Sterling Creations Blog

Happy 2022 everyone and I’m Christian Robicheau at the business desk.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful festive season for 2021 and we all look forward to a better 2022.

For this week, I am delighted to share our president’s editorial and today Donna J. Jodhan does some crystal ball gazing!

Why not take a few minutes to read her thoughts?

Happy weekend everyone.

+++++++++++++++

Gazing through my Crystal ball

By Donna J. Jodhan

The crystal ball is often not very accurate or reliable when it comes to using it as a predicting tool.  Nevertheless.  However, for 2022 I am going to use it as an informal way of expressing my thoughts.

In looking through my crystal ball for 2022,  here is what I am seeing. I’ll add here that these are just my very own expressions of predictions and not those of another.   So now let’s clean off my crystal ball and get down to some business.

For 2022, my crystal ball tells me that this Federal Government is going to have its hands full when it comes to being able to convince its departments to follow the regulations of the accessible Canada Act that was legislated in July 2019.  Many departments will continue to try and find ways to work around these regulations but there will be a few that will decide to make efforts to comply.

Federally legislated entities such as banks and tele communications companies will be slow to start conforming.  Instead they will continue to protest that these regulations will affect their bottom lines.

My crystal ball tells me that the Federal government may just decide to keep its promise to appoint an accessibility commissioner some time in the first quarter of this year as well as to appoint a chief accessibility officer.

Canadians with disabilities will continue to encounter challenges when it comes to convincing Federal government departments and other entities to pay them for their skills and expertise.

The pandemic will continue to affect the accessibility of Canadian students with disabilities when it comes to education and we will need to continue to work harder to protect their rights.

A Canadian disability income allowance looks doubtful for 2022.

You may say that my crystal ball has not really predicted anything surprising but there you have it.

Just my two cents for today.

Image =3D A bright white light emanates from the center of a beautiful crystal ball sitting atop a purple linen cover. Blurred lights in the background.

To learn more about me as a sight loss coach visit www.donnajodhan.com

To reach me, please send an email to info@sterlingcreations.ca.

Here is a complete list of where you can view Donna’s blogs and editorials.

Donna Jodhan!  Advocating accessibility for all

http://www.donnajodhan.blogspot.com

Weekly features on how to increase your success with your business ventures

http://www.sterlingcreations.com/businessdesk.htm

Weekly articles and editorials on issues about accessibility

http://www.sterlingcreations.ca/blog

Now you can enjoy Donna’s detective DJ crime crushers Series by visiting http://www.donnajodhan.com

You can follow me on twitter @accessibleworld

and chat with me on Skype at habsfan0526.

Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/authordonnajodhan

Happy new year from our Sterling Creations Business Desk and I’m Scott Savoy welcoming you to 2022.

I hope that everyone enjoyed their festive season as best as they could and I look forward to continuing to bring you our weekly editions.

For this week I am delighted to kick off 2022 with our president’s first editorial; Donna J. Jodhan reflects on what have we learned!

Great reading to start things off.

Happy 2022 from me and the team!

+++++++++++++++

What did we learn for 2021

By Donna J. Jodhan

There are so many things that I can mention here but for now I am going to do my best to list the more important things and not to clutter our minds.

To start with, I learned that it does not matter if I pay my bills or taxes; Government departments and utility companies will continue to do what they have been doing for so or too many years.  This being to ignore the rights of Canadians with disabilities when it comes to providing information, services, and products equally to all Canadians.

It seems as if they do not follow the strands of philosophy that clearly state that if it is not accessible, it is not acceptable.  One of the most glaring examples for 2021 is the inaccessible Arrive Can app.  In addition, if a work around is needed in order to make something =ccessible, then it is definitely not acceptable.

Speaking of the Arrive Can app, I learned over the past few months that the relevant Federal Government departments somehow conveniently forgot to ensure that this app was accessible to seniors, Canadians with disabilities, and those without cell phones, those who are not technically able to use an I device, and those without Internet connections.  We need to convince the Canadian Border Service Agency and Public Health Canada that they need to include the requirements of those groups as stated above.

Any action short of this can only be described as reckless and willful.

Their lack of transparency, responsibility, and accountability need to be swiftly and firmly addressed both by the present government and by organizations for and of persons with disabilities and seniors.

I also learned that too many entities continue to place heavy requests on Canadians with disabilities to share their expertise and knowledge in return for no financial compensation.  Just ask the Canadian Transportation agency, the Canadian Human Rights Commission and other high profile Federal Government Departments why they continue to flout the rights of Canadians with Disabilities choosing instead to continue with a very unfair practice.  Or should I ask them how they plan to rectify this glaring glitch?

However, these departments are not the only offenders.  Both Federal and provincial entities continue to be a part of this trend with no end in sight.  Just ask Elections Ontario if they pay Ontarians with disabilities when they hire them to sit on their advisory group.  Or just ask other entities if they pay members of their advisory groups whenever these members so selflessly share their expertise and knowledge.

Just ask certain universities in Ottawa if they plan to compensate invited Canadians with disabilities to participate in their research projects.  I can tell you that fairly recently one of them was bold enough to invite someone to be a part of one of their research projects and then had the nerve to state in one of their letters that there would be no compensation.

In short, the embarrassing pattern of requesting and asking Canadians with disabilities to share their lived and hard earned expertise in return for no financial compensation needs to stop  as soon as possible.  There is a famous Chinese proverb that says “cheap things no good.”

So if we consider this, it would bluntly mean that our expertise and knowledge are no good because it is cheap!  It is not worth anything because all of these entities continue to extract our expertise and knowledge at no cost!

Hard lessons to learn and digest but I as the eternal optimist will continue to make things better than possible wherever and whenever I can!

Just my two cents for today.

Image =3D 2021 learning and education theme. A woman dances atop the numerals 2021 learning, seeking and documenting everything that she finds.

To learn more about me as a sight loss coach visit www.donnajodhan.com

To reach me, please send an email to info@sterlingcreations.ca.

Here is a complete list of where you can view Donna’s blogs and editorials.

Donna Jodhan!  Advocating accessibility for all

http://www.donnajodhan.blogspot.com

Weekly features on how to increase your success with your business ventures

http://www.sterlingcreations.com/businessdesk.htm

Weekly articles and editorials on issues about accessibility

http://www.sterlingcreations.ca/blog

Now you can enjoy Donna’s detective DJ crime crushers Series by visiting http://www.donnajodhan.com

You can follow me on twitter @accessibleworld

and chat with me on Skype at habsfan0526.

Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/authordonnajodhan

reetings from our business desk and I’m Scott Savoy getting ready for the holiday =
season.

Ah yes!  November it is and all’s well with the world!

Today I am pleased to share our president’s editorial with you and for today Donna J. Jodhan has something very serious to share with you.

It’s all about  whether our Accessible Canada Act is toothless or toothful!

Please enjoy this wonderful November weekend.

+++++++++++++++

Is the Accessible Canada Act toothless or tooth full

By Donna J. Jodhan

I was truly hoping that I would not need to weigh in on this very interesting question.  However, truth be told; it has become a very burning question over the past few months and we should not be blaiming the pandemic for contributing to all of this.

When the ACA was made legislation in June 2019, there were so many Canadians with disabilities who had very high hopes for its ability to  solve several problems such as ensuring that federal government departments would change their attitude from one of not listening to attitudes of collaboration, engagement, and a willingness to work with stakeholders to create a more accessible and inclusive environment for Canadians with disabilities.  Above all, transparency and accountability.

Sadly enough, this attitude on the part of some high profile government departments seem to be still present and I can only say that I have personally witnessed some very high profile federal government departments continuing to wilfully and recklessly ignore the guidelines of the ACA.

I am very reluctant to identify these so-called culprits but I am not sure what else to do.  There are a few departments however that have picked up the mantle and have decided to show leadership.  I congratulate Elections Canada for their leadership and I also congratulate Via Rail for fully adhering to excellent customer service.

I unfortunately call out the following departments for their poor attempts to follow the guidelines and for failing to even give it a decent try.  These departments continue to show little transparency and accountability.  Most of all, little or no respect for accessibility and inclusiveness.

Statistics Canada and the Canada Border Security Agency are two departments that I have personally been dealing with over the past two months and I can only describe their efforts as embarrassing, shameful, and an unwillingness to engage.

Only time will tell as to whether the ACA is toothless because of its inability to deal with departments such as those mentioned here or will they have the teeth to enforce the regulations.

I can only hope that these two culprits find a way to change their ways.

Just my two cents for today.

Image:

An illustration depicts the word TEAMBUILDING under which are 6 icons which read Team Spirit, Inspiration, Goals, Competence, Support and Motivation.

To learn more about me as a sight loss coach visit www.donnajodhan.com

To reach me, please send an email to info@sterlingcreations.ca.

Here is a complete list of where you can view Donna’s blogs and editorials.

Donna Jodhan!  Advocating accessibility for all

http://www.donnajodhan.blogspot.com

Weekly features on how to increase your success with your business =
ventures

http://www.sterlingcreations.com/businessdesk.htm

Weekly articles and editorials on issues about accessibility

http://www.sterlingcreations.ca/blog

Now you can enjoy Donna’s detective DJ crime crushers Series by visiting http://www.donnajodhan.com

You can follow me on twitter @accessibleworld

and chat with me on Skype at habsfan0526.

Happy new year from our Sterling Creations Business Desk and I’m Scott Savoy welcoming you to 2022.

I hope that everyone enjoyed their festive season as best as they could and I look forward to continuing to bring you our weekly editions.

For this week I am delighted to kick off 2022 with our president’s first editorial; Donna J. Jodhan reflects on what have we learned!

Great reading to start things off.

Happy 2022 from me and the team!

+++++++++++++++

What did we learn for 2021

By Donna J. Jodhan

There are so many things that I can mention here but for now I am going to do my best to list the more important things and not to clutter our minds.

To start with, I learned that it does not matter if I pay my bills or taxes; Government departments and utility companies will continue to do what they have been doing for so or too many years.  This being to ignore the rights of Canadians with disabilities when it comes to providing information, services, and products equally to all Canadians.

It seems as if they do not follow the strands of philosophy that clearly state that if it is not accessible, it is not acceptable.  One of the most glaring examples for 2021 is the inaccessible Arrive Can app.  In addition, if a work around is needed in order to make something accessible, then it is definitely not acceptable.  =

Speaking of the Arrive Can app, I learned over the past few months that the relevant Federal Government departments somehow conveniently forgot to ensure that this app was accessible to seniors, Canadians with disabilities, and those without cell phones, those who are not technically able to use an I device, and those without Internet connections.  We need to convince the Canadian Border Service Agency and Public Health Canada that they need to include the requirements of those groups as stated above.

Any action short of this can only be described as reckless and willful.

Their lack of transparency, responsibility, and accountability need to be swiftly and firmly addressed both by the present government and by organizations or and of persons with disabilities and seniors.

I also learned that too many entities continue to place heavy requests on Canadians with disabilities to share their expertise and knowledge in return for no financial compensation.  Just ask the Canadian Transportation agency, the Canadian Human Rights Commission and other high profile Federal Government Departments why they continue to flout the rights of Canadians with Disabilities choosing instead to continue with a very unfair practice.  Or should I ask them how they plan to rectify this glaring glitch?

However, these departments are not the only offenders.  Both Federal and provincial entities continue to be a part of this trend with no end in sight.  Just ask Elections Ontario if they pay Ontarians with disabilities when they hire them to sit on their advisory group.  Or just ask other entities if they pay members of their advisory groups whenever these members so selflessly share their expertise and knowledge.

Just ask certain universities in Ottawa if they plan to compensate invited Canadians with disabilities to participate in their research projects.  I can tell you that fairly recently one of them was bold enough to invite someone to be a part of one of their research projects and then had the nerve to state in one of their letters that there would be no compensation.

In short, the embarrassing pattern of requesting and asking Canadians with disabilities to share their lived and hard earned expertise in return for no financial compensation needs to stop  as soon as possible.  There is a famous Chinese proverb that says “cheap things no good.”

So if we consider this, it would bluntly mean that our expertise and knowledge are no good because it is cheap!  It is not worth anything because all of these entities continue to extract our expertise and knowledge at no cost!

Hard lessons to learn and digest but I as the eternal optimist will continue to make things better than possible wherever and whenever I can!

Just my two cents for today.

Image 3D 2021 learning and education theme. A woman dances atop the numerals 2021 learning, seeking and documenting everything that she finds.

To learn more about me as a sight loss coach visit www.donnajodhan.com

To reach me, please send an email to info@sterlingcreations.ca.

Here is a complete list of where you can view Donna’s blogs and editorials.

Donna Jodhan!  Advocating accessibility for all

http://www.donnajodhan.blogspot.com

Weekly features on how to increase your success with your business ventures

http://www.sterlingcreations.com/businessdesk.htm

Weekly articles and editorials on issues about accessibility

http://www.sterlingcreations.ca/blog

Now you can enjoy Donna’s detective DJ crime crushers Series by visiting http://www.donnajodhan.com

You can follow me on twitter @accessibleworld

and chat with me on Skype at habsfan0526.

Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/autho=
rdonnajodhan

reetings from our business desk and I’m Scott Savoy getting ready for the holiday season.

Ah yes!  November it is and all’s well with the world!

Today I am pleased to share our president’s editorial with you and for today Donna J. Jodhan has something very serious to share with you.

It’s all about  whether our Accessible Canada Act is toothless or toothful!

Please enjoy this wonderful November weekend.

+++++++++++++++

Is the Accessible Canada Act toothless or tooth full

By Donna J. Jodhan

I was truly hoping that I would not need to weigh in on this very interesting question.  However, truth be told; it has become a very burning question over the past few months and we should not be blaiming the pandemic for contributing to all of this.

When the ACA =
was made legislation in June 2019, there were so many Canadians with =
disabilities who had very high hopes for its ability to  solve =
several problems such as ensuring that federal government departments =
would change their attitude from one of not listening to attitudes of =
collaboration, engagement, and a willingness to work with stakeholders =
to create a more accessible and inclusive environment for Canadians with =
disabilities.  Above all, transparency and =
accountability.

Sadly =
enough, this attitude on the part of some high profile government =
departments seem to be still present and I can only say that I have =
personally witnessed some very high profile federal government =
departments continuing to wilfully and recklessly ignore the guidelines =
of the ACA.

I am very reluctant to identify these so-called =
culprits but I am not sure what else to do.  There are a few =
departments however that have picked up the mantle and have decided to =
show leadership.  I congratulate Elections Canada for their =
leadership and I also congratulate Via Rail for fully adhering to =
excellent customer service.

I =
unfortunately call out the following departments for their poor attempts =
to follow the guidelines and for failing to even give it a decent =
try.  These departments continue to show little transparency and =
accountability.  Most of all, little or no respect for =
accessibility and inclusiveness.

Statistics =
Canada and the Canada Border Security Agency are two departments that I =
have personally been dealing with over the past two months and I can =
only describe their efforts as embarrassing, shameful, and an =
unwillingness to engage.

Only time =
will tell as to whether the ACA is toothless because of its inability to =
deal with departments such as those mentioned here or will they have the =
teeth to enforce the regulations.

I can only =
hope that these two culprits find a way to change their =
ways.

Just my two cents for =
today.

Image:

An illustration depicts the word TEAMBUILDING under =
which are 6 icons which read Team Spirit, Inspiration, Goals, =
Competence, Support and Motivation.

To learn =
more about me as a sight loss coach visit www.donnajodhan.com

To reach =
me, please send an email to info@sterlingcreations.ca.

Here is a complete list of where you can view Donna’s =
blogs and editorials.

Donna =
Jodhan!  Advocating accessibility for all

http://www.donnajodhan.blogs=
pot.com

Weekly features on =
how to increase your success with your business =
ventures

http://www.ste=
rlingcreations.com/businessdesk.htm

Weekly articles and editorials on issues about =
accessibility

http://www.sterlingcreation=
s.ca/blog

Now you can enjoy Donna’s detective DJ crime crushers =
Series by visiting http://www.donnajodhan.com

You can follow me on twitter =
@accessibleworld

and chat with me on =
Skype at habsfan0526.

Like us on =
Facebook at www.facebook.com/autho=
rdonnajodhan

Like us on Facebook =
at www.facebook.com/autho=
rdonnajodhan

Dear readers:  As we approach the end of another year, I wanted to drop by and share my thoughts with you and for this year I’d like to use some words of wisdom that were sent to me by a very special lady; Denise Sanders and she did this when I was president of the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians.

Here goes:

“In every journey there is meaning.

In every conflict, there is growth.

In every action, there is purpose.

In every moment of doubt,

Remember to believe!”

Very strong words sent to me by a very powerful lady and these are ones that I shall treasure always.

There is no doubt that 2021 was an even more difficult year for so many of us than it was for 2020.  So many of us continued to struggle physically and mentally.  So many of us continued to be challenged with adversity and this pandemic did not spare any age group.

From the youngest to the oldest the song was the same.  For me, it was difficult living without my mom and my family close by but thanks to technology, the good old reliable land line, and FEDEx; I managed to stay above those tall terrible waves of struggle and challenge and in mid November my Prayers were answered when I was able to travel to the Caribbean to see my mom and family after almost two years.

This pandemic has brought out so many facets in us ranging from unlimited generosity, kindness, and thoughtfulness to behaviour of selfishness, self centeredness, and downright recklessness.

In 2021, I witnessed so many of our kids thinking outside the box as they found ways to create initiatives to help others.  I saw communities coming together to help each other.  I saw so many going out of their way to lend a hand to the more vulnerable.  However and sadly enough; there was the other side of the coin where I got to witness the dark side of Humanity.

I saw individuals behaving recklessly; shouting to the top of their voices that it was their right not to wear masks and to vaccinate.  However the important thing that they failed to remember that although it was their right; they should be thinking of not just themselves (the me syndrome)   but the other (the you too as well.)

It did not matter how so many of us went out of our way to plead with this group to pattern their thoughts and lives after those young heroes of World War II.  They continued to be selfish, reckless, and spoiled brats.  In short, they continued to show the world how much work we all need to do in order to restore semblances of discipline, thoughtfulness, and consideration to each other.

My journey this year has taught me to be more appreciative and grateful for what I have and can do for others. =For wonderful family and friends!  For the ability to keep my head above water and to continue to help others to be more patient, persevering, and committed.

I am extremely fortunate as I live in a country where I have access to everything that I need in order to live comfortably and more.  A country where I can find ways to share and give to others.

Yes, we are asking each other to sacrifice much but I do not think that we have any choice in the matter!  So many lives have already been lost and will continue to be lost until the vaccines are able to take control of the Pandemic.  So many have already given up their lives to save others and this continues.  We are not asking you to give up your lives!  We are only asking you to help save lives yours included!

So please!  before we say that it is our right not to wear a mask, or to be vaccinated, let us take a second to think of others.  Let’s all stand together to save not just ourselves but also each other!  We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the hundreds of thousands of front line workers who continue to work feverishly to keep us healthy!  To save us from the strangle hold of the pandemic!  To bring medications and food to us!  To those who continue to go beyond and above the call of duty!

Too many =ives have already been lost!  Too many hearts have already been broken and too many tears have already been shed!  Please!  Let’s make it our new year’s resolution to   reverse these trends and let’s show that we can work together to leave this world a better place for tomorrow’s generation.  It is probably the best gift that we can give to each other for 2022!

Just my two cents for today!

Image 3D Recovery =
from the Coronavirus. A pencil eraser erases the Coronavirus to reveal a rainbow.