A small oversight.

I have finally achieved the unachievable: I just passed the written test for my Alberta Class 4 driver's license. This gives me legal permission to take the road test for said license. I also got my physical done, which means that once I pass the road test I will be able to get the license right away.

I need to get my Class 4 for my job. The Alberta government requires all people who are paid for driving other people to have this level of driver's license. Regardless of how silly I think it is, it has suddenly become a necessity for me to get the same license as EMTs, taxi drivers, and school bus drivers (maximum of 24 passengers) need. (It has not been necessary before this because I didn't drive my Preschool Unit Funding clients when I was working for an agency previously, and because I typically don't charge private clients for driving them places.)

The written test itself was not really very difficult. Had it been administered on paper, I'm sure I would have passed the test on the first try. Unfortunately, it was given via computer, and today was my third attempt. Thank goodness I passed!

I remember, "back in the day", when I got my learner's permit for my Class 5 license, the testing was done on paper. The Alberta government has now updated things so much that the paper test is no longer available. I have been hoping to locate such a thing since I failed the computer version the first time (last Monday).

The problems with the computerized testing, as I see it, are:

1. the testee is only able to see one question at a time;
2. answers cannot be changed, as incorrect ones are noted as the test is taken; and
   
3. if the testee skips a question, it is simply tacked on to the end of the exam and all skipped questions are repeated at the end in the order they were originally presented.
   

Benefits of paper testing for those who are able to demonstrate need:

1. the testee is able to see all the questions at once and decide which order to answer them in;
2. if the testee suddenly realises that there is an incorrect response, it can be changed; and
   
3. if the testee skips a question, it can be attempted later on, when the testee has had time to think it over for as long as necessary.
   

Today, when I went into a different registry and asked about it, I was informed that nobody is even allowed to give the paper version anymore: it's all done by computer. I was, naturally, apprehensive about this situation, and I shared my concerns with the agent as we got me signed up to do the test.

"I was really upset when they did this," she said. "I mean, what about older people who don't know how to use computers? Yeah, it's just point & click, but still!"

I agreed. "The paper test needs to be available as an option for people with learning disabilities. I have ADHD, and the computer version just isn't a good fit for that."

Well, maybe that's not exactly the conversation we had, but it is the gist of it.

I plan to get this changed. I'm not totally sure how I'm going to do that yet, but I will be doing some research over the next little while. Keeping the option of paper testing available for the disabled and elderly isn't offering an "easy way out", it's leveling the playing field. One's ability to drive safely and follow the rules of the road has little to do with one's ability to use a computer or take a test in a specific manner.

(And, yes, I did pass on the third try, but the point is that it shouldn't have taken me that many attempts. I am a smart person, I have been driving for nigh on 16 years, and I did study for this test.)

"Can you help a community without really being a part of it?"

The quote that forms the title of this post is from a documentary about the making of the film The Second Chance. The movie, which stars Michael W. Smith and was directed by Steve Taylor (both big names in the Christian music world), is really about the social inequalities (class, race, etc.) that still exist, and what our response should be. It tackles the issues from within a faith paradigm, but makes its point without shoving Christianity down the viewers' throats. I recommend this movie, if you can find it to rent anywhere, and I definitely recommend checking out the special features on the DVD.

The quote caught my attention, as many such things do, because it makes so much sense. The woman who said it was a former resident of the projects, who got herself out. She talks about how money isn't what's needed, though it helps - people are needed, to teach and to help those struggling against society's strictures reach their full potential.

The movie itself is about a man (Smith) who is the son of the senior pastor at a large mega-church. He's on the fast-track to becoming the next senior pastor there, used to play piano for Tina Turner, etc. This church has a small mission church (actually founded before the large one) in the projects, called "The Second Chance Community Church". Smith's character makes the board at the big church upset, so they "sentence" him to community service at the inner-city church. He works in tandem with the pastor there, and over time he begins to learn that the answer to the problems of the people there is not to throw money at them, but to actually take the time to get to know them, to learn who they are, to really live with them and share their lives.

So I began to wonder about the autism community (it always comes back to this for me). Regardless of your position on any of the hot topics of the moment, mightn't it do some good to really try to understand where everyone is coming from? Obviously those of us without children cannot really experience parenthood any more than it is possible for a white person to really experience what it is like to be black, or a hearing person to really experience what it's like to be deaf, but there is a lot to be learned in the attempt. Same goes for non-autistic people trying to understand what it's like to be autistic.

Instead of this open-minded approach to debate and discussion, I often see closed-minded pushing of agendas. This sort of thing benefits no-one. I promise.

Somehow, the autism community needs to find a way to become one community. Those within a community don't have to agree on everything any more than individuals in a family have to get along all the time. But dialog needs to be real dialog, not meaningless avalanches of words that try to bury understanding and open-mindedness.

So, I guess what I'm saying is that I'd rather serve and listen and do my best to help where I can than be involved in arguments that probably won't help anything in the end.

What about you? (And do you even understand what I'm getting at, since I'm not totally sure how coherent I'm being right now.)

All In the Serve - Michael W. Smith

Never gave you nothin’
People couldn’t explain
Never gave you nothin’
Without something to gain
Never could slow down, no
To study your face, but now
I want to know your name

Hold my feet to the fire
Till I’m making a sweat
Till I never forget
Your calling keeps me up at night
Give me enough
Here it’s all in the serve

Locked in the dark place
I kept driving past it
Better to be safe
Than what you’re about
Give me another chance
To go where you go now
I’m here to walk it out
I’m here to walk it out
I’m here to walk it out

It’s all in the serve
It’s all in the serve
Here it’s all in the serve

This post's icon was created by the author.

Why Vaccines Are Important.

Okay, so Ramesh Ferris looks nothing like Mal Reynolds. For one thing, Ramesh has more muscle in his upper body. For another, Ramesh is of Indian descent (as in, he was born in India). But he's still a "Big Damn Hero" in my mind.

Ramesh is a polio survivor. He was adopted from an orphanage in India by the current Anglican bishop of the Diocese of Algoma, Ron Ferris, and has lived nearly all of his life in Canada. Because of this, he has had access to all kinds of health care and rehabilitation that he would not have had in India.

Ramesh can walk because of crutches and braces, but he only has these things because he was lucky enough to be adopted into a Canadian family. Six years ago, he visited India and saw first-hand what his life would have been like without that intervention.

Now, Ramesh is using a hand-cycle to cross Canada - from Victoria, British Columbia right through to Cape Spear, Newfoundland. I met him on Canada Day (July 1), as I was attending the celebrations in Thunder Bay, Ontario, with my parents. (I am currently on vacation, house-sitting and cat-sitting for my parents as they visit my youngest brother and his wife in Toronto.)

I've provided some links below so you can explore things on your own, but I wanted to give a nice preamble and leave you with some facts about polio to keep your brain active for the next little while. All of these points can be found on the official web site for Cycle to Walk.

Polio (poliomyelitis, or poliovirus) – source: http://www.rotary.org/

• Enters through mouth; multiplies in tonsils and lymph nodes. Proceeds to
  gastrointestinal tract.


• Virus multiplies in intestines and spreads via feces (diaper changes, contaminated water, poor hygiene, etc.).


• Can cause paralysis within hours and attacks motor neurons in the brain stem, affecting breathing.


• More than 10 million children will be paralyzed in the next 40 years if the world fails to capitalize on its US$4 billion global investment in eradication.


• Historically, polio has been the world’s greatest cause of disability.


• A single dose of vaccine can cost as little as US60¢.

Polio in the Developed World

• Polio is literally an airplane ride away.


• Like people in other developed countries where national immunization programs have protected generations from the devastations of polio since the introduction of the Salk (1954) and Sabin (1961) vaccines, Canadians have come to feel so safe from the disease, that many now consider it unnecessary to immunize their children.


• In today’s age of frequent, international travel, all non-immunized people are at risk no matter where they live. Polio is literally an airplane ride away.


• In July 2007, a positive case of polio was confirmed in Australia, as was the case in 2006 in Singapore. The GPEI News also reported the isolation of wild poliovirus (wpv) in the sewer water of the city of Geneva in August 2007. It is “due to high vaccination coverage and good sanitation” that detection of the virus was not considered to “represent a significant risk of outbreak.”

Polio in Canada

• If asked, most Canadians would say that polio is “solved.” So, educating Canadians about polio, the vaccines and advocating continued immunization is absolutely necessary.


• Polio is not solved.


• In Canada, the immunization rate against polio is at 89%; leaving nearly four million Canadians (11%) vulnerable to this viral infection. According to WHO calculations, the rate of immunization is presently low enough to put Canada at risk for at least localized outbreaks.


• “As long as a single child remains infected with the poliovirus, children in all countries are at risk of contracting the disease. The poliovirus can easily be imported into a polio-free country and can spread rapidly amongst immunized populations. Between 2003 and 2005, 25 previously polio-free countries were reinfected due to importations.” - (WHO)


• Canadians should be aware that in addition to the threat of new polio infections, more than 10 million polio survivors worldwide are living without access to the rehabilitative support that would enable them to overcome the devastating physical effects of polio.

Polio in the Developing World

• Despite the great success of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), spearheaded by Rotary International (R.I.), the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and UNICEF, in reducing the number of new cases by 99% since 1988, the hard fact is today, polio is still very present in four countries; India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.


• Polio remains endemic in four countries:
  
  Nigeria: 264 new infections
  India: 590 new infections
  Pakistan: 30 new infections
  Afghanistan: 13 new infections
  Polio has re-infected the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with 41 new cases in 2007. A total of 95 instances of polio infection occurred in non-endemic countries in 2007.

A Culture of Crawlers

• They are doomed to living on the ground, to getting about from place to place by crawling, using sandals over their hands to protect them and pieces of rubber tires strapped over their knees... These polio survivors without rehabilitative support are called ‘Crawlers’. They are so many as to constitute a ‘Culture of Crawlers.’


• They need our help.

Year-to-date infections in 2007 Source: http://www.polioeradication.org/

Facebook

Official Web Site

This post's icon was created by the author.