Accessibility in the News — 9/4/2020.
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AITN Quote of the Week
“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.”
― Helen Keller
Feature Stories
Mail-in voting is widely accessible. State voting websites are not
August 28, 2020 | Source: Fast Company
Mail-in voting will be absolutely essential this year as the pandemic is still in full swing. And for many of us, requesting a ballot is fairly easy. You just go to your state’s website and order one. But if you’re one of five Americans with a disability—ranging from color blindness to severe mobility limitations—it’s not necessarily that easy, even online. Because a recent analysis that tested the accessibility of all 50 states’ mail-in voting sites discovered something terrible: The average accessibility score was 77%, or what you might think of as a C+…
Iowa Secretary of State, Disability Rights Iowa provide voting accessibility booklets to polling places
August 31, 2020 | Source: KMAland
Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate is teaming with Disability Rights Iowa to ensure polling places in the state are accessible for all voters. Each polling place in the state will be provided with a Voting Accessibility Quick Check booklet this fall. The booklet will serve as a resource for precinct officials to quickly recognize and fix accessibility issues on Election Day. Pate says the program will help ensure disabled individuals are able to cast their vote…
Facing Court Challenge From Disability Rights Advocates, NH Expands Accessible Absentee Voting
August 31, 2020 | Source: New Hampshire Public Radio
With a week to go before the state primary election, New Hampshire is launching a new absentee voting system meant to allow more voters to cast a ballot privately and independently. Until now, New Hampshire did not allow those who are blind or experience other print disabilities to request or complete an absentee ballot without assistance. Accessible voting options are provided at all New Hampshire polling places, but many voters — with the encouragement of state election officials — will rely on absentee voting this fall due to the ongoing pandemic…
Virginia agrees to make mail-in voting accessible to blind voters who sued
September 1, 2020 | Source: Washington Post
For vision-impaired voters in Virginia, there was no easy way to vote. They would either have to risk their health to vote in person or forgo voter privacy by asking someone to fill in the blanks on their mail-in ballot forms. “You pretty much had to decide whether you wanted to vote independently or safely. You couldn’t do both things,” said Colleen Miller, director of the disAbility Law Center of Virginia. Now, however, after the center and several other groups advocating for the blind filed a federal lawsuit, the Virginia Department of Elections has agreed to offer a new option…
National News (U.S.)
Websites become new focus of disability rights in age of COVID-19
August 27, 2020 | Source: San José Spotlight
As a blind man, Guillermo Robles successfully sued Domino’s Pizza because the chain failed to build a website that was as accessible to him as its brick-and-mortar restaurants. Now as COVID-19 pushes more businesses, communication and emergency services online, accessibility law experts say the sooner websites comply with disability guidelines — such as providing audio transcripts, writing alternative photo texts and fixing broken links — the better…
First reading of accessibility advisory commission OKd
August 28, 2020 | Source: Williamsport Sun-Gazette
City Council unanimously approved an ordinance Thursday to create an accessible advisory commission to focus on disability issues. Koert Wehberg, an attorney and executive director of the Mayor’s Commission on People with Disabilities in Philadelphia, was an invited guest. Councilman Jon Mackey, who oversaw the drive to get the ordinance to a vote, invited Wehberg to share some of his experience. Wehberg said the commission serves as a sounding board for the administration regarding issues that impact Philadelphians with disabilities…
30 Years Later, Fulfilling Promise Of Americans With Disabilities Act Is A ‘Slow Process’ In Rural Colorado
August 28, 2020 | Source: KUNC
Staci Nichols tried living in a big city. “I moved to Denver and, sorry to say, I just hated Denver,” she said. “It was way too much for me.” Nichols is deaf and has an interpreter to translate from a form of sign language called Manually Coded English. Nichols lived in Denver for about 18 months after moving from Western Colorado, where she grew up. But she says her heart was always in rural Colorado, so in 2007 she moved to a small city in the northwest. “I moved to Craig and oh my gosh it was a perfect fit,” she said. “Just a few stores, gas station, I’m good.”…
Audit Finds Pharmacy Websites Not Accessible to Vision Impaired Patients
August 31, 2020 | Source: Pharmacy Times
Although some websites are mostly compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), researchers with Miami Lighthouse for the Blind found that many major pharmacy chains’ websites are not fully accessible to patients with blindness or other vision impairments. Many blind patients use screen-reading software, but in order for that to work, websites need to have some built-in capabilities, such as alternative text on images, according to Virginia Jacko, MS, president and CEO at Miami Lighthouse…
Bangor woman with ALS hopes more business become accessible
September 1, 2020 | Source: WABI
We’ve been following a Bangor woman’s journey with Lou Gehrig’s disease or ALS. Tammy Michaels has been on a mission to bring awareness to ALS and accessibility and the New England ADA Center wants to help. “I’m getting catheter. A super pubic catheter and a feeding tube now even though I don’t have to use the feeding tube but to help because surgery is more dangerous the longer you go. The lifespan on my hands and left arm, they said three to six weeks. Later, my speech will slur, so I’m getting an eye gaze. We started voice banking. I’ve pretty much lost all mobility in my legs,” she says…
Philly-based accessibility start-up has had to adapt
September 2, 2020 | Source: Metro Philadelphia
Natasha Graves’s start-up launched in February, but she decided to stop marketing it a month later. When the novel coronavirus hit, she put off plans to promote her travel website, which is geared toward people with disabilities. She considered it inappropriate to encourage travel during a global pandemic to an audience more likely to have chronic medical conditions. Her business, VacayAbility, features user reviews and ratings on attractions, hotels and restaurants, with a focus on accessibility-related factors…
Celebrating 30 years of ADA—and its impact on the home industry
September 2, 2020 | Source: Business of Home
Three decades ago, Congress passed the Americans With Disabilities Act, marking the first piece of legislation to outlaw discrimination against people with disabilities in the United States. In honor of the ADA’s 30th anniversary, Business of Home dug a little deeper into the law that has shaped our public spaces—from movie theaters and libraries to hotels and medical facilities—in order to explore its impact on our past, present and future homes. Few groups are more familiar with the intricacies of the ADA than the American Society of Interior Designers, which helped lobby for the legislation in the years leading up to its signing in 1990…
Wearable tech helps this blind runner compete in ultramarathons
September 2, 2020 | Source: CNN
It was 2017, and Simon Wheatcroft was about to run the New York City Marathon solo. That might not sound like a big deal — over 50,000 people run it every year on their own. But Wheatcroft is registered blind. Wheatcroft was the first blind person to attempt to run the race by himself. Usually, blind runners compete tethered to a sighted running guide. But instead, Wheatcroft wore a Wayband on his wrist — a device that uses super-precise GPS to direct the wearer with small vibrations…
Microsoft leader: How to embark on your ‘disability inclusion’ journey
September 3, 2020 | Source: Human Resources Director
According to Microsoft’s chief accessibility officer, the greatest challenge about including employees with disabilities into your diversity and inclusion strategy is this: getting started. “I think the most important thing with disability is to start,” said Jenny Lay-Flurrie, chief accessibility officer at Microsoft. “People worry about starting. I would say get on that journey, get going.” It is “very important” to really start to manage and measure where you are in terms of accessibility and inclusivity of your workplace environment, she said. This includes the equipment and systems used for work…
We Need a Disability New Deal, Too
September 3, 2020 | Source: Labor Notes
The subway is something I’ve always loved about New York City life. But my family can’t ride it together, because my daughter has cerebral palsy and 3 out of 4 stations have no elevator. One in seven U.S. adults has serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs or can’t do so at all. People with disabilities generally, including vision and hearing impairments and intellectual disabilities, make up 1 in 4 adults: that’s a huge minority. So why, 30 years after the Americans with Disabilities Act, in the nation’s biggest and most transit-dependent city, is transit still so inaccessible to so many?…
Over Rocks, Hills And Waterfalls, A Sister Fights For Inclusivity
September 3, 2020 | Source: Forbes
The outdoors has always been a haven for Ambika Rajyagor. The 24-year-old from Chino Hills, California, can often be found hiking and exploring national parks around the country. She even has a saying: “I go to the mountains to feel reborn, because it’s so healing to be outside.” Rajyagor’s parents encouraged her love for the outdoors since she was a child, always taking her and her two sisters on roadtrips. But oftentimes, the family was met with obstacles on each outdoor journey. Rajyagor is the middle sister of three; her youngest sister, Devika, is disabled and uses a wheelchair…
Many workers expect their ‘retirement’ to include a job, survey shows
September 3, 2020 | Source: CNBC
Is Social Security Becoming a Pawn in the Postal Service Crisis?
August 27, 2020 | Source: The New York Times
For many workers, a traditional retirement is not part of their plans. Among baby boomers still in the workforce, 59% expect to keep working into retirement, a new study from Voya Financial shows. For Generation X, that share is 60% and for millennials, 49%. Overall, 54% of all workers say their retirement years will include a job of some sort. “The definition of retirement is evolving and will keep evolving,” said Charlie Nelson, CEO of Retirement and Employee Benefits for Voya. “It’s not going to be about working until a certain age and then switching to no work.”…
‘Curing blindness’: why we need a new perspective on sight rehabilitation
September 3, 2020 | Source: The Conversation
In a society focused on visual communication, being blind can have severe disadvantages. In fact, research shows blind people are at higher risk of unemployment, social isolation, and lower quality of life than sighted people. Given the huge impact blindness has on society and those without vision, the drive to find a “cure” for blindness has become a profitable market. Many new, cutting-edge developments that “cure blindness” build on promises they often cannot keep, leaving many blind people and their families feeling disappointed and disillusioned…
“The two disabilities I have don’t stop me.” – The inspiring story of Noah Long
September 3, 2020 | Source: EIN Presswire
Born completely blind and with cerebral palsy 27 years ago, Triangle native Noah Long is an inspiring role model – living independently, tech-savvy, well-spoken, and employed. “Noah is the most positive person I know,” said his father, David Long. “At the age of 15, titanium rods were implanted on both sides of his spine from his neck to his hips,” said Noah’s grandmother, Joy Boyette. “After enduring multiple other surgeries, this was the only time I saw him cry.”…
Better hearing through artificial intelligence
September 3, 2020 | Source: Engineering & Technology
What if modern digital hearing aids could learn how to make the world sound more natural, for everyone? Hearing loss happens to many of us. The US National Institutes of Health, for example, estimates that one in eight Americans aged 12 years and older has hearing loss in both ears. Twenty-five per cent of adults aged between 65 and 75, and half of those aged 75 and older, experience disabling hearing loss. According to NIH’s National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, 28.8 million US adults could benefit from using hearing aids…
Jack Fact — According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, 1 in every 4 Americans have some form of disability. Of those 61 million people, a combined 10.5% suffer from lack of vision or hearing.
Hit The Road Jack — Nara, Deer, And The Path To A Great Buddha
International News
Cerrie Burnell: disabled actress, author and TV presenter
August 25, 2020 | Source: Disability Horizons- UK
Cerrie Burnell is a British actress, author and TV presenter. She has an upper limb difference, having been born with her right arm ending slightly below the elbow, and dyslexia. Cerrie is best known for being a presenter of the BBC children’s channel CBeebies from 2009 to 2017. She has also made appearances on popular TV shows, including Grange Hill and Doctors, and is a best-selling children’s author. Our writer, Emma Purcell, spoke to Cerrie Burnell about her life with her disability, her time at CBeebies, her acting career and becoming a children’s author…
Jo-Hannah’s Law, petition pushes warning labels for visually impaired
August 27, 2020 | Source: KenoraOnline- Canada
A new petition calling on the House of Commons to require braille or tactile symbols on consumer product warning labels is now in circulation. 6-year-old Jo-Hannah Atchison was born with optic nerve hypoplasia, which rendered her completely blind. “She has no light, no day. When she was a baby I had a bit of a break down and got mad at the world. I would look around and nothing was accessible for her. Then I started looking at dangerous stuff and there isn’t a label on anything that is legible to anybody that can’t see it,” says Jo-Hannah’s mother Samantha Atchison, who has initiated the petition…
Accessibility For Women With Disabilities In Times Of COVID-19
August 28, 2020 | Source: Feminism in India
Hearing the news of the lockdown in late March, I immediately thought of all the blind students I work with. I knew accessibility was going to change drastically and it had me worried. India is home to a large percentage of the world’s disabled population. But during the lockdown and after, especially in a time of a crisis, were our accessibility needs met? I remember walking on a main road after the lockdown to buy some essentials and it didn’t feel like a main road at all…
International Principles and Guidelines on Access to Justice for Persons with Disabilities
August 28, 2020 | Source: Reliefweb- Switzerland
Lawmakers, lawyers, judges and prison officers today received much-needed support from UN experts to make sure people with disabilities can use justice systems around the world as easily as anyone else, in line with international standards. The three UN bodies that deal with disability rights teamed up to issue the first-ever guidelines to help countries implement existing obligations to ensure effective access to justice for people with disabilities…
Accessibility by Design (AbD)
August 28, 2020 | Source: Bristows- UK
Web accessibility is an on-going legal and ethical commitment and therefore must form a part all companies thinking in the development of new technology in the online world. To achieve and effectively manage this commitment, developers should look to consider accessibility from the outset and to design new technologies with accessibility as a fundamental consideration.
Denied basic banking facilities, visually impaired people in Tamil Nadu struggle for their rights
August 29, 2020 | Source: NewzHook- India
In spite of laws being introduced to make banking facilities across India disabled friendly, majority of the facilities remain largely inaccessible for visually impaired people. The situation is not any different in Tamil Nadu where there has been a rising number of cases where visually impaired people are denied banking facilities. Though the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (RPWD) was introduced four years ago, the Act ie yet to be properly implemented. The country’s banking sector is not any different…
Living with the ‘new normal’ is extra difficult with a disability – here are some small changes that would help
August 29, 2020 | Source: The Journal.ie- Ireland
We are all living through the changes Covid-19 has bought to our daily lives and none more so than those, who like me, identify as living with a disability. From battles with hand sanitising units that are just that little too high on the wall or just that little too hard to press, the new restrictions introduced to combat the spread of this virus has highlighted the need for accessibility to be included in all decisions. Firstly, what do I mean by accessibility? This is really the ways in which retailers, colleges, and restaurants, etc. can be visited and used by all in society…
Prince Mired checks on polling centre accessibility for persons with disabilities
August 29, 2020 | Source: Jordan Times- Jordan
HH Prince Mired, president of the Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (HCD), on Saturday visited a polling centre for Persons with Disabilities. The polling centre is allocated by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) as one of the polling stations for people with disabilities in the upcoming parliamentary elections, slated for November 10, according to a HCD statement…
Story of small village where people speak using sign language
August 29, 2020 | Source: Tuko- Africa
In Ghana, a community called Adamrobe located in a bowl shape valley at the foot of the Akuapem hills, deaf and dumbness is so common that it could be described as the town with the largest deaf population. What makes Adamrobe different is that, throughout the village, people speak using sign language. A Ghanaian journalist Gabriel Ahiabor reported that over centuries, a local sign language emerged which was used between deaf and hearing people in their everyday life, rendering the town a very unique place of inclusion of deaf people. Little is known by way of direct evidence about the incident of deafness in the village…
Israeli Scientists Develop Mapping System for Blind Pedestrians
August 30, 2020 | Source: Jewish Press- Israel
Israeli scientists at the Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology in Haifa have developed an innovative mapping system for blind pedestrians. The study was carried out by Achituv Cohen, a doctoral student in the Transportation and Geo-Information Engineering division of the Technion Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, under the supervision of Asst. Professor Sagi Dalyot. According to the World Health Organization, there are currently more than 40 million visually impaired people around the world…
Five ways Singapore builds disability inclusive services
August 31, 2020 | Source: GovInsider- Singapore
One billion people in the world live with some form of disability, according to the World Bank. How can governments ensure their services are accessible to all? “Focusing on accessibility is completely aligned with that goal of developing better and higher quality products,” said Gloria Chua, Product Designer, Experience Strategy and Design at GovTech Singapore. Speaking at the Inclusive Business Forum 2020 on workplace disability inclusion, GovTech shared five steps it has taken towards building more inclusive products and services…
Girl from Kenora, Ont. inspires House of Commons petition to promote accessibility for visually impaired
August 31, 2020 | Source: CBC- Canada
Samantha Atchison of Kenora, Ont. remembers the day her daughter Jo-Hannah was diagnosed with optic nerve hypoplasia at four months old. “I had a little bit of a break down from it. You grieve a dream, but you can only grieve for so long before you wake up and you figure out how life is going to move forward.” Atchison says her daughter’s diagnosis made her realize just how inaccessible the world is for her daughter, “from infant toys to things such as hazardous materials.”…
UN releases its first-ever guidelines on access to social justice for people with disabilities
August 31, 2020 | Source: NewzHook- India & The Indian Express
The United Nations has released its first-ever guidelines on access to social justice for people with disabilities. What this aims to do is make it easier for disabled people around the world to access justice systems. ‘Ground-breaking guidance’. Those are the words used by the United Nations (UN) to describe the 10 principles or guidelines, its first-ever, that aim to enable people with disabilities around the world to access social justice. What this means is that disabled people can use justice systems around the world as easily as anyone else, in line with international standards…
Digital accessibility and why it matters
September 1, 2020 | Source: Bizcommunity- Africa
“Accessibility” in the digital space means that digital platforms, like websites, mobile apps, social channels and PDFs, should be readable, operable and functional to all users – especially people with disabilities. It’s an issue that is rapidly gaining attention in many spheres, including social, economic and legal domains. Accessibility is part of diversity and inclusion conversations, it’s on the legal agenda in the US, the policy landscape in the UK and it is also coming to the fore in the emerging tech, digital transformation and new digital economy space…
It’s time for traditional banks to double down on accessibility
September 1, 2020 | Source: Global Banking & Finance Review- UK
A few years ago, challenger banks burst onto the scene and were hailed as disrupters, changing the face of banking forever. People were enamoured with brightly coloured payment cards connected to slick apps that provided a superb user experience and cut out the inconvenience of heading into branches for services. Until the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it was looking like traditional banks were out of the race. But sure enough, as with every industry, coronavirus turned financial services on its head and consumers began to see the value in trust, experience, and established market presence once more…
Disabilities Panel Asks AIIMS to Make Whole Campus Fully Accessible
September 1, 2020 | Source: The Wire- India
The Court of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities has directed the administration of All India Institute of Medical Sciences to ensure complete accessibility and all other necessary facilities for persons with disabilities in its entire campus. In a recent order, the Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Upma Srivastava, observed that while the AIIMS authorities had, in response to a complaint, indicated progress made in improving infrastructure in the premier health institute, there were still “areas which needed to be looked into”…
‘I feel burned out just ordering food at the deli’
September 2, 2020 | Source: The Sudbury Star- Canada
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the barriers experienced by people with hearing and vision loss, according to Travis Morgan. The Vice-Chair for the City of Greater Sudbury’s Accessibility Panel was born deaf and makes use of a hearing aid to manage daily life in the public sphere. Since the pandemic began, he has not only been more isolated from his community, but communication with others has become much more difficult. Face masks, which are meant to protect the public from transmission of the COVID-19 virus, have become a physical barrier…
Rampless returning office — and province’s response — felt like a punch, advocate says
September 2, 2020 | Source: CBC News- Canada
Randy Dickinson was angry when he pulled up to the Elections New Brunswick returning office on Prospect Street in Fredericton on Tuesday, where he was hoping to vote. The building, where the district returning office for Fredericton West-Hanwell is located, has five steps leading to the front door but no wheelchair ramp. “I’ve been an advocate for disability stuff for about 50 years now, and I thought we had already addressed this issue about accessibility and accommodation for elections at least,” Dickinson said Wednesday…
‘Safer Public Spaces’ is no substitute for accessibility best practice
September 3, 2020 | Source: Planning, BIM & Construction Today- UK
Access consultant, Ian Streets says the government’s “Safer Public Spaces” document which claims to set out the design principles for safer urban spaces is no substitute for accessibility best practice. For half a year now we’ve found ourselves in the bizarre situation of having more space but less freedom as social distancing requirements set new boundaries on how we live and work. The problem is that all too often those boundaries are blurred. For some people this provides the justification they need to interpret restrictions in a way that suits them, adding to the problems facing disabled people who are feeling even more marginalised…
The new dynamics of businesses and disability in the Middle East
September 3, 2020 | Source: Access and Mobility Professional- Middle East
Writing for the Business Disability Forum, Aya Abdullah Jibreal is a senior inclusive design and accessibility consultant at Qaderoon Business Disability Network. She became interested in accessibility after taking a “Human Factors” course back in university in 2007 and here looks into how the coronavirus pandemic has changed the dynamic in the middle east. Here’s what she had to say: In less than eight months, COVID-19 has made a major impact on businesses in the Middle East, much like most countries in the world. Some businesses are struggling to survive the financial impact of lockdown, and some have witnessed a surge in this time…
Will technology help or hinder D&I efforts?
September 3, 2020 | Source: Human Resources Director- Singapore
Disability inclusion in workplaces and business is the new norm, said Dr Gerard Goggin, professor of communication studies, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University (NTU). “It’s worth striving for because people with disabilities are very diverse and include many of us,” Goggin said. “Adding to that, all of us in one way or another have some lived experience or connection with disability and impairment.”…
As diabetes increases in sub-Saharan Africa, so will blindness
September 3, 2020 | Source: Devx- Africa
People from all over the country travel to Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania, located in Dar es Salaam, for eye care. The health care organization is Tanzania’s largest provider of eye services. Increasingly, a larger number of patients are arriving with diabetic retinopathy — a complication of diabetes that can lead to permanent blindness. But the problem is that many are arriving too late, said Dr. Cyprian Ntomoka, head of the organization’s ophthalmology department…
COVID-19 Resources and Information
- California Courts Covid Update
- Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center
- Accessible COVID-19 statistics tracker- CVStats
- The Dos and Don’ts of Successful Online Events
- Accessible TV Broadcasting in India- NewzHook
- COVID-19 Complaint Tracker- Hunton Andrews Kurth
- It’s Time to Engage in Public Health- The Hearing Journal
- Eye donations come down during pandemic- The Indian Express
- Accessibility emerges as a commercial differentiator- Bobsguide
- Pepp Aims to Make Remote Learning More Accessible- Graphic
- ‘Remote Learning’ Is Often an Oxymoron- The New York Times
- Coronavirus and its effects on persons with disability- NewzHook
- UConn needs to make online classes more accessible- UConn Daily Campus
- Is Your Learning Different Child Falling Through the Cracks?- Advocate Media
- Tuning our senses to the unintended consequences of face coverings- Seeley Lake
- Campus’ perception of accessibility services should extend to all students- The Rattler
- Doctors Still Aren’t Sure Why COVID-19 Is Causing Hearing Loss- Very Well Health
- 6 Ways Travel Has Become More Accessible During the Pandemic- Condé Nast Traveler
- Half of Students Believe Cheating Will Increase While Learning Remotely- All On Georgia
- Back to School and Virtual Accessibility- Wednesday, September 09, 2020 from 12:00 PM to 01:00 PM
- COVID-19 and Job Applicants and Employees with Disabilities: Emerging Practices to Employ and Protect Workers- EARN
- Court Rules In Favor Of Greater Accessibility To Absentee Voting For Mississippians During Covid-19 Pandemic- Northside Sun
Accessibility Blogs and Information
- Importance of IT and accessibility- HME News
- WCAG 2.2 Overview and Feedback- Jared Smith
- There’s more to testing than simply testing- SD Times
- Inclusive Design: Learn Why It Matters- Digital Market News
- Accessibility Statements for Public Sector Websites- Evoluted
- Innovation & Accessibility at West Valley College- TRE Legal
- Expert Witnesses In Web Accessibility Cases (Part 2)- Ken Nakata
- Advocating for the Safety of People with Disabilities- EDM Digest (Podcast)
- Family Living Focus: Design tips for living at home longer- The Journal
- Coming Next: WCAG 2.2- The User is Out There and Kim Krause Berg
- Home accessibility pro tips: Bulk up on certifications, training- HME News
- How autonomous carmakers can make their cars more accessible- Marketplace (Podcast)
- Tips for Transporting Your Service Dog in Your Accessible Van- The News Wheel
- PEAT Podcast: What Department Should Oversee Accessibility at Your Company?
- U.S. Department Of Education Office For Civil Rights Case Processing Manual (CPM) (PDF)
- L.A. Metro Needs to Work Harder to Accommodate Those With Disabilities- WEHOville
- Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment
- 30 Years after the Americans with Disabilities Act- What’s New in Tech?- Black Engineer
- ‘Accessibility is about making a solution work for people on the entire spectrum’- NewzHook
- WCAG 2.1 Is the Current Standard, Not WCAG 2.0 — and WCAG 2.2 Is Coming- Adrian Roselli
- Relive the Celebration: ADA30 Virtual Celebration Now on YouTube!- Office of the Governor Texas
- A Second California State Court Judge Says the ADA Covers Online-Only Businesses- Seyfarth Shaw
- On the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, ASU looks toward the future of inclusivity- ASU Now
Accessibility Announcements and Products
- Ground broken on Little Rock housing effort
- AudioEye: Read The Fine Print Before You Invest
- “David’s Chair” makes a beach excursion accessible
- Twitter to Add Automated Captions to Audio and Video
- Accessibility upgrade for three Armadale Line train stations
- Siteimprove partners with Nordic Capital to accelerate growth
- AppleVis Unlimited: What’s New and Noteworthy for August 2020
- Ohio State launches app to connect blind students with remote helpers
- New app aims to improve disabled access in venues across Leicestershire
- Apple Support App Gets Wallet Integration and Accessibility Improvements
- Voice-activated assistive tech to improve accessibility for users with sight loss
- Accessible playground reopens after expansion, making it the largest in Canada
- Clear Standard ensures cleaning and safety as a strategic focus for organizations
- Pasadena Accessibility & Disability Commission Elected Commissioner James Farr as Chair
- MSU Receives Grants for Blindness Research and Solar Fuel, USM Online University Forum
- Deque Systems Announces axe-con, a New Digital Accessibility Conference: March 10-11, 2021
- IndyGo hiring wheelchair users for new program aimed at keeping sidewalks, bus stations accessible
- Apple’s Changing the Game for Those with Limited Hearing, Saving Aural Health for Everyone Else
- Samsung TV Receives Accreditation From Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) in the UK
- StartUp India: Prosus launches ‘Social Impact Challenge for Accessibility’ with Invest India and Social Alpha
- New App Could Make Barrie Transit More Accessible, Promote Inclusion, With Easy To Understand Instructions
- Accessibility Standards Canada launches its first public consultation on priorities for engagement, accessibility standards and research
- Gallaudet University launched a partnership to provide more accessible videoconferencing for the deaf and hard of hearing community
Accessibility Forums, Tips, and Gaming
- A web accessibility toolkit
- Windows Built-In Accessibility
- About accessibility features on WhatsApp
- How & Why Accessibility Matters for SEO
- Caption 101: How Do Captions Work on Videos?
- Making Office 365 Activity Alerts More Accessible
- Discover The Secrets Of A Training Video Pre-Production
- Cyberpunk 2077 Confirms Important Customization Feature
- Nintendo Fans, This Video Game Database Needs Your Help
- How to Customize Headphone Audio in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14
- Twitter Announces New Push to Improve Tweet Accessibility Options
- 5 best practice tips to make your charity social media posts more accessible
- Takeaways from Accessibility & Inclusive Design: A Designer’s Field Guide
- Best Practices for Web Developers with Webhint – Rachel Simone Weil at OpenJS World
- 5 Usability and accessibility of toys and technologies for play for children with disabilities: Scoping review of guidelines and tools
Accessibility Statements
- CERN
- Rare Beauty
- ZipRecruiter
- ie
- Fusion Connect
- Capella University
- S. Census Bureau
- Ubicomp/ISWC 2020
- Cairns Regional Council
- Montana State University
- Accessibility in the News: Accessibility Statement Pages
Microassist Digital Accessibility Services
Have you received an accessibility demand letter because of your website or application? Please contact us for any questions you have about our accessibility services and how we might support your organization.
Services include:
- Accessible Website and Application Development— We rely heavily on accessibility best practices and using HTML5 and ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) standards to build WCAG-compliant and human-tested accessible environments. Our teams are proficient in open source technologies such as WordPress, Drupal and Moodle, as well as custom frameworks in .NET, PHP, AngularJS, and other frameworks. Our Learning and Development team can also help you create accessible custom training.
- Accessible Document Services— Whether you’re dealing with a few or a warehouse of Microsoft Office documents, PDFs, or other files, there are several ways Microassist can enable your team to offer documents and materials that meet stringent accessibility standards.
- Accessibility Remediation— Our accessibility remediation services help you fix existing materials so that they conform to WCAG, Section 504 and 508, Department of Education OCR, and ADA Title II/III requirements. We remediate websites, applications, documents, and elearning, recommending re-creation when that is more efficient and economical. Especially for website and applications, to find out what is in need of remediation, we’ll start with an Accessibility Audit.
- Accessibility Training— With several courses available for developers, testers, and content creators, your team can become equipped to consistently and expertly produce accessible digital products and online environments.
- VPAT®Evaluation Services— Primarily used by government purchasers and government vendors during the procurement and sale of ICT products and services under Section 508, a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template® (VPAT) attests to the accessibility of a given product or service. Contact us to make sure the VPAT you write or review is accurate and meaningful.
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Our Digital Accessibility Digest blog covers our Accessibility in the News archives as well as expert commentaries on digital accessibility issues.
Our most popular commentaries include:
- The WCAG 2.1 Update: A Brief Look at What’s Changed
- Introducing VPAT®0, the More Stringent Accessibility Reporting Tool Required for Government IT Procurement
- Accessibility in the News, Legal Edition: Updates on ADA Title III News and More
- What Lawyers Need to Know: A Primer on Digital Accessibility Terms and Today’s Legal Landscape
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