The Sterling Creations winter 2013 newsletter
Hello and welcome to the Sterling Creations newsletter, which is produced quarterly.
We hope that you enjoy it and encourage you to pass it along to those who may be interested in the types of services that we offer. We welcome your feedback and invite you to give us your comments for it is only through you and with you that we can improve our services.
Table of contents
1 Message from the president
2 Acknowledgments
3 The year in review
4 Help stop the spread of crime against innocent victims
5 Sterling services
6 List of blogs
7 Contact info
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Message from the president
Dear readers:
Ah yes! Welcome to 2014 and I’d like to wish all of our readers the very best for 2014.
I hope that everyone had a very wonderful and enjoyable Christmas time and holiday

season; a time to give, a time for meeting and greeting, and a time for remembering and forgiving.
It is that time when we at Sterling Creations remember to do two things. Firstly to thank all of our supporters and friends and secondly to give a report on our last year; the year in review. So without much more ado, I invite you now to read on.
With very best wishes for a prosperous and successful 2014
Donna J. Jodhan
President Sterling Creations
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Acknowledgements
Sterling Creations would like to thank the following persons:
Aaron Diblasi - web developer for www.donnajodhan.com
Frances Moffat - web support for www.sterlingcreations.ca and
And support for Linkedin
Jamie Brown of Lumasis - website hosting
Dee Scott - blog support for www.donnajodhan.blogspot.com
Dena Patrick – technical support for Facebook

Dar Wournell - social media support
Heather Rupert – Facebook exposure support
Imran Ingar – technical support
The folks at MIAD – technical support
Larry Lewis JR – Advertising support for Author Jodhan
Dan Jellinek – Advertising support for Author Jodhan
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The year in review
2013 was a year of mixed blessings for Sterling Creations. On the one hand, we continued to move forward on certain fronts but on the other we had to say a very sad farewell to one of our very important clients; Avalanche Networks of Toronto.
Avalanche Networks, a well known SEO Toronto Based Company, became one of the many victims of an evolving search engine optimization market and as a result it had to downsize several of its services and this filtered down to us here at Sterling Creations.
We were extremely fortunate to have had Avalanche as a client and we Thank Bruce
Lamb and his team for having given us the opportunity to work with them.
We wish Avalanche the very best of luck and who knows! We may again have an opportunity to work with them some day in the near future!

Sterling Creations continued to toil tirelessly on behalf of its clients. We completed and sold our second season of the Detective DJ Crime Crushers Series to Accessible Media
Inc of Toronto and both seasons were aired on AMI's national channel. At year's end the Detective DJ Crime Crushers Series finds itself being aired on ACB Radio; the
Internet radio station of the American Council of the Blind.
We expect to have the third season of this series recorded by end of February of 2014 and ACB Radio will continue to air the series. We thank Larry Turnbolt for giving us this opportunity and we thank Blair Stainton for having helped to produce the President’s
Super Christmas Plane.
In October 2013, we began offering the Detective DJ Crime Crushers series online and thus far we are quite pleased with the response. You can now purchase any of the episodes of season 1 along with 2 holiday specials at www.donnajodhan.com/store.html and you can learn more about this exciting venture at www.donnajodhan.com. You will also be able to sign up for free monthly newsletters on this website and early in 2014 we are planning to offer a special subscription.
In 2013, Sterling Creations welcomed Dar Wournell to its marketing team and we are looking forward to great things from dynamic Dar and along with Aaron DiBlasi! These two members have been two wonderful additions to our team!

In 2013, Sterling Creations continued to server clients across Canada, America, England, and Australia providing writing and research services. Our team also continued to support our internal blogs at: www.donnajodhan.blogspot.com (reflections from the diary of Donna Jodhan), www.sterlingcreations.ca/blog (a plethora of editorials, articles, and news items),
And at www.sterlingcreations.com/businessdesk.htm (contributions from external contributors along with internal contributions from our team).
Our team also continued to contribute to the diversity in the workplace online newsletter and we thank Jill Walters for giving us this opportunity.
Our president Donna J. Jodhan also continued her work both on and off the ice so to speak. On the professional side of things, she will be starting work as an independent contractor with Accessible Media Inc as a free lance reporter late in January and in
December 2013 she was asked to join the Elections Canada Advisory Committee on
Disability Issues. This is a two year contract and Donna is very much looking forward to fulfilling this commitment.
Donna thanks John Melville and Camille Hemming of Accessible Media Inc for making it possible for her to have this great opportunity in their organization.
Donna will be continuing her work on the Detective DJ Crime Crushers series in 2014 and plans to be heavily involved in all aspects of this part of Sterling Creations's business. She will continue to write and record her series and to assist with the marketing as well.

On the volunteer side of things: Donna completed her two year term as president of the
Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians in April 2013, was elected as second vice president, but stepped down in early November due to some health issues.
She was also re-elected as communications director of the Canadian Blind Sports
Association in early June 2013 but had to resign in July due to some health problems.
In like manner, she resigned her position on the Expert Consumer Access Panel of T-
Base Communications Inc, an Ottawa based company. Donna wishes to thank Sharlyn
Ayotte, founder and president of T-Base, for having given her the opportunity to serve on this esteemed panel.
Donna will continue to be a part of the Braille Camp initiative; one that was started just before her term as president of the AEBC ended and she will also continue to spearhead the hall of fame initiative as part of her continuing commitment to the AEBC's work. She thanks Irene Lambert and Chris Stark for their willingness to work with her on this committee.
The following is text taken from Donna’s presidential speech to members at the 2013
AGM.
“As I prepare to pass the torch, I'd like to share some final thoughts.

I am not going to take too much of your time here but I just wanted to thank all of those who helped to make my presidency an enriching, meaningful, and enlightening one. It was a privilege to have served as your president and I will honestly say that no textbook could ever have prepared me for the challenges that I have had to face over the last two years.
I have met many wonderful, hardworking, and committed members and they have taught me so much. I have learned, laughed, and at times shed some huge round tears but it has been all for the good. I have had many mentors who have shared so unselfishly with me over the last two years but at the end of the day, no one could ever have fully prepared me for my presidential journey.
Be good to yourselves and to each other. Be kind to your next president! Respect them, commit to them, and stand with them! Provide them with professional and constructive criticisms whenever you feel the need to do so but always remember to also offer suggestions and well thought out solutions.
If ever you feel the need to yell at your president or your board or at each other, and if your comments may be construed as unprofessional, then may I respectfully offer these thoughts. It does not help to do so publicly on our list. Probably better to do it through a private email or phone call. Let us not forget that whenever we put our thoughts into writing and post them to the list, we are never able to take them back.

Remember too that once in a while, it does not hurt to say thank you to your national board and to congratulate others whenever they have scored successes on behalf of us all and it is with this in mind that I offer my gratitude to the Toronto chapter and to the
AEBC for having helped to support our recent landmark victory in the case Jodhan versus the Attorney General of Canada. I also thank the two boards of directors that I have had the pleasure and privilege of having worked with as well as our chapter presidents.
I also thank those tireless advocates who continue to walk the walk on behalf of us all;
Chris and Marie Stark and others and to our three Queen's Diamond Jubilee winners:
Marg Thomson, Beverley Milligan, and Tom Teranishi just to name a few! And to our
CCD Award winner for 2013 Paul Thiele! There is a place in this organization for everyone who wants to make it a place to be! It does not matter how old or young you are! Age makes no difference and we have several statesmen and stateswomen among us ready and willing to share their hard earned experiences with us.
Success in the world of advocacy never comes at the drop of a hat! It takes time, a tremendous amount of patience, a thick skin, and most of all! The ability to swim with the current and play in the same sandbox with others.
True advocates often have to pay a huge price for their work; long hours of commitment and being able to weather the storm against all kinds of criticisms.
Patience could sometimes be extremely pricy and commitment is often very costly.
We often find ourselves being placed between the devil and the deep blue sea!

We're darned if we do and darned if we don't!
Better to take the high road whenever we are labeled with disparaging names.
The name callers are always the ones who will be left behind.
Finally, don't give up! Keep on fighting the good fight! Use your energies to ride the waves rather than worrying about sinking in quick sand! Don't worry, you won't sink!Remember now, the kids are depending on us to teach them how to fly! We must not disappoint them!
In keeping with volunteer week:
I end now by acknowledging the following members for having stuck with me for the past two years and to Lois Benko our book keeper and Tyler Moore our admin assistant.
From West to East:
Denise Sanders
Richard Marion
Charles Bailey
Marc Workman
Robin East
Susan Pinder
Stephen Ricci
Cindy Ferguson
Pat Seed
Melanie Moore
Brian Moore

Chris Chamberlin
Steve Pollard
Bev Milligan
Marcy Yale
Jeff Stark
Chris Stark
Tyler Moore
Sharlyn Ayotte
And from La Belle Province:
Anthony Tibbs
Rajesh Malik
Irene Lambert
Heather Rupert
Mike Ciarciello
Lui Greco who moved to Calgary
Dar Wournell.
Folks! May the winds be at your backs and keep a song in your hearts! ”
In early February Donna was invited to make a presentation to an audience at the MAB-
Mackay Center in Montreal and this took place during White Cane week. Donna was honoured and delighted to have given this presentation as Montreal holds a special spot in her heart and she thanks Susanne Bilodeau for having invited her to make this presentation.

In July 2013, Donna was interviewed by the Insight Radio Station of the RNIB on the first anniversary of her landmark victory over the Canadian Government with regard to their inaccessible websites and she thanks Alan Russell for this.
In August she gave a written interview to Dan Jelinek of the Headstar Publications on the same topic and she also wrote an article for Sharon Lovering of the ACB magazine on her charter challenge landmark victory.
In early October Donna continued her tireless campaigns when she presented at a tele conference sponsored by the Montreal Independent living Center. This presentation also focused on Donna's landmark victory and Donna Thanks Rosie Arcurie for having invited her to present. This tele conference was a bilingual session that consisted of questions and answers at the end of Donna's presentation.
In early November, Donna was invited to a tele conference by the Halifax Chapter of the
AEBC where she presented on her Detective DJ Crime Crushers Series. Donna thanks
Dar Wournell president of the Halifax Chapter, for having invited her.
So now this brings us up to date and you may be wondering what's next for Sterling
Creations and their unstoppable president?
Well, big plans and some secret ones at that which you will learn more about in our next newsletter. Suffice it to say that at the end of January, Donna will be traveling across the pond to Windermere England to take part in a chess theme week. She is very much looking forward to this and can't wait to be in bouncing Britain.

That's it from us here at Sterling Creations. We wish you a fantastick 2014 and again thank you for your continuing support and friendships.
With very best wishes
The Sterling Creations team
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Please help stop the spread of crime against innocent victims
This is a personal message from author Donna Jodhan
"If you either are or have been a victim of crime, violence, abuse, or bullying; and if you are simply tired of being bombarded with audios and scenes of the above, then I am asking for your support. I have written and recorded audio mysteries that are completely void of vivid descriptions of sex, crime, and violence because I firmly believe that it is time for us to use the spoken word to help influence our kids to start listening to content that is clean and healthy. By doing this we can all do our part to tackle crime in a positive and meaningful way and it only costs pennies per day.
Visit my online store at http://www.donnajodhan.com/store.html.
I thank you and your kids will also thank you!"
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Sterling Services
OUR ACCESSIBILITY SERVICES

Meet our accessibility team! Made up of a hard working group of very dedicated professionals.
This team offers compliance and evaluation services. They can help you to test and evaluate your websites for W3C compliance. They are experienced at what they do and some of their tasks include:
Accessible website design and development.
Accessible website testing and evaluation.
Accessible content development.
Creation of user testing, technical support, high level, and detailed evaluation documents.
Managing of user testing teams.
User and technical support.
Hardware and software evaluations of access technology.
Presentations, seminars, and workshops.
Meet our research services team! Our newest edition.
This team can help you to research info on all kinds of topics. From simple subjects to the more complicated ones. This team can do it.
At the present time the research team is heavily involved in helping clients to research info for some very complicated Human Rights cases and in addition, they are assisting several authors to find ways to market their books.
They also offer their research services to home businesses, small businesses, and to individuals.
Some of their tasks include:

Researching of requested info.
Producing well-written documents containing the requested info.
This team can carry out Internet, phone, and library research on your behalf.
Meet our writing team! Known as the one stop writing shop.
This team is probably the busiest of our groups. Working with authors, students, and marketing personnel from companies of all sizes.
Some of their tasks include:
Proofreading and editing.
Copy writing.
Re-writes.
The writing team can help you to enhance and expand your articles, blogs, newsletters, online magazines, and web content.
They can also help you to write product reviews and for those having problems crafting their papers in English, they are here to help you edit and format your work.
Meet our translation team! Made up of translators and language coaches.
This team works in English, French, Spanish, Cantonese, and Mandarin. They are heavily involved in the translation of storybooks for kids into several languages.
Their language coaches are also heavily involved in helping business professionals and new Canadians to become more proficient at writing and speaking English.
Our dynamic team of translators and language coaches can help you to improve and translate your articles, blogs, emails, faxes, newsletters, and online magazines. In addition, they offer services to help you improve your phone conversation.

Some of their tasks include:
Translation.
Language coaching.
Transcription.
Proofreading and editing.
To learn more about our accessibility activities, visit www.sterlingcreations.ca.
To learn more about how you can use our research and writing services to help you be successful in your endeavors, visit
.
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List of blogs
The following is a list of websites where you can read blogs and editorials written by
Donna J. Jodhan:
Donna Jodhan! Advocating accessibility for all http://www.donnajodhan.blogspot.com
Sponsored by the American Printing House for the Blind http://www.fredshead.info
Weekly features on how to increase your success with your business ventures http://www.sterlingcreations.com/businessdesk.htm
Weekly articles and editorials on issues about accessibility
The latest news about Author Donna Jodhan

Ask an expert – how you can make your products and services more accessible
Editorials:
Issues and concerns on diversity in the workplace http://www.diversityintheworkplace.ca
The new and exciting detective series starring Donna Jodhan as detective DJ: http://www.donnajodhan.com
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Contact info
To contact us by email: Please send your email to
To contact us by phone: Please give us a call at (416) 491-7711