On Tuesday June 6 2023 at 7:30pm-8:30pm EDT (23:30-00:30 UTC) the Accessibility NYC Meetup (A11yNYC) hosts a meetup ‘From Barriers to Breakthroughs: My Journey in Digital Accessibility‘. Thomas Logan, founder of Equal Entry, will speak about his 20-year career with lessons learned from every working period. Attendees will come away with a new understanding of the challenges related to accessibility. Attendees will take action using the lessons learned from this talk to continue on their accessibility journeys and be more inclusive for people with disabilities. Thomas will foster a more inclusive digital landscape that empowers and includes everyone.
On Thursday April 20 2023 at 7:30pm-8:30pm EDT (23:30-0 :30 UTC) the Accessibility NYC Meetup (A11yNYC) hosts a meetup ‘Creating Accessible iOS Apps: An Action Plan‘. Users spend the majority of their time on smartphones by using native apps, so it is very important that such apps be accessible. Dani Devesa Derksen-Staats, author of the ‘Developing Accessible iOS Apps‘, will give a primer on how to get started with accessibility features on Apple devices, including VoiceOver and Dynamic Type, and outline best practices.
On Tuesday March 28 2023 at 19:30 EDT / 23:30 UTC / 08:30 JST (Mar 29) the Accessibility VR Meetup hosts ‘Virtual Reality User Study with Children and Seniors in a VR Experience‘. Equal Entry collaborated with VRTogether and Azalee Group to test the virtual reality environment with kids and seniors. To tackle loneliness and encourage inter-generational interaction, VRTogether has developed a VR game. Azalee Group runs a nursery school and a senior home. Kenji Yanagawa led the user testing of the VRTogether app with kids and seniors. He will share what happened during the testing and the results.
Together, people with disabilities and their allies control $13 trillion worth of disposable income, yet the market remains fragmented. The Howe Innovation Center at Perkins School for the Blind has identified over 700 companies designing and building products specifically for people with disabilities. Director Sandy Lacey will share their preliminary industry market map as well as overall vision for disability tech innovation ecosystem support. Two NYC startups that leverage advanced technologies like haptics and computer vision to move the needle on accessibility: WearWorks and ARxVision, will discuss their entrepreneurial experiences.
Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques have the power to change the experience of living with a disability. For example, image analysis can generate descriptions of places and images a person can’t see, and speech recognition helps many people to communicate, learn, or control their environment.
However, bias embedded into AI systems, when unchecked, can cause harm, often to people already excluded from technology development processes. For example, when someone’s voice is not recognized, they cannot take advantage of the accessibility provided by speech recognition systems like smart speakers and dictation software.
In this talk, Drs. Cynthia Bennett and Shari Trewin will go over contemporary concerns at the intersection of AI bias, accessibility, and disability, and share recent research and industry efforts toward inclusive innovation with AI.
On Tuesday January 24 2023 at 7:30pm-8:30pm EST (00:30-01:30 UTC Jan 25) the Accessibility NYC Meetup (A11yNYC) hosts a meetup ‘Automatic Captions: Our Experiments and Best Practices‘. Presenters Thomas Logan & Meryl Evans will share real data and lessons learned from a variety of artificial intelligence (AI) platforms to determine which one provides the most accurate results. They will also highlight the latest tools available from a variety of AI technologies working in this space.
The WHO estimates that about 15% of the global population lives with some form of disability, and among them, 80% live in low and middle-income countries. They have limited digital footprints due to the lack of internet facilities and the accessibility of the websites, apps, and digital services. Although the Bangladesh Government has set the priorities of digitizing the public services to implement the vision of Digital Bangladesh including making it more inclusive and barrier-free for all, persons with disabilities are still deprived of accessing these public services.
Nowadays, a remarkable number of private services are also provided online, and those are inaccessible to persons with disabilities. Consequently, a significant number of citizens are being deprived of digital services. Therefore, awareness should be created to promote digital inclusion for persons with disabilities, complementing the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
This event will be in English. Text captions and Bangla Sign Language (BdSL) interpretation will be available.
PROGRAMME 09:30-10:30 BST (03:30-04:30 UTC)
WELCOME Anir Chowdhury, Policy Advisor, a2i KEYNOTES Gunela Astbrink, Chair, Accessibility Standing Group, Internet Society Vashkar Bhattacharjee, National Consultant – Accessibility, a2i / Country representative G3ICT / Vice Chair, Accessibility Standing Group, Internet Society PANEL Swaran Ravindra, Academic, Fiji National University / Leader, Accessibility Standing Group, Internet Society Azfar Adib, Senior Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) / Member, Internet Society Bangladesh Chapter Md. Mozammel Haque, Project Manager, UNDP Bangladesh
Moderator: Anir Chowdhury, Policy Advisor, a2i SPECIAL GUEST Dr. Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal, Director General, Department of Social Services (DSS) CHIEF GUEST NM Zeaul Alam PAA, Senior Secretary, Information and Communication Technology Division CLOSING REMARKS Dr. Dewan Muhammad Humayun Kabir, Project Director, a2i (Joint Secretary)
PRESENTER Klaus Hoeckner, CEO, Hilfsgemeinschaft der Blinden und Sehschwachen Österreichs (Aid Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Austria) / ICT Experts Group, European Disability Forum
On Tuesday December 6 2022 at 7:30pm-8:30pm EST (00:30-01:30 UTC Dec 7) the Accessibility NYC Meetup (A11yNYC) hosts an online meetup ‘Breaking into Digital Accessibility Careers: Part 2‘. Guest speaker Louise Clark returns to build on her previous presentation by continuing our exploration of digital accessibility roles. She will discuss what skills might be required to accept a role as an accessibility-focused product manager, researcher, designer, content author, developer, and more.
On Tuesday November 15 2022 at 5:30pm-6:30pm EST (22:30-23:30 UTC) the Accessibility NYC Meetup (A11yNYC) hosts ‘Marketing in Accessibility‘ at the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library in NYC. Bryan Stromer will draw from his experience as a Disabled marketer in Corporate America to share his ethos to ensure people with disabilities are recognized and valued by brands. His presentation will focus on how he found his way into marketing, his work in the technology space, and how he brings a global perspective to his work.
On Tuesday June 6 2023 at 7:30pm-8:30pm EDT (23:30-00:30 UTC) the Accessibility NYC Meetup (A11yNYC) hosts a meetup ‘From Barriers to Breakthroughs: My Journey in Digital Accessibility‘. Thomas Logan, founder of Equal Entry, will speak about his 20-year career with lessons learned from every working period. Attendees will come away with a new understanding of the challenges related to accessibility. Attendees will take action using the lessons learned from this talk to continue on their accessibility journeys and be more inclusive for people with disabilities. Thomas will foster a more inclusive digital landscape that empowers and includes everyone.
Reply