Adjust text size:

profoundly yours the abledbody blog

Blog

Warning Signs for Would-Be Deaf Divers

December 27, 2010 | by

If you came across the Sunday New York Times‘ Travel section this week, you may have read the can-do article, Deaf Divers Sign in the Soundless Depths. Worldwide Dive and Sail is one of a handful of companies that organizes regular scuba diving tips for deaf and hard of hearing divers. This story is a great example of people with disabilities who accomplish feats like exotic water sports, and I thought it was great that Siren offered sign language interpreters as well as expeditions in which deaf and hearing divers could mingle. After all, when you’re swimming with the fishes in the cold, deep sea, no talking is allowed — and deaf people who sign actually have an advantage over hearing divers. I would be remiss, however, if I didn’t call out something that my surgeon told me upon receiving my own cochlear implant in 2002: Don’t participate in “pressure” sports like ... keep reading »
Blog

Five minutes of Fame at DOJ Hearing

December 17, 2010 | by

Department of Justice Hearing, Washington, D.C. (12/2010) (with captions). Suzanne appears at 178 minutes speaking to the Department about the issue of online video accessibility. The Department of Justice hearing went really well; thanks to everyone for their support. Michael and I arrived in the afternoon to a rare Washington snowstorm, grabbed a quick bite at Corner Bakery and then headed over to the U.S. Access Board, where the meeting was being held. Access Board helps create guidelines for the accessible design of buildings, equipment, technology and more. I ran into David Capozzi, executive director of the Access Board and was able to give him a copy of my paper. The hearing room was smaller than I expected it to be; there were four panelists including John Wodatch, chief of the Disabilities Rights Section at the Department’s Civil Rights Division. I spoke for five minutes, and hadn’t prepared any comments in ... keep reading »
Blog

Read Our White Paper on Video Accessibility!

December 16, 2010 | by

  Today abledbody released a new white paper which takes a look at the current state of video accessibility in the context of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, which was signed into law this past October by President Obama. It assesses the scope of the new law and its limitations, and what needs to be done in the future to make the rest of the online video programming landscape accessible to people with disabilities. The white paper, written by Suzanne Robitaille and Michael Janger, can be accessed here, or click on the image on the left. Suzanne will speak this afternoon at a public hearing in Washington, D.C., hosted by the Department of Justice. The public hearing will cover possible revisions to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations, including Web accessibility, movie captioning and video description — the same topics covered by our white paper. Department of Justice Hearing, ... keep reading »
Blog

Understanding Assistive Technology (Video)

November 18, 2010 | by

Here’s a simple, quick video that really does the trick in explaining what assistive technology is, who uses it, and how to get your hands on some. It’s put together nicely by The PACER Simon Technology Center and includes closed captions as well as a neat interactive transcript. keep reading »
Blog

NCTI: Making Learning More Accessible

November 15, 2010 | by

I’m here at the National Center for Technology Innovation‘s annual conference in Washington. NCTI is a research center funded by the Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs, and works to advances learning opportunities for individuals with disabilities through the use of innovative technologies. After an introduction by the NCTI’s director, Tracy Gray, we were treated to an excellent keynote address by Milton Chen, who is the executive director emeritus of the George Lucas Education Foundation. Chen called the last decade of education a “lost” one, but says the nation is finally coming into 21st century learning. Based on his new best-selling book, Education Nation: Six Leading Edges of Innovation in our Schools, Chen explored how media and technology can spark innovation to redefine teaching and learning for all students and communities. Technology is the way we can become an education nation, Chen says, because it allows us to ... keep reading »
Blog

Hilton Reaches Deal with Disabled Guests

November 10, 2010 | by

In a groundbreaking settlement, the Department of Justice and Hilton Worldwide negotiated a far-reaching agreement to bring approximately 900 Hilton-branded hotels across the United States into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The deal requires all Hilton Worldwide-owned and joint-venture hotels to modify their online reservation systems to let customers with disabilities select and reserve accessible rooms, such as those that are suited for wheelchairs. All large U.S. hotels built after 1993 are required to offer wheelchair-friendly rooms; most hotels will let customers request — but not book — an accessible room. Hilton is the first hotel required to specifically modify the way customers with disabilities reserve rooms. Like other large hotel chains, Hilton must also ensure its online reservations system is accessible to people who use assistive technologies to navigate a computer, such as a screen reader. Additionally Hilton Worldwide will conduct surveys at franchised or independently managed hotels to ... keep reading »
Blog

Pepsi Gives $500,000 to Disabled Vets MBA Program

November 9, 2010 | by

PepsiCo, through its Dream Machine recycling initiative, has made a $500,000 donation to the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities, a national program offering career training, education and job creation for post-9/11 U.S. veterans with disabilities. PepsiCo presented the donation this past weekend during a ceremony at Syracuse University, home to the Whitman School of Management, where the EBV program was founded. PepsiCo says it will make a minimum contribution to Entrepreneurship Bootcamp of $500,000 per year over the next several years. To encourage recycling, Pepsi will also contribute an additional $250,000 to the program for every 10 million pounds of recycled material collected in Dream Machine kiosks and bins, which can be found in 14 states at high-traffic locations such as gas stations, shopping malls, sports arenas and university campuses. “Through the Dream Machine program, PepsiCo is playing a direct role in helping our veterans with disabilities realize the most American ... keep reading »
Blog

Apple Makes Room for Special Education Apps

November 4, 2010 | by

Apple has created a section in its App Store called “Special Education” to recognize the increasing number of apps for people with disabilities, including learning disorders and non-verbal autism. Launched last week, the app shelf includes 72 applications for the iPhone and 13 applications for the iPad in 10 categories of disability and special needs from literacy and learning to language development to communications. In fact, this category spans much farther than education to include apps for adults to aid in work and play. At the Assistive Technology Industry Association conference in Chicago last week, tablets and applications took the industry by storm. The iPad, iPhone and iTouch, for example, are three mainstream technologies that have access already built in, and adding specialized apps for people with disabilities is creating skyrocketing demand for these devices. Apple also has a page listing many third-party hardware solutions for people with disabilities who use these ... keep reading »
Blog

Take the $1,000 Cloud Computing Challenge

November 2, 2010 | by

What is your vision of how cloud computing can create new opportunities for people with disabilities? The Federal Communications Commission wants to pay you for your thoughts. The challenge: Create an accessible multimedia presentation that shows what could be possible using the computing and communication power now available via the Internet, and you could win $1,000. Sponsored by the FCC, the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities, and Raising the Floor, entries will help to provide direction and motivation to policy makers, software developers, and members of the public who want to foster more independence in life, and greater integration in society, for people with disabilities. The FCC is particularly looking for video presentations that demonstrate cloud computing ideas. All presentations should support the viewing of English captions and the operation of controls with a screen reader for people who are blind. Adding video description for the blind is also desirable, but can ... keep reading »
Blog

Implant Helps Blind See Shapes in Trial

November 2, 2010 | by

Scientists have developed an eye implant that allowed three blind patients to see shapes and objects and say the device could become routine for some kinds of inherited blindness, according to Reuters. Experts described the trial study results as phenomenal and said the device, developed by German researchers, could eventually change the lives of up to 200,000 people worldwide who suffer from blindness due to a degenerative eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa. The device — known as a sub-retinal implant — sits underneath the retina and works by directly replacing light receptors that are lost as a result of the disease. It uses the eye’s natural image-processing functions to produce a stable visual image. Eberhart Zrenner, chairman of the University of Tuebingen Eye Hospital in Germany and director of a small company called Retinal Implant AG which is developing the device, said the trial results would now be taken into further trials in ... keep reading »
Older Posts     Go to top of page

Twitter