a blog about accessible services, products, and issues in tourism, travel, and education. « Page 2
The Super Bowl XLV Captioning Fumble
Feb 8th, 2011
My friends and I sat down on what was expected to be a historic Super Bowl XLV: 100% of the national commercials and promotions were supposed to be captioned. No, don’t check your calendar, we’re not still stuck in 1989. It IS year 2011 and this basic accessibility feature of television captioning was expected to hit the record books.
History in the MakingThe National Association for the Deaf (NAD), the National Football League, and FOX Broadcasting all worked together to get captions available on all national commercials and promotions during the Super Bowl XLV. (Thank you!!) (You can read about it on NAD’s website) We all know More >
“Let’s StartUP America!”
Jan 31st, 2011
This is my new favorite quote:
“Everyone deserves a chance to change the world.”
- Austan Goolsbee, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, in his remarks at the White House StartUP America announcement.
I heard this while sitting in the audience at the White House StartUP America Partnership announcement this Monday morning. As a social entrepreneur and advocate for people with disabilities, I couldn’t agree more with Mr. Gooslbee. I’m thankful for opportunities and resources that I’ve been given to follow my vision of impacting change and improvement for accessibility in our communities. However, there are thousands of entrepreneurs around the country who do not More >
Inclusion for Foreign-Language Speakers
Jan 26th, 2011
So, last night, President Obama called out my home county — beautiful Forsyth County, NC — as a place where students are chasing the American Dream. But, beaming with pride though I was at the mention, it made me start to wonder about other people’s hometowns. Not so much the Winston-Salems or Omahas of the world, but the Bizertes, the Moscows, the Atbaras. While I watched the speech’s captioning intently on my screen, I wondered: what do foreign language speakers do if they want to see programming like this? Is this content less accessible to those who don’t speak English? Well, More >
Universal Design in your Kitchen Drawer
Jan 24th, 2011
In previous blog posts, I’ve talked about universal design in technology, and how these products are often the best in the market. Since then, I’ve paid more attention to everyday objects that we use, and considered whether or not they’re developed with accessibility in mind. In my kitchen, I’ve seen more of this than I’d expect, and I thought you’d find this interesting. Perhaps you’ll be challenged to think about how objects can be a part of the mainstream and serve an accessibility purpose, too.
Aesthetics & Functionality in the Universal Design MovementThe beauty and convenience of household appliances, furniture, and technology More >
ASL Tour: Rubin Museum of Art, Friday 1/21 at 7 pm
Jan 21st, 2011
We love it when museums offer programming for visitors with disabilities. Often this includes scheduled live sign-interpreted tours for the American Sign Language community, and visual description tours for people who are blind or visually impaired. Of course, we’re also delighted when museums and destinations include Keen Guides for when people come at times when scheduled, accessible programming isn’t taking place!
With that said, we’re going to let you know about upcoming scheduled programming on this blog! The first one is timely:
Rubin Museum of Art
TONIGHT, Friday, January 21 More >
Verizon iPhone: Not as accessible as AT&T’s iPhone.
Jan 12th, 2011
On 1/11/11, Verizon announced the release of the iPhone on their network. This means some competition for AT&T, and you can check out Mashable’s iPhone Faceoff infographic to compare between the two iPhone 4′s. In summary, while the design and hardware are nearly identical, there is one (obvious) significant difference: the network technology. This is particularly important for one piece of accessibility, and with the help of accessibility expert Lisa Goldstein at Purple Communications, I’ll tell you why. First, some background:
UMTS (3GSM) vs. CDMA, in plain English: (nerd alert!)AT&T uses the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network on its carriers. UMTS supports the Global System for Mobile Communications (3GSM), which More >
Which tablet will make the right move?
Jan 7th, 2011
This weekend is the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The buzz, not surprisingly, is about the tablets that will rival Apple’s iPad in 2011. There’s a lot of fanfare about including high-quality video in the tablets, with reports of cable companies like Comcast streaming live and on-demand media to such devices. In addition, there are a few bells and whistles that allow you to unleash your creativity and gaming personality. You can take pictures, edit them, and share them, as well as spend a few minutes (or hours?) playing Angry Birds.
Sounds exciting, but…Yes, the appeal of being able to engage More >
Citizen Engagement for Accessibility
Jan 4th, 2011
What do you do if there’s a fallen tree branch in the middle of the sidewalk? Most of you would probably walk around it. But if you’re a wheelchair user, you don’t necessarily have that option, as going into the street or over someone’s flower bed may be the only immediate alternatives. So you’d probably have to backtrack and cross the street where there’s a safe ramp.
Operator, may I speak to . . . ?Now who do you call / write / flag down to report this fallen tree branch & blockage? The Neighborhood Sidewalk Association? The Arbor Society? More >
Mobile Technology & Accessibility in Review.
Dec 30th, 2010
It’s the week before New Years and that means it’s time for “Year in Reviews.” The Wall Street Journal recently did one on Mobile Technology: The Rise of Apps, iPad, and Android. I couldn’t help but wonder about accessibility in the mobile space that we’d like to see in 2011, developing on the available advances in technology. First, I thought I’d summarize a few key statistics in this article that jumped out at me.
Numbers to Impress You:- 81 million: The sales of smartphones in 3rd quarter 2010. This is significant because it’s nearly double the sales in 2009.
- 3 in 4: The predicted number of More >
Accessible Technology included in Popular Science
Dec 16th, 2010
Still working on your Holiday gift list? Maybe reading FCC Deputy Director Pam Gregory’s blog post on broadband.gov about new, innovative accessible technologies will give you some ideas! There’s some cool stuff covered, like user-friendly crutches and prosthetic hands. Check it out!