You know what I did on my birthday?
I saved it up to do it on that day specifically. This will tell you what a dweeb I truly am. I did the on-line training that is required due to the AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act). You have to do the training, answer some questions and then you get a certificate if you passed.
I passed.
This isn't a huge achievement as the questions are pretty basic. What interested me though, and the reason I wanted to do this on my birthday, was the sense of celebration I had in reading through the training and seeing what the act intended to to. This portion of the act is about customer service, and it did really seem to focus on treating people with disabilities with dignity and respect. I had a few concerns with it, but they are minor and not the point of this blog. However, I liked the fact that I knew that all over Ontario people were being required to read some basic information about how to treat people with disabilities.
They got a lot right.
I read most closely, of course, the sections that were regarding those of us who use wheelchairs and other mobility devices and the section on people with intellectual disabilities. For the most part the writers of this did pretty well. The personal space thing was amazing and really, really, well stated. It seemed like a birthday present just to know that countless people will be learning that my wheelchair is part of me and resting their hand on my chair is as inappropriate as me using their belt as a hand hold. Rah! Rah! Rah!
After my experiences over the last few days I was feeling a bit despairing (did it show) but this did bring my spirits back up a bit. Maybe, just maybe, it's gonna get better.
And you know what I got for my birthday?
The computer gave me a certificate showing that I'd taken the training and passed. I got 100 percent of the answers 100 percent right. And, a certificate is a certificate, I ran out two.
Why the bounty? Whey the excess?
Cause what the hell, it was my birthday.
6 comments:
Great Great Great Birthday present you gave yourself!
Julia
Happy Birthday.....So I should stop using random belts as handholds then :)
Donna
What, no cake???
oooh! Congratulations!
Can anyone take the course? Does it cost anything? I'd love to check it out.
Oh, Princeton Posse, I had cake. Trust me, I had cake. Lene, I'm not sure, it's on line, it was free. I don't know how it works or if there are restrictions, let me find out and let you know.
Whoa, 100% Good job! Still, it is the content which matters. It's about time that people read and know more about people with disabilities. There hasn't been much priority and much action taken to ease their activities.
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