Digital Accessibility News

October marks Disability Employment Awareness Month (DEAM), which is a meaningful time of the year for Disability:IN because it honors the contributions of talent with disabilities. When most people think about diversity and inclusion, they likely first think of racial or gender representation, and rightly so. However, there are 1.3 billion people with disabilities worldwide -- 70% of whom have non-apparent disabilities, yet people with...

Voices offer lots of information. Turns out, they can even help diagnose an illness — and researchers are working on an app for that. The National Institutes of Health is funding a massive research project to collect voice data and develop an AI that could diagnose people based on their speech. Everything from your vocal cord vibrations to breathing patterns when you speak offers potential...

The AI-based retinal scanning system is called QUARTZ (QUantitative Analysis of Retinal vessels Topology and siZe), and it’s developers asy it makes the diagnosis of heart diseases more accessible and affordable than ever. Whereas traditional heart-health checkup methods such as blood-pressure analysis and blood tests require blood samples of the patients and are relatively time-consuming, QUARTZ represents a quick and non-invasive technique capable of delivering...

Who: A woman who is legally blind is suing Harvard University. Why: The plaintiff says Harvard does not make its website accessible to the blind. Where: The Harvard class action lawsuit was filed in a New York federal court....

Zuk Fitness is an online fitness service created by and for wheelchair users. It offers live and prerecorded workouts led by both paras and quads. Strength, cardio, warmup and stretching routines can all be completed from your wheelchair, often with minimal equipment. The service was founded by wheelchair user and lifelong athlete Dillon Connolly. An admitted endorphin junkie, Connolly used to rise before 5 a.m....

Tuesday night marked a significant step in the fight for more benefits for persons with disabilities in Canada, as the second reading of Bill C-22 passed with unanimous support in parliament. In New Brunswick, the Coalition for Persons with Disabilities held a virtual rally aimed at fast-tracking that bill and seeking to get the attention of MPs. During the rally that lasted well over an...

Who: Lawrence Young filed a class action lawsuit against the Ladies Professional Golf Association. Why: Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in New York federal court....

Who: A blind woman sued Modshop. Why: The plaintiff says the retailer does not make its website accessible to those using a screen reader. Where: The Modshop website class action was filed in a New York federal court....

Who: A legally blind woman sued the radio subscription company SiriusXM. Why: The plaintiff says the company violates the law because its website is not accessible to those using a screen reader. Where: The Sirius XM class action lawsuit was filed in a New York federal court....

The U.S. Supreme Court will soon hear arguments in a case centering on how families and schools go about resolving disputes over services for students with disabilities. The justices said this month that they will take up the matter known as Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools, which raises two questions under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act....

The world is studded with tools to navigate life, but those resources – from the schedule posted at your local bus stop to the cellphone in your pocket – aren’t always accessible for people with disabilities. They may be forced to spend extra time, energy or money to access the same information or experiences as non-disabled people. Inventor Joshua Miele says it doesn’t have to...

When the National Aeronautics and Space Administration uploaded the first photo of the early universe from its James Webb telescope to Twitter, it included a highly detailed description of the deep-field snapshot. “Most stars appear blue, and are sometimes as large as more distant galaxies that appear next to them,” read one portion of the 126-word description posted by NASA on Monday. “A very bright...