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At 10:52 2001/04/13 -0400, i, janet paterson, wrote, in part: >hi all >as a native of a universal-health-care-oriented-nation >whose population is roughly equal to the state of california >this news from our great southern neighbour >of health-care as a profit center and >of health-care as the result of a court order >struck me as both sweet and bitter >in my dys-abled view >janet > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >Disabled Patients Win Sweeping Changes From H.M.O. >April 13, 2001 - The nation's largest nonprofit H.M.O. agreed yesterday to >revamp all its California health centers and policies to ensure that people >with disabilities have access to the full range of health care. >The agreement will settle a class- action lawsuit, the first of its kind in >the nation, that was filed last year against the health maintenance >organization, Kaiser Permanente, on behalf of all its California members >with disabilities. >The lawsuit argued that Kaiser discriminated against disabled patients by >giving them inferior medical care. >Part of the problem, the lawsuit said, is inaccessible medical equipment, >like examination tables that do not lower and scales and mammography >machines that cannot be used by people in wheelchairs .... it has just occurred to me that this same principle must apply to the world wide web and all html documents there-in since the www was designed in 1990 or so expressly to enable access to all; meaning: all web browsers, all computer platforms, all input/output devices; meaning: Mosaic Lynx Netscape Internet Explorer Opera meaning: ibm compatible personal computers apple macintosh computers unix operating systems linux operating systems web-tv web-frigidaire web-mister-coffee meaning 16-bit o/s 32-bit o/s 386 mhz 486 mhz 586+++ mhz satellite-fed-wireless-laptop-on-the-beach meaning: non-mouse input non-keyboard input voice input text reader input braille reader input meaning: alternatives to java-scripts alternatives to frames alternatives to multi-media alternatives to in-line images the www was created as a gift by the www.w3.org to all of us meaning: en-abled dys-abled sight dys-advantaged speech dys-advantaged hearing dys-advantaged movement dys-advantaged i am in the throes of seeking assistance from the Employment Supports division of the Ontario Disability Supports Program (enter ODSP at www.google.com and you will hop there) i want to study website development via 'distance learning' since i am mobility-dys-advantaged due to my movement dys-order rumour has it that Ontario: a. has the highest availablity of 'distance education' courses in the wwworld and / or / but b. has the lowest incidence of employed dys-abled people in the country i found an internet course at Algonguin College in Ottawa offering a certificate in multi-media web development via on-line courses but i can't access the site i looked for information at the Ontario Student Assistance Program (enter OSAP at www.google.com and you will hop there) but i can't access the site even more bizarre, there are still many parkinson's web-sites wwworld-wwwide which are not accessible to all makes me wonder what is going on? are a whole lot of us in denial here? is parkinson's a disability or not? do we want to increase awareness and understanding of pd or not? modifying a website to make it accessible to all is not difficult it requires no capital expenditure e.g. for ramps and bathrooms etc it requires only the understanding and the will of the site owner the accessibility guidelines are at: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 . http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WAI-WEBCONTENT-19990505/ . i have included the above link on the front page of my own website i cannot recommend websites which discriminate against some of us janet eternally grateful ODSP beneficiary janet paterson, an akinetic rigid subtype, albeit perky, parky PD: 54/41/37 CD: 54/44/43 TEL: 613 256 8340 EMAIL: [log in to unmask] "a new voice" home page: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/ . "new voice news" latest posts: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nvnNET/ . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn