Publications
BCYPA Newsletter Winter 2000
B.C.'S HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION INVESTIGATES DISCRIMINATION AGAINST CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
There has been an exciting development with major implications for all children with special needs in British Columbia: Harinder Mahil, the Deputy Chief Commissioner of the British Columbia Human Rights Commission, has committed to initiating a complaint on behalf of students with special needs against the Ministry of Education and School Districts in British Columbia. The issues being targeted are as follows:
- The failure to accommodate special learning needs
- Medical exclusion of children with disabilities
- The bumping of Special Education Assistants on the basis of union seniority, regardless of the impact on the child
- The failure to provide adequately trained SEA's
- The arbitrary cap on funding children in the "high incidence" category, which leaves many children inadequately supported
- The exclusion of certain children from full-time education because there is insufficient resources to provide full-time supports
It has not yet been determined which school districts will be named in the complaint- this will depend on the strength and clarity of the cases which families bring forward. If you have a story to share and believe you could be a potential witness, please call Clair Schuman at the Autism Society of British Columbia at 1-888- 437-0880 or 434-0880 in the Lower Mainland.
Clair has very kindly agreed to provide information about this issue and support to people who call her.
SPECIAL EDUCATION REVIEW
The report "A Review of Special Education in British Columbia" released on June 19, 2000 by the Ministry of Education contains 47 recommendations. Many of these have timelines for completion, ranging from December 2000 to September 2003.
The Ministry has prepared a multi-year work plan for the implementation of these recommendations and this was shared with the Education Advisory Council. The final work plan should be available to the public after the end of December. Information is being gathered from around the province
(ie. from the school districts) regarding issues relating to the recommendations.
BCYPA will, both as a division of the NFB:AE and as part of the Provincial Advisory Committee for Children with Visual Impairments and their Families (PACCVIF), closely monitor the recommendations and timeline and advise the Ministry of Education as to how these affect children who are blind and visually impaired.
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"If you cannot lift the load off another's back, do not walk away. Try to
lighten it"
Tyger
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We would like to welcome Joe Coelho, Co-ordinator, Special Programs Branch, Ministry of Education to this position. Joe can be reached at:
(250) 356 - 7767, by fax at (250) 356-7631 or by email at
joe.coelho@gems6.gov.bc.ca
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UPCOMING CONFERENCES AND EVENTS
25th Annual Ski for Light event, February 12-18, 2001, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. This is a cross-country recreational/competitive event for blind and vision impaired skiers. For more information please contact:
Annar Jacobsen, President, Tel: (604) 826-4559 or email at annar@telus.net
(Upcoming Conferences and Events cont'd)
CSUN's 16th Annual International Conference,
Technology and Person's with Disabilities"
, March 19-24, 2001, in Los Angeles, California. For more information check the web site atwww.csun.edu/cod/ or contact the Center on Disabilities at 818 -677-2578 or by fax at 818-677-4929 or by email at ctrdis@csun.edu
National Federation of the Blind: Advocates for Equality Convention,
May 24-26, 2001, UBC, Vancouver, British Columbia. For more information please contact Ken Westlake at the NFB:AE at 1-800-561-4774.
Canadian Vision Teacher's Fourth Biennial Conference, Odyssey 2001:
New Frontiers, May 31 - June 3, 2001, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C. For further information check the web site at:
http://www.setbc.org/odyssey/ or contact Anne Wadsworth at (604) 269 -2219 or by fax at (604) 261-0778 or by email at awadsworth@prcvi.org
Inclusion by Design World Congress, June 1-5, 2001, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. For information and registration forms, please see the Congress web site at www.ccrw.org or call (514) 287-1070, fax (514) 287-1248 or by
email at congress@ccrw.org
National Federation of the Blind Convention, July 1-7, 2001 in Philadelphia Pennsylvania at the Philadelphia Marriott. Room rates are single - $55, double, twin, triple and quad - $65. All rates are in U.S. dollars. You need to call the Marriott directly for room reservations at (215) 615-2900 or toll-free at 1-800-228-9290 (you couldn't call toll-free in the past to reserve for these conventions, but now you can.)
International AER Conference, July 17 -21, 2002 at the Westin Harbour Castle, Toronto, Ontario. For information please contact Vince Martino, Canadian AER Coordinator at (604) 822 -0871 or by fax at (604) 822 -3302 or by email at aercan@aerbvi.org
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" I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do
something; and what I should do and can do, by the grace of God,
I will do" Anonymous
We wish to extend a huge welcome to all of our members across Canada.
Ontario news:
- There will be a Safety Village Day at Halton Regional Police Headquarters in Oakville in the Spring of 2001. For information, please contact Susan Wolak at (905) 637-9006 or by email at
or by email at
swolak@home.com************************************************************
"There is no folly equal to that of throwing away friendship in a world
where friendship is so rare"
Edward Bulwer Lytton
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BCYPA current membership expires on December 31, 2000 and BCYPA 2001 membership renewals are now due. A membership renewal form has been enclosed with this newsletter for your convenience. New members who have joined after September 1, 2000 are members in good standing for the year 2001.
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Remember to save your original bar codes from Dairyland branded products and send them to BCYPA as a fundraiser. A helpful hint to get the bar codes off of the plastic milk jugs - fill the jug with hot water to above the label. Let sit for 1 minute, and the bar code will now easily peel off.
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We have received National Federation of the Blind "Braille Readers are Leaders" Contest Entry forms. This is an exciting incentive for our braille reading children to read, read and read some more! To save on mailing costs (6 pages), we will not be enclosing these with this newsletter as we have in the past. If anyone wishes a copy, please contact Sigrid McNab at BCYPA.
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We have had a request from Michael Feir, Editor, to let you know about a magazine called Audyssey. This magazine is freely available to all via email or from various web-sites and contains information about blind-accessible games. For more info., contact Michael at 905-814-0608 or by email at
mikefeir@sympatico.ca
An interesting web-site can be found at http//www.glowdog.com/
from a company called "Glow Dog". The company sells unique, reflective safety apparel for people and pets ( including a line of windbreakers and other items designed for children). We have not tried this product, and this is not an endorsement, but safety is always important.
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BCYPA operating funds are generated through membership dues, donations, fundraising and private grants. Charitable receipts are available. Charitable donations should be made out to the NFB:AE with BCYPA designated as the recipient of your donation (but send the check to BCYPA) . Another
option is to make a donation through charity.ca on the NFB:AE web-site which is www.nfbae.ca The charity.ca site does not have the facilities to allow a designated donation to BCYPA . If you wish to make a designated donation to BCYPA using charity.ca on the NFB:AE web-site:
1. Make your donation to NFB:AE
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Some interesting information attached is:
- The Narrative Television Network
- On-Line Books Page Directory
- HeyAnita - a free voice Internet portal
- WGBH's National Centre for Accessible Media Guidelines for Making Software accessible to Deaf or Blind Users "Making Educational Software Accessible: design Guidelines Including Math and Science Solutions"
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We would really appreciate any feedback or comments that you might have. Also any issues you would like BCYPA to address, or situations in which we could be of assistance. Please send us any interesting articles, letters or information that you would like to submit to the newsletter. We don't know if you don't call or send it to us! Please call BCYPA at 1-888-813-3534, fax us at (250) 248-5034 or email us at
amcnab@bcsupernet.com************************************************************
We would like to wish you and yours a wonderful, safe Christmas season
and a Happy New Year!
