October 01, 2021 04:01 PM Eastern Daylight Time

TORONTO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–AbleDocs Inc. is excited to announce that accessibility pioneer Mike Paciello is joining their ranks as their new Vice President for the United States.

“This is an incredible moment in AbleDocs’ history when we are able to bring Mike Paciello into our team and help us continue our unparalleled growth into the United States,” said Adam Spencer, AbleDocs CEO. “It’s an honour and a privilege to work directly with Mike after working alongside each other for over a decade.”

Mike Paciello Joins AbleDocs as Vice President, United States full article

By Char Adams
New York Times, Sept. 24, 2021

For people like me, the voice technology that is a part of so many people’s everyday lives can feel all but useless. Telling Alexa to play a song or asking Siri for directions can be almost impossible whenever prolonged (“Aaaaaaaaa-lexa”) or chopped (“Hey … Si … ri!”) sounds cause the devices to misunderstand my commands or stop listening altogether.

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, about 7.5 million people in the United States also “have trouble using their voices” because of disorders like stuttering or speech-altering conditions caused by cerebral palsy.

Voice Assistants Don’t Understand Us. They Should full article

The pandemic has exposed flaws in services for people who can’t easily access a drive-through window for Covid shots or testing or can’t read prescription labels. By Joshua Brockman
New York Times, Sept. 21, 2021

During the pandemic, Curtis Chong has avoided the 2-hour journey to his grocery store pharmacy – including a round-trip bus ride – to pick up his prescription.

Even though Mr. Chong, a retiree in Aurora, Colo., said he is readily identifiable as a blind person, because he uses a white cane for mobility, his pharmacist never suggested he could have his medications labeled in an accessible way.

Specialty Pharmacies Cater to the Blind and Those with Impaired Vision full article

The Drum NetworkTricks of the marketing trade
By Matt Gibson – September 20, 2021

Recently there was a backlash within the web development community against the Paralympics 2020 #wethe15 campaign when their website was found to have several basic accessibility issues, including missing alt tags. While some of the criticism was absolutely warranted, being a digital transformation agency ourselves, and being heavily involved in web accessibility, we also understand the human and technological challenges of building a great experience for diverse users.

We Need to Ditch Overlay Tools in Creating Truly Accessible Websites full article

With much of the country in lockdown, and with the ever-changing nature of work, organisations are pivoting to virtual events and presentations. While it’s a necessity to conduct presentations virtually during the pandemic, we may also see some events continue to offer both a virtual and in-person option.

Australian Network on Disability has the top tips to assist you in prioritising accessibility in the virtual world.

Offer accessibility from the outset

Just as you would for an in-person event, reach out to both your attendees and those presenting and ask the simple question: are there any accessibility requirements you need?

Changing Workplaces: Organising an Accessible Virtual Presentation full article

Google’s New Android 12 Feature Lets Users Control UI With Face Gestures WION Web Team
Washington Published: Aug 23, 2021

Story highlights

According to reports, the Camera Switches feature, which is one of the accessibility services in the Android Accessibility Suite app, will support gesture controls on the user interface (UI)

Google has always been at the forefront in introducing novel features to its operating system with every new version of Android.

In order to make the Android operating system’s user interface (UI) more user friendly and accessible, the American tech giant has reportedly been working on a new feature on Android 12 which lets users control their phones using facial expressions.

Google’s New Android 12 Feature Lets Users Control UI With Face Gestures full article

Not very Chirpy
By Rob Thubron August 17, 2021

Facepalm: Imagine a scenario in which you introduce a revamped design for your company’s product, something that millions use, only to find it’s giving customers headaches. That’s the situation Twitter finds itself in and must now redesign its redesign.

Twitter rolled out its updated app and website last week, introducing “higher color contrast of buttons, links, focus [and] easier reading with left-aligned text and more space between text.” It also added a custom-designed font called Chirp.

Twitter admitted that the change “might feel weird at first” but would allow easier reading and improve visual clutter. It didn’t count on the redesign causing eye strain, headaches, and migraines among many users.

Twitter is Redesigning Its Redesign After Users Complain of Headaches and Eyestrain full article

August 09, 2021
TORONTO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The PDF/UA Foundation is thrilled to announce the launch of the newest iteration of the compliance validation tool, the PAC (PDF Accessibility Checker) 2021.

“We will serve the community by ensuring that document accessibility tools are always free and available to end users. This will help us achieve our mission of striving for a barrier-free digital world” This latest free release is an important step forward in PDF accessibility. The design allows users to quickly identify the machine verifiable success criterion of ISO 14289-1 (PDF/UA) and WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines).

The PDF/UA Foundation Launches New PDF Accessibility Checker – PAC 2021 full article