U.S. Access Board Releases Another Sec. 508/ICT Proposed Rule: Public Hearings Upcoming
On December 8, 2011, the U.S. Access Board released a new draft of the Sec 508 "refresh"/ICT rule for Public Comment. 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. Comments are due by Wednesday March 7, 2012. The Board will also hold two more hearings.
From www.coataccess.org, January 02, 2012
USA: Gainesville State Student Inspires Map for Blind People
Like most students, Efren Chavez was looking for an easy A when he chose to take geology this semester. “I chose geology because I thought it would be easier than chemistry,” said Chavez, a 20-year-old business administration major at Gainesville State College. “I thought we were just going to be learning about a bunch of rocks and minerals.” That was partially true. The course also required him to read maps. His easy A had just become difficult. Chavez can’t read a map. In fact, he can’t even see a map. He lost his sight when he was just 9 years old, a result of detached retinas.
From globalaccessibilitynews.com, December 27, 2011
USA: COAT Leaders Speak at International Wireless Conference in Washington DC
On December 5, 2011, the G3ICT group hosted the M-Enabling Summit 2011 at the FCC, an international forum focusing on mobile technologies and the needs of people with disabilities and seniors. The first panel addressed the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 and featured COAT members and friends as speakers. See captioned video of panelists speaking online here.
From http://www.coataccess.org/node/10079, December 26, 2011
Tech News: Technology Can Revolutionize Education for College Students with Disabilities
Having a disability should not stop any student from pursuing higher education. And through a unique program in Montgomery County, Md., high school students are proving that a disability is not an obstacle to a college education. Several students from Project Eye-to-Eye recently visited ED as part of the Secretary’s monthly Student Voices series, where they joined Secretary Duncan and Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Alexa Posny, to discuss college equity and accessibility for students with disabilities.
From www.ed.gov, December 20, 2011
Call for Increased Captioning in New Zealand
A new working group, composed of members of the National Federation of the Deaf (NFD) and Deaf Aotearoa, has been established to push for compulsory captioning on New Zealand television. A press release from the NFD notes that “New Zealand TV captioning is among the worst in the western world with even Uganda having a better service than us. While some captioning is funded by NZ On Air and a high quality captioning service is provided by TV1, TV2 and TV3 it amounts to less than 10% of total TV hours each week across all free to air and subscriber pay channels.”
From www.mediaaccess.org.au, December 19, 2011
Opinion: Apple’s AssistiveTouch Helps the Disabled Use a Smartphone
Plenty has been written about the new iPhone 4S, with its voice-controlled virtual assistant Siri, and about iOS 5, its software. But in writing a book about both, I stumbled across an amazingly thoughtful feature that I haven’t seen a word about: something called AssistiveTouch.
From pogue.blogs.nytimes.com, December 16, 2011
Accessible Frank Lloyd Wright House To Become Museum
Preservationists plan to open up the only fully-accessible house ever designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright to the public after securing the home at auction this week. The Laurent House Foundation was the only bidder at a Chicago auction this week and will purchase the one-of-a-kind Rockford, Ill. home for $578,500, according to John Groh, president of the Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and an advisor to the foundation.
From www.disabilityscoop.com, December 16, 2011
India: Polling Booths to be Disabled-Friendly
Don’t fret over how your physically-challenged or pregnant relative will be able to cast his/her ballot in the upcoming civic polls. The state election commission has issued a set of facilities to be made available at polling booths to ensure that the pregnant, the physically-challenged and senior citizens will not have to queue up for long. Women with a child, besides those pregnant, will be given preference over others at the booth. “There have been instances when the pregnant, the physically-challenged and senior citizens were put off by the idea of incessantly waiting in line. This time, we are paying attention to every minute detail,” said Chand Goyal, additional chief secretary of the election commission.
From nsingit.wordpress.com, December 15, 2011
TechNews: Texting Glove Helps Hearing Impaired Send Texts
This unique device was developed by Oleg Imanilov, Tomer Daniel and Zvika Markfeld, where it literally transforms sign language into text on your Android-powered device, thanks to the help of a gyroscope, an ADK Board, Lilypad Arduino, finger sensors, and an accelerometer. Of course, hopefully the Texting Glove is sensitive enough to work with the software for super fast signage – after all, you don’t sign out individual letters but rather in words, so here is to the software being able to keep up. Alternatively, I would presume that the hearing impaired can always rely on standard text messages to get their, er, message across.
From www.ubergizmo.com, December 15, 2011
Feature: Global Development Voices: Living with Disabilities
There are estimated to be 1 billion disabled people across the world. Disability doesn't feature specifically in the MDGs, but many campaigners say lack of provision for the disabled is holding back development progress. Here 14 people with disabilities tell us about the challenges they face in their countries.
From www.guardian.co.uk, December 15, 2011
