Digital Accessibility News

Airbnb is turning to artificial intelligence to make it easier for people with disabilities to find rentals that meet their needs. The short-term rental platform is introducing a new “adapted” category on its website this week. The new section will feature more than 1,000 homes worldwide “offering features specifically modified or designed for guests with mobility needs,” the company said. “These wheelchair accessible homes with...

A “tester-plaintiff” had standing to sue over a hotel reservation website’s alleged failure to comply with federal regulations governing accessibility for the disabled, even if she had no plans to actually book a room at the hotel, a federal appellate court has ruled....

On October 28, Twitter users woke up to a new reality: Elon Musk had taken over the platform and almost immediately begun making changes. For people with disabilities who’d found an emotional support system on Twitter, anxiety over Musk’s upheaval was especially sharp. Twitter had been one of the most user-friendly social media platforms out there—with a world-class team that made sure it was usable...

More lawsuits are being filed against businesses for allegedly violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to provide accessible websites and mobile apps. Baker Donelson’s Emma Redden explains how companies can prevent such claims. Is your website accessible to people who have hearing and/or vision impairments? Accessible websites include such features as subtitles for audio files, alternative text for images, and coloring visible to...

As per Tech Crunch, key Twitter teams including Human Rights, Accessibility, Al Ethics and Curation have been axed so far by the Tesla CEO....

Mercer University, Lafayette College and Loyola University of Chicago websites fail to offer full Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility to the blind or visually impaired, a trio of new class action lawsuits collectively allege. Plaintiff Joseph Ortiz claims Mercer, Lafayette, and Loyola University Chicago have failed to design, construct, maintain, and operate their respective websites so that they are fully accessible for individuals who...

t would be anathema for a health care facility in the U.S. to have a main entrance that’s not physically accessible to all people. Yet many of their digital front doors block people with disabilities. They need to change that....

New Brutalism is a trend that has been growing in popularity over the past several years. A rejection of the sleek and modernist style of buildings that came out of the post-war era, Brutalism is more raw and unrefined. In its rejection of glamor, Brutalism creates an almost industrial aesthetic, often with exposed concrete and other materials reminiscent of factories or warehouses....

New York-based Synchron, which makes the device, is also the first company to gain approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to run clinical trials on a computer-brain implant....

The Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted in 1990 to ensure public accommodations were accessible to everyone. But how does the ADA affect the public accommodations that have developed so robustly on the internet in the decades since the law was passed? Is your law firm’s website at risk of violating the ADA? In this webinar, Lawmatics CEO Matt Spiegel welcomes Jeff Lantz and Desire’e...

The hand-sized robot smiles and encourages users to press a button on its back, reacting with a beaming smile if pressed gently, and with a sad face if the interaction is too hard. "Oh no, it looks like you pressed too hard, Orbit is sad and in need of cheering up, try tickling their belly and see if that will work." Orbit is an interactive...

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that, in recognition of the vital role people with disabilities play in making the nation’s workforce diverse and inclusive, “Disability: Part of the Equity Equation” has been chosen as the theme for October’s National Disability Employment Awareness Month 2022. Led by its Office of Disability Employment Policy, the department’s annual observance of National Disability Employment Awareness...