Product Review: BrailleDoodle, a Drawing and Braille Teaching Tool for All Ages
A picture is said to be worth a thousand words.
But did you know you could create a totally accessible picture using a thousand stainless steel ball bearings?
Well, to be precise, you have access to 1,033 stainless steel ball bearings on the drawing side of the new BrailleDoodle.
Veteran teacher of blind and visually impaired students, and self-proclaimed artist, Daniel Lubiner, began experimenting with an idea during the pandemic. That idea has evolved into a fully realized product that is…
Blog Topics
Braille
Disability Pride Month: A Personal Reflection
When it comes to days or months designated to draw attention to specific issues or give voice to those traditionally unheard, the term "awareness" is often used. However, for Disability Pride Month, the word "pride" is used instead. This distinction is important and worth discussing. As someone with a disability who works in the field, I've thought a lot about Disability Pride Month over the last few weeks and its significance.
In my research, I've noticed that some people find the idea of…
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Accessibility
Elevate Your Accessibility Knowledge with Teach Access and AFB
Today marks the 34th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This year, we've partnered with Teach Access, an organization that aims to broaden accessibility knowledge among industry and academia, to detail multiple resources that can elevate your disability knowledge. We will be detailing resources available through Teach Access as well as those from the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)—free and comprehensive resources for educators, stakeholders, and developers…
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Americans with Disabilities Act, Accessibility
2024 Fall Letter of Appeal
“No one who is blind or has low vision is asking for special treatment. We want a chance to live up to our full potential.”
Give Today
Dear Friend,
Thanks to your generous support, incredible stories of professional achievement unfold every day at the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB). Those stories often emerge when people gain the confidence to secure fulfilling jobs with salaries that make self-sufficiency possible. When you learn about Krystle Allen, I hope you will share…
What's New and Noteworthy from Apple’s 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC)
On Monday, June 10, 2024, Apple held its annual Worldwide Developers Conference keynote address. Leading up to this event, there was considerable speculation regarding Apple’s potential foray into Artificial Intelligence (AI), as well as anticipated updates to Siri, Apple’s virtual assistant.
This article does not cover every update. For the complete keynote address, visit the Apple WWDC 2024 Keynote on YouTube.
Catch up on Accessibility in SwiftUI
Before we discuss the Apple Keynote, lets…
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Conference Recaps
Balancing Accessibility and Cutting-Edge Technology: a Possible Approach to Software and OS Updates
Recently, in the blindness and low vision community, there has been discussion about Sonos, a popular manufacturer of smart speakers, releasing an update to their mobile app that significantly affected its accessibility for VoiceOver users on iOS. If you would like to learn more about this situation, or discover where things stand currently with Sonos accessibility, see this excellent blog post by Jonathan Mosen. Fortunately, it seems that Sonos is making an effort to improve VoiceOver…
Blog Topics
Accessibility
Reflecting Upon Our Successes on Global Accessibility Awareness Day
Today marks the 13th anniversary of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). In celebration of GAAD, I want to highlight the direct impacts on digital inclusion and accessibility that we at the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) have achieved over the past year.
As an organization focused on improving accessibility, we produce a wealth of knowledge content. This includes our Talent Lab accessibility learning modules, our AccessWorld technology magazine and podcast, the peer-reviewed…
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Accessibility, Public Policy
AFB Research Uncovers Staggering Time Lost from Barriers to Digital Inclusion
Researchers at the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) Public Policy and Research Institute just released results from the second Barriers to Digital Inclusion study, which show how often commercial websites and apps continue to exclude blind and low-vision customers. In November 2023, 20 participants kept diaries for 10 days, documenting how often they encountered digital accessibility barriers and what happened when they encountered such roadblocks.
We found that each participant…
Blog Topics
Accessibility, Independence, Technology
Final Rule on Website Accessibility Will Mean Greater Access to State and Local Governments
We at AFB are thrilled that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) published its final rule on website and mobile application accessibility this week. This rule is the culmination of decades of advocacy and rulemaking and marks a significant step in ensuring that the digital environment is fully accessible to people who are blind, have low vision, or are deafblind.
Getting this rule on the books has been one of AFB’s top policy priorities over the past several years, and in October 2023 we…
Blog Topics
Accessibility, Technology, Americans with Disabilities Act, Public Policy
Interconnected content with AccessWorld
As part of our refocusing of AccessWorld in the spring of 2023, we have expanded AccessWorld beyond the magazine format. If you are not familiar with the changes that have come to the AccessWorld publication itself, we have now expanded AccessWorld to focus more directly on digital inclusion. This means that we now include content of interest to web and software developers, employers, and other changemakers in the digital inclusion space.
With this change, we have also expanded into new spaces…