Just want to help spread the word about this effort. Here is what it is all about (from their Facebook page):

About

Global Accessibility Awareness Day is a community-driven effort whose goal is to focus one day to raise the profile of digital (web, software, mobile app/device, touch screen kiosk, etc.) accessibility and people with different disabilities.

Description

The idea started with a single blog post written by a Los Angeles-based developer, Joe Devon . On May 9, 2012 people in communities around the world are encouraged to hold a talk/meetup, organize hands-on demos, or plan another activity that brings attention to some aspect of digital accessibility. You can make it big or small, formal, or less so. You can arrange something at work/school, or open it up to your local community.

In addition to events, for an hour on May 9, we will invite and encourage people to unplug their mice, turn off their screens, and/or turn off their speakers and use their computers. We will provide a place for people to blog about their experiences.

This event is community-driven, that means by you! Like this page to express interest and to stay updated as the day takes shape. Post your thoughts on the idea of a Global Accessibility Awareness Day on the Wall and/or express interest in helping to organize an event in your city. We are going to need people who speak other languages to help us spread word about the day to truly make it global. Follow @GblA11yDay on Twitter and use the #gaad hashtag in your own tweets. E-mail globala11yawarenessday at gmail.com with any questions/thoughts.

Ultimately, the goal is to use one day, May 9, to raise the profile of and expand the conversation on digital accessibility beyond the converted. It is not meant in any way to replace other efforts.

Let’s see if we can do this, and have some fun at the same time.

Feel free to help spread the word by “liking” and following them on Facebook. Maybe someday even Facebook will be accessible!

However students with disabilities who utilize Assistive Technology (AT) often have difficulty with CAT because the systems are not accessible to AT. They have, in particular, presented major challenges to students with print disabilities who use screen readers and/or Braille.

A recent article in Education Week describes what may appear to be a solution to this problem. Developed by the Oregon Department of Education along with help from the American Institutes for Research, the new adaptive test can be use with refreshable Braille displays and, if necessary, sections can be printed out by Braille embossers in the school.

It looks like it probably took a lot of time and money to accomplish this, but kudos to Oregon for leading the way.

Read the whole article on Education Week.

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Photo credit: Image licensed by Creative Commons by Sebastien.delorme

Another reference I want to share is regarding new federal laws and rules related to videos and captions. Because our friends at Automatic Sync Technologies (AST) have already done the work, I will share an excerpt from their recent AST Education Newsletter.

A mandate for Internet Protocol (IP)-Video captioning rules began in 2010, when the FCC established the Video Programming Accessibility Advisory Committee (VPAAC) as required by the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA).

The CVAA mandates that television content distributed on the Internet be captioned with at least the same quality as the television version. The VPAAC meetings are focused on how this will be achieved and the implementation schedule.

On January 13, 2012 the FCC announced adoption of a Report and Order establishing the scope of rules and the implementation timeline, based upon recommendations from VPACC, and its Advisory Work Groups and Committees.

On April 9, reports of all VPAAC Working Groups will be provided to the full VPAAC, which will then deliver its final report to the FCC to determine the rules to be added to the federal register of requirements later this year.

Once rules are entered into the register, the timeline for content owners to implement the new requirements will be:

• 6 months: Prerecorded programming that is not edited for Internet distribution.
• 12 months: Live and near live programming that was recorded within 24 hours of broadcast on television.
• 18 months: Prerecorded programming that is edited for Internet distribution.
• 24 months: Archival programming.

Anticipated to have a wide impact on protocols for all video programming, new FCC rules would govern TV stations, cable systems, broadcast and cable networks and virtually every video program producer who is now, or will in the future be making programming available for Internet access.

Read the rest of this article in the AST Education Newsletter.

See more information about text/typographical layout issues and accessibility on the WebAIM website.

Keep the following guidelines in mind for displaying text:

• Avoid very small text. This not only impacts some users with low vision, but many users with cognitive disabilities as well.
• While serif fonts (e.g., Times) are more readable when printed, both serif and sans-serif fonts are appropriate when displaying body text onscreen, as long as the font is clean and readable.
• Underlined text should be avoided, except to designate links.
• Minimize the number of different fonts used on a page. Two to three fonts is optimal.
• ALL CAPS should be used minimally. It is more difficult to read and is often interpreted as “shouting.” Additionally, screen readers may read all-caps text letter by letter (like an acronym) rather than as full words.

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Photo credit: Image licensed through Creative Commons by .reid

The U.S. Access Board recently held a public hearing on a revised draft of updated requirements for information and communication technology (ICT) covered by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act.

The Board will hold a second hearing March 1 at the CSUN Conference in San Diego. The hearing will be open to the general public and will not be limited to those registered for the conference.

Full story…

The Board conducted a public hearing January 11 on a revised draft of updated requirements for information and communication technology (ICT) covered by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act. Over a dozen people provided comments at the hearing, including representatives from advocacy groups, industry, and government.

Many speakers expressed support for structural changes made by the Board to streamline the rule and simplify requirements. They also endorsed the incorporation of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG) by direct reference to eliminate redundancy and promote greater harmonization. Some called attention to specific sections of the draft that should be clarified as a result of the rule’s reorganization or the replacement of requirements with the WCAG reference.

Commenters voiced concern over the timeframe to complete this update, particularly in view of the increasing speed of technological change and innovation. They urged the Board to explore options for a more timely process to refresh the ICT requirements on a continuing or rolling basis to keep pace with the ever-changing and newly emerging technologies of a dynamic market. Delays in keeping the requirements regularly updated, it was argued, impede industry compliance and hamper the incorporation of accessibility into new products.

Participants urged the Board to revise the rule to cover certain technologies or barriers to access. These recommendations addressed self-service machines and kiosks, which are becoming more prevalent, the growing market of gesture-based interfaces, such as touch screens, the emerging trend in digital or biometric identification as an alternative to password protection, hand held devices and access for people with limited dexterity, refreshable braille, and access for people with cognitive disabilities. In addition, recommendations were made to improve coverage of products with closed functionality, communication device software, web authoring tools, and technologies involving multiple languages, such as those used in foreign language instruction or translation.

Some speakers called attention to failures in the implementation of section 508 resulting in access issues for members of the public and federal employees with disabilities. Comments pointed to the importance of supplementary technical assistance materials, including answers to frequently asked questions, to improve implementation and compliance. It was also recommended that efforts be made to make the functional performance criteria of the rule testable to help validate compliance.

A transcript of the hearing will be posted to the rulemaking docket on the www.regulations.gov website in coming weeks. The Board will hold a second hearing March 1 at the CSUN Conference in San Diego. The hearing will be open to the general public and will not be limited to those registered for the conference.

Further information on this rulemaking is available on the Board’s website.

The hearing will take place at the Board’s meeting space at 1331 F Street, NW, Suite 800, in downtown Washington, D.C.  Registration is not required, but those who wish to provide comments are encouraged to contact Kathy Johnson at johnson@access-board.gov, (202) 272-0041 (voice), or (202) 272-0065 (TTY).  Those unable to attend in person can make arrangements with Ms. Johnson to provide comments by phone.  The Board will also provide a dial-in option (limited capacity) for listening to testimony and online real-time transcription of the proceedings 

Public Hearing on the Draft Update of ICT Requirements
January 11, 9:00 to 12:00
Access Board Meeting Room
1331 F Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20004

Call-in option (listening only):
Dial:  (517) 308-9247 or (888) 469-2078 (toll-free)
Passcode: 4144
Note:  Contact Kathy Johnson in advance if you wish to make comments by phone

Real-time transcription:
http://www.streamtext.net/player?event=ACCESSBOARD01-11-2012

A second hearing will be held March 1 in San Diego at the annual CSUN conference.  The hearing will be open to the general public and will not be limited to those registered for the conference.

The draft rule jointly refreshes the Board’s Section 508 standards and its Section 255 guidelines which address access to computer hardware and software, websites, media players, electronic documents, telephones and cell phones, PDAs and other ICT products.  The Board is updating these requirements according to recommendations from an advisory body it chartered, the Telecommunications and Electronic and Information Technology Advisory Committee.

The Board released a previous draft of the rule in March 2010 and received almost 400 comments from the public, including industry, disability groups, consumers, government entities, research and trade organizations, accessibility consultants, and others.  In response to this input, the Board has simplified and streamlined the document for greater usability.  The revised draft further harmonizes the rule with other guidelines and standards and eliminates redundancy by referencing the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG).  In addition, revisions have been made to clarify the relationship between performance and technical criteria, coverage of electronic content, and clearer requirements for ICT with closed functionality.

The released draft includes a discussion that explains these and other changes and highlights other topics where public comment is sought.  The deadline for comments is March 7.  During the comment period, the Board will hold public hearings in Washington, D.C. on January 11 and at the annual CSUN Conference in San Diego on March 1.  The Board will follow-up with a proposed rule based on the input received that will provide an additional round of comment before the rule is finalized.

The draft rule and related information are available on the Board’s website. This information is also posted on the www.regulations.gov website which allows visitors to submit or view comments.  For further information, contact Tim Creagan at creagan@access-board.gov, (202) 272-0016 (v), or (202) 272-0074 (TTY).

Public Hearings on the Draft ICT Rule January 11, 9:00 – Noon
Access Board Conference Center
1331 F Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC

March 1, 1:00 – 3:00
27th Annual CSUN conference
Manchester Grand Hyatt
One Market Place
San Diego, CA

While much of Sarah’s presentation covered accessibility features I was already fairly familiar with (i.e., VoiceOver, screen flashing for deaf/hard-of-hearing folks, and sticky keys for folks with mobility impairments), she started off demonstrating the new AssistiveTouch feature. It was a lot to absorb.

I had almost forgotten about AssistiveTouch until yesterday when I discovered New York Times tech dude David Pogue’s article from November 10th where he described the new AssistiveTouch features in greater (and great) detail.

Rather than having me comment any further, please head over to Pogue’s Post entitled Apple’s AssistiveTouch Helps the Disabled Use a Smartphone

From CBS News-60 Minutes:

(CBS News) Ten-year-old Nuno Timoteo, an autistic child who does not speak, was thought to have the intelligence and attention span of a two-year-old until teachers put an iPad in his hands and learned he loved opera and classical music. Joshua Hood, 27, also non-verbal and autistic, was thought to understand much of his world, but his lack of speech frustrated him and all around him until he began communicating freely with a touch-screen tablet computer.

Nuno, Joshua and others whose autism prevents normal speech have made these breakthroughs with the help of tablet computers and special applications that allow them to communicate, some for the first time. Lesley Stahl reports on this new tool for understanding autism for a “60 Minutes” segment to be broadcast on Sunday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

More of this story from 60 Minutes…

A preview of the episode…

For more information about this story and to read it in its entirety, please visit the AST website.

Two prominent disability rights groups have filed suit against prominent media companies for failing to provide closed captioning on internet videos.

In June, the National Association for the Deaf (NAD) charged Netflix in Federal court with violating the ADA based on the limited number of captioned shows available through the company’s “Watch Instantly” option. See the release announcing the lawsuit, and the actual complaint [PDF].

At the state level, the Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness (GLAD) has made a similar charge against news giant CNN. GLAD’s lawsuit alleges that CNN.com is violating California’s anti-discrimination statutes, the Unruh Civil Rights Act and the Disabled Persons Act, by preventing access to much of its news content. Both lawsuits come after months of active petitioning by NAD, GLAD and many others concerned with equal access to internet media.

Netflix and CNN acknowledge that the technology is readily available to add captioning, but question whether current legislation does in fact require them to provide it. The ADA and the Unruh Act became law well before anyone knew the how prevalent web media would become, and, as such, have no specific wording that legislates captioning of streamed movies and news. The Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act which became law last year will change this very soon. An FCC advisory committee has been hard at work since January developing specific recommendations for video programming accessibility. The committee has clearly made internet captioning its top priority, assigning the first and earliest report deadline to the work group examining the issue.

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Photo credit: Image licensed through Creative Commons by Daniel Oines