Now-defunct Canadian Northern Railway in 1910, linking Sudbury mines to other parts of Canada from Quebec City to Vancouver. Toronto Public Library. Imagine you're on a road trip, driving west along the Trans-Canada Highway toward Sault Ste. Marie. Being the passenger, you're tasked with handling the GPS device. As you go, you see the towns […]
Technician using a Geiger counter to measure radioactivity of various items at Chalk River in 1948. Toronto Star Photo Archive. What comes to mind when you hear the word “nuclear?” Many remember hiding under school desks as nuclear conflict loomed during the Cold War. Today, we might think of North Korea, which has been testing […]
Stonewall: Celebrating 50 years of activism Another Pride week has come and gone in Toronto, and this year we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and the beginnings of the Gay Liberation Movement. For this special occasion, I decided to do some digging into the Toronto Star Photograph Archive to see what I […]
The first week in February is White Cane Week in Canada. Initiated in 1946 by the Canadian Council of the Blind, White Cane week is all about awareness, activism and integration. Yes, it's not February. For blind people who use a cane, every week is white cane week. So let's roll with that. The white […]
I spent a day last week at Ontario's Accessibility Innovation Showcase (#OntarioAIS for Twitter users) down at the MaRs Discovery District. It highlighted the cutting-edge work of Ontario technology companies working to improve life for people with disabilities. It featured an amazing array of products and services. The folks at the Otto Bock booth shared […]
2015 is the 60th anniversary of the polio vaccine and many countries are celebrating an apparen’t eradication of polio. That's a wonderful good news story. Polio paralyzes muscles, including those muscles that allow one to breathe. In the early to mid 20th century paren’ts, fear stricken that their children would survive the disease only by use […]
Immerse yourself into the Parapan Am experience along with our athletes. Not only are they amazing competitors, but they know their way around social media. Feel their pain and their gain! A caveat: these are not scientifically chosen. I like them because of their frequency, retweet-ability and enthusiasm. If you've got a fave Parapan athlete […]
It's time for the Parapan Am Games! 8 days, 1600 athletes, over 40 delegations. The stellar accomplishments of our Canadian athletes at the Pan Am games have created a buzz which is still strong leading up to the Parapan opening ceremonies on August 7. Our 216 Parapan Am athletes are tough, dedicated and have a "no prisoners" […]
Over the last few months I’ve come across powerful and influential social media work done by and for people with disabilities. Here are five of my favourites (so far). It's definitely not an exclusive list. I hope you enjoy this mix! It reflects some of the work that I've been doing lately. No Bones About […]
A tribunal of the Ontario Human Rights Commission has been hearing a case about vulgar comments and actions targeted at disabled residents of a local Co-operative Housing unit. The victims include a young lad with cerebral palsy, his mother and other residents. Cerebral palsy (CP) is a historically misunderstood condition which is caused by an injury to the […]