[BlindKid] FW: [GTTsupport] Cellphone Ban in Ontario Schools

Sun Sep 8 02:36:29 UTC 2019

Will this affect your blind children down here in the United States?

Original Message: 
From: "Raj" <rajtrib17 at gmail.com>
To: <GTTsupport at groups.io>
Subject: [GTTsupport] Cellphone Ban in Ontario Schools
Date: 
Sat, 7 Sep 2019 10:51:23 -0400

Just passing it on for those who may find it of interest.

From: CNIB Foundation [mailto:info at mail.cnib.ca]
Sent: Saturday, September 07, 2019 10:00 AM
To: Raj
Subject: Cellphone Ban in Ontario Schools

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Cellphone Ban in Ontario Schools

In March 2019,  <https://cnib.cmail19.com/t/d-l-xaskl-jjhhdrklut-i/> the
Ontario Ministry of Education announced it will be restricting the use of
cellphones and other personal mobile devices in classrooms. Last week, 
<https://cnib.cmail19.com/t/d-l-xaskl-jjhhdrklut-d/> the Ministry made a
follow-up announcement that the cellphone ban in Ontario classrooms will be
coming into effect on November 4, 2019.

After the initial announcement, CNIB and other disability stakeholder
groups contacted the Ontario Ministry of Education to stress the importance
of allowing students to use their phone during class time for accessibility
reasons. For example, smartphones - such as iOS or Androids with built-in
accessibility features - are essential for students with disabilities,
including those who are blind or partially sighted, in educational
settings. There are also accessible apps that enable students to review
class material in real-time using magnification software, navigate the
school using audible GPS and read printed material through OCR (optical
character recognition) software.

As part of our community consultations to inform our 
<https://cnib.cmail19.com/t/d-l-xaskl-jjhhdrklut-h/> For the Parents
response, we heard students with sight loss face isolation at school.
Often, they must leave their classrooms to access accessible technology
because it's not portable. Not only does this contribute to the negative
stigma surrounding disabilities, it places unnecessary pressures on school
resources.

We were pleased that the government has announced that exceptions will be
made "if cellphones are required for health and medical purposes, to
support special education needs, or for educational purposes as directed by
an educator". However, we continue to have concerns that this policy will
cause confusion - educators may not be aware of the exemption for students
with special educational needs.

What should I do?
If you are a student who is blind or partially sighted and you are
concerned that there may be an issue with your school permitting you to use
your cellphone for accessibility purposes, you should be proactive in
approaching your school and teachers to let them know that you need to use
your phone for accessibility reasons to support your education. In your
discussions, try to be as specific as possible and give some examples of
how you would need to use your phone for accessibility reasons (i.e. when
we are reading from a textbook, I need to use my phone's magnification
software).

If your school is not familiar with the exemption for people who have
special educational needs, you can refer them to the 
<https://cnib.cmail19.com/t/d-l-xaskl-jjhhdrklut-k/> Ontario Code of
Conduct for Schools, which specifically outlines this exemption.

Please email  <mailto:advocacy at cnib.ca> advocacy at cnib.ca if you encounter
any issues.

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