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#EqualAccess

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🚨 Disability rights are under attack in 17 states! 🚨

There’s a lawsuit trying to get rid of Section 504, the law that protects disabled people in schools, workplaces, and public spaces. If they succeed, it means:

❌ Schools wouldn’t have to provide accommodations (no extra test time for ADHD, no wheelchair access, no diabetes care in class).
❌ Workplaces wouldn’t have to adjust for disabilities (no remote work, no flexible scheduling, no accessibility requirements).
❌ Public spaces could ignore accessibility needs (buildings, buses, and services wouldn’t have to be usable for disabled people).

📍 These 17 states are trying to gut 504 protections:
Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia.

If you live in one of these states, contact your state reps & governor! If this lawsuit succeeds, other states could follow, or it could reach the Supreme Court and hurt everyone.

More details here: dredf.org/protect-504/

📢 Please share this! More people need to know.

#Protect504 #Save504 #DisabilityRights #DisabilityJustice #StopTheRollback #AccessibilityMatters #EqualAccess #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs #DisabilityAdvocacy #CripTheVote #ADAProtections #CivilRights #HumanRights #Alabama #Arkansas #Georgia #Indian #Iowa #Kansas #Kentucky #Louisiana #Mississippi #Missouri #Nebraska #Oklahoma #SouthCarolina #Tennessee #Texas #Utah #WestVirginia
#AlabamaPolitics #ArkansasPolitics #GeorgiaPolitics #IndianPolitics #IowaPolitics #KansasPolitics #KentuckyPolitics #LouisianaPolitics #MississippiPolitics #MissouriPolitics #NebraskaPolitics #OklahomaPolitics #SouthCarolinaPolitics #TennesseePolitics #TexasPolitics #UtahPolitics #WestVirginiaPolitics

DREDF · Texas v. Becerra: What it is and How You Can Help Stop the Attack on Section 504 - DREDFDisability Rights Education & Defense Fund

🚨 Attention Orlando Voters & Media 🚨

As a 56-year-old Florida resident, originally from Miami and living in Orlando for the past 25 years, I have always exercised my right to vote. But during a recent visit to my Hunter’s Creek precinct, I faced an alarming violation of accessibility rights that demands immediate attention.

Despite the presence of a voting machine specifically for blind voters, I was told I had to wait until all sighted voters had used their machines before I could vote. This effectively forced me to wait in a phantom line for a machine that no one else can use.

This is not an isolated incident but a county-wide issue. When I questioned this policy, I was accused of trying to cheat the system and was humiliated by precinct workers. This forced me to leave without casting my vote, as I didn’t want my companion to miss work.

Voters with visual impairments face unique challenges, and while the accessible voting machine addresses information access, this policy undermines our right to participate equally in the democratic process. I call upon our local election officials and the broader community to address this discriminatory practice and ensure that all voters, regardless of ability, have equal access to voting.

Let’s work together to make our voting process truly accessible and inclusive. If you have connections in the media or know someone who can help bring attention to this issue, please reach out to me personally. Together, we can ensure that such discrimination has no place in our community and that all voters can exercise their rights without barrier or humiliation.

🌟 **AI-Generated Alt Text as Assistive Tech? Absolutely!** 🌟

When AI is used to create alt text for images, it's not just a cool tech trick—it’s **empowerment**! 💪✨ By describing images for people who are blind or visually impaired, AI makes the digital world more accessible. 🌐

🖼️ **Alt text** bridges the gap between sight and understanding for those using screen readers 🎧, allowing them to experience images through rich, meaningful descriptions. 🌈 When AI helps create these descriptions, it’s contributing directly to **assistive technology**! 🛠️

Let's recognize that AI’s role in accessibility isn’t just about innovation—it’s about **inclusion**. 💖 Everyone deserves to navigate and enjoy the digital world equally! 🌍💬

@peachfront I was educated in the 70s and 80s in Australia, and all education was free for me, including university. Back then, there were private schools, but the majority of Australians attended public schools. The focus was on equal access to quality education for everyone, regardless of their background. It’s disheartening to see how much has changed, with growing inequality in our education system today.#AustraliaEducation #PublicEducation #FreeEducation #EqualAccess #ChangingTimes

The situation with the #ShiptApp this morning further underscores for me just how precarious the state of #Accessibility to many facets of our modern world really can be for the #Blind. Something that worked reliably well for ages can break with one app update. Therefore, our quest to both obtain and maintain #EqualAccess is a never-ending pursuit not a once and done sadly. It’d be neat if various entities such as @bitsacb and @iaccessibility along with others could collaborate to disseminate action alerts to report #Accessibility issues when they occur in a coordinated effort to maximize efforts to draw attention and help bring about fixes.

#LiberaPay #Fediverse #EqualRights #EqualAccess #OpenCulture #TePeWu #Pixelfed #Writefreely #Mobilizone #Donations #Funding #Fundraising

We (Tepewu) are now building a coordinated system of donation raising, based on @Liberapay service. Unfortunately, our content is published via #PeerTube, #Friendica, and (federated) #Wordpress. It makes it impossible to connect to our LiberaPay teams and profiles, as it is strictly exclusive for Mastodon and Pleroma networks.
Thus, after exchanging an email message with LiberaPay team (which boiled down to "nothing gonna change, sorry), I decided to create an issue in their Github.

If you believe it is worth to make free donations available for all fediverse-based projects, please support this issue and make LiberaPay treat us all in an equal way.
Make connecting to all Fediverse platforms **equally available**. · Issue #2414 · liberapay/liberapay.com

♿ Green Party’s 2024 Manifesto: Empowering Disabled People! ♿
💚 Restoring Disability Benefits: Immediate uplift of 5% to ensure dignity and support. #DisabilityRights #DignityForAll
🔍 Reforming Eligibility Tests: Ending intrusive PIP tests and unfair targeting of carers. ✅ #FairAssessment #SupportForAll
🚌 Free Transport: Mandatory free transport for SEN students aged 16-18. 🚍 #InclusiveEducation #EqualAccess
Together, we can create a fairer, more inclusive society! 🌍💚 #GreenParty2024 #VoteGreen #EqualityForAll

Petition to the conference of transportation ministers in Germany (October 9th) for:
- price stability at 49€
- free public transport for people under 14
- reduced price for people over 14 and people with small incomes
- extending public transport in places with low access

vcd.org/macht-das-49euro-ticke

Organized by VCD (Verkehrsclub Deutschland) and AWO (Arbeiterwohlfahrt)

Ich liebe das 49-Euro-Ticket
www.vcd.orgDeutschlandticket-Petition: Bus & Bahn für alle, überall!Unterschreiben und teilen - Fordern Sie mit Ihrer Unterschrift Preisstabilität, Entlastung von Geringverdienenden und Ausbau von Bus und Bahn auf dem Land!

The Global Tech Gap: Economic Inequality and Its Impact on Access

On Wednesday this week, I will release a new episode of the Mechanical Ink podcast with Martin Woodward from GitHub. In this clip from the episode, Martin talks about the challenge of cost disparity and access to reliable infrastructure across the world. #podcast #equalaccess

My delightful wife Janna Sweenie and I are big lovers of opera. Opera is the pinnacle of all the Performing Arts — Painting, Acting, Voice, Costumes, Lights and Sets — and when put together, in unison, in an exaggerated and elevated performance, the entire world glows and resonates! We have always been dismayed that opera is not often, if ever, interpreted in American Sign Language for the Deaf like all Broadway shows are interpreted. Janna and I are currently working on our “Opera Project” where she will present ASL renderings of famous opera arias. We will place those performances online as proof-of-concept. This is a challenging, but rewarding, and complex academic process of interpretation and adaptation, and implementation.

Here are some of the dramatic, visual, description-rich arias we plan to present in ASL. We will begin with:

O mio babbino caro

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1C8NFDdFYg]

Una Furtiva Lacrima

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J7JM0tGgRY]

Here are other arias we plan to perform — these recommendations are thanks to our friends in the Reddit /opera group — many who who believe in us and who are helping us:

Der Holle Rache

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuBeBjqKSGQ]

L’amour est un oiseau rebelle

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2snTkaD64U]

Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh6RS-abaMg]

Madre diletta abbracciami

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXuxkrcW62E]

Che gelida manina

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkHGUaB1Bs8]

Ariadne auf Naxos

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtL8eVTnNyA]

Pif, Paf, Pouf

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umFPxL52QoE]

I Am The Very Model of a Modern Major-General

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs3dPaz9nAo]

Non, Pagliaccio Non Son

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i__XsGDYpb0]

Tu qui, Santuzza

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tACTn-reWJM]

In Questa Reggia

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ou5L_BsYOM]

If you have a favorite opera aria you think would make a good, dramatic, visual, ASL performance, please leave a comment here, or send us a note!

In the spirit of this dramatic ASL aria project, we sent a letter to The Metropolitan Opera in New York City asking if we might help them set up select American Sign Language interpreted performances. We were not able to find a single point of contact for that request at The Met, so if you happen to know someone there who might be amenable to our request, please get in touch with us!

What follows is the letter Janna and I submitted to The Met asking them to let us work with them to create select, accessible, ASL interpreted opera performances for the Deaf.

American Sign Language Interpreted Performances at The Met

Hi There!

Will you allow the Deaf to sing at The Met?

We apologize for including more than one point of contact for this inquiry, but we didn’t know who is responsible for accessibility for performances at The Met, and we didn’t want this message to get blackholed, and finding specific email addresses has proven a challenge. If we don’t have the right person, might you please forward this email to the correct point?

My wife and I are interested in providing American Sign Language interpreted performances for The Met.

My wife, Janna Sweenie, originally from Iowa, is Deaf and has been teaching ASL for 50 years. For the last 35 years, she has been teaching ASL at NYU and at other major universities in the Tri-State area. She is a language pioneer, and served as a Julliard/TDF instructor for interpreting Broadway musicals for interpreters from around the world. Janna also finds jobs for the disabled as a rehabilitation counselor for the State of New York.

I am Hearing, and I have written several ASL books with Janna. I created the ASL program at CUNY-SPS, and I operate the HardcoreASL.com and sosASL.com websites. I also teach American Sign Language, Theatre, Dramatic Literature, and Public Health. Fresh from Nebraska, I started in New York City as a graduate student at Columbia. I was Peter Stone’s associate. I was Al Carmine’s librettist and lyricist. Milos Foreman and I worked together on film theory in performance. Liviu Ciulei and I collaborated on my Wozzeck adaptation. I was an editor and consultant for Helen Merrill. I fixed dramaturgical structure for Marty Richards and Sam Crothers at The Producer Circle. Since then, I’ve written several books on a variety of topics, done a lot of teaching, and I am now embedded in AI Art, Voice, and Performance research, and revolution.

Janna and I both admire and appreciate opera, and we would really like to provide live ASL interpretation – stage right in the audience near the stage – for select Met performances. We are not seeking payment, we are just hoping to open a dialogue, and perhaps even begin a relationship with – The Met – to see if you are at least willing to try out this idea in some meaningful way for the Deaf Community.

Here are a couple of common concerns you may have:

1. You already provide text captions. Text captions are not ASL and text captions are for Hearing people who don’t understand the language being presented on stage. ASL is a visual language, and many Deaf people do not have good English comprehension, and so providing interpreted performances in ASL, in their language, honors their Culture, and facilitates inclusion in the experience. ASL grammar and syntax are more French than English. ASL was invented by Laurent Clerc, a French speaker. ASL does not equal English text.

2. You stream HD Video and Open Captions. Interview portions of the shows are not captioned. Text translation captions during the performance are not a substitute for experiencing a live performance. The Deaf have the right to be provided the same in-person opera experience that the Hearing audience is able to enjoy in real time, in the same building, with the orchestra and on stage performers. Few realize how much the Deaf enjoy the sounds of music and the vibrations of live music. The Deaf see with their eyes; the Deaf sing with their hands. The Deaf Community appreciates a full, immersive, experience that can easily be provided if you give us a chance to make this happen.

3. The Deaf Community isn’t interested in opera. Sometimes, as Steve Jobs famously said, “People don’t know what they want until they have it.” Opera is the same way for the Deaf. There has been no exposure to the music, no teaching of the ideal, no attendance of the aesthetic. Many Deaf have no clue what they’re missing in an interpreted opera experience at The Met. We can solve that with you. We can demonstrate the beauty of the Art and bring in a whole new audience of appreciation.

For many years, all Broadway shows have been live interpreted via the TDF. We understand The Met has been kind, and wonderful, in providing disabled wheelchair access for performances. Why doesn’t The Met offer the same, disabled, groundbreaking inclusion of the Deaf? You can if you decide in favor of a reasonable accessibility.

If you have any questions or concerns for us, we are delighted to answer them in email or in person.

Janna and I would love to have a meeting with you to discuss the viability of this idea. Janna will even do a live, ASL interpreted, presentation of “O mio babbino caro” for you if you are interested.

We realize ASL interpreted Met performances will require many hours of preparation on our side – the translation from the original language to English to ASL will be important to get right, and we will work with you to get there – as well as also involving several accommodations on your side; but we know this should be important to The Met, and for the Deaf community, to finally be brought together to unite in unison of purpose and performance.

Yes, together, we can help the Deaf sing at The Met!

Best Wishes,

David Boles
Janna Sweenie

We have yet to receive a response from The Metropolitan Opera. If, and when, we receive a reply to our inquiry, we will update this article as necessary.

In the meantime, be sure to get in touch with The Met and let them know you support American Sign Language interpreted performances for the Deaf!

(NOTE: All images in this article were created with AI. These people, places, and dreams, do not exist — even though, perhaps, they should find life.)

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#ada #american-sign-language #aria #asl #culture-2 #david-boles #deaf #equal-access #janna-sweenie #language #meaning #met #metopera #metropolitan-opera #opera #performance #reddit #sing #singing #the-met #visual

https://bolesblogs.com/2023/06/01/will-the-metropolitan-opera-allow-the-deaf-to-sing/

bolesbooks.comJanna Sweenie BiographyDavid Boles Books.

IDEA: A Guide for Educators and Parents
Education plays a crucial role in every child's life, but not all students have the same needs or abilities. Inclusion and equal opportunities for students with disabilities are paramount to ensure their success. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a f
mikepaul.com/2023/05/24/idea-a
#disabilities #EducationPolicy #EqualAccess #IDEA #InclusiveClassrooms #LeastRestrictiveEnvironment #sped

Mike PaulIDEA: A Guide for Educators and ParentsEducation plays a crucial role in every child's life, but not all students have the same needs or abilities. Inclusion and equal opportunities for students with