Summer 2008

Many of you have heard me beating this drum before – but there are some messages worth repeating, particularly when the issues at hand are as vital as disability and identity
By Raymond D. Cohen

Quarterly Updates of Announcements, News, Programs and Technology from across the Canadian disability community.

Hot Summer Reads

A Sampling of Online Resources

Would you pay to watch a movie about homeless men who race stolen shopping carts? It may sound like an unlikely premise for a film, but it’s the focus of Carts of Darkness, a documentary that’s wowed critics and audiences in Vancouver and Toronto, and is poised to become an international hit. It’s also director Murray Siple’s first film since he sustained a spinal cord injury in a car accident in 1996.
By Jaclyn Law

Photography is about communication. When I started shooting pictures, it was to ease my sense of homesickness. It was the mid-1990s, a few years after I’d left my studies at St. Xavier University and followed my older brother from our home province of Nova Scotia to Toronto to pursue a career in music. (I’d begun playing the bass guitar at age 12.)
By Paul Vienneau

If you’re sexually active or thinking about becoming sexually active, it’s important to get the facts so that you can stay healthy and safe. For example, it’s important to know how to prevent pregnancy and how to protect yourself against sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as HIV/AIDS.

When Jun Villa lost his eyesight due to a genetic disorder, he despaired. The 37-year-old father, a resident of Iloilo City in the Philippines, worried about how he would support his wife and three children. Once he’d become blind, he was no longer able to continue his job as a medical technologist, a position he’d held for 16 years.

Last February, while a snowstorm raged back home in south- western Ontario, I was sweating profusely in shorts and a T-shirt in Holguin, Cuba. I wasn’t hanging out at the beach, though – I was sitting on a child-sized chair in the atrium of a home that had been converted into a school for blind children. While trucks roared by outside and the odour of diesel fuel drifted in through the windows, the young students enthusiastically performed a play for their delighted guests.
By Avril Rinn

Are you a woman with a disability? Have you considered getting the HPV vaccine? Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections in North America – researchers believe that 75 percent of all sexually active Canadians will have an HPV infection at some point in their lives. In most cases, infections resolve on their own, but persistent cases in women can lead to cervical cancer, and HPV is the leading cause of this type of cancer. More than 1,300 Canadian women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, and about 390 die from it.
By Jaclyn Law

While soccer for people with disabilities is not as prevalent in Canada as other adaptive sports, such as wheelchair basketball, rugby, curling and tennis, things are looking up.

In the 15-plus years that I've been covering accessible travel, I’ve seen a lot of changes. In fact, I still remember the reaction of my travel writer colleagues when I boldly announced that I was leaving mainstream publishing to write about accessible travel. Most people thought I was having some type of premature mid-life crisis. Information was difficult to find back then, as accessibility wasn’t as prevalent as it is today. But I was doing what I wanted to do, so I was happy.
By Candy B. Harrington

At 21, Ashlee Dag is already a seasoned camper who’s racked up her fair share of black-fly bites and campfire tales. This summer, she’s gearing up for her 15th camping excursion with the Ontario March of Dimes (OMOD), a six-day experience that’s clearly the highlight of her year.
By Carter Hammett

I have been a heavy stutterer all my life. Speaking a full sentence has never been easy for me. Name any letter of the alphabet, and my throat clutches up just at the thought. Stuttering has brought me a lot of pain, frustration and loneliness. And it has also brought me a source of infinite joy.

This article is the second in a series of articles about the CulturAll 2.0 Network, a national multi-sector network developing innovative approaches, tools and strategies to ensure that everyone in Canada can participate in the Canadian cultural exchange online. The Smart Campus in Your Pocket (SCYP) Project, based at the University of Toronto’s Adaptive Technology Resource Centre (ATRC), is recruiting students, disability advocacy groups and industrial partners into a variety of research and development activities focused on the design of innovative and inclusive mobile technologies that accommodate the wide variety of physical, social, cultural and educational needs and preferences of Canadians.
By Jorge Silva

By Abilities Arts Festival