Remarkable World Commentary Episode #114: Left Out or Left Behind

🌐 Also available in: Français

In this pointed episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA opens October with a question she calls controversial: when barriers shut people with disabilities out, are they being left out or left behind? She points to online forms that banks, educational institutions and certification bodies still fail to make accessible, calling out the Apex organization for inaccessible sign-up forms, InnoSearch for trying and failing, and Pearson VUE for an online certification exam she says was not accessible in any way. She recounts trying to renew her business registration through ServiceOntario, where the online form was inaccessible and the first agent told her to find someone to help, until a third agent resolved it. She also raises elevators in medical buildings with no braille labels or speech, office buildings designed without accessible entrances, and the lack, as far as she knows, of a federal minister assigned to accessibility in Mark Carney’s government, adding that she is a Mark Carney fan and would apologize if a minister has been named.

Donna’s story of the month comes from a listener with multiple disabilities who used her mental stretch to cope with a lack of compassion from management and coworkers. She walks through the technique: sit or lie somewhere quiet, choose one of the senses, such as the smell of lavender, and let it send messages from the brain through the whole body, from the toes up to the head. She closes by announcing that Your Mental Stretch with Donna will be refreshed in January with a new way of doing mental stretches and an experienced co-host who writes songs and uses music therapy.

TRANSCRIPT

Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, and MBA invites you to listen to her bi-weekly podcast, Remarkable World Commentary. Here, Donna shares some of her innermost thoughts, insights, perspectives, and more with her listeners. Donna focuses on topics that directly affect the future of kids, especially kids with disabilities. Donna is a blind advocate, author, sight loss coach, dinner mystery producer, writer, entrepreneur, law graduate, and podcast commentator. She has decades of lived experiences, knowledge, skills, and expertise in access technology and information. As someone who has been internationally recognized for her work and roles, she just wants to make things better than possible.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Hello there. I’m Donna J. Jodhan, and welcome to my first Remarkable World Commentary podcast for October. Goodness, October is here, and October is steaming along. And I wanna thank all those who have taken the time to either write to me at donnajodhan@gmail.com. That is D-O-N-N-A-J-O-D-H-A-N, my first and last name, @gmail.com, or who have taken the time to respond to my podcast by listening to it, by reading the show notes. Thank you, everybody. So it is the first week in October, and for my topic, I have chosen a very controversial one, or I should say it’s a question. It is all about left out or left behind. Which is it? And there are so many instances that I could refer to that talks about left out or left behind, and I want to give you some examples of what I mean, okay?

Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: When online forms are not accessible to persons with disabilities, is this reason to say that we are being left out or that we are being left behind? We have too many online forms that are not accessible. From the banks in the banking industry, and one of the main culprits are those educational institutions and those universities. Universities may be a bit better in this instance, but the institutions and organizations that are offering courses and certifications to those persons with a disability, and for me as a person who is vision impaired, these forms are not accessible. So it means that we cannot take certifications. We cannot take advantage of banking services. We cannot take advantage of special offers from stores and other types of organizations who offer these incentives. I’m going to call out the Apex persons or organization.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: When I first got to know them, they were with Novacoast. Now they’re with somebody else, but I’m still gonna call them out because their online forms for signing up and for doing other activities with them were totally inaccessible, and they offered little to no help as to how to do it. So I had to pay somebody to do it. In the case of another company called InnoSearch, they tried. They really tried, but they failed. And in the case of the Pearson VUE organization, here is another well-known international organization/agency/whatever you want to call them, did not make the online exams or online certification exam that I took accessible in any way and did not seem interested in wanting to do it in any way. So are we being left out or left behind? I’ll let you be the judge, okay? Another example is ServiceOntario.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So quite a few months ago, I decided that I needed to renew my business registration. Guess what? Couldn’t do it because the online form was totally, totally inaccessible. There were no workarounds such as a face-to-face engagement with the ServiceOntario office. And the first agent that I dealt with had the nerve to tell me, “Find someone to help you.” Find someone to help you. Is that her response to being left out or left behind, and did she care? No, she didn’t care. The second agent was a little bit more responsive. And the third agent, I have to tell you, was absolutely magnificent. She did everything to help me out, and this meant that despite the fact that I was left out or left behind, there was a resolution, okay?

Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Now, what about those elevators at medical buildings? There are too many of them that do not have braille labels on their buttons. The elevator does not speak as it goes from floor to floor. Have we been left out, or have we been left behind, or have we been considered in any sort of way, especially so in a medical building? And there are other examples of other types of buildings, but I’m zooming in on the medical buildings for now.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Or when an office building is being designed with no accessible entrances or exits, what does that tell you? Are we being left out? Are we being left behind as persons with disabilities, or even other types of groups? You have seniors, or what about moms with strollers? Are we being left out or are we being left behind? I want you to tell me, okay? Or there is still no specific minister that has been assigned by the Canadian government to deal with issues pertaining to accessibility. What does this really mean? For I will tell you, I am a Mark Carney fan, but that doesn’t mean I’m not gonna call out his government for still not having assigned a designated minister to deal with accessibility issues. Left out or left behind? Or if he has assigned a minister, I’d like someone to tell me, and I would apologize.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I’m not afraid to do that. Left out or left behind? What is it? Please write to me at donnajodhan, D-O-N-N-A-J-O-D-H-A-N, @gmail.com and let me know your thoughts, okay? All right. Here’s my story of the month, okay? For someone who used Our Mental Stretch to deal with the situation of no compassion in the workplace. This person had multiple disabilities. They were not just vision impaired, but they were also hard of hearing. And unfortunately, management and several fellow employees did not show any compassion in the workplace. So this person asked me not to give their name. I’d love to, but they told me or asked me not to. Told me that they came across Our Mental Stretch with Donna podcast and decided to say, you know, why not? Let’s use it. Let’s see what happens. So what they did is they used the mental stretch.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And what is the mental stretch all about? It is using the different senses to generate responses when the body is called upon, and it helps to refresh, regurgitate, rejuvenate, renew. So it works like this. So if, for example, you have something you want to deal with, you can either sit in your chair, or lie in bed, or sit anywhere that is quiet. Next, you choose a sense. Probably let’s go with the sense of smell for this one. You could use a sense of smell, sense of touch, sense of taste, sense of sight, sense of hearing, okay? So we’re gonna use a sense of smell. They concentrate on a favorite smell, okay? So let’s say smell of lavender. I’m choosing one of my favorite smells. They start inhaling a small, not container. What’s the word that I’m looking for?

Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Vial of lavender, okay? Or they pretend that they are smelling lavender. What this does, it starts to send different messages to different parts of the body, and soon you find yourself really into it, really stretching the mental capacity. So it starts with the body getting involved, okay? You start with your toes, then your feet, your ankles, your legs, your knees, your thighs, your tummy, your back, way up to the head and the brain. And the brain soon starts telling these various parts of the body, “Hey, wake up. You have work to do.” All right? So you can feel the entire experience starting with toes and going up. All right? Or you can start with the brain. Let’s start with the brain. The brain is always the place where you start. You start there, and your sense of smell starts to stimulate the brain. And soon the brain is sending messages all throughout your body.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: This is what my mental stretch is all about. And I have an announcement to make in that coming in January, we are going to refresh Your Mental Stretch with Donna, and we’re going to have a brand-new way of doing mental stretches. It’s exciting. I can’t wait to start it. And it’s with a very experienced co-host who has written lots of songs, sells them online, is into using music therapy. Two more months, and you will hear from us. That’s it for me for this week, everybody. Thank you very much for tuning in. Have a great day, and we’ll see you again very soon. Bye for now.

Podcast Commentator: Donna wants to hear from you and invites you to write to her at donnajodhan@gmail.com. Until next time.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA
Global Leader In Disability Rights, Digital Accessibility, And Inclusive Policy Reform
Turning policy into progress for people with disabilities.