AFB Blog

Crista Earl, AFB's Director of Web Operations, and I were excited to attend the Web For All (W4A) Conference this year, in Montreal, Canada to share information about the AFB Accessible Video Player. Web accessibility is an important part of our work at the American Foundation for the Blind. We are committed to making our website and all of our products—from apps to online courses and webinars to books—fully accessible to people with vision loss. The theme for this year’s conference was “…

On the heels of major accessibility announcements from Twitter and Facebook, tech giant Google recently highlighted its own efforts to build a more inclusive world for people with disabilities. Here are four ways Google is working to improve the lives of people who are blind or visually impaired: Gaining equal access to information—As part of the Google Impact Challenge the company recently awarded $20 million in grants to 29 grantees around the world. One of the grantees, the DAISY…

Dear Annie, Happy birthday! Today, we celebrate your legacy and excellence as an educator. You insisted that your student, Helen Keller, could learn and accomplish just as much as any seeing and hearing child could — and you were right. You were a tough teacher — when Helen misspelled a word in an essay or letter, you made her rewrite the entire text — but you also had a finely tuned insight into a child’s psychology. You instantly recognized that Helen was a very bright child who just…

The American Foundation for the Blind needs your help! This week, we are asking all of you to support the Cogswell-Macy Act, the most comprehensive special education legislation for students with sensory disabilities to date. Call in on April 14th to ensure key resources are available to these students and their parents and educators through and expansion of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).  Parents and teachers around the country are rallying around this bill…

Today, Facebook announced a new feature, "automatic alternative text": Using Artificial Intelligence to Help Blind People ‘See’ Facebook. The feature takes advantage of Facebook's object recognition technology to offer people using VoiceOver on iPhones or iPads a description of their friends' photos. The descriptions are coded as alt text, a standard HTML attribute that allows web designers to provide text alternatives for images. "This step toward automatically describing photos helps those…

VisionAware peer advisor Audrey Demmitt recently attended the American Foundation for the Blind Leadership Conference in Washington, DC. She writes, “As a consumer and paraprofessional who works with the visually impaired and blind community, I found it both informational and inspirational. I came away feeling very encouraged by all the efforts, research, product development and initiatives that are taking place on behalf of those who live with vision loss." She was particularly impressed by…

The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of actress and advocate Patty Duke. Ms. Duke immortalized the intelligent and rebellious spirit of the 6-year-old deaf and blind Helen Keller in her performance of William Gibson's play, The Miracle Worker. She starred in both the original Broadway production and went on to win an Academy Award in the 1962 film version with Anne Bancroft playing her teacher Anne Sullivan. Patty Duke was a longtime friend…

Twitter released a blog post today announcing Accessible Images for Everyone. The post explains, "Starting today, people using our iOS and Android apps can add descriptions — also known as alternative text (alt text) — to images in Tweets," and goes on to describe how to enable the new feature. “We applaud Twitter’s access efforts. Tens of thousands of people who are blind or visually impaired use Twitter every day, and they will be excited to use and benefit from this increased level of…

As holidays and spring time approach it is a good time to reflect on Helen Keller’s love of nature and its possibilities for transformation and renewal. In September 1940 — a year after she and her companion Polly Thomson moved into their new home in Westport, CT — Keller wrote to her close friend "Uncle Walter." Here is an excerpt from that letter: This place is already amazingly transformed. Between jobs at the desk Polly and I have worked with our faithful Herbert to make our four…