Today efforts are being made to include people with disabilities in the classroom, in the workplace, in the community. So, why in hell is the world’s largest sporting event still segregated into the Olympics and the Paralympics? Are sports stuck in ancient Greek times?

If the Olympics were divided along any other lines – gender, race, religion, economic – there would be an outcry worldwide! Yet, segregation based on ability or disability is acceptable?

Not only are the Games segregated, but the Paralympic Games and athletes do not receive anywhere near the attention as the Olympic Games do. My main mission for last week’s Pre-Olympic Photo Walk was to capture signs that the Paralympics are also coming to town. I found only two!

First, on the opposite side of the Olympic countdown clock, I was pleased (and somewhat relieved) to see an official clock for the Paralympics. Interestingly, watching people taking photos in front of the Olympic clock, they did not then go to the backside for photos of the Paralympic clock. And, those people coming across the plaza didn’t realize that was Paralympic clock and were confused there were 44 days to go.

The second sign I found was a banner in an office tower window that read, in part, “TMX, proud sponsor of the Canadian Paralympic Foundation”.

Those were the only two signs I found that elite athletes, albeit with disabilities, are also coming to Vancouver. How welcomed will they feel?

Watch the Games official sponsors’ TV ads. How many include Paralympians? The current ad by Bell, Premier National Partner and Exclusive Telecommunications Partner for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, does not show any Paralympic events or athletes. Furthermore, the ad says the Games are 17 days. Do the math: February 12th-28th + March 12th-21st is not 17 days!

The Olympics will be broadcasted ad nauseam; the Paralympics? You will likely have to wait until the Late Night News for a 30-second clip of the day’s highlights.

Even February’s issue O magazine has two articles related to the Olympics. What are the chances the Paralympics will receive the same space in March’s issue?

Why have segregated Games? I’m not saying have combined events with both able-bodied and disabled athletes. Although, watching Roberto Luongo and his professional athlete buddies play against the Paralympian sledge hockey team would make for a far more interesting game rather than another NHL-style gold medal game! But, combine the Games, like the how the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, United Kingdom, included a handful of Para-Sports. Granted, there were only ten events in which elite athletes with disabilities could compete, but a step in the right direction was taken. The Parade of Athletes, athlete village and such were inclusive. 

Brian McKeever, a member of Canada’s cross-country ski team who also happens to be legally blind, will be the first-ever athlete to compete in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. In an interview, Brian said, in part, “…shows what Paralympians are capable of doing, that they’re training at the same level as able-bodied athletes…” How will his two experiences compare? Will he receive similar sponsorship, media attention and public attention at both Games?

What do we tell our youth with disabilities?

Work hard and try your best, and one day you could go to the Paralympics too! You may not receive the same sponsorships, the TV cameras may not be there, and the spectators may be fewer, but all of that doesn’t really matter. Just do your best, kid, and you’ll go far.

There has to be a better way!

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Believe it or not, not all of my news and happenings end up here on my blog!

For this reason, I’m launching Thumb-sized News Bytes – a brief, newsy email sent 1-2 times per month.

What’s in it for you?

An email packed full with:

• links to my guest and paid posts on other blogs,
• Glenda Around the Web – other bloggers who blog about me,
• other short news bytes,
• and more!

However, Thumb-sized News Bytes will only be sent to email subscribers!

Haven’t subscribed yet? It’s not too late! Sign up today. The first issue will go out as soon as I put it together.

(If you are reading this in your email, you’re set to receive this exclusive newsletter. The first issue will be arriving shortly.)

A special thanks to Cameron Engel for his assistance with the newsletter cover. Thanks Cam!

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Yesterday Darrell and I unplugged from our computers and headed out for a photo wheel – a photo walk on wheels, of course! – to capture signs the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games 2010 are, indeed, coming to Vancouver!

The first stop was, naturally, the countdown clock. At that moment, the Olympics officially begin in 16 days, 4 hours, 39 minutes and 49 seconds, precisely!

On the opposite side, which many people likely don’t check and, hence, miss, is the countdown clock for the Paralympics – one of the very few signs I spotted that the Paralympics are also coming to Vancouver, but I’ll save that rant for another post! These segregated games begin in 44 days, 4 hours, 32 minutes and 42 seconds.

These lantern trees were made by Taiwanese children for the Taiwanese art display – part of the Cultural Olympiad.

Looking up at these paper lanterns drawn by children half a world away, I realized these Games are touching millions of people around the globe. And, despite the protests, the budget overruns, the road closures and other annoyances, for better or for worst, these two world events are going ahead. We might as well as enjoy the party while it lasts – the bill will come soon enough. This is our chance to show off to the world what we, the locals, already know: Vancouver and surrounding area is the best city to live in!

Who says Canadians aren’t patriotic, eh?

I like how this downtown building is wrapped in a gigantic Canadian flag.

My lunch date! Ain’t he handsome?

I love spending time with him, being with him. We can talk for hours – and we do! – about ideas we have, projects we want to create, and whatever else is on our minds.

This last photo is my favourite from the day. I learned nighttime photography with a slower shutter speed and jerky cerebral palsy are not the best of friends. But, after several shots and extreme patient (by both myself and my husband), I finally had an amazingly clear photo of this eagle sculpture – part of the Eagles in the City project by the Lions Club Society.

Determination and perseverance do pay off!

Visit Flickr for many more shots from the photo wheel.

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For 2010, I have chosen streamline as my word to focus on; as in streamlining my lines of communication. Giving this much thought, what I am truly seeking are ways to get my social media and networking efforts working seamlessly and smoothly; in essence, efficiently managing my media empire.

The first step is to inventory my media empire, visually represented in this diagram (click on the image to enlarge):

As I see it, my blog is the center of my media empire with seven smaller territories or outposts: Twitter, FaceBook, Linkedln, YouTube, Flickr, StumbleUpon, and Email Broadcast.

The next step is where the process becomes intriguing and takes me back to my university courses in Mass Communication – it’s all about cross-media promotion! Think what you will about her, but Oprah is an awesome example of someone who has built a media empire and uses cross-media promotion to keep the whole thing humming seamlessly: she mentions her magazine on her TV show, her magazine points readers to her website, her website provides details about her satellite radio station, etc. Brilliant!

Those of us blogging and using various other social media and networking tools are striving to do the exact same thing, albeit on a much smaller scale (at least, for the majority of us!).

Taking my social media empire diagram from above, I then add red arrows indicating the flow of information, the cross-media promotion efforts. In this diagram (click on it to enlarge) the dotted red arrows indicate a manual effort or action and the solid red arrow indicate an automatic action.

The numbered arrows indicate the following:

1. Manually tweet when I publish a blog post, bringing people to the blog.
2. New blog posts are automatically added to my Facebook Notes and Networked Blogs. (Need to manually hit publish on Networked Blogs, but then it appears twice on my Profile page. A setting somewhere?)
3. Tweets are fed automatically into my Facebook status line.
4. Linkedln profile brings people to the blog, in theory.
5. Videos posted on YouTube bring people to the blog.
6. Manually stumbling posts brings people to the blog.
7. Blog posts are automatically sent to email subscribers.
8. The recently added TweetMeme (currently located in the upper left corner of posts) that enables readers to manually tweet out about that blog post. (I’ve noticed these tweets aren’t appearing in the twitterstream; rather, only the TweetMeme website. Another setting somewhere? Or, would another plugin be better for this? )
9. Currently, the TweetMeme feature is also include in the email broadcast so the email readers easily tweet about the post.

Representing my social media empire in this way I find exciting and I can now see where the gaps are. This year I aim to experiment with ways to connect and to strengthen my empire, ways for cross-media promotion. Some experiments will succeed, other will bomb. I intend to share what I learn in an ebook later this year.

Have you mapped your social media empire? What have you discovered?

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In launching the 2010 edition of Accessibility 100 – a series of 100 easy-to-implement, free and inexpensive tips for improving accessibility for people with disabilities, I am borrowing a powerful idea from blogger extraordinaire Liz Strauss.

You are invited to share exactly 25 words on:

What does accessibility mean to you?

Why only 25 words? To drill down to the essence of what accessibility truly means.

As Liz explains (with a few minor changes),  “Here’s how you might go about it:

1. Look for an insight or piece of wisdom about accessibility.
2. Write a sentence about it.
3. Count the words you have written.
4. Edit the sentence until you have 25 words exactly. Notice how your idea changes as you edit and how your feelings change with each rewrite.
5. Add a picture if you can.
6. Post your 25 words on your blog (or in the comments below) by January 31st.
7. Link back to this post or leave a link to your post in the comments section (or both to be sure!).  I don’t want to miss yours when I compile all of them. “

I will compile all of your words into some kind of creative PowerPoint video.

To ensure the project’s richness in perspectives, insights and wisdom, everyone – with or without a disability, impairment or adversity – is welcomed and encouraged to share. Are you in?

Accessibility 100 is a series of 100 easy-to-implement, free and inexpensive tips for improving accessibility for people with disabilities. This is a community project. Feel free to leave your comments, questions and ideas for future Accessibility 100 posts.

Get the entire series by subscribing to this blog by filling in the form in the upper right corner or by subscribing to the RSS feed.

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According to PostRank Analytics – a system for analyzing and scoring engagement events, social engagement refers to “the attention other people pay to your published content, like blog posts, news and articles. They see and read a post, and then because it’s interesting, inspiring, or controversial, they get “hooked” and decide to take further action.”

PostRank’s scoring system measures the “5 C’s” of engagement:

• Creating: i.e. writing a blog post
• Critiquing: i.e. leaving a blog comment
• Chatting: i.e sharing and discussing information on Twitter
• Collecting: i.e. submitting a post to Stumbleupon
• Clicking:i.e. clicking a link to read a blog post

The more engagement an event requires (i.e. writing a blog post), the more engagement points the event receives. Bloggers can use their posts’ engagement scores as a measurement of how well their readers are reacting to and engaging with their content.

PostRank crunched the numbers to determine the most engaged readers in 2009. And the results are in…!

Thanks to you, my very engaged readers, Do It Myself Blog ranked #6 in the Disability category! Thank you!

The detailed analysis is available from PostRank. The top 10 engaging posts are:

1. Da Wife on Wheels Dismissed Yet Again / August 29, 2009 – 406 engagement points
2. 5 Reasons Why Bloggers and Web Designers Should Consider Accessibility / October 6, 2009 – 346 points
3. Let’s Feed 100 People in Need Christmas Dinner, Again! / December 4, 2009 – 335 points
4. WordPress Misses the #1 Accessibility Tip / September 28, 2009 – 325 points
5. What Makes a Blog Theme Accessible? / August 6, 2009 – 274 points
6. To the Employers Who Refused Me a Job, You Lose! / December 30, 2009 – 273 points
7. Social Media Empowers Otherwise Silenced Voices / July 31, 2009 – 251 points
8. How POUR is Your Blog / May 1, 2009 – 222 points
9. Dreams Do Come True – With a Little Help from Friends / October 23, 2009 –164 points
10. Are Multiple Themes Useful in Improving Blog Accessibility? / August 24, 2009 – 164 points

I’ve included the post dates to illustrate that the older posts (hence more time for engagement) are not necessarily ranked higher. These numbers also prove your comments, tweets, stumbles and the like do matter! Thank you.

I will continue creating, if you continue critiquing, chatting, collecting and clicking. Together, let’s see how engaged we can be in 2010!

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While writing my latest post for dotgov.com on captioning videos, I had the opportunity to learn a bit more about captioning YouTube videos. I began wondering if how I caption videos is the most accessible way of doing it. Allow me to explain.

When I create a PowerPoint presentation, I also include captions. This means when I capture the presentation as a video, the captions are already there, as in this video on accessible recreation:

Similarly, when I record a video, I use the captioning feature in Camtasia Studios 6, which is fairly easy to do. Captions are automatically added below the video, as in this video message:

This way the captions are always visible, not only for individuals who require them but also to be subtle accessibility reminder to others that videos need to be captioned.

By having the captions always visible – open captions, it saves toggling on captions in YouTube, if, indeed, captions do exist.

How many people even know the arrow in the lower right corner of the YouTube can turn on/off captions when captions are available? Go watch this great video of the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0) Theme Song with the captions turned on. Can the caption feature be operated only using the keyboard? I am still digging for that answer…

Interestingly, if the captions happen to be turned off when I grab the code to add the video to this post, the captions button is no longer available (unless something changes after this post is live), making the captions unavailable to my readers. Really?

My embedded captions are always available, regardless where the video is viewed!

Because of the way I create captions, they are part of the video when I upload to Viddler or YouTube. I do not need to upload and edit a separate captions file. However it does mean when viewers search YouTube for captioned videos, mine are not listed.

Apparently when captions are uploaded separately to YouTube, they can be automatically translated into the viewer’s preferred language, and hence the videos become accessible to a larger audience. I am still looking for an example to verify how this actually works. My captions cannot be instantly translated.

Also, captions, being text, can be searched for, further increasing findability and accessibility. Captions created through PowerPoint and Camtasia cannot be searched via YouTube. 

Finally, when turning on captions in a YouTube video, you can control the look of captions with a few keyboard shortcuts:

• Increase text size: press "+" key
• Decrease text size: press "-" key
• Change background: press "B" or "b" key

My embedded captions are always white text on a black background to maximize contrast and to enhance readability. However, short of watching the video in full screen mode, the viewer has no control over the font size. In future videos I can, however, increase the font size when creating the captions in PowerPoint and Camtasia, if this is an issue.

After this experimenting, I’m left wondering: are some video captions more accessible than others? What is the most accessible method of captioning video?

Share your thoughts and opinions in the comment box below…

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Coming home the other day, I noticed a parked car with several large stickers; quite possibly advertising. That got me thinking…

Why not paid advertising on my mobility scooter?

People tend to look my direction when I drive by, so why not put something in front of their eyeballs? And earn money while doing it?

Seriously.

Advertisers wrap cars, buses, trucks, and segways. Why not scooters and wheelchairs?

Here’s the benefits, as I see them:

• People look anyway. Give them a message to look at.
• Advertising on a scooter/wheelchair is unexpected and would catch attention.
• I can go where cars, buses and trucks can’t.
• No other advertisers are currently advertising in that way or in that space.

Looking at my scooter, I see two potential places for advertising really are visible:

1. The basket on the front (shown in the photo above). This way the basket can easily be removed for situations when advertising would not be appropriate.
2. The back of my chair. This place would not interfere with my use of the scooter or in photos.

Interested? Contact me to discuss this opportunity before someone else does! Seriously!

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Blogging has unquestionably increased my confidence when interacting with people face-to-face; particularly when meeting people from the blogosphere.

A bold statement, I realize. And how can it be when blogging entails spending hour upon hour at computer, typically alone? I began thinking what confidence really means.

The Oxford Dictionary offers these definitions:

1 firm trust (have confidence in his ability). 2a a feeling of reliance or certainty b a sense of self-reliance; boldness.

But, in my mind, something was missing. That’s a dictionary definition, but what does confidence really mean, at least to me? Then it struck me in simplicity and clarity:

Confidence is a sense of familiarity.

Allow me to explain how I rationalized this myself and see if it makes sense to you too:

By sharing my experiences, opinions and ideas on my blog and by leaving comments on others’ blog, people get to know me beyond my cerebral palsy or even before the cerebral palsy. Likewise, I get to know them through their written words. Hence, when we have the opportunity to meet in-person, there’s familiarity. They already know there’s more to me than my difficult-to-understand speech and my jerky movements, and, for the most part, we can bypass the initial awkwardness and carry our online relationship into the real world. And, from that, I gain confidence in my ability to approach people.

That confidence has led me to do things that I may not have otherwise. For example, I had been wanting to have my dog-eared and sun-faded copy of ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income autographed by its two authors Chris Garrett and Darren Rowse – both top-notched and well-respected bloggers in the blogosphere. They are what I’ll like to be when I become a grown-up blogger.

Last year, after giving my rockin’ presentation at SOBCon, Chris was still seated at his table without a crowd around him. Taking a deep breath, I wheeled over and handed him the book. He kindly obliged.

At BlogWorld, with my presentation following Chris’s and Darren’s panel, I thought I’d have the perfect opportunity to ask Darren for his autograph. Unfortunately, the crowd wanting to ask them questions was too large; I had to get up on stage and set up for my presentation. I missed my opportunity and disappointedly thought I might not another chance to meet up with the Aussie blogger.

Then, while waiting for the last keynote to begin, I spotted Darren sitting in the last row across the aisle from where I was. Now was my chance! Pulling out the book from overstuffed laptop bag and taking another deep breath, I wheeled over and tapped him on his shoulder. Not sure he knew me from blogger Eve, I was surprised he knew who I was and that he apologized for missing my presentation. He also kindly obliged.

Thank you, Chris and Darren. Without blogging, I doubt I would have had the confidence to approach two industry leaders.

What does confidence mean to you? What might you accomplish in 2010 if you had the confidence?

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In a previous post, I shared one indicator of a society’s regard for the disabled lays in the terms used to label them. Words like cripple, invalid and handicap – used to dismiss, discard and devalue individuals seen as different – slowly disappeared as the social model of disability “gave way to the empowerment of people with disabilities through the development of a vigorous disabled identity and self-advocacy movement.”

For the first time in history, we were empowered to name the labels that define us. Although the discussion continues, sometimes at ad nauseam, the current acceptable terminology is people-first language, which puts the person before the disability. But, even here, there are issues with the word disability.

As Mama Terapeuta, a linguist and mother of a young daughter with cerebral palsy,  explains in her post Hablemos (En serio) de Discapacidad, loosely translated by Google Translate to "Let’s Talk (Seriously) Disability":

…disability is defined in opposition to performance and to some extent also health. It is classified by different degrees of ‘problems’ and to define explicitly that ‘trouble’ capabilities must be compared with what is normal for one. What can I say … To me this is a reason for not using the word disability.

With the term "disability", there needs to be an ability, a norm, in order for there to be a disability; disability is measured against an ability and is a measure of inferiority, of being less than.

Rather, Mama Terapeuta favours "functional diversity" – a phrase now commonly used in the Hispanic community. If I understand her correctly, functional diversity acknowledges the differences in abilities, the diverse ways of doing or functioning, while not implying inferiority or less than.

In my mind, “functional diversity” definitely has merit over “disability”. However, I wonder if using the term in the English-speaking community would lead to confusion rather than enlightenment, at least until the term catches on. I’m also left wondering if other cultures have equally thought-provoking terms.

What are your thoughts on this evolution of language?

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