All posts tagged: accessible

“Forget living longer, exercise can make life easier right now”—a 72-year-old fitness influencer and marathon runner shares two accessible ways to start moving

“Forget living longer, exercise can make life easier right now”—a 72-year-old fitness influencer and marathon runner shares two accessible ways to start moving

Published by Jenni Sidey

Retirement is often a time when people slow down, but in Christine Hobson’s case, she’s speeding up. When her daughter persuaded her to join a running club so she wouldn’t get bored, she had no idea she’d get the fitness bug and run 125 marathons in total, visiting all seven continents. And the 72-year-old former teacher has plans to run the North Pole marathon in 2027. Hobson, who believes that exercise is the best anti-aging hack, tells Fit&Well: “I think what makes you old is not doing anything and just being sedentary, sitting around watching TV all the time. I really believe the less you move, the less you’re able to move, so when I retired at almost 61, I decided that my new job was to get fit. Latest Videos From “Aging isn’t just about age—if you make life easier now, the future will look after itself,” she says. Hobson, who strength trains too, has since become a fitness influencer, amassing over 132,000 followers on Instagram, where she shares workouts and her thoughts on …

OpenAI unveils GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra and Luna models — but only accessible to limited preview partners for now, per US Gov

OpenAI unveils GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra and Luna models — but only accessible to limited preview partners for now, per US Gov

Published by skeptic

OpenAI is announcing a limited preview of its newest frontier AI model GPT-5.6 family, which comes in three variants: Sol, Terra, and Luna. Sol is for the hardest problems, such as complex coding and security research; Terra is for high-volume business tasks like customer support, internal tools and document analysis; and Luna is for faster, lower-cost everyday work like summarization, drafting and routine automation. Sol and Terra set new high benchmark scores, while Luna performs near GPT-5.5 levels on several tests despite being positioned as the fastest and lowest-cost model in the GPT-5.6 family. However, the models are being made available initially to a narrow set of approximately 20 total organizations, after OpenAI shared the models and release plans with the U.S. government. A general release is planned for “the coming weeks.” The staggered release follows an executive order issued by President Donald J. Trump earlier this month on June 2, 2026, which calls upon various federal agencies to collaborate on a process for benchmarking and assessing capabilities of new AI models to ensure they …

Art trails, swimming spots and punt safaris, all easily accessible from Cambridge’s new train station | Cambridge holidays

Art trails, swimming spots and punt safaris, all easily accessible from Cambridge’s new train station | Cambridge holidays

Published by Sam Flores

Flat fields of poppies and ox-eye daisies stretch out to a wide horizon. There are butterflies, vetches, salad burnet. Skylarks sing overhead and a cuckoo calls from the trees near the river. Legend has it that the poet Lord Byron swam here as a Cambridge undergraduate and, 20 years later, Charles Darwin surveyed its beetles. Heading through flowering meadows towards a nature reserve known as Byron’s Pool, I’ve walked a mile from the new £250m Cambridge South station. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. Opening to passengers on 28 June, Cambridge South will be the first Great British Railways-branded station. The towering Biomedical Campus next door is Europe’s biggest medical research facility, with about 40,000 visitors a day. The station itself, with its 1,000 cycle-parking spaces, living roof and solar panels, feels like a model for sustainable transport. The new Cambridge South station, with its living roof. Photograph: Bav Media Like other scenic medieval cities, Cambridge itself suffers from congestion. Its cobbled …

School trips aren’t always accessible for autistic children – but they can bring huge benefits

School trips aren’t always accessible for autistic children – but they can bring huge benefits

Published by skeptic

School trips are often remembered as a highlight of childhood education. Whether it’s exploring a castle, visiting a museum or spending the day at a farm or zoo, these experiences offer something the classroom often cannot: learning that is immersive, memorable and often exciting. For autistic children, school trips can be both highly valuable and, at times, unintentionally inaccessible. One of the most significant challenges is sensory overload. Busy, noisy and unpredictable environments can lead to anxiety or distress for children, particularly when their routines are disrupted. Alongside this are other barriers. Teachers may feel underprepared to support autistic pupils in a new environment. Logistical pressures such as staffing ratios, risk assessments and time constraints may limit what schools feel able to offer. My previous research, drawing on the perspectives of primary school teachers, found that they have concerns that behaviour, safety and support needs can create barriers to participation for pupils with special educational needs on school trips. This implies that some children may not always be able to access these opportunities fully. But …

The North Face’s new Universal Collection of adaptive camping gear swaps zippers for magnets and adds other accessible features

The North Face’s new Universal Collection of adaptive camping gear swaps zippers for magnets and adds other accessible features

Published by Jenni Sidey

We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more › Sign Up For Goods 🛍️ Product news, reviews, and must-have deals. Setting up a tent in the dark when your hands are cold is hard enough. Add limited dexterity, a prosthetic, or a wheelchair to the picture and most typical camping gear becomes fully unusable. Zippers catch. Doorway sills turn into obstacles. Sleeping bags require a two-handed shimmy. The North Face’s new Universal Collection includes a zipperless sleeping bag, a redesigned three-person Wawona tent, a free-standing daypack, a convertible brimmer hat, and interchangeable camp slippers. All of these products were developed with the brand’s adaptive athletes in order to make them more broadly usable. Universal One Bag: a sleeping bag that ditches the zipper entirely The North Face Universal One Bag Sleeping Bag $270 See It The Universal One Bag replaces the full-length zipper with two magnetic FIDLOCK closures, the same magnetic mechanism you’ll find on helmet buckles and high-end bike accessories. Pull the two halves …

How the digital world is becoming more accessible. : NPR

How the digital world is becoming more accessible. : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Harold Rogers and Miranda Lacy met at West Virginia State University—they both still consider this campus home. They went on to graduate school at West Virginia University, where they say they’ve faced huge challenges as blind students. Kristian Thacker for NPR hide caption toggle caption Kristian Thacker for NPR Press the “Listen” button below to hear the story text, read by reporter Jonaki Mehta. Miranda Lacy and Harold Rogers became fast friends during their undergraduate years. They both shared their dreams with one another: Rogers wanted to use his education to become a psychotherapist, Lacy a social worker. So, they were delighted to be reunited for graduate school – at an online Master’s in Social Work program at West Virginia University (WVU). Little did they know, their journey there would be much harder. Both students are blind and say learning materials, from course modules to readings for class, have been inaccessible to them at WVU. Many documents are not compatible with a screen reader, which is software that translates what’s visually represented on a webpage …

This New Watch Delivers Premium Touches at a (Relatively) Accessible Price

This New Watch Delivers Premium Touches at a (Relatively) Accessible Price

Published by Jenni Sidey

Picture the scene. You’re cruising above the Pacific, three and a half hours into a thirteen-hour trip: Sydney to Los Angeles. As you pass above Fiji, the cabin crew announces that you just crossed the international date line, and you’d better remember to set your watch back by a day before you land. You’re no fool: you wore your GMT watch, a piece, typically with an extra hour hand, designed to help you track time in two different places, for exactly this reason. But as you make the necessary adjustments, you realise that having fixed the time, the date’s still wrong. Instant air rage. Admittedly, that might have more to do with your decision to watch Captain America: Brave New World, but your shame as a watch geek for packing the “wrong” kind of GMT will be enduring. If this all sounds fairly ridiculous, that’s because it is, but there is undeniably a hierarchy of travel-time watches. Of course, every watch collector knows of the GMT, but most don’t realize there are two different types …

Five scenic walks near London for a day out from the capital (all accessible by train)

Five scenic walks near London for a day out from the capital (all accessible by train)

Published by Sam Flores

Captured within this circle are six areas of outstanding natural beauty, one national park and five national walking trails: Dedham Vale, the Chilterns, Kent Downs and Surrey Hills, the High Weald, North Wessex Downs, the South Downs National Park, the North Downs Way, the South Downs Way, the Thames Path, the Ridgeway and the England Coast path. Source link

Why universities still struggle to make degrees accessible for disabled students

Why universities still struggle to make degrees accessible for disabled students

Published by skeptic

The higher education sector is more aware of disability than it was a few years ago. Universities are more willing to provide support, and attitudes have improved. What students describe day to day, however, tells a different story. A recent report on accessibility for disabled students in UK universities, produced by Disabled Students UK in partnership with charity The Snowdon Trust, shows that access continues to break down. This is not because support is never agreed, but because it is not consistently delivered. Disabled students’ ability to attend, participate in, and complete their studies depends less on what exists on paper and more on how well institutional systems work in practice. This pattern is also the focus of my ongoing PhD research, which examines how accessibility support systems operate in UK higher education and how reliably agreed adjustments are delivered in practice. Most disabled students who disclose their disability to their university receive some form of support. However, fewer than half of the over 1,000 disabled students surveyed by Disabled Students UK report that all …

Five of Europe’s best accessible island escapes | Europe holidays

Five of Europe’s best accessible island escapes | Europe holidays

Published by Sam Flores

Sylt, Germany Connected to the German mainland by a single rail causeway, Sylt is just over three hours from Hamburg by direct train. The largest of the North Frisian islands, it slices through the North Sea and the Wadden Sea, with salt marshes and mudflats to the east and 25 miles of white sands sweeping along the western coast, grassy dunes buffering the bracing winds. Relatively unknown to UK visitors, the island has long been a popular destination for Germans and appeals to an affluent crowd, although not exclusively. Luxury hotels and pioneering health resorts sit side by side with multistorey apartment blocks, modest campsites and laid-back surfing schools. Trains from Hamburg – soon to be upgraded with the new intercity (ICE L) fleet – arrive in Westerland, the largest town on the island, which expanded significantly during the 60s and 70s. Alternative bases include well-heeled Kampen or Keitum, the latter known for its maritime history and traditional thatched houses. Designated nature reserves cover other parts of the island, from the shifting dunes in List to the …