Global Game Jam tackles the issue of accessibility
Thousands of coders are taking part in a global game development challenge, and many are being encouraged to consider a specific audience: gamers with disabilities The annual Global Game Jam kicks off on Friday, with thousands of coders around the world gathering in hundreds of different venues to spend the weekend writing games.
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Global Game Jam tackles the issue of accessibility
Welfare reform: Lib Dems urge Nick Clegg to back Lords amendments
Letter from more than 50 former Lib Dem parliamentary candidates urges party leader to respect party policy on benefits Nick Clegg is coming under unprecedented private pressure from his own party to back a string of Lords amendments designed to protect children and those with disabilities from the impact of the government’s welfare reforms. A letter from more than 50 former Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidates in the 2010 election has been sent to Clegg urging him to respect party policy and vote to allow disabled people to retain employment support allowance for at least two years without being means tested. The letter, passed to the Guardian, warns more than 800,000 people with disabilities will be hit by the reforms, and expresses deep concern that the employment minister, Chris Grayling, has said the government defeats in the Lords will be overturned.
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Welfare reform: Lib Dems urge Nick Clegg to back Lords amendments
Adrian Cave obituary
The architectural career of my friend Adrian Cave , who has died of cancer aged 76, exemplifies the way disability issues have moved to the foreground of our culture. At an age when others consider retiring, Adrian embraced the concept of inclusive design and pioneered the transformation of
The United Nations (UN) drafted the ‘Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ in 2006. Five years on we examine disability equality around the world to see if it looks any different.
If I were God, (any of them: you choose) looking down on the Earth today, what would I see? I’d see lots of different states, cultures, tribes, communities and groups living differently in different parts of the world. Even as God, I’d find it difficult to make sure that all of the tiny little dots – like you and I, lived together nicely treating each other fairly and empathetically. My options would appear to be surprisingly limited: send a flood, strike a few high profile people down with lightning or leave people to sort it out for themselves.
And so God created the UN. Well, that’s not strictly accurate, men and women of good will and intent created the UN to be more like God; as a way to run this fractured world of ours. The men and women of the UN aren’t perfect – because they aren’t God, but they do have a strong resolve to see violence replaced with peace, hunger replaced with contentedness and prejudice replaced by inclusion.
Respect and fairness
These ideals inform many of the roles and conventions of the UN. The convention I’d like to focus on for a few moments is the ‘International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’. This is an expression of the UN’s efforts to make sure that disabled people are treated with the respect and fairness that all citizens of the world deserve.
The convention sets out what each Member State’s responsibilities are to disabled people. Even at 10,000 words in length, the document is succinct given its import. It feels as if the objective is for it to be as watertight as possible, using the ‘fewer words mean fewer possible interpretations’ model. Despite this, it efficiency espouses on subjects ranging from accessibility, right to life, access to justice and independent living. (more…)
Tennis – Norfolk wins Battle of the Brits Down Under
Peter Norfolk edged out fellow Brit Andy Lapthorne 6-4, 7-6(6) at Melbourne Park on Wednesday in the first of their three round-robin quad singles matches at the Australian Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships.
World No. 2 Norfolk hit the first of two aces in the opening game of the match before twice going a break up to lead 2-0 and 4-2. Lapthorne fought back to level the contest on both occasions, but Norfolk broke
again en route to taking the opening set on his first set point.
The second set began in the same way as the first, with a lengthy deuce game that Norfolk again snatched. Although the four-time Australian Open champion went on to make it 5-3, world No. 4 Lapthorne’s determination again brought him back level at 5-5 and he proceeded to force the set to a tie-break that was every bit a close as the rest of the match.
Lapthorne looked like he might take it to a deciding set as he earned his one and only set point at 6-5 in the tie-break, but a sequence of three successive points brought Norfolk the victory after an hour and
38 minutes. (more…)
Liverpool’s DaDaFest wins prestigious prize
The international disability and deaf arts festival has scooped the Lever Prize The DaDaFest in Liverpool has won this year’s prestigious £10,000 Lever Prize, just over a year after I wrote about fears over the festival’s future funding due to Arts Council cuts. The UK’s largest disability and deaf arts festival, which attracts international artists was chosen by senior representatives of the 30 largest companies in the north west to receive the prize. In 2011, DaDaFest celebrated its 10th anniversary, having begun in 2001 as a community arts event
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Liverpool’s DaDaFest wins prestigious prize
