Category: “assistive technology”

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Web Accessibility Conferences in 2010

Here are some web accessibility conferences this year, 2010. Details for some of the annual events are not announced yet. Please comment with any changes, additions, and comments.

This post is periodically updated throughout 2010.

ATIA 2010 Orlando
January 28 – 30, 2010
Caribe Royale All-Suites Resort & Convention Center
Orlando, FL

California Web Accessibility Conference (CalWAC) (Knowbility)
February 8 – 10, 2010, Santa Clara, CA

Techshare India 2010
15th – 16th February 2010
India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India

International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference
March 22-27, 2010
San Diego, CA
Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel

Power Up 2010 Conference and Expo
April 26 and 27, 2010
Holiday Inn Select, Columbia, Missouri
presented by Missouri Assistive Technology

W4A 2010
7th International Cross Disciplinary Conference in Web Accessibility
April 26-27, 2010
Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.A.
Hosted by North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Techshare Mobile 2010
Presented by Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB)
Birmingham, UK
Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The John Slatin Access U (from Knowbility)
Monday, May 10th and Tuesday, May 11th , 2010
St. Edward’s University, Austin, Texas

Penn State Web 2010 Conference
June 7 and 8, 2010
Penn State Conference Center
Keynote by Jeffrey Zeldman

Aiming for Accessibility: Meeting Standards, Making Change
University of Guelph (Ontario, Canada)
June 8 and 9, 2010
Keynote Speaker: Christine Karcza of I can do This

ACCESS-IT Seminar (hosted by AbilityNet)

ICCHP
12th International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs
July 14-16, 2010, Vienna University of Technology, Austria
Pre-Conference July 12-13, 2010

AHEAD: Association on Higher Education And Disability
July 12-17, 2010
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.

Annual Assistive Technology Conference (from Easter Seals Crossroads)
July 29 & 30
Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A.
*Web Axe host Dennis Lembree is speaking!

Illinois Web Accessibility Conference and Expo (Jon Gunderson)
September 29, 2010
Keynote Speaker: Victor Tsaran
Registration is closed; reached capacity

Accessibility Camp DC
October 9, 2010; 9:30 AM – 5:30 PM
MLK Library
Washington, DC, U.S.A.

HighEdWeb (Higher Education Web Professionals)
October 10-13, 2010
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A.

Assets 2010
The 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility
October 25-27, 2010
Orlando, Florida

Accessing Higher Ground
Accessible Media, Web and Technology Conference
November 15-19, 2010
Westminster, Colorado, U.S.A.

An Event Apart

  • Seattle, April 5-7
  • Boston, May 24-25
  • Minneapolis, July 26-27
  • Washington, D.C., September 16-17

4th European eAccessibility Forum (Paris)

Featured vendor:
Mangoco.com: web design company in Virginia
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Free Browsers for Visual Impairment

I recently came across an article from disaboom called “Assistive Technology: Top 8 Free Browsers for Visual Impairment and More“. The link was also popular on Twitter. But one problem, there are no links to the mentioned browser! So I went and found them:

  1. WebbIE -accessible browser, RSS news reader and more.
  2. EdWeb – talking web browser that can display web pages as text and symbols.
  3. Fire Vox – Talking Browser Extension for Firefox (add-on page).
  4. CliCk, Speak – less advanced version of Fire Vox.
  5. Orca – speedy and powerful Gecko-based browser.
  6. Simply Web 2000 – outdated; optimized for Internet Explorer 5.
  7. SpeakOn -PC-based media suite program (four apps).
  8. Thunder – package contains the WebbIE Text browser and more.

I’d like to add that Disaboom is a pretty nice site. In their words:

Disaboom is the leading resource for disability information and real-life articles about people with disabilities. Our broad range of topics, including health conditions, lifestyle, and helpful resources, help you create the life you want.

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"assistive technology" conference

ATIA Chicago 2009

The Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) is presenting a new conference this late October: ATIA Chicago 2009 “Showcasing Excellence in Assistive Technology”.

There are over 200 sessions planned. The list of exhibitors includes:

The conference will be held at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center, in Schaumburg (Chicago), Illinois, U.S.A.

Dates

October 28: Pre-Conference Seminars
October 29: Leadership Workshop
October 29-31: Main Conference

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Fall Web Accessibility Events

Here’s a list of some conferences and events this fall relating to web accessibility. Please feel free to add more in the comments.

Techshare 2009

Workshops, presentations and exhibitions from organisations and leading figures representing the digital technology disability sector.
16-18 September 2009
ExCeL conference and exhibition centre
London, England

Standards.Next – Cognition and accessibility

Northampton Square
London, England EC1V 0HB
Saturday, September 19, 2009 (1-4 pm)

EdUI 2009 Conference

For web professionals in higher education.
September 21-22, 2009
Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S.A. (at the University of Virginia)

Accessibility 2.0

The UK’s only Web 2.0 accessibility conference.
22nd September 09
London, England
Hosted by AbilityNet

An Event Apart, Chicago

Two Days Of Design, Code, and Content
October 12–13, 2009
Sheraton Towers
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

12th Annual Accessing Higher Ground

Accessible Media, Web and Technology Conference
November 10- 14, 2009
Westminster, Colorado, U.S.A (near Denver)
Keynote Speaker: T.V. Raman, Research Scientist, Google, Inc.
Hosted by the University of Colorado at Boulder

NOTE

I just have to add, I’m pretty disappointed in some of the code on these sites, especially with the (lack of) alternative text, the most basic checkpoints for web accessibility. In the Accessibility 2.0 site, the logo is missing alternative text! And on the Ed UI site, the date and location in the header is also missing alternative text; there is repeated content (under Get Updates); and my pet peeve, redundant title attributes (in menu). Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is pretty careless and poor example.

Addendum 27 Aug

Closing the Gap

Changing lives with assistive technology
Minneapolis, MN
October 15-17, 2009
Preconference Workshops – October 13-14

Web 2.0 Expo New York

November 16-19, 2009 at Javits Center
New York, NY
Register by October 8 and Save $350

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Visit to Yahoo! Accessibility Testing Lab

I was fortunate enough to get invited for a visit to Yahoo! Accessibility Testing Lab (in Sunnyvale, California). Victor Tsaran (@vick08) and Alan Brightman (@abrightman) were kind enough to spend about an hour and a half with me and several other computer professionals. Here are some notes from the meeting:

  • Learned a lot about Mac’s accessibility features. You can find them under under System Preferences/System/Universal Settings. Apparently they’ve been present since 1985, but most people don’t know they exist.
  • Apple computers come with a screen reader VoiceOver, which is now on the iPhone. On the Mac, it displays the text which it’s speaking; a great for blind person to work with a deaf person.
  • The demo of alternative input devices and software (including switch devices, head tracking, and an alternative keyboard) really creates awareness of others’ needs.
  • Saw a demo of a braille output device. It was noted that this type of device is best for the deaf-blind. They are very expensive, and more popular in Europe as there tends to be more subsidy.
  • Issues and features with mobile devices including screen magnifiers, speaking menus, camera-scanner-reader combo.
  • Some excellent links:

Victor, Rob and Alan in the lab