At Last Minute, House of Commons Standing Committee Cancels AODA Alliance Appearance to Give Evidence on Airline Disability Barriers Because His Mic was Unapproved, Even Though its IT Official Cleared it in a Test 2 Days Earlier

Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance Update

United for a Barrier-Free Ontario for All People with Disabilities

Website: www.aodaalliance.org

Email: aodafeedback@gmail.com

Twitter: @aodaalliance

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At Last Minute, House of Commons Standing Committee Cancels AODA Alliance Appearance to Give Evidence on Airline Disability Barriers Because His Mic was Unapproved, Even Though its IT Official Cleared it in a Test 2 Days Earlier

 

February 15, 2024

 

SUMMARY

 

AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky was scheduled to appear over Zoom this morning at 11 am at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Transport to give evidence on serious disability barriers from which airline passengers with disabilities continue to suffer. Moments before the 11 am hearing began, the Committee cancelled his appearance. He was told that they will see if they can re-schedule him to appear on another date, but there was no assurance that this would happen.

 

The reason for the cancellation was that Lepofsky’s Sennheiser headset that he was using for the Zoom meeting is not a device approved by the House of Commons. He was told this is a health and safety issue for the interpreters.

 

Several things are very wrong with this picture. First, at the House of Common’s request, David Lepofsky spent almost an hour with a House of Commons IT official two days earlier for the specific purpose of conducting a mandatory House of Commons test of his connection, including his headset. The House of Commons official specifically told Lepofsky at that time that the Sennheiser headset that Lepofsky was using was fine. Today, another House of Commons IT official said that Lepofsky’s headset is a different Sennheiser model than the one approved by the House of Commons. Yet he used the same headset on both occasions. The very purpose for taking up a witness’s time two days before the hearing is for the House of Commons to be sure the headset used is acceptable.

 

 

Second, House of Commons officials told Lepofsky minutes before the scheduled meeting today that this is a health and safety issue, because some headsets can create a whining sound for interpreters in their interpretation booth. Lepofsky asked several times if he could just do a mic test so the interpreters could see if this problem arose. He was left with the sense earlier this morning that this could be tried. However, just before 11 am, a Committee official phoned him and said that he could not appear today and they could not do a test.

 

Yet moments before that call, Lepofsky, who was logged into the meeting on Zoom, clearly heard two other witnesses asked to do a sound check so that they could see if the interpreters could hear them clearly.

 

Third, Lepofsky has used this same headset for innumerable Zoom meetings. He has never received a complaint from anyone about it. This has included Zoom meetings where Sign Language interpreters and/or real time captioners were providing accessibility support for the Zoom event, including when Lepofsky was speaking.

 

Members of the public who volunteer their time at the House of Commons’ request to provide evidence at a Standing Committee hearing deserve better treatment. At the very least, the AODA Alliance should be assured a time slot for AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky to be able to appear and present his evidence. He had prepared a presentation in which he was going to lay out the concrete, overdue steps that the Federal Government must now take to allow airline passengers with disabilities to travel with confidence that they won’t continue to face unfair recurring and entirely preventable disability barriers.

 

How Can You Help?

 

Write the House of Commons Standing Committee. Tell it to ensure that AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky will be given a time slot to appear at a time when he is available to do so. Tell it that its testing procedures for virtual presentations need to be substantially improved now.

Write them at TRAN@parl.gc.ca

 

 

For More Background

 

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