With the election only one week away tomorrow, the Ontarians with Disabilities Act issue is getting important media attention. Here's how you can help get even more coverage:

• If you are outside Toronto, contact your local newspaper, and show them Michael Valpy's column in yesterday's Toronto Globe and Mail, as well as Carol Riback's opinion column in today's Toronto Star. Urge your local paper to do an item on this issue. If you have the time, put together a column of your own to submit to them. You have to hurry because the election is so close.

• If you are in the media market for the Toronto Star or Globe, whether or not you are in Toronto itself, write a letter to the editor of either paper about the Valpy or Riback column. You can tell them why the ODA is so important to you, why the Harris broken promise is so glaring, and what kinds of barriers you face every day.

• Tomorrow, Thursday, May 27, CITY TV in Toronto and its affiliated Cable Pulse 24, seen in various parts of the province, is having a 1 hour "Talk TV" panel on the election. Some candidates from the parties will be present to answer questions.

  A panel of representatives from public groups will also be at the studio to make comments. I have been invited on behalf of the ODA Committee to be at the studio, and shall be trying to get our message squeezed into the jam-packed show. Please call in with your questions about the ODA and the broken promise. We have a better chance to get attention on the show if you call in. Here are the numbers:

  870-7716 or 1-800-295-5463

  We have no information that there will be closed captioning for this program. People requiring closed captioning might tune in to find out.

• Friday, May 27, 1999, CBC Radio 1's province-wide "Ontario Today" phone-in program will have Dalton McGuinty on from noon to 1 p.m. eastern time to take calls and Emails from the public. They will then have Mike Harris on from 1 to 2 p.m. eastern time. We encourage as many as possible to call in to raise the ODA issue. Ask Mike Harris, for example, whether he will admit on air that he broke his written promise to enact the Ontarians with Disabilities Act in his first term, and tell him why it hurts people with disabilities to have that promise broken. Tell him what kinds of barriers you face.

  If you are outside Ottawa, call 1-888-817-8995. If you are in Ottawa, call 241-7251. You can also Email questions to onttoday@ottawa.cbc.ca. Try both phoning and sending Emails in case one gets through and the other does not.

Let's turn our minds to how to make our most effective use of the last 8 days of this round in our campaign for a barrier-free Ontario.