WEBVTT

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So I think that the biggest myth
that will be true for all of them

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is that accessibility needs time.

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 It doesn't.

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You can do the most basic measurements,

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you can make the most basic

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 adjustments, the most simple ones,
very, very quickly.

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 And it's not that expensive.

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I think that also the idea 

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thet accessibility always needs to be
very expensive is very hurtful,

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especially for persons with
disabilities because they are using

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their homemade solutions
all the time 

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because there is not a service.

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 They don't have, you know, the

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 proper tools.

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So, they are inventing their own

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stuff to make their lives easier,
and, most often than not, they

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don't have the millions like
corporations 

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to make the accessibility measures.

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And I think that 

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changing that perspective that every customer
can be a person with disability, 

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either if it's an invisible disability,
maybe it's a person that will get older,

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and will acquire a
disability with time,

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or maybe this person has
a situational disability,

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for example, their arm is broken,
or they need to use a wheelchair

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 because they had an accident, or
maybe they cannot use their eyes

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because they had an operation,
etc., etc.

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And even going away from a medical perspective,

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if it's a mother that is holding

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her child, she only has one hand,
for example, to move around, 

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to use, etc., etc.

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So, those are really, really small things.

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And this is a story that I'm
always sharing with everyone

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 because at almost the same time in
the history, the authorities in

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 Canada and in Poland were working
on their own accessibility acts.

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For Canada it was the
Accessibility Canada Act 

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and in Poland it was, first,
the Accessibility Act of 2019,

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with the Accessibility Plus programme
and during the Policy Maker Forum,

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we had the authorities from both of the countries

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and they were, I would
say, envious of each other in a way

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because the Accessibility Canada Act
is actually something that is leaning

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not only to talk about
accessibility measures, not only

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to explore how to set
accessibility standards 

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for the whole country, what authorities
should be governing that, but also

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 how to make a cultural shift.

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So what can we change,

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not only when it comes to the
authorities, not when it comes to

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 build environment, not only about
the public space, but also what

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 needs to be changed with
education, with people who are

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thinking about disability inclusion,

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so we will have a cultural shift

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by 2040.

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and this is something that people

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from Poland said, "Oh, that is
different", because in Poland, 

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we had a completely different
approach to to accessibility,

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 especially with the first
Accessibility Act.

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However, what the Canadians were
very envious of, was the

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Accessibility Plus programme, 
because it was not only

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 the standards, the architecture,
the, let's say, governing

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authorities that were, like, down
there, but it was also about investments,

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it was about the loans, it was
about the financial aspect 

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of building accessible public space.

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 And that was something that was different.

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 And Panasonic is designing each of
their things with that in mind.

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That something,

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sometimes you can have 

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a possibility to have an impairment
for your whole life.

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 Sometimes it's only for a short
time, sometimes it depends on the situation.

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And sometimes you just refuse to
because you are,

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this is how your brain works, and
you are more likely to adapt and

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 use something when you are not
using one of your senses.

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 And Panasonic has a great approach
and they have a whole design team

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of persons with disabilities,

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various

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disabilities, and they are
providing some of their solutions

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 in an open sourced way, for free,
so every person with a disability

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all over the world can use their
products without thinking 

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that they have an impairment and they
wouldn't be able to use them otherwise.

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But when it comes to businesses,
sometimes you need something

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that is very easy and it's on a very
small scale, and that would be

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 Morgan's Butchery from the UK.

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 And this example is of a small

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family business

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that decided that, "Hey, why aren't

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 my customers persons with disabilities?
We need to change something.

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 We need to make our shop more accessible.

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 We need a ramp.

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 We need to have more space.

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We need to introduce makatons.

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 We need to learn sign language.

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 We need induction loops.

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We need to do all of that work in
order to have more customers".

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 And they see the increase in
customers and those are repeated customers.

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They are coming back and back and
finally they have a service provider,

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a shop,

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they can go, no matter 

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what disability they have.

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 And that approach is something

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that we think is very easily replicable.

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Again, adapting only

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the bare minimum.

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So, if you have a law that is

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saying, "Hey, you should employ
2% of persons with disabilities in

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order for your business to be
inclusive", they will implement

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that and have only 2% of persons with
disabilities in their workforce.

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 Again, going down into very
technical things instead of

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looking at the lived experience, I would say.

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But I think that 

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what is sometimes not that visible is,
is your business friendly for

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 persons with disabilities?
Are persons with disabilities

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going to their friends, their
communities and saying, "Hey, this is

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a person that you can trust,
because this is a person, 

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a service, a company, a shop that
treated me well"?.

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 That's why the mystery shoppers
are such a great, you know,

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 institution, and so on, and so on.

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 And with that, the impact is

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 actually what we can see on social
media, the word of mouth and how

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 persons with disabilities are involved.

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And if they are the advocate

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for that solution, for that business,
or are they saying, "Hey, there is

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something wrong". 
And we need to really, really listen to them.