Latest news with #disabilityaccess
BBC News
28-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Jersey's colleges request new facilities as old ones 'outdated'
Jerseys only further and higher education college has written a letter to the States of Jersey to request new facilities. The letter from Jo Terry-Marchant, principal at Highlands College and University College Jersey, said the current college estate was "outdated, inflexible, and no longer fit for purpose in many areas."It added due to limited capacity in workshop areas it wasn't able to meet the demands of 14 to 16-year-olds from local schools. It said a "new, modern campus is a strategic necessity". The letter added the existing site presented additional barriers as the facilities were not fully compliant in relation to disability access. This affected learners who needed opportunities from Life Skills (students with complex needs) and inclusion programmes. The letter stated in order to support the development of the workforce it must move beyond "reactive repairs" and "incremental fixes."It said: "A new, modern campus is a strategic necessity, being central to the education eco-system, delivering a sustainable, future-ready education system that can support industry needs, social mobility, and the Island's long-term economic resilience." It understood that the maintenance requirements would wipe out most of the Jersey Property Holdings (JPH) maintenance budget for it's wider portfolio and the pressure on the public purse. It said unless a study into a partial rebuild, "focusing on modern workshops is conducted, we will be constrained in our ability to meet government aspirations without capital investment."
Irish Times
03-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
‘It's ridiculous – we've nothing here': Co Kildare village to lose its last shop
'Older people and people with disabilities are so shocked, there was no forewarning really,' Johnstown resident David Stynes said as news filtered through the village that the only shop in the locality, Jordan's Centra, is due to close this week. 'It's ridiculous, we've nothing in the town,' the 65-year-old said. Located just off the N7, between Naas and Kill in Co Kildare , Johnstown, like 11 other Johnstowns in the east of the country, owes its name to the order of St John of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitaller, said local historian Brian McCabe. 'The original church is up the way. Since the 1300s, there has been a village here,' he said. From Naas originally, Mr Stynes has lived in Johnstown for the last three years and is a wheelchair user. He was candid about how the shop closure will affect him. READ MORE 'As you can see I'm not very mobile. I'm lucky I have an electric wheelchair, but if you're sitting at home and you realise eight, nine, 10 o'clock you have run out of bread, where are you supposed to go now?' He has already experienced some of the hardship that the shop closure will bring. 'I have to rely on the buses to get to Kill or Naas. But last week I was going up the ramp and the wheelchair toppled over and I ended up in hospital, so I can't really trust getting on the buses now,' he said. Mr Stynes, like many others, is critical of the lack of communal infrastructure in the village. 'What's the town going to be left with, a Chinese restaurant?' he said. 'For older and disabled people, it's going to be a nightmare.' Amenities in the area have not kept pace with significant population growth of recent times, say villagers. Photograph: Stephen Farrell The owner of the shop, Alan Jordan, who lives locally and whose children have worked in the store, said closing had been a difficult decision that was not taken lightly. 'The business has been growing and expanding, but unfortunately the premises is no longer fit for purpose,' he said. 'It has been outgrown by the size of the community, it can't provide the range of products that the community deserves. On three occasions over the last 12 years we have tried unsuccessfully to secure alternative sites in the village.' [ Irish post office network requires annual funding of €15m to avoid 'rapid closures' Opens in new window ] One of these sites, located across the road from the shop, remains vacant. 'We would have built a 4,000 sq ft store there with 44 car-parking spaces ... But that didn't come to pass; a group of local people weren't in favour.' The Jordan Centra group is the largest Centra chain in Ireland, with stores in eight other locations in Kildare and Dublin. The Jack and Jill Children's Foundation , whose administrative offices are located above the Centra store in Johnstown, has agreed to purchase the shop, pending the owner getting planning approval for its change of use, said Deirdre Walsh, chief executive of the charity. However, some locally have queried the need for increased storage space at the shop. Katelyn Dunne (19), who lives in Johnstown and works in the local Chinese restaurant, said: 'They were saying that you can't store everything in the shop, but you don't need everything in it, just the essentials: food and bread.' For many, the impending closure of the shop is further evidence of the hollowing out of a village and its environs, which has more than 1,300 inhabitants who already have no school or post office of their own. The local community centre has been closed since 2000 as the local council did not take it over, said Johnstown resident and Fine Gael councillor, Fintan Brett. There are hopes for the reopening of the Johnstown Inn pub this year. Photograph: Stephen Farrell However, one bright spot on the horizon is that the Johnstown Inn at the top of the village, which closed four or five years ago, has new owners and may open again at the end of the year, say locals. Another possible positive development for the village may involve the vacant site across from the Centra store, Mr McCabe said. 'We have plans for the site of the old Johnstown Garden Centre, we're in consultation with the council about developing that as a community area,' he said. In response to queries, Kildare County Council said it was 'actively pursuing' the provision of a community development facility for Johnstown, but due to commercial sensitivities was unable to disclose further details. While Johnstown may be something of a quiet village, the lack of services is frustrating for its residents especially as the area has seen significant population growth in recent times. The 2022 Census said the Johnstown area had a population of 1,320, with the largest age cohort being in the 15 to 19-years-old category. Ms Dunne is fully aware of the effect the shop closure will have on her peers. 'So many people around here have jobs there and lots of lads around here do work experience there and they won't be able to do that either,' she said. Johnstown has been bypassed several times – by the Naas dual carriageway in the 1960s and more recently by the N7. Locals are now wondering whether the village will remain permanently bypassed in terms of amenities. 'For the population, it's kind of ridiculous,' resident Alan Browne (43) said.
Irish Times
03-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
‘It's ridiculous – we've nothing here': Co Kildare village to lose its last store
'Older people and people with disabilities are so shocked, there was no forewarning really,' Johnstown resident David Stynes said as news filtered through the village that the only shop in the locality, Jordan's Centra, is due to close this week. 'It's ridiculous, we've nothing in the town,' the 65-year-old said. Located just off the N7, between Naas and Kill in Co Kildare , Johnstown, like 11 other Johnstowns in the east of the country, owes its name to the order of St John of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitaller, said local historian Brian McCabe. 'The original church is up the way. Since the 1300s, there has been a village here,' he said. From Naas originally, Mr Stynes has lived in Johnstown for the last three years and is a wheelchair user. He was candid about how the shop closure will affect him. READ MORE 'As you can see I'm not very mobile. I'm lucky I have an electric wheelchair, but if you're sitting at home and you realise eight, nine, 10 o'clock you have run out of bread, where are you supposed to go now?' He has already experienced some of the hardship that the shop closure will bring. 'I have to rely on the buses to get to Kill or Naas. But last week I was going up the ramp and the wheelchair toppled over and I ended up in hospital, so I can't really trust getting on the buses now,' he said. Mr Stynes, like many others, is critical of the lack of communal infrastructure in the village. 'What's the town going to be left with, a Chinese restaurant?' he said. 'For older and disabled people, it's going to be a nightmare.' Amenities in the area have not kept pace with significant population growth of recent times, say villagers. Photograph: Stephen Farrell The owner of the shop, Alan Jordan, who lives locally and whose children have worked in the store, said closing had been a difficult decision that was not taken lightly. 'The business has been growing and expanding, but unfortunately the premises is no longer fit for purpose,' he said. 'It has been outgrown by the size of the community, it can't provide the range of products that the community deserves. On three occasions over the last 12 years we have tried unsuccessfully to secure alternative sites in the village.' [ Irish post office network requires annual funding of €15m to avoid 'rapid closures' Opens in new window ] One of these sites, located across the road from the shop, remains vacant. 'We would have built a 4,000 sq ft store there with 44 car-parking spaces ... But that didn't come to pass; a group of local people weren't in favour.' The Jordan Centra group is the largest Centra chain in Ireland, with stores in eight other locations in Kildare and Dublin. The Jack and Jill Children's Foundation , whose administrative offices are located above the Centra store in Johnstown, has agreed to purchase the shop, pending the owner getting planning approval for its change of use, said Deirdre Walsh, chief executive of the charity. However, some locally have queried the need for increased storage space at the shop. Katelyn Dunne (19), who lives in Johnstown and works in the local Chinese restaurant, said: 'They were saying that you can't store everything in the shop, but you don't need everything in it, just the essentials: food and bread.' For many, the impending closure of the shop is further evidence of the hollowing out of a village and its environs, which has more than 1,300 inhabitants who already have no school or post office of their own. The local community centre has been closed since 2000 as the local council did not take it over, said Johnstown resident and Fine Gael councillor, Fintan Brett. There are hopes for the reopening of the Johnstown Inn pub this year. Photograph: Stephen Farrell However, one bright spot on the horizon is that the Johnstown Inn at the top of the village, which closed four or five years ago, has new owners and may open again at the end of the year, say locals. Another possible positive development for the village may involve the vacant site across from the Centra store, Mr McCabe said. 'We have plans for the site of the old Johnstown Garden Centre, we're in consultation with the council about developing that as a community area,' he said. In response to queries, Kildare County Council said it was 'actively pursuing' the provision of a community development facility for Johnstown, but due to commercial sensitivities was unable to disclose further details. While Johnstown may be something of a quiet village, the lack of services is frustrating for its residents especially as the area has seen significant population growth in recent times. The 2022 Census said the Johnstown area had a population of 1,320, with the largest age cohort being in the 15 to 19-years-old category. Ms Dunne is fully aware of the effect the shop closure will have on her peers. 'So many people around here have jobs there and lots of lads around here do work experience there and they won't be able to do that either,' she said. Johnstown has been bypassed several times – by the Naas dual carriageway in the 1960s and more recently by the N7. Locals are now wondering whether the village will remain permanently bypassed in terms of amenities. 'For the population, it's kind of ridiculous,' resident Alan Browne (43) said.
Associated Press
30-05-2025
- General
- Associated Press
Wisconsin Elections Commission votes to let small communities hand count ballots
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin communities with fewer than 7,500 people can hand count ballots under a decision by the state elections commission this week. However, under the Wisconsin Elections Commission decision, those communities and all other Wisconsin towns, villages and cities must still comply with federal law and provide at least one electronic voting machine at a polling location to accommodate voters with disabilities. The commission's decision Tuesday came in reaction to a complaint against the northwestern Wisconsin town of Thornapple, population about 700, over its decision to hand count ballots in the April 2024 presidential primary or the August state primary. The decision also comes as a federal lawsuit over Thornapple's decision not to have an accessible voting machine continues. A federal judge in October sided with the U.S. Department of Justice and ruled Thornapple was violating 2002's Help America Vote Act, or HAVA. The judge ordered the town to offer disabled people accessible voting machines. An appeal by the town is pending. Under the commission's decision this week, communities with fewer than 7,500 people can choose to have no other electronic vote-casting or tabulating machines other than one for disabled voters. Elections commission staff determined state law makes it optional for communities with fewer than 7,500 people to provide voting machines in every ward in every election. The law says those communities may 'adopt and purchase voting machines or electronic voting systems for use in any ward … at any election.' Republican commissioner Bob Spindell said the decision will give smaller communities more flexibility, especially in low-turnout local elections. But But Democratic Commissioner Ann Jacobs, who cast the lone no vote, said she worried small communities could game the system by selling voting machines purchased with funding from a state grant and then keep the money. The complaint against Thornapple was filed by the liberal law firm Law Forward on behalf of two Thornapple residents. A spokesperson for the law firm did not immediately return an email seeking comment Friday. The commission's decision could be appealed to circuit court.
ABC News
07-05-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Community transport companies refuse new clients as demand surges
One of Australia's largest community transport providers is refusing new clients, denying people with disabilities and the elderly access to subsidised travel. TransitCare delivered more than 300,000 trips in the last financial year, but the Queensland-based not-for-profit organisation's CEO, Terry O'Toole, said they could not keep up with demand. "We are having to refuse referrals coming in," he said. Thousands of Australians rely on community transport services. ( ABC News: Alice Pavlovic ) Community transport, funded through a mixture of federal, state and commercial contracts, offers transport for people over 65 and people with a disability in capital cities and regional communities. "Whilst we've got a slogan, 'keeping people connected to their communities', it's not just a service, it's also about social connection," Mr O'Toole said. With the additional pressures of rising vehicle costs, wages, and insurance combined with an ageing population, community transport providers like TransitCare were beginning to limit how many trips they could make a year. In the past, TransitCare had been able to absorb over-delivery, but Mr O'Toole said they couldn't afford to do that anymore. "We're having to comply with what the government says in certain instances. We try to deliver the best service to as many people as possible." TransitCare now provides more than 300,000 trips annually. ( Supplied ) 'Human right' Leanne Claussen, who has a disability, had been using community transport for many years, but when she moved to a different city, she was no longer within the geographical boundary of her provider. The Queensland resident said the community transport service in her new area told her they didn't have suitable vehicles for her to access their service. Ms Claussen, who has limited mobility due to having lymphedema, relied on community transport to drive her to work. "If I was to walk from my house to a bus stop, I couldn't make that," she said Leanne Claussen, who has a disability, says she is unable to access community transport. ( Supplied ) For months, Ms Claussen funded her own transport, but it became too expensive and impacted her ability to go to work. "I was paying $120 return trip by Uber every single time I went to work," she said. She said travelling to work was costing more than she earned. Ms Claussen, who was deemed not eligible for the NDIS, now received support through My Aged Care for taxi rides but hoped to access community transport again. She said the government needed to address the situation with community transport providers for other people with a disability. "There are people in my circumstance that cannot get to appointments, they cannot go to work, they cannot be out in the community, which is our human right to be able to do so," she said. 'We can't provide anymore' Mr O'Toole wants the community transport sector to receive the same financial support as the taxi industry for transporting clients with a disability. "If you do the work, you should get paid for it," he said. TransitCare CEO Terry O'Toole says his company are refusing incoming referrals. ( Supplied ) He said his company would make 18,000 trips for clients in wheelchairs every year — it had now jumped to nearly 30,000. In Queensland, taxi companies received financial support such as a lift payment, where a driver of a wheelchair accessible taxi received an additional $25 for picking up a person who travelled in a wheelchair. The lift payments are not part of the taxi fare so there are no additional cost to the person with a disability. Mr O'Toole said it would make an "enormous difference" if community transport providers received the same payment. "We can't provide anymore, and we certainly can't invest into any more vehicles because of the cost of vehicles that have gone up in the past five years," he said. Queensland Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg said the state government supported transport services for people with disability, including through the Taxi Subsidy Scheme. Brent Mickelberg says the state government is reviewing accessible personalised transport services. ( ABC News ) "The Taxi Subsidy Scheme, lift payments, and the Wheelchair Accessible Taxi Grant scheme are currently available exclusively to services provided in taxis," he said in a statement. "We are starting a review into the approach to regulating and funding accessible personalised transport services, including considering the possible expansion of the TSS to other service types." Broader transport challenges People With Disability Australia president Trinity Ford said accessible and affordable community transport was essential for people with disability to fully participate in society. Trinity Ford says people with a disability are facing many issues accessing transport. ( Supplied ) She said the issues with community transport were part of the broader challenges the disability community faced with accessing other transport like public trains and buses and wheelchair-accessible taxis. "There's never going to be a one stop shop solution for things. We can't just put all of our money into making public transit accessible and then call that a job done," she said. "Community transport is one of the really important legs of this system."
