated athlete who was honored in 1996 with ESPN's ESPY Arthur Ashe Award for Courage.  Her life is recounted in Walt Disney Productions' The Loretta Claiborne Story (originally broadcast on ABC-TV and now on videocassette) and in the biography In Her Stride published by WorldScapes.  Considering all of Claiborne's achievements, these are just small steps in her life's mission to show that people with developmental and physical disabilities are equal to those without.

Claiborne was first introduced to Special Olympics by social worker Janet McFarland.  She credits McFarland as well as her family, community, educators, Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver and her own strong spirituality with giving her the confidence necessary to become a world-class runner.  Running is not the only part of Claiborne's life.  She holds a black belt in karate, communicates in four languages (including sign language), and holds honorary doctorate degrees from Quinnipiac College and Villanova University-- making her the first person with a developmental disabilty known to receive such honors (according to the Special Olympics organization).

However, Claiborne says the most rewarding part of her life has been her involvement with the Special Olympics and she wants to continue helping people with developmental and physical disabilities succeed.  She advises them, "Find an opportunity and seize it.  Be the best you can be, and never let anyone doubt you."  Claiborne runs every day, often about 5 miles--even when she plans to go only three or four.  She runs just for the joy of it-- the joy of the moment; it's how she lives her life.  "I don't really look toward the future because you don't know what tomorrow will  bring," she says. "You have to live your life for today."

Defining the Market of Travelers with Disabilities

By Scott Rains, Senior Advisor, [with]tv and editor of the Rolling Rains Report

The market is out there. They are traveling. They are spending. And they have much, much more disposable income as they wait for the right products.

There are four fundamental points to consider when developing travel products for maximum appeal.

This article examines the first.

·  Visualize your market using the United Nations' definition of disability.
·  Evaluate your product against the Seven Principles of Universal Design.
·  Perfect your product locally.
·  Vary your product with modularity.

Start with in-depth knowledge of your market. Much of your homework on this market niche has been done for you.

Simon Darcy, Bruce Cameron, Eric Lipp, Canada's Keroul organization and the UN have produced some fundamental research that all travel writers, travel professionals, and hospitality managers ought to be familiar with. (See below.)

But you can misread the data if you start out with an anemic definition of the breadth of the market of travelers-with-disabilities.

Misunderstanding who you are serving, you can make unnecessary investments, overlook opportunities for low or no-cost solutions, fail to create collaborations, or not capitalize on what is called the "Curb-Cut Effect" - the unintended positive consequences of good design for temporarily able-bodied persons (all non-disabled persons are only temporarily able bodied.)

First published at Suite101.com in ”Defining the Market of Travelers With Disabilities”

Ann Curry Gains Access to Institutions for People with Disabilities in Serbia

Kudos to Ann Curry of The Today Show, and other fine journalists, for helping to expose this atrocity.

"My reflex reaction is that during (Serbia's) transition, the most vulnerable groups, like handicapped people, suffer the most."   - - Health Minister Tomica Milosavljevic, Serbia

And if you think there is nothing any of us can do, read this post: Give the gift of a family...  Talk about transitions!