Making apps accessible for seniors
A look at upcoming events in the ageing and aged care space including a conference addressing older people missing out on the mobile revolution, a live webcast on effectively engaging consumers and a leadership in health management course.
In this story:
Making apps accessible for seniors
Effectively engaging consumers
Online short course for leadership
UWA lecture on disease mongering
The Northern Lights
Making apps accessible for seniors
That older Australians and those with a disability are missing out on the mobile revolution because most apps and websites are not made accessible is the focus of an event in Sydney on Wednesday and Thursday.
The widespread use of online CAPTCHA tests is an example of blind and vision impaired people being blocked from signing up to new online accounts, engaging with government websites and buying concert tickets online, according to the by the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), which recently ran a campaign highlighting the issue.
This week’s M-Enabling Australasia 2013 conference hosted by ACCAN and Telstra includes the latest innovations addressing the specific needs of people with disability and older people as well as speakers and panels discussing the current and future trends in accessible mobile technology.
Speakers at the two-day event include Minister Assisting for the Digital Economy Senator Kate Lundy, Australian Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam, Australian Human Rights Commission Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes, and foundation president of the Australian Seniors Computer Clubs Association Nan Bosler.
ACCAN has also made a series of 1-2 minute videos dubbed “Why access matters”, featuring interviews with well-known disability advocates to help the public get an understanding of why these issues are important.
Watch those video here:
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Emeritus Professor Ron McCallum
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Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes
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Renee Eliades
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Alex Jones
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Tony Jones
M-Enabling Australasia 2013
Wednesday 14 – Thursday 15 August
Australian Technology Park Conference Centre (Bay 4), 2 Locomotive St, Eveleigh
For more details visit: www.regonline.com.au/m-enabling
You can stream the conference live via www.accan.org.au/webcast13 and follow the action on Twitter with the hashtag #menabling
Effectively engaging consumers
Join Patient Opinion Australia Founder and Chief Executive Michael Greco for a live webcast on ‘Effective Consumer Engagement in the 21st Century’ next Wednesday morning at the Australasian College of Health Service Management in Brisbane.
Patient Opinion, which was launched in Australia in March 2013, is an online platform promoting effective consumer engagement.
It aims to make it safe, easy and effective for consumers to give their feedback to health services and in turn encourage those services to become more open, transparent, responsive and patient-centred.
The webcast is available to anyone living outside of Brisbane. If you are unable to watch it live, it can be viewed following the event via the purchased link.
Live Webcast – Brisbane Breakfast Forum
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
7:30 AM – 8:30 AM
$33.00 for members and $55.00 for non-members
For more information or to register go to: Effective Consumer Engagement in the 21st Century
Online short course for leadership in health management
Queensland University of Technology is running a four-day intensive online course in health management leadership developed and delivered by experts in health management.
Held over a long-weekend, the training targets people needing knowledge and competencies to enable them to cope with the complex and changing environment of healthcare delivery.
The Leadership in Health Management short course aims to develop an in-depth understanding of the strategic issues confronting health, an understanding of the strategic approaches required to address those issues, and to develop strategic management competencies.
There is also an option to undertake assessment for advanced standing in some postgraduate award courses.
Leadership in Health Management
Friday 23 August – Monday 26 August 2013
9am to 5pm daily
Delivered online at QUT Kelvin Grove campus
$1535 for workshop module only, $2047 workshop and assessment modules
ACHSM members receive a 10 per cent discount www.achsm.org.au
For more information and to register visit: Leadership in Health Management
UWA lecture on disease mongering
A person being diagnosed with diseases or conditions that won’t actually harm is a ‘modern epidemic’ presenting a serious problem to the health system, according to an upcoming lecture by University of Western Australia Winthrop Professor Carmen Lawrence
The former WA premier and federal politician’s talk on overdiagnosis will examine the increasing tendency to categorise normal physiological and psychological characteristics as pathological.
Professor Lawrence will argue that unnecessary labelling results in poor treatment decisions, overuse of medication, stigmatisation, and the diversion of resources from prevention and treatment of real disease.
She will discuss commonly held beliefs about people’s anxiety about health, doctors’ fear of litigation, a pharmaceutical industry looking to profit and a health system that rewards over-testing.
Overdiagnosis and disease mongering: a modern epidemic
Wednesday 28 August
6.30 – 8.00pm
UWA Claremont
$29
For more information or to enrol, visit: Overdiagnosis and disease mongering: a modern epidemic
The Northern Lights
Registrations are open for the 2014 SAGE (Studying and Advancing Global Eldercare) international executive study tour program, which this year takes in the Northern Lights and two Scandinavian countries known for their progressive services for the elderly, Finland and Denmark.
SAGE Delegates will meet CEOs and facility managers of leading seniors living organisations, visit innovative facilities and gain an understanding of the business models and organisational structures that support them.
There will be opportunities to participate in round-table discussions during visits to facilities, which have been selected to showcase outstanding approaches to service delivery, use of new technology or advanced design features.
A pre-tour recreation extension tour to the Northern Lights is also available.
SAGE Finland & Denmark 2014
29th March – 8th April 2014
For more information or to register visit: SAGE Finland & Denmark 2014
Or email study leader Judy Martin: jmartin@agedcare.org.au
Making apps accessible for seniors is important, but even more important would be to make Ipad basic design more accessible. For example, my 92 year mother who has bad macular degeneration finds she can hardly use an Ipad at all because although she can enlarge the text of emails to the point that she can read them, it’s not possible to enlarge the icons for replying to, deleting or managing emails, nor the list of emails nor the desktop icons.