Aroga Technologies Universal Design: A Disability Perspective

1. Aroga TechnologiesUniversal Design:A Disability Perspective Craig Nienaber Assistive Technology Specialist #510, 10621 – 100 Avenue Edmonton, Alberta 780-415-5600 craig@aroga.com

2. Demographics • 14% of Canadians have some form of disability • Source: Statistics Canada • Priority of four key groups: • People with physical disabilities • People with learning disabilities • People with visual impairments • People with hearing loss

3. Demographics • Our aging population: • Children 0 to 14 - 3.3% • Adults 15 to 64 - 10% • 65 and over - 40% • Source: Statistics Canada – Participation and Activity Limitation Survey; The Daily, December 3, 2007

4. Our Universally Designed Library • Welcome to: • JW Accessible Branch Library

5. Building Design Parents with strollers love this feature! We’ve paid attention to wheelchair access

6. Building Design Steps are easy to see

7. Building Design The Elevator Moves Everyone That has Trouble Using Stairs

8. Building Design Signs Are Easy to Understand Regardless of Literacy Washrooms Are Accessible

9. Building Design Now That Everyone Can Use the Library… What Are We Going to Do Today?

10. An Accessible Facility is our Invitation to Patrons with DisabilitiesBut…What Can We Really Do? Why Stop at Building Design?

11. What is Assistive Technology? Assistive Technology (AT) promotes greater independence by enabling people to perform tasks that they were formerly unable to accomplish, or had great difficulty accomplishing, by providing enhancements to or changed methods of interacting with the technology needed to accomplish such tasks.

12. These Are The People In Your Neighbourhood…

13. Retired and Semi-Retired

14. Children

15. Youth

16. Everyone Else

17. Allison and David

18. Allison

19. David

20. Using the Library is something we both enjoy!

21. Carley & Simon

22. “The Library is the perfect place to do all my research for my school assignments.” Carley & Simon

24. “The library is my connection to the community.” Nick

25. Nick

26. “I do so many things with the computers” • Facebook • Job Search • Research • Email • It’s possible because… • Switch Adapted Access • Head Pointing Mouse • On Screen Keyboard Nick

27. The Library has great Programs! Height adjustable tables are perfect for me. Nick

28. Janelle I love to talk! Doesn’t everyone?

29. Janelle

30. Janelle I do it all at the Library! Mind Mapping software organizes my thoughts Speech Recognition helps me get all those great ideas down in writing

31. Tatenda When my family moved to Canada it was such a big transition I knew very little English and needed to learn about my new community My children had great support in school but what is there for me?

32. Tatenda So many resources… Read this… Read that… It’s all there! Learning a new language was challenging…but I was embarrassed with my literacy skills

33. Tatenda I almost cried when I read the letter from my son’s teacher telling me how well he is doing

34. Tatenda Now I’m a mentor in our newcomers program

35. Kevin ASL is my preferred language My cell phone plan has unlimited texting An Interpreter is ideal but let’s see what we can do?

36. Kevin The peer to peer communication system is so much better than writing back and forth on paper Now I ‘talk’ to staff and meet colleagues to work on projects

40. Aroga TechnologiesUniversal Design:A Disability Perspective Craig Nienaber Assistive Technology Specialist #510, 10621 – 100 Avenue Edmonton, Alberta 780-415-5600 craig@aroga.com