Edition # 10 New copyright law will benefit South Africans with disabilities September 15, 2019 10.39am SAST South Africa’s current copyright law was enacted 41 years ago. The Copyright Act No. 98 of 1978 had no provisions for people with disabilities – and that hasn’t changed in more than four decades. This means that every time a person who is blind, deaf, partially sighted, dyslexic, or paralysed needs to access any information, the content must be converted into an accessible format before they can read and understand it. Students who have disabilities are particularly prejudiced and discriminated against in this regard. They do not receive their learning material at the same time as other students. Whether it is a textbook, articles, chapters of books, mathematical problems, PDF documents, or images for study purposes, these must be converted into an accessible format and often require editing and reformatting too. Copyright permission must be obtained before the works can be made accessible via Braille or other accessible formats. Rights-holders do not always respond timeously or at all, which means the students must wait for their study material in accessible format. Sometimes it doesn’t come at all. They also must pay high copyright fees for the conversions, which they do not always have in view of their limited budgets or resources. A closeup of a person reading Braille There are thousands of people with disabilities studying at South African universities. It’s crucial that these issues are taken seriously. People with disabilities worldwide battle what has been described as a “book famine”. The “famine” refers to the fact that less than 10% of published works, such as books and educational materials in developed countries, and less than 1% in developing countries are ever made into accessible formats, such as Braille, large print or audio. South Africa’s new Copyright Amendment Bill, which is awaiting President Cyril Ramaphosa’s signature to become law, could help the country take an important step in tackling its own “book famine”. Section 19D of the Bill has several provisions for people with disabilities. Students’ struggles Currently, blind and partially sighted students must purchase the printed version of a textbook and then have it converted into Braille by personnel in their Disability Rights Units. I am a member of the University of the Witwatersrand’s Disability Rights Forum and have been involved in various disability fora in the higher education sector in the past. Issues of late receipt of study material, and lack of accessible formats being available in bookshops, are common problems experienced by students with disabilities. They would prefer textbooks available in an accessible format at the same time and at the same price as sighted students do. Unfortunately, textbooks are not available in accessible formats in bookstores, so students are at a disadvantage right from the start of their school or university lives. Some publishers provide the digital file to university disability rights units to make accessible formats. But this is not done by all publishers. Another way in which the current law disadvantages blind and visually impaired people is that it prevents them from exercising their rights under “fair dealing”. “Fair Dealing” in Section 12(1) of the existing act allows reproduction for the following purposes, without permission from the rights-owner: Research or private study Personal or private use Criticism or review Reporting current events (e.g. in a newspaper or broadcast) Judicial proceedings or a report of judicial proceedings Quotation (a fair portion, with proper acknowledgement) and use of works “by way of illustration” for teaching purposes (e.g. in a PowerPoint presentation) is also permitted under fair dealing. A sighted person can browse, copy and read a chapter of a book or a journal article for personal study, research or personal use. A blind or visually- impaired person would first need to loan the book from the library, then find someone to browse the chapters for them before they can decide what section to use, then find someone to convert that information into an accessible format – all at a cost and delay. It takes several months and a lot of money to braille a chapter or whole book. There are limited outlets where accessible formats can be done: disability units at universities, the SA Library for the Blind and a few printers in South Africa. Because the current copyright law does not have any exceptions for people with disabilities, people who cannot afford these services will not be able to access that material. The Marrakesh Treaty South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry has committed to ratifying the Marrakesh Treaty as soon as the Copyright Amendment Bill has been enacted. The treaty was adopted by member states of the World Intellectual Property Organisation in 2013. The Treaty makes the production and international transfer of specially adapted books for people with blindness or visual impairments easier. It does this by establishing a set of limitations and exceptions to traditional copyright law. It’s time for South Africa to catch up. Once it ratifies the Marrakesh Treaty, it will be able to exchange accessible formats across borders. It will also reduce costs and duplication of effort by organisations and individuals who provide services to people with disabilities. Source: The Conversation Five Calculator Apps that Help Students with Low Vision in the Classroom A calculator It is incredibly frustrating when a visually impaired student is not able to use a calculator in the math classroom with the rest of their peers, all because there isn't a calculator that is accessible for them. I know this from experience- in my high school level math classes, my school district did not have the resources to provide me with an accessible calculator, so I had to learn to do almost all math concepts by hand while my friends used calculators. The teachers would penalize me for this because it took me longer to do things, but on the bright side, I scored in the 99th percentile for mental math on my ACT (read more about ACT accommodations here). Luckily, there has been a lot of great technology innovations since my first algebra 1 class, especially with the iPad. Here are five calculator apps that help students with low vision in the classroom, including some that are approved for standardized testing. myScript I started using the myScript calculator app my junior year of high school approximately 18 hours before I took my chemistry SOL test, which is the name for standardized testing in Virginia (read more about standardized testing accommodations here). myScript uses handwriting input that can recognize even the messiest of handwriting and displays calculation results in large, clear text. I got the app for free years ago, but it appears the new version of the app costs $2.99. Download myScript for iPad here and myScript fo Android here. Big Digits Sometimes I just need a basic four-function calculator with a high contrast display. For moments like this, I turn to the Big Digits calculator app, which features a high contrast colored display and easy to read text. If a dark background is preferred, the iPad display can be configured to show inverted colors- read more about this in my iPad accessibility settings post here. This app also worked flawlessly with VoiceOver and is approved to use with standardized testing. Big Digits costs $2.99. Download Big Digit for iPad here. Calculator + First off, please note the space between the word calculator and the plus sign, as there are many apps out there that look like calculators but are used for hiding pictures and videos on a device. Now that we have that out of the way, Calculator + is a scientific calculator, graphing calculator, base converter, and so much more. I use this app all the time when doing calculus homework and find it very easy to see, especially with all the different color modes available. I normally just use the scientific calculator function because that is the only segment of the app that was approved for me to use in testing- read more about how I use apps in test environments using guided access here. The scientific calculator function is free, but the other sections of the app cost money. Calculator + is a free app with in-app purchases ranging from $8 for half of the functions to $15 for all the functions unlocked, which is what I paid. Download Calculator + for iPad here. Geogebra Graphing Calculator Geogebra Graphing Calculator allows users to graph points and perform other common functions for graphing calculators. I use this app in my classes frequently, and while I wish the line for the graph was bolder, it's easy to see and use. It also has a built-in testing mode for exams, though I have not received a definite answer on whether it can be used for standardized testing. I found VoiceOver mildly confusing to use, but that may because I'm not used to using it- Select to Speak on Android worked fine. Geogebra Graphing Calculator is free. Download for Geogebra Graphing Calculator for iPad here and Geogebra Graphing Calculator for Android here, as well as Geogebra Graphing Caluclator viewed in a web browser here. Magnet Calc Need to remember a bunch of numbers? Magnet Calc is a large button calculator that performs basic calculations. A unique feature about the app is that the user can then drag the answer to their question to another location on the screen, like they are putting something on the board with a magnet. These calculations stay there until they are deleted, and the user can also use the sum function to add up all the numbers displayed. I liked being able to see all the numbers displayed, and it helped me when working with particularly long calculations that required several parts. Magnet Calc is free to download and ads can be removed for 99 cents, and for $1.01 on Android. Download Magnet Calc for iPad here and  Magnet Calc for Android here. Hopefully these five calculator apps will help students with low vision in the math classroom have access to the same tools as their peers. For more math resources, read my post on five websites that help students in the math classroom here. Source: Perkins Learning Blind Man Develops Smart Cane That Uses Google Maps and Sensors to Identify One’s Surroundings This electronic walking stick is revolutionizing the way that blind people can navigate the world. As a means of protecting people from low-hanging objects and obstacles above chest level, the WeWalk smart cane uses ultrasonic sensors to warn the user of nearby hindrances through vibrations in the handle. The cane can be paired with a smartphone’s Bluetooth system for easy control. Since it is also integrated with Voice Assistant and Google Maps software, it can use built-in speakers to inform the user of nearby stores and infrastructural details that they may not be able to see. A woman walking with the We Walk Smart Cane WeWalk CEO and co-founder Kursat Ceylan, who is also blind, told CNN that he helped to develop the cane out of a desire to use modern technology as a tool for the visually impaired. “In these days we are talking about flying cars, but these people have been using just a plain stick,” he told the news outlet. “As a blind person, when I am at the Metro station, I don’t know which is my exit … I don’t know which bus is approaching … [or] which stores are around me. That kind of information can be provided with the WeWalk.” The WeWalk is currently being sold for $500 a pop. As the Turkish tech startup gains more traction, the developers hope to eventually pair it with ridesharing apps and transportation services to further improve its navigational abilities. Click here, for the video Source: Good News Network 9 Ways to Take Responsibility for Your Life We often hear to take 100% responsibility for our life. What is the big deal about it? The big deal is that it moves you from victim to victor of your life. It puts you at cause and not at effect, meaning that you accept that you create your life and not just reacting to it. You appreciate that things happen for you and not to you. A person sitting on a mountain looking out over the clouds Taking responsibility puts you at choice and that allows you to choose how to respond to life’s challenges. You move into the driver seat of your life’s journey. Let’s explore 9 ways how this looks in everyday life including your business. 1. Take responsibility for your thoughts, feelings, words and actions. To take responsibility for your life, is to take responsibility for your powers of thinking, feeling, speaking and acting, because this is the structure of all human experience. You create your life with your thoughts, feelings, words and actions. You take responsibility when you accept that the thoughts you have, are your thoughts coming from your mind. How you feel happens in your body and is a result of your thoughts. The words you speak come from your mouth and voice. The actions you take, are taken by you. What this means is that nobody can make you think, feel, say or do anything. Nobody can push your buttons, because you are the button maker! In the same way you don’t have control over how other people respond as they respond from their mindset. 2. Stop blaming Stop blaming your partner, parents, economy, your upbringing or the dog for your misfortune. Blaming keeps you in victim mode and robs you of changing your situation. When you stop blaming and accept responsibility, you shift from victim to victor. Now you can look at the situation and decide what to do about it. Ask yourself, “What is my role in this?” 3. Stop complaining Complaining is another form of blaming and playing victim as if you have no choice. It also shows that you focus on lack, things going wrong, things happening to you. In everything not going according to plan, there is a gift, there is a bigger picture. Ask yourself, “What is the gift here? What can I learn from this?” 4. Refuse to take anything personal This is a biggie. Assuming that everything is about you. Taking any form of disagreement as a personal attack. Remember, you don’t have control over how other people respond, you only have control over how you respond. Refuse to take anything personal. It is most probably not about you, but about the issue at hand. Instead of making assumptions, rather ask questions. This is a very powerful and liberating practice, with never ending surprises. Ask yourself, “Is this about me, or the issue at hand?” 5. Make yourself happy Taking responsibility for your happiness is liberating. Firstly, to realize that happiness does not come from outside of you. It is not the job of your partner, parent, friend, child, to make you happy. To be happy is a decision and the gateway to happiness is gratitude. Keep a gratitude journal and you will find lots to be happy about. Also, do things that make you feel happy. Listen to your favourite music, surround yourself with beauty, express your creativity, do acts of kindness, etc. Ask yourself, “What about this could make me happy?” 6. Live in the present moment Life is now. There is only one moment, now. The past is history, the future is a mystery, so there is only now, this moment. Take responsibility for this moment and make the best of it to redeem the past and create the future you want. Paulo Coelho wrote something to this effect in his biography. Be the gatekeeper of your thoughts and refuse to have a rerun of the same 60000 thoughts of yesterday if they do not get you want you want in life. Choose your thoughts carefully in every moment and when you become present you have the awareness of what you are thinking and feeling. This then allows you to interrupt thoughts that do not serve you. Deliberately change them in the moment to what you want to create in that moment to shape your future. Ask yourself, “Am I in the present moment and what do I want?” 7. Use the power of intention You have the power to choose. In fact, you are making choices all the time. Tea or coffee, red dress or black dress, hair up or down, yoga or go for a run. Even by not making a choice, you are making a choice. Become intentional in making choices by having a vision in mind. A vision for your life, your business, your relationship, your health, wealth, etc. Living intentionally by deliberately making choices to move you forward toward manifesting your vision or outcomes, is consciously taking responsibility for your life. Ask, “Is saying yes to this moving me towards my goal?” 8. Feel calm and confident When you take responsibility for your life and experience, you step into a place of calm confidence. You feel calm because you know that you are consciously in charge of yourself and that you can choose how you respond. You feel confident that you will not fall into victim-mode by sucking up other people’s verbal vomit. They can keep those gifts. Ask yourself, “What do I choose to accept from this conversation and how do I choose to respond?” 9. Look for the good in people There’s a saying that we judge ourselves by our intentions and we judge others by their behaviour. Make it your new habit to look for the intentions behind people’s behaviour. So often when we understand where someone comes from, we let go of judgement. One excellent practice is to remove the labels we hang onto people like bibs around their necks and that somehow gives us permission to treat them in the worst possible way. Often this applies to the people closest to us. Ask yourself, “If I just see him/her as a human being, how will I respond differently?” Another effective practice is listening to understand instead of listening to respond. This means to practice asking questions to really understand what the other person means, instead of waiting for a chance to interrupt and voice your important opinion. This allows you to take responsibility to intentionally have illuminating conversations and fulfilling relationships, because the person that you are talking to will appreciate your attention, like and trust you and support you in return. This article was previously published on my blog. — Published on March 4, 2018 The 3 Stages of Personal Responsibility (a must read for changing habits…) Stage 1 In Stage 1 you’re sitting on the side of the road in the passenger seat of your own car. You say to yourself, “Why is everyone else getting where they want to go? Why am I not moving? What’s wrong with me? This always happens to me?” etc. Wouldn’t that be insane? YES…it would. But that’s exactly what we do when we take no personal responsibility for what we think, feel, and experience about what happens. We enter a stage of helplessness and hopelessness. The only way we’ll get anywhere is solely at the mercy of others. Lesson learned: If you don’t take 100% responsibility for your life and everything you think, feel, and do – then you can’t do anything about it, you can’t change it and at best you’ll be a really good victim. And being a really good victim doesn’t work. You can tell a person is having a ‘stage 1’ moment when they are complaining about how bad life is or how something ‘awful’ has happened to them. We’ve all had moments like this in our lives– relationships, career, home life, finances, friends and family. When we bring this ‘life is happening to me’ story into these areas of our life – we create fear-based neuroses that prevent us from getting what we want and taking action in that area. We even prevent ourselves from feeling good by creating more stories about how we got that way. Here’s what you need to know: It’s just a pattern of behaviour! It’s not you. A pattern of behaviour is just something you do. Like an outfit you wear. You are no more your patterns of behaviour than you are the pants and shirt you are wearing. It’s just something you put on like an outfit. So, if it’s not working you change it. Stage 2 In Stage 2 of personal responsibility you finally realize you’re not going anywhere because you’re in the passenger seat of your own car. You figure out that if you want to get anywhere, you’ll have to do the driving. That’s a good realization. So, reluctantly you climb into the driver’s seat of your own car and begin down the road. But as you do, you start to remember the last time you drove, what happened, and why you swore off driving in the first place – and as you do you are so distracted you wreck your car. Stage 2 is like driving down the highway, pedal to the metal, while looking out the back window the entire time. All you see is wreckage following you, a car swerving off the road here, a ball of flames over there, and you say to yourself, “See…this always happen to me.” You then make the assessment about yourself, “Every time I take responsibility for my life, every time I go for it – something bad happens.” You then decide to immediately pull your car over, if you have any sense, and get out of the driver’s seat as soon as possible before you do anymore damage. This is what we call a stage 2 moment. Sounds crazy doesn’t it? Yet this is exactly what we do when we start to try and take action, but are so stuck in the past, worrying about what didn’t work out, what bad stuff happened that we are dragging that reality into the present by not looking where we are going. It’s like running backwards as fast as you can without being able to see where you are going. You are bound to stumble, again and again. So, the question is where in your life are you in a stage 2 moment? Where in your relationships are you stuck in the past – something that happened or didn’t happen that’s clouding your vision of now? What distracting you from being present and attentive right now? Then stop it. Just for a moment – to experience the difference. Notice how that feels. Come into the present moment until you feel the shift. You will experience a significant feeling when you do this. Lesson learned – when we are stuck in the past, we can’t see what’s right in front of us. And when you can’t see where you are going, you’re bound to bump into things, get lost, and wader endlessly. With no destination in sight, where will the journey stop, and what’s the journey for the sake of anyway? Another important point, when you only think about life in relation to ‘how things used to be’ you tether yourself to holding on to that thought – those images and those tapes you play in your head that tell you how to be, how to act, and what is and isn’t true for you. So, the key to transforming the past is to put your attention on something else and experience the letting go as it washes away with the next tide. Stage 3 In Stage 3, you’ve taken back control of your life, you’ve stopped focusing on the past, and you started focusing on the present moment and what you want. Focusing on the present moment gives you important feedback needed to make accurate assessments about what actions will move us towards our goal most effectively. This is also where you finally figure out that if you don’t look where you’re going, you’re going to run into something and cause a wreck. So, you realize being stuck in the past doesn’t work. Now, in Stage 3 you look where you are going and surprisingly, you stop running into stuff and start driving straight. Not only are you in control, you are taking 100% responsibility for everything you think and experience and that gives you power. Power to start, power to stop, and power to change. It reminds you that you are manifesting everything in your life and it’s up to you to create what you want. You are not blaming anyone else, any other circumstance, or anything for what is. You welcome ‘what is’ and the evidence of that is you are working with ‘what is’ to transform it by putting attention on each different core area of your life: You’ll create awareness for what’s working and what isn’t. That’s your starting point. If you want to be successful with ANY goal – you must be willing to make mistakes (and lots of them). In order to do this, you must be willing to take responsibility for YOU and your life – that includes everything that happens to you. Final thoughts – remember, you can’t always control what happens to you, but you can control how you respond to it – and what YOU do next. Source: Dina Marais AGM 2019 The St Dunstan’s AGM for 2019 was held on Friday 13th September at the Kelvin Grove Club. The Guest Speaker was Prof Lionel Louw. Prof Lionel Louw addressing the attendees Changes in Directorship St Dunstan's sadly said goodbye to Reinette Popplestone after a lengthy illness, feisty to the end. Reinette’s passion and insights into the work that St Dunstan's does will be missed. We wish both Tony and Kirsty condolences and strength for the future. Our Chairman Prof Brian Figaji ends his term at St Dunstan's in 2019 and we would like to wish him and his family all the best for the future. We hope that he is now able to put his feet up and enjoy retirement. Brian Figaji with his farewell gift Congratulations to David Mitchell who has been nominated to replace Prof Figaji as Chairman. St Dunstan's would like to welcome both Veliswa Baduza and Yaw Peprah onto the Board. Veliswa Beduza Veliswa brings with her many years of experience gained from holding senior leadership positions across various sectors including the public, private and non-profit organisations. She served in Government as the Director General in the Department of Women and as a COO in the Department of Arts and Culture. Veliswa is currently providing organisational turnaround leadership services to TEKANO, a non-profit organisation set out to create a more equitable society with improved health statuses across all populations.  She is also involved as a non-executive Director in organisations like the West Coast Fossil Park Trust, Africa for African Women, the Cape Town Diocese of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, to name but a few. Veliswa is seasoned in corporate governance and holds a wealth of experience in business management as well as organisational leadership.  This has provided her with the ability and expertise to work with people from all walks of life and across diverse cultures. We wish her all the best in her time with St Dunstan’s. Yaw Peprah Yaw Peprah is a Qualified CA currently Heading up the Business Office of WESGRO. Yaw is passionate about education and providing opportunities for students who are unable to enter tertiary education due to lack of Funding. Through the Silibona Educational Trust Yaw has been able to provide funding and mentorship for numerous disadvantages students at several Tertiary institutions around South Africa. He is also currently involved in various capacities in the following organisations, Audit Committee of the Aurum Institute, Soweto Marimba Youth League and UCT Post Graduate Enterprise Management Course. We look forward to working with Yaw at St Dunstan's and wish him all the best. Announcements Birthday Wishes Congratulations to Hennie Hechter who celebrated the big 6 in September St Dunstan’s Podcast Site Have you explored our Podcast site yet? Al the audio formats of our Reviews and Newsletters are uploaded here. These files are all downloadable. Visit the site by clicking here Thank you A Huge thank you to Henry Williams Florist who generously donates beautiful flowers every year at our AGM.. Flowers by Henry Williams Florist for the 2019 AGM Upcoming Events Long Cane Rally - 26 October 2019