John Lilly joined AFB in 2014 to develop a series of accessible mobile applications, allowing AFB to reach blind and visually impaired individuals, families, and service providers across the nation. John has become a key member of the Consulting team, leveraging his programming knowledge and expertise to conduct usability and technical evaluations, identify solutions, and make recommendations.

John specializes in accessible mobile and web applications; programming languages, such as Java, Objective-C, Python, and HTML; and in assistive technology, including Talkback for Android, VoiceOver for iOS, and Non-Visual Desktop Access (NVDA).

Prior to joining the AFB team, John worked with several large consulting firms, and played a key role in developing a streamlined, automated, and accessible communications program for the Department of Human Resources of West Virginia.

John holds a bachelor’s in Computer Science from Marshall University.

More by this author

Double Tap To Activate

Tech Notes If you have ever used Android and Talkback, I’m sure you have heard the “Double tap to activate” instruction before. It is an indication that a control is clickable. This is fine for things like buttons, which should be clickable, but the issue is that this announcement happens when there is a click event tied to a certain element. It doesn’t matter if the click does anything or not, or if the element is announced as a valid control such as “button”. The only thing that matters for…
Author John Lilly, Director of Digital Inclusion Innovation
Blog Topics Talent Lab Exclusive, Talent Lab Tech Notes

Seven (7) Accessibility Tips for Web and Mobile Developers

John Lilly
John Lilly, AFB Senior Accessibility Engineer
Use robust, valid code and keep it simple. Remember that there are many different types of disabilities and many different types of assistive technologies to help these users. Developers mostly need to worry about proper programming and keeping things simple. Is your website coded correctly to stand the test of time and meet compatibility requirements with many different devices? Native HTML controls should always be your first choice. These controls are robust and have concrete standards that…
Author John Lilly, Director of Digital Inclusion Innovation
Blog Topics Web Accessibility