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VoicePrint Presents: United Nations' International Day of Persons with Disabilities Special Programming
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
11 a.m. to 1 p.m., repeated at 6 p.m.
Special
thanks to our lead sponsor:
TD Canada Trust is a proud sponsor of VoicePrint's
salute to the UN's International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
Click
here for information on TD's accessibility features.
Special
thanks to our Silver sponsor:
Click
here for information on The Accessible Channel's (TAC's) accessibility features.
Listen to our
promos, featuring 60 second mini-interviews with three VoicePrint Producers
(pictured from left): Tony King, Bill Shackleton and Kelly MacDonald.
Listen to Promo 1 (mp3)
Listen to Promo 2 (mp3)
Listen to Promo 3 (mp3)
READ
MORE: Remarkable Team of VoicePrint Producers, All of Whom Are Blind, Awarded City of Toronto "UNSUNG HERO" Award to Mark International Day of Persons With Disabilities.
"I discovered early that the hardest thing to
overcome is not a physical disability but the mental condition which it
induces. The world, I found, has a way of taking a man pretty much at his own
rating. If he permits his loss to make him embarrassed and apologetic, he will
draw embarrassment from others. But if he gains his own respect, the respect of
those around him comes easily."
Alexander
de Seversky
Pilot, inventor, designer, businessman, and visionary author
Tune in at 11 a.m. Wednesday, December 3rd when VoicePrint presents special
programming observing the United Nations' International Day of Persons with
Disabilities.
Listen in as individuals from different parts of
the world discuss their efforts to eradicate barriers facing people with
disabilities.
Did you know?
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Approximately 10 % of the world's population, or
650 million people, live with a disability. They are the world's largest
minority.
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Comparative studies on disability legislation show
that only 45 countries have anti-discrimination and other disability-specific
laws, according to the United Nations.
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The poverty rate for the disabled is at an alarming
rate internationally.
What is being done to diminish poverty among the
disabled population in various countries?
Silvia Quan, Disability Ombudsman within the Guatemalan
Government's Office of Human Rights, talks to
VoicePrint about the challenges of ensuring human rights and basic living
standards in a country that has experienced poverty, lack of economic
development and civil war over the past 25 years.
VoicePrint asks:
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Where does one start to deal with the enormous
challenge of serving a community that makes up approximately 12 per cent of the
country's population?
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In a country where the quality of life is low, what
are some of the extraordinary obstacles faced by people with disabilities?
Marco Nicoli, Senior Knowledge Management Officer of the World Bank's
Disability and Development Team, talks about
the efforts of the financial institution to implement projects beneficial to
people with disabilities in developing countries. The World Bank estimates that
20 % of the world's poorest people have some kind of disability, and tend to be
regarded in their own communities as the most disadvantaged.
VoicePrint asks:
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What kind of projects does the World Bank support
in regards to people with disabilities?
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What are some of the considerations in developing
projects for the disabled where cultural traditions are a major consideration?
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How successful has the World Bank been in raising
the quality of lives of the disabled?
VoicePrint will also feature a half hour program of
readings from the Mobility International USA (MIUSA) Exchange Program. Since
1981, the MIUSA Exchange Program has empowered people with disabilities around
the world to achieve their human rights through international exchange and
international development.
We conclude our special coverage of the United Nations International Day of Persons With Disabilities with two interviews with people involved in the development of The Accessible Channel, or TAC. TAC is a national descriptive, closed-captioned HD digital TV specialty service for the vision impaired and hearing impaired that is inclusive for the whole family.
On December 3rd at 6 p.m. Eastern, television will finally include the blind and vision-impaired with the premiere of The Accessible Channel, also known as TAC.
John Capobianco, chair of the National Broadcast Reading Service Board of Directors, talks about the collective efforts to make TAC a reality and Orv Parkes, chair of TAC Board of Directors, talks about what the public can expect to see and hear on this revolutionary channel.
Listen to excerpts from this interview (mp3):
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