Can I just say I have wanted to have this particular conversation for a long time! 

My guest today was Chairperson for Accessibility Standards Canada, Paul-Claud Berube. I, and just about all of us, are really excited and hopeful about the Accessible Canada Act-  and the department tasked with creating and recommending accessibility Standards. Our conversation was a look back on the first year for Accessibility Standards Canada and a look ahead to ongoing goals and priorities.  

Usually I offer additional thoughts on the episode on this blog. But this was a special episode in several ways. If you have time, I encourage you to listen to this episode. I wanted it to be informational. I wanted to assure you (and myself) that work was happening, and progress being made. I asked the questions I hope you would have wanted me to ask.  

You can check out the podcast for The Pulse on your favourite platform.  

Also, I want to engage with you. If I missed a question- please tell me! If I can follow-up on something- please let me know! You can find me on twitter. I’m at @joeitagupta and AMI-audio is at @amiaudio- and pleas use the hashtag #pulseAMI.  

You can also reach out to Accessibility Standards Canada; call them for information and documents at 1-833-854-7628.  

I spoke today to Danielle Peers from the University of Alberta about their recently published research into inclusion and integration for people with disabilities in the world of sport. This was quite an accidental extension of my earlier conversation with Suzanne Stolz about Universal design… I honestly hadn’t planned it.

Danielle’s contention is that although there is a desire and legal requirement to integrate athletes with disabilities into mainstream sports organizations (clubs, teams and leagues); there is much that needs to be done. By reviewing the websites of several major sports organizations, the research found that the information about accessibility was often hard to find, that only those  people with mild or moderate disabilities were able to fully  participate in amateur sport and that there was an over-emphasis on high-performance sport when there was a concerted effort to include athletes with disabilities.  

The bottom line is this: if you are an athlete with a disability- either you should be aiming for the Paralympics or you are quite often out of luck.  

I doubt this is intentional. Sure, I’m likely only going to win a gold medal in mental gymnastics- such is my physical prowess, but nevertheless as someone who maybe just wants to stay fit, and maybe meet some cool people at a local sports club- I’m most likely out of luck as someone who is blind.  

But all is not lost, Danielle talks about the important work of re-imagining the place of disability and disabled people in sports as a way to expand who is welcomed and able to participate. And honestly, there are people who are already thinking along those lines. I went with a team from AMI some years ago to cover an event for the Steadward Centre in Edmonton. The Steadward Centre has as its mission to make sports and physical activity/ recreation accessible to and available for people of all abilities- at the local gym, the neighbourhood track or community pool.  

I’ll leave it here. Some good ideas need time to ferment, and right about now, I feel like a quick jog round the block.

Suzanne Stolz was my guest today on The Pulse. I really had a chance to engage with Suzanne on our shared passion for Universal Design principles for people with Disabilities. I won’t regurgitate the interview here but will nudge you to check out the interview (and previous episodes) on your favorite podcast platform.

Universal design principles put simply, when applied to education, means designing curriculum, assignments and evaluations with a variety of learners and learning styles in mind. I’m enrolled in a feminist theory course right now at the University of Toronto, which I realized after doing this interview, is designed with Universal design principles in mind. So in this course, you can be assessed in so many ways: essays, short response papers, discussion board posts, twitter threads, tic-toc videos, podcasts- there is so much choice (and as a student, you get to pick what works for you).

Universal design has long been praised by disability activists. Done right, it can be a game-changer- especially right now during the pandemic.

Commentators called it the worst debate in history. And I admit I wholeheartedly agree. The first Presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden was truly horrendous.

Yet, I wanted to dig deeper. I discussed the history and relevance of Presidential debates with University of Missouri professor, Mitchel McKinney.

I only got to talk about this very briefly towards the end of the show, so wanted to expand on the idea here: namely that people with disabilities can and should take an interest in politics. If you listen to The Pulse somewhat regularly, you know I say this often and loudly. I believe that active engagement with political and civic life is not just helpful, but is essential, for people with disabilities. We are fortunate to have amongst us, some truly committed advocates. There are people that I have talked to over the course of my work with AMI, who have made it their life’s work to push for equitable treatment of people with disabilities.

But it is going to take more than a few voices to make social change: it’s going to take all of us. So why bring up this argument in the context of an US Presidential debate?

I have two reasons. First, it’s worth considering that even a debate that was rife with interruptions and crosstalk was viewed by a wide international audience. It’s a big platform and a chance to know political leaders: and to get a sense of them without a filter. Secondly, it’s interesting to see what and who doesn’t get talked about. Despite being in the middle of a global pandemic and with a serious challenge to the Affordable Care Act before the US Supreme Court, there was no mention whatsoever of people with disabilities. There is talk about racism, talk about veterans, talk about all manner of important topics in the Presidential debates--- but disability issues were completely absent from the conversation.

We, all of us, need to change that. By speaking up, we can raise the profile of disability issues which are in fact universal issues- with far reaching consequences for public health and civic life.

I was browsing through twitter and happened upon an article on the BBC News website . The article described the work of an Italian photographer who was taking photographs of blind and partially sighted Italians in lockdown.

I was hooked. I knew I wanted this photographer on the show. Never mind there was a time difference. Never mind, there was a language barrier. I- and by extension the AMI-audio team, really wanted to see this interview happen…

I’m sorry the blog post is a day or two late.  My conversation with Stefano Sbrulli was meant to be savored, even by me --- like a good Italian wine!

One of the things that jumped out to me about Stefano was his deep compassion and humanity. It was this indescribable quality in his voice- a warmth and graciousness and a deep desire to see that blind and partially sighted people were not left behind or forgotten. His photographs captured the whole person- each portrait is a person, with lives, hopes and unique stories. .

I was truly moved.

I encourage you to listen to our conversation if you find a few moments.

And remember, even within a world-wide pandemic, there is humanity and hope.