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“Butterflies”: A beautiful poem (and painting!) by Donna Williams

Thursday, November 26th, 2009
Filed under: Regular ContributorsDonna WilliamsThemesAuties & Aspies

butterfly

By now, you all know Donna Williams. Here’s a poem called “Butterflies” that Donna wrote recently.

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if someone takes your disabilities and makes them your
gilded cage
then you take charge of your disabilities like never before
for they are your fallibility, the keys to your cage

a key you allowed someone else to call theirs
because they taught you this was love and caring
and in the light of day you realise it had nothing to do
with you

so you look in the mirror and say, wow, there’s a fool
and brush off the dust and say, ok, so the world is full of
fools so I’m in good company

and you look at your life and say, wow, there’s an island
but islands can build bridges

and you look at your smile and say
wow, I’d forgotten I could wake up with this

and you look at your time and say
you ain’t Florence Nightingale, so follow that smile
because a heart shouldn’t be heavy
it should be light
because a heavy heart will never fly
and butterflies can.

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Buy Donna’s gorgeous (and reasonably priced!) paintings

(Holiday tip: Nothing says "I love you" like original art!)

Check out Donna’s band

(With a name like Donna and The Aspinauts, how can you resist?)

Read Donna’s blog and visit her website

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If you live in Canada, you can support Donna and Irked SIMULTANEOUSLY:

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Good news!!!

Saturday, November 21st, 2009
Filed under: Themes, Deaf Jam

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On November 19th, software engineer/mastermind Ken Harrenstien took to the official Google blog to announce some VERY exciting news:

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T-Mobile’s new Sidekick LX 2009 is “loaded” with deaf-friendly features

Saturday, November 21st, 2009
Filed under: Themes, Deaf Jam

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T-Mobile has added new features to its latest Sidekick, the Sidekick LX 2009 which is attracting attention from consumers who are deaf or hard of hearing. The new features build on Sidekick’s reputation of meeting and exceeding the needs of deaf consumers in providing a deaf-friendly product. Among the notable deaf-friendly features mentioned in a Deaf411 video announcement is a larger 3.2 inch display screen and a trackball navigator that lights up to alert you of not only just email and instant messaging (IM) messages, but also alerts from any one of the three social network sites: Twitter, MySpace and Facebook. This new Sidekick model continues its reputable messaging capabilities with multiple email and instant messaging (IM) service options, and a spacious keyboard. An upgraded 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus and flash, YouTube Mobile access, Flash video support and the 3G network capability are now incorporated in this new model.

[Via houstondeafnetwork.com]

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Jennifer Wilding knocks one out of the park…

Thursday, November 19th, 2009
Filed under: ThemesWheelchairman of the Board

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Here now is a truly, truly beautiful essay—titled “My wheelchair makes me invisible.”

It was written by Toronto’s Jennifer Wilding (who temporarily needs a wheelchair to get around), and originally published in the Globe and Mail and on theglobeandmail.com:

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2009 Holiday Gift Guide for People in Wheelchairs

Thursday, November 19th, 2009
Filed under: ThemesWheelchairman of the Board

Holiday_Gift_Guide_for_People_in_Wheelchairs

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From the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation comes this very very valuable nugget of information…

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“Don’t play me, pay me!”

Thursday, November 19th, 2009
Filed under: Campaign Watch, Themes, Auties & Aspies, Irked Videos
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Lizzy Clark, represented by Cinel Gabran Management, was the first child with Asperger's syndrome to play an Asperger's syndrome role in a major television drama.

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A provocative new campaign…after the jump

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Give a little bit….

Thursday, November 19th, 2009
Filed under: Regular ContributorsPhilip PatstonThemesTumour HumourThe UpDown ReportCampaign Watch

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….then give a little bit Mo’

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As most of you know by now, Movember is an annual, month-long celebration of the moustache, highlighting men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer and depression in men.

Philip Patston is certainly doing his part to raise awareness.

Now help him raise the dough.

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Good news!!!

Thursday, November 19th, 2009
Filed under: ThemesStandard Insomniatic Fare

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Sleep Apnea Therapy improves your golf game!

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“Total Access” Product Promotion: Irked spotlights the Intel Reader

Monday, November 16th, 2009
Filed under: ThemesBlind Visionaries

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Intel is doing its part to help people with sight or reading disabilities enjoy the written word.

The company announced on Tuesday the debut of the Intel Reader, a handheld text-to-speech device that can read any printed text aloud to those who are blind or have difficulties seeing or reading.

The Atom-powered device uses a high-resolution camera to capture images of any printed text, which it then converts into digital format to read out loud. The Reader can be used as a standalone device to snap pictures of text. But paired with Intel’s Portable Capture Station, which can hold the Reader in place, the device can grab huge amounts of text, such as an entire book, according to Intel.

“We are proud to offer the Intel Reader as a tool for people who have trouble reading standard print so they can more easily access the information many of us take for granted every day, such as reading a job offer letter or even the menu at a restaurant,” said Louis Burns, vice president and general manager of Intel’s Digital Health Group, in a statement.

A check at some of the retailers selling the Intel Reader revealed its base price to be $1,499, with the Portable Capture Station an additional $399.

Weighing one pound, the Reader is the size of a paperback book. The tactile buttons and voice-operated menus that control the device have been designed so sightless people can use it, Intel said. Individuals with poor vision can also zoom in or out of the display and increase the font size of its text.

The 5-megapixel, autofocus camera can … Continue reading about this and watch a corresponding video on news.cnet.com

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SMACKDOWN: Visually impaired gamer sues Sony under the aegis of the Americans with Disabilities Act

Monday, November 16th, 2009
Filed under: ThemesBlind VisionariesCampaign Watch
Invisible_character_in_Everquest2_video_game

According to gamespot.com, it doesn’t help visually impaired people that some characters in video games “are actually invisible.”

It’s not uncommon for blind gamers to feel invisible in addition to visually impaired. For instance, when gamer Brandon Cole wrote [game developer] THQ a letter suggesting changes to make its Smackdown series of WWE wrestling games more accessible to the blind, he received a form letter back thanking him for his appreciation of the game’s graphics.

But now, one visually impaired gamer has gone beyond simply requesting accessibility features and is demanding them by way of a lawsuit. Last month, disabled gamer Alexander Stern filed suit against Sony, Sony Online Entertainment, and Sony Computer Entertainment America in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. The suit alleges that Sony is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to implement features to make its games accessible to visually impaired gamers.

The Americans with Disabilities Act states that, “No individual shall be discriminated against on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of any place of public accommodation by any person who owns, leases (or leases to), or operates a place of public accommodation.”

According to the suit, Sony ignored repeated … Continue reading this article on gamespot.com

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