Accessible Document Cheat Sheets
Gaining Online Accessible Learning through Self-Study (GOALS) has created a new set of “cheat sheets” that help explain how to make electronic documents accessible. The following topics are covered: • Creating accessible documents in Microsoft Word • Microsoft PowerPoint • PDF conversion in Microsoft Word • Creating accessible PDF documents in Acrobat X Click here […]
Parking Mobility App
Parking Mobility is a mobile app that helps individuals with disabilities and their supporters report handicapped parking abusers. Offered on three popular platforms, Android, iPhone and Blackberry, Parking Mobility allows its users to file a report of handicapped parking abuse with their city police by taking a set of three photos – one of the […]
Tactile Touchscreens
Two companies are developing different technologies that might soon make using your flat touchscreen a more tactile experience. Tactus Technology is developing buttons that rise up from the surface of a touchscreen, while Senseg Technology is working on using an ultra-low electrical current to generate the sensation of textures on a flat touchscreen.
Web Accessibiliy Barriers for Older Adults
The Journal of Emerging Trends in Computing and Information Sciences recently published an article exploring the problems that older adults have accessing web-pages. Older adults often encounter barriers to accessing the web due to disabilities like vision impairments, hearing impairments, and motor impairments. Older adults are also more likely to be unfamiliar with the standard […]
Disability Employment App Challenge
The Social Security Administration and Department of Education have issued a challenge; create an app that will help address the issue that people with disabilities have a significantly higher unemployment rate and a lower labor force participation rate that the general population. According to the Department of Labor, people with disabilities have a 20.3% labor […]
AXS Maps
AXSMap is a crowd sourced accessibility map that allows people to share their reviews of the accessibility of local restaurants, stores, hotels, and other public venues. Once registered on the site, users can contribute their reviews of a location’s entry, ramps, elevators, restroom accessibility, Braille menu availability, signage, and other similar criteria. Users of the […]
Government Acknowledges Need for Better Web Accessibility
In the summer of 2011, President Barack Obama asserted the need for the enhancement of technological accessibility. In attempting to be more compliant with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, Federal websites are required to be fully accessible to people who have disabilities. In March of 2012, the administration sought feedback from citizens on how […]
LookTel releases recognizer app for the visually disabled
LookTel, which came out with the Money Reader app last year that helps the visually impaired accurately count money, has come out with a new app using the same technology to help people with vision problems to identify common objects.
App Will Help People Who are Blind, Visually Impaired Navigate Streets
Researchers at the University of Minnesota are developing an app that would assist people who are blind and visually-impaired cross the street, informing users which direction they’re going, and how many lanes they have to cross. The app will tell users the name of a street when they tap the phone and points in it […]
Georgia Tech Develops Braille-Like Texting App
Imagine if smartphone and tablet users could text a note under the table during a meeting without anyone being the wiser. Mobile gadget users might also be enabled to text while walking, watching TV or socializing without taking their eyes off what they’re doing.