Ten and Two

The last couple weeks, as well as the next couple, represent two anniversaries for me.

Two weeks ago marked an entire decade of me living in the city of Ottawa. Technically, it's eleven since I had spent most of the previous year at college, but it became official in 2010! I still remember staying in our, at the time, brand new house overnight, on my own, and how excited I was. I also remember being out and about, and doing things independently around the city within a year of moving.

In other anniversary news, as of next week I'll have been at my current job for two whole years! I feel like I should be more excited and write some more, but I guess work is just part of the routine now.

Nothing more to add, just a quick post to share.

Cheers!

Channeling George

I've decided I want to start writing the way George Carlin used to talk.

I have always liked Carlin's funny, observational style, as well as his more cynical, "eye-rolly" (for lack of a better term) attitude towards certain topics, which is something I honestly think the disability community could use, especially in print.

I won't be vulgar, will be more politically correct than he was, and you'll never see any one of Carlin's Seven Words in my writing (I even avoided using them in Scriptwriting, when I COULD have gotten away with a couple), but some of my best posts have had traces of that directness and sarcastic tone and they've gone over really, really well, even when I was afraid they wouldn't.

Who knows, it may be a good way to approach that book idea I'm always floating around.

Cheers!

Innovation

The week of May 31st to June 7th was National Accessibility Week.

Just prior, I registered for Enable Ottawa, an accessibility and innovation event organized by Carelton University, with panels and discussion presented online via Zoom throughout the week.

The first afternoon, I streamed a talk about disability and accessibility legislation in the Canadian government, specifically the idea of a Canadians with Disabilities Act that is currently being proposed. I was surprised to learn that, unlike the United States, Canada does not have any nation-wide legislation for people with disabilities. Disabled individuals are protected against discrimination in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms like other groups, and several provinces have their own disability and accessibility acts, but there's nothing that's all-encompassing. The woman who was speaking used negative experiences she's had with washrooms, airlines, and Para Transpo, some of which I could relate too, as examples of why a Disabilities Act is needed.

On the last day of the event, I watched a presentation about accessibility issues in relation to COVID and the post-COVID future. Very interesting. The presenter spoke the changing workforce, trying to tie most things into disability and accessibility. He hit on points like companies transitioning to online/at-home operations (which he gave the really cool name "digital nomads"), office layouts, and the idea of reinventing the work week to accommodate more people working from home.

Very interesting ideas from everyone I listened to. A very pessimistic part of me can't see many of these ideas being implemented, for reasons too long to go into in this post, but I'm optimistic that change will come at some point. At the very least, the event was worth participating in!

Cheers