CSUN 2022 - Combined General Sessions

Tuesday, March 15, 2022

10:20 AM

A Guide to Accessibility Maturity

Learn about the accessibility maturity cycle and how it applies to your organization. Identify where you currently stand in your progress towards maturity and how each level is defined relating to accessibility. Discover why it's beneficial and specific measures to reach and remain at the most mature level.

Presenter: Mark Miller, TPGi

Accessible and Inclusive E-Learning

A demonstration and discussion of NextGen online Learning Management Systems. Learn how a neuropsychological design expert delivers e-learning that is accessible and inclusive, enhances cognition, reduces stress, and motivates users, with a more meaningful learning experience.

Presenter: David Fazio, Helix Opportunity LLC

Creating Accessible XR Technologies: Rehabilitation for TBI

This paper will explore possibilities for eXtended Reality (XR) in recovery from TBI, and establish general guidelines for creating XR systems for individuals with TBI.

Presenter: Jesse Flint, Design Interactive, Inc.

Effective Strategies for AAC Using a Team-Based Approach

This study demonstrates how interdisciplinary teams, using inclusive approaches, can empower all individuals to access an AAC device for communication regardless of their disability level.

Presenter: Christopher Trujillo, Midwestern University

Mobile App Development Accessibility Guidelines

Our presentation shares guidelines that mobile apps can follow to make their apps accessible and how accessibility can be incorporated into the software development lifecycle. We will focus on how we use these principles to develop and deploy the Yahoo Mail application.

Presenters: Mohit Goenka, Yahoo
Nikita Varma, Yahoo

Supporting Assistive Technology Users in the Enterprise

Two seasoned AT Specialists with over 50 years of collective experience working with the public and private sectors will discuss the many facets of supporting AT users in the enterprise and essential systems and skills that need to be in place to support AT users properly.

Presenters: Harris Rosensweig, iYellow Access
Jeff Ermold, iYellow Access
Jessica Aiello, iYellow Group

Technology Enabled Supports for Independent Living

This case study presentation showcases how LADD, an agency in Cincinnati that provides services to adults with disabilities, is using technology-enabled supports, wearable technology, and clusters of community housing to find solutions for the two largest barriers to receiving support: not enough funding and the national staffing crisis.

Presenter: Brian Hart, Ladd, Inc

Effective Communication of Branding to Screen Reader Users

Although billions are spent on marketing by large companies each year, an accessible branding experience is often overlooked when a company’s goal is WCAG compliance. This session will compare visual branding to the current comparable screen reader experience and present options for how this could change in the future.

Presenter: Ben Tillyer, TGPi

Why Accessibility Needs to be Part of Your Print and Digital

Digitally produced documents in volume are particularly challenging to make accessible. New evolving technologies such as AI are changing the game.

Presenters: David Herr, CommonLook
Jonathan Malone-McGrew, Solimar Systems

11:20 AM

Educational Technology: Classroom and Virtual Learning

Educational technology is no longer an option for our school systems. They are a requirement to ensure an equal opportunity for education. This presentation aims to provide the latest technology specifically for the SPED population, many of which are learning virtually because of COVID.

Presenter: Stephanie Robinson

Embedding Text Alternatives in Images Using Photo Metadata

Update on IPTC's new Alt Text and Extended Description properties added to the IPTC photo metadata standard in Autumn 2021. This session will explore how image providers and licensors can use embedded metadata in image files to scale human-generated descriptions, manage existing digital backlogs, and deliver born-accessible images.

Presenter: Caroline Desrosiers, Scribely

IBM's Playbook and Tools for Accessible Project Development

Seamlessly coordinating accessibility activities across your team's product development workflow takes lots of work, and we want to make it easier. Attend this session to learn about IBM's vetted playbook and updated tools for infusing accessibility at each stage of development, in a way that is repeatable at enterprise scale.

Presenter: Will Scott, IBM

Industry Outreach: Demystifying Section 508 Accessibility

To address Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, the US Federal Government relies on Industry to provide accessible ICT. This win-win situation is achieved when the Industry develops ICT with accessibility in mind. The goal is to stimulate an accessible ecosystem of ICT that benefits both Industry and Government.

Presenters: Betsy Sirk, NASA
Antonio Haileselassie, NASA

Loneliness in the Aging Population with Visual Disabilities

This study offers an in-depth understanding of the emotional intelligence capabilities of older adults with visual disabilities at risk of experiencing loneliness.

Presenter: Hyung Nam Kim

The Next Generation of Assistive Technology User Testing

We discuss how Vispero brands Freedom Scientific and TPGi collaborated to empower JAWS Screen Reader users to have voice in surfacing the issues they face navigating websites.

Presenters: Mark Miller, TPGi
Matt Ater, Vispero
David O'neill, TPGi

The Use of Browser Extensions as AT: Are We There Yet?

The presentation will expose the best extensions for post-secondary students with and without disabilities, discuss who can most benefit, and whether the extensions are an alternative to other more expensive and often more comprehensive assistive technologies.

Presenters: Rosie Arcuri, Adaptech Research Network
Catherine Fichten, Adaptech Research Network

1:20 PM

A.I. Enabled Notetaking and Curation to Scale Accessibility

Thousands of hours of long form lecture videos are being recorded every day and the lack of accessibility of these videos are leaving those with disabilities behind. Artificial Intelligence provides a means to make this content accessible through automating video editing and content curation.

Presenter: Monal Parmar, Educational Vision Technologies

Accessible 360º Immersive Video Storytelling

360º video needs to be accessible. The main goal of the EU2020 project MediaVerse is to create a prototype to understand how to produce, interact and consume media content in immersive HMD. This presentation will summarise the findings from making a three-minute immersive video narrative fully accessible.

Presenter: Andrew Duchowski, Clemson University

Accessible PDF/HTML Tables: Here's What You Need to Know

The use of tables has become increasingly prevalent. This session will focus on the issues that document accessibility specialists face when making tabular content accessible. Tagging simple tables is pretty straightforward. Challenges arise when dealing with tables containing merged columns, nested tables, or even paragraphs and lists.

Presenters: Aimée Ubbink, Crawford Technologies
Mackenzie Banks, Crawford Technologies

Bridging the Accessibility Gaps from MS Word to PDF

This session reviews common limitations and shortcomings of exporting accessible documents from Microsoft Word and how to easily overcome them using good MS Word document hygiene and several remediation techniques in Adobe Acrobat.

Presenter: Chad Chelius, AbleDocs

Dinosaur Accessibility: How to Unearth Legacy Code Problems

Join Nerdery's amateur paleontologist on this journey through digital time. We'll dig through layers of code to examine some of the most common issues we encounter with legacy code, including navigation menus and custom-built checkboxes and radio buttons, and discuss how we build them back up to be accessible.

Presenters: Laura Shields, Nerdery
Russell Ahrens, Nerdery
Dan Holbrook, Nerdery

Improve Website Accessibility & Readability with ReachDeck

Inclusive and accessible digital experiences are more important now than ever. Sixty-one million adults in the US live with a disability and the average American reads to a 7th/8th-grade level. Find out how you can ensure your website, content, and social media are easily accessed and understood by all.

Presenter: James Deignan, Texthelp

Nothing About Us Without Us: Power & Diversity of Disability

In the heartland of Oklahoma, READable, an accessibility team employs people representing five distinct disability categories improving the accessibility of digital communications. What challenges and victories have we experienced? How can your organization harness the power of including a diverse population of people with disabilities?

Presenters: Amir Ghahremani, READable
David Herr, CommonLook
Karey Jo Wise, NewView Oklahoma

Opportunistic User Research with People with Disabilities

Involving people with disabilities in design decision making brings value yet is often seen as effort that's difficult to budget and schedule. Learn creative approaches to gathering input from people with disabilities, using diverse tools and techniques to help advance your accessibility efforts beyond compliance to accessible user experience.

Presenter: David Sloan, TPGi

Preliminary Research on AI-Generated Caption Accuracy Rates

Our study presents an AI-generated caption accuracy analysis with educational videos by platforms (Kaltura, Microsoft, Google, and Panopto) and variables (gender, rate, accent, and content).

Presenter: Jinhee Choo, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Texthelp Tools to Make Content "Smore" Accessible

Over the last couple years, learning has changed for everyone. Digital documents became the norm. This session will focus on Texthelp's accessibility tools, Read & Write and EquatIO, as well as introduce you to our brand new PDF tool called OrbitDoc.

Presenters: Louis Shanafelt, Texthelp
Greg Crisolo, Texthelp

2:20 PM

Accessibility Overview of Common Component Libraries

An informal case study reviewing how well a handful of the most popular Angular Material and React Native components conform to accessibility guidelines and best practices when used to create web content and how these libraries can be improved to provide a more accessible and usable experience.

Presenter: Joe Humbert

AI-Based Recommendation and Assessment of AT for Cognitive Disabilities

This paper describes a modern approach enabling people with a cognitive disability to discover suitable AT for their specific needs via a web-based recommender system.

Presenter: Klaus Miesenberger, Integriert Studieren - JKU Linz

Best Practices for Enterprise Document Accessibility

Accessibility is a requirement, and it is here to stay. Document accessibility can be challenging. How do you create a culture of inclusion? What tools, culture, or training is required? We will discuss best practices and strategies that can be implemented to support enterprise document accessibility.

Presenter: Dennis Quon, Crawford Technologies

Developing & Implementing a Native Mobile Testing Strategy

This presentation outlines the journey undertaken by the mobile group at UnitedHealth Group in developing accessibility testing standards specific to native mobile applications. Learn about the process we developed for creating documentation and guidance around accessibility testing for native mobile, and the challenges we encountered along the way.

Presenters: Karen Herr, Optum
Michael Keane, Optum
Ryan Strunk, Optum

From Disability to Superpower With Clusiv.io

Clusiv has gone from being ignored in Silicon Valley to being accepted into the nation's top accelerator. Hear the story about early struggles with dyslexia, to being wounded as a paratrooper to founding the first venture-backed assistive technology company changing the conversation around digital access for all.

Presenter: Lukas Simianer, Clusiv, Inc.

Kiosks Are All About the User

This discussion will focus on best practices for designing an accessible kiosk user experience. Gain insight to what makes a usable and accessible kiosk from application workflow to input device, and more.

Presenter: Laura Miller, Vispero

Onsite Work or Work at Home? Hybrid Workforce Accommodations

This presentation will feature scenarios in which an interactive process was used to successfully identity and implement reasonable accommodations for employees and job seekers with disabilities in remote, onsite, and hybrid settings, as well as resources for identifying and providing effective accommodations.

Presenter: Teresa Goddard, Job Accommodation Network (JAN)

Taking A11y from Passion to Policy as a Small Business CEO

This talk will cover specifics behind how one small tech company is overcoming common barriers that keep businesses stuck and share advice and resources for how you can do the same.

Presenter: Ben Congleton, Olark Live Chat

Using Voice Applications to Improve the User Experience

The field of voice assistants is growing as more people adopt voice-navigable technology and integrate it into their lifestyle. Learn how this accessible medium is changing the way we engage with technology and experience one of APH's newest innovations for providing an accessible and conversational website browsing experience.

Presenters: Tyler Maddox, American Printing House for the Blind
Greg Stilson, American Printing House for the Blind

3:20 PM

Adopting a Hybrid Approach for Web and PDF Accessibility

Tackling web and document accessibility require continuous effort, but what's the best approach for success? In this session, we'll look at how a hybrid approach of incorporating both automation and human verification can provide a more realistic and successful path to improving the digital inclusivity of your website content.

Presenters: David Herr, CommonLook
Jacob Riff, Monsido US

An Inclusive Framework for Indoor Mobility in Low Resource Settings

We propose an inclusive solution to create accessibility information over indoor maps and deliver them to people with visual impairments over smartphones to support navigation.

Presenter: Volker Sorge

Authoring Stylish and Accessible Canvas Courses

Discover how a team of accessibility consultants, multimedia specialists, and instructional designers from Penn State World Campus created an interactive resource with accessible and responsive code snippets to enhance the visual design of online courses in Canvas. Participants will gain access to the resource and learn how to use it.

Presenters: Sonya Woods, Penn State University
Matt Farley, Penn State University

Automation vs. Manual Tagging: Some Factors to Consider

This session will provide an overview of the differences between automation and manual remediation. We'll discuss the various factors that can help you to determine which process would be most appropriate for your content. Some documents lend themselves to automation, while others are better suited to the manual remediation process.

Presenter: Mackenzie Banks, Crawford Technologies

Becoming Independent: How AT Gave Me Freedom

Join me to learn how AT gave me the freedom to be my true self. Listen to my struggles and successes with AT and how AT helped me regain my independence from an abusive situation. Then join me for a brainstorming session for your AT support needs!

Presenter: Stephanie Fassov

Equitable AI in the Workplace

Innovations in artificial intelligence (AI) are rapidly reshaping the workplace, from automated hiring systems to assistive technology. This session will explore AI's potential to both help and hinder employment success for people with disabilities, with an emphasis on promising practices for responsible and inclusive implementation of AI-enabled workplace technologies.

Presenters: Corinne Weible, Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT)
Phill Jenkins, IBM
Bill Curtis-Davidson, Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT)

Making Graphics and Charts Accessible: Case of MATLAB Online

Charts contain various context-setting, stylistic, and graphics elements that lack uniform structure, presenting a unique set of accessibility challenges. We discuss improving keyboard and screen reader accessibility in charts by taking the example of MATLAB Online, a complex single-page web application where graphics are rendered within an HTML canvas element.

Presenters: Abhinav Srinivasan, The MathWorks, Inc.
Bora Eryilmaz, The MathWorks, Inc.

PDF/UA-2 - Everything You Need to Know

The ISO is expected to release PDF/UA-2 in January of 2022. This presentation will discuss the upcoming changes to the accessibility standard and how to prepare for it.

Presenter: Paul Rayius, CommonLook

So, You Want an Accessibility Score?

So, you want an accessibility score? Unless it accurately reflects how a system performs for people with disabilities, no grade will be of any real value for anything other than vanity metrics.

Presenter: Karl Groves, Tenon

Truly Empowering Independence, an Introduction to Low Vision

Low vision devices provide great benefits at home, at work, and in the classroom. Check out this session for answers to common questions.

Presenter: Mike Wood, Vispero

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

8:00 AM

Featured Presentation: Using WebAIM Million & User Surveys Data to Inform Your Inclusion Efforts

Data can help inform web accessibility efforts, but useful data is in short supply. WebAIM conducts an annual analysis of the home pages of the top one million websites, as well as regular surveys of users with disabilities. An overview of the most recent findings will be shared with guidance on how these data can be used to improve inclusion of your digital resources.

Presenter: Jared Smith, WebAIM

9:20 AM

Accessible Formats: Why Your Customers Should Have A Choice

Come and join us for a discussion on the benefits and drawbacks of Accessible PDF and other alternate formats, such as large print and braille. We'll look at the differences between these formats and we'll demonstrate the reasons that document accessibility does not have a "one size fits all" solution.

Presenter: Mackenzie Banks, Crawford Technologies

Caption UI/UX - Display Emotive and Paralinguistic Information in Captions

Emotive and paralinguistic information are typically missing from conventional closed captions. We evaluate them in captions and report on how participants perceive them.

Presenters: Joseph Mendis, Gallaudet University
Christian Vogler, Gallaudet University
Raja Kushalnagar, Gallaudet University

Editing Online with a Screen Reader with Google Docs and Fusion

In this session we introduce you to Google Docs, describe its layout, demonstrate its features, and provide useful shortcuts to improve your user experience with a Powerful screen reader like JAWS.

Presenters: Elizabeth Whitaker, Vispero
Rachel Buchanan, Vispero

Establishing a Gold Star Section 508 Program

Have you been tasked with establishing a Section 508 Program? Where do you begin? What is involved? Join the FDIC Section 508 Program Office, to learn how to establish a framework for a gold star 508 program and how to continue to engage your customers (including your CIO).

Presenters: Brooke Aiken, FDIC
Jennifer Meltz, ICF International Inc.
Alfred Vallarta, ICF International Inc.
Earl McJett, FDIC

Informed Access to Tech for People Who Are Visually Impaired

Lighthouse Guild has established a Technology Center for people who are visually impaired. The center's primary purpose is to help clients attain their goals through the use of assistive technology. A process was implemented to evaluate technologies and make optimal, customized technology recommendations.

Presenter: Paul Misiti, Lighthouse Guild

Magnification Solutions Frequently Used by Visually Impaired

This session will review some of the most common Eschenbach low vision aids used by students with vision loss to help them with their ADLs. Attendees will be able to use some of the devices discussed.

Presenter: Joseph Buttazzoni, Eschenbach

Role of Champions in Accessibility Technology Innovation

Continual Engine and George Mason University share their journey on how user feedback supported the development of PREP - an artificial intelligence-based intuitive solution for document remediation (PDFs, Word, PowerPoints, etc). This session highlights the impact of early collaboration; role of focus groups; and using data to measure success.

Presenters: Vijayshree Vethantham, Continual Engine US LLC
Korey Singleton, George Mason University
Rajiv Narayana, Continual Engine US LLC

Section 508 Accessibility through the Acquisition Lifecycle

Presenters from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the General Services Administration (GSA) - two agencies that manage large acquisition vehicles for use across the federal government - share best practices for procuring accessible information and communication technology (ICT) that conforms to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Presenter: Betsy Sirk, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

UDL and Accessibility: Making Sure You Get the Best of Both

Choosing products that provide both Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and accessibility support is more important than ever for student success. This session provides practical guidance on developing a plan that articulates what you want in both – making it easier to get the right functionality to support your learners.

Presenter: Rick Ferrie, Savvas Learning Company

10:20 AM

Adapting Visual Teaching Tools for Vision Impaired Students

This session will address three popular, highly visual teaching tools—Kahoot, Padlet, and memes—and their uses in classroom instruction, focusing on alignment with Universal Design principles that enable blind and vision impaired students to participate in collaborative activities that promote equity and inclusion.

Presenter: Rebecca Penrose, California State University, Bakersfield

Digitally Driving Diversity:Tech Tools to Deliver Change

This session will cover how organizations can design digital experiences and couple technology tools with executive ownership and accountability to generate objective insights, enable quick wins, and apply data-driven business strategies to drive impactful DEI&B change.

Presenters: Colleen Wood, Level Access
Christa Manning, UKG

IMAGE: Accessible Internet Graphics via Audio and Touch

IMAGE is a new tool that uses rich audio (sonification) and touch (haptics) to provide a faster and more nuanced experience of graphics on the web. Have you ever wanted to hear a photograph? Feel a graph? Learn how you can use IMAGE to explore web graphics in new ways.

Presenters: Jeremy Cooperstock, McGill University
David Brun, Gateway Navigation CCC Ltd
Cyan Kuo, McGill University
Yongjae Yoo, McGill University
Jeffrey Blum, McGill University

Inclusive Design for Brain Fog and Long-Haul COVID

For many people, recovering from COVID has been a long process. They continue to experience fatigue, pain, and "brain fog". Brain fog affects a person's ability to concentrate on tasks and short term memory loss. This session shares inclusive design research and best practices for COVID and brain fog.

Presenters: Ted Drake, Intuit
Pamela Bingham, Intuit

Making the Most of Storyline's Accessibility Enhancements

This presentation will present the key accessibility features and limitations of the newly updated Storyline 360 platform and review strategies to address these barriers and help create accessible e-learning content.

Presenter: Michael Parker, Access Ingenuity

Online Learning & COVID-19: Exploring Digital Accessibility

This paper examines the digital accessibility challenges posed by fully online learning and proposes a model for transitioning to an equitable learning environment.

Presenter: Jason McKee, Perspective Tester

Simplifying Accessibility with Find, Test and Fix

Acknowledging they need a methodology to attack the problem, the Personal Investment Firm made great strides making hundreds of thousands of documents accessible to people with disabilities. By distilling the process down to a model that Finds, Tests and Fixes files, they have vastly improved their content accessibility footprint.

Presenter: Doug Koppenhofer, Crawford Technologies

Supporting the Next Billion Users: Personalization & the Web

Content must be understandable to be accessible. The W3C is working on standards that will help you empower people who may struggle to understand your content and interfaces. In the future, the web will adapt to users' needs. Learn how to use (with technical examples) and shape these exciting emerging developments.

Presenter: Matthew Atkinson, TPGi

Visual Interpreting: Inclusion in Higher Education

The emerging field of visual interpreting brings unique inclusion opportunities to higher education. We address best practices and use-cases in accessibility to distance learning, event planning, and campus life, as well as safety concerns and procedures on campus associated with the global pandemic.

Presenter: Kevin Phelan, Aira Tech Corp.

11:20 AM

5 Keys Towards Pivoting to an Inclusive Organizational Culture

Participants will gain an in-depth understanding of the following core foundation stones required to build a model organization structured to support employees and clients with disabilities: Role-Based Requirements Framework, Accessibility Maturity Model, Agile Development, Users First / Think Accessibility and Trust Marketing.

Presenter: Mike Paciello, AbleDocs

Accessibility for Designers, Where They Work

Accessibility guidance is developer-biased and text heavy. To shift left, IBM established that designers want visual guidance available in the tools they already use, and need clarity on exactly when and how to provide accessibility annotations. We created a free Sketch kit and open-source Carbon component guidance to address this.

Presenters: Michael Gower, IBM Design
Jessica Lin, IBM Accessibility

Accessibility Metadata - A Digital Textbook Superhero

Most of us know that the higher-ed publishing community has embraced EPUB as the accessible digital format of the future. But what many don't know is that EPUBs also contain a hidden treasure that can supercharge your course materials strategy: a masked hero named Accessibility Metadata.

Presenter: Erin Lucas, RedShelf

AI-Based Apps: Six Studies on Post-Secondary Students

We report on six studies, carried out between 2020 and 2021, dealing with artificial-intelligence related technologies that can be used by post-secondary students with disabilities.

Presenter: Catherine Fichten, Dawson College, Adaptech Research Network

Including Accessibility with Diversity, Inclusion, & Equity

How is accessibility incorporated into the definition of diversity, inclusion, and equity for your company, your program, or your classroom? We will talk about different ways to ensure the rights of people of all abilities are included in these conversations and definitions.

Presenters: Eric Stano, Magic EdTech
Erin Evans, Magic EdTech

Making MS-Word Accessible

We'll discuss tools that can make office documents accessible. These include MS Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents using tools to set policy and using a wizard to walk either a power user of MS Office or a person who has had minimal training in making documents accessible.

Presenter: Dennis Quon, Crawford Technologies

Matching a Low Vision User with Proper Video Magnifier

Have you ever wished for a cheat sheet to help remember which products do what? Or wished for an authority to walk you through the process of choosing the right product? When it comes to video magnifiers, our presentation will provide both.

Presenter: Kimberly Cline, LVI America

Technology Experiences of Blind and Low-Vision Workers

AFB conducted a survey and interviews to examine the technology-related experiences of blind, low-vision, and deafblind workers. We report major findings and recommendations to make workplace technology more accessible and inclusive.

Presenters: Arielle Silverman, American Foundation for the Blind
Elizabeth Bolander, New Mexico State University

What's New in JAWS 2022

Power Point Presentation and Live Demonstration of the latest and greatest Windows Screen Reading Technology with JAWS 2022. Plenty of opportunity for Questions and Answers

Presenter: Eric Damery, Vispero

[Help!] Captioning at Scale for a Large Research University

Two years ago Harvard reached a settlement, agreeing to caption online content from many stakeholders across a large, decentralized institution. Join digital accessibility team members to learn about their approach to the work along with tools developed, services integrated, and training delivered to carry out the work and promote accessibility.

Presenters: Kyle Shachmut, Harvard University
Andy Hollenhorst, Harvard University

1:20 PM

Accessibility Testing for ePubs: No Experience Necessary

Learn about ePub Accessibility testing, its challenges and the solutions that the future may hold. This presentation will serve as a demo for Logictran's brand new browser-based tool intended to simplify ePub Accessibility testing and remediation.

Presenters: Okan Guney, Logictran
Christine Foushi, Logictran

Audio Description: There's an App for That!

This presentation will introduce participants to the use of an app to access the audio description of film and media for people who are blind or have low vision, as well as clarification of sound for people who are hard-of-hearing and assistance for those who speak alternate languages.

Presenters: Joel Snyder, Audio Description Associates, LLC
Petr Kucheryavyy, Charter Communications-Spectrum

Braille Dots Serving 21st Century Needs

An introduction to the Dynamic Tactile Device project that APH and HumanWare have been working on for the past two years. Progress and findings will be shared along with the goals and direction of the project.

Presenters: Greg Stilson, American Printing House for the Blind
William Freeman, American Printing House for the Blind

Building an Accessible Kiosk

Building a self-ordering kiosk that's accessible for people who are blind or have low vision requires consideration of web content accessibility guidelines & kiosk accessibility best practices. Learn about how TPGi worked with the McDonald's team to provide an experience for customers who are blind or have low vision.

Presenters: Ryan Jones, TPGi
Kelsey Hall, McDonald's Corporation

Digital Accessibility Grassroots Effort to University Policy

This presentation follows Northwestern's transition from a digital accessibility grassroots effort to a systematic approach. It will highlight a committee's success in establishing and implementing a digital accessibility liaison network, an accessible purchasing process, and a university digital accessibility policy on limited available resources.

Presenter: James Stachowiak, Northwestern University

Direct Access: Image Processing Tool for Inclusive Spaces

Direct Access is a mobile/web application to evaluate a building's accessibility accurately using image recognition for confirmation.

Presenter: Sanjana Ryali, Valley Christian High School

Rapid Prototyping with Accessibility in Mind

Join us in this "shift-left" movement to take Accessibility as early as possible in the design process. We will discuss tools and best practices for rapid prototyping and running usability studies with users who rely on assistive technologies from day-1.

Presenters: Marcelo Paiva, UKG - Ultimate Kronos Group
Claudio Luis Vera, Stark

Teleconference Sign Language Detection

Teleconferences spotlight the active speaker, based on audio. For deaf signer accessibility, we report evaluations of sign-detection algorithms to spotlight the active signer.

Presenters: Shane Angel, Gallaudet University
Christian Vogler, Gallaudet University
Raja Kushalnagar, Gallaudet University

2:20 PM

A Tangible Manipulative for Inclusive Quadrilateral Learning

A tangible quadrilateral manipulative with computer-based digital augmentation is designed for inclusive mathematics learning and evaluated both with and without individuals with visual impairments.

Presenter: Scott Lambert, Saint Louis University

Accessible Conversational UI's

In this world of "live help, a click away", it is critical for organizations to ensure that their CUI's are accessible. This is how they would truly "solve for ALL their customers". Intuit is working to ensure that our live help products are accessible. We will share our learnings with you.

Presenters: Poonam Tathavadkar, Intuit Inc
Sagar Barbhaya, Intuit Inc

Catching-Up with Accessible CSS in the 20's

In this session, we will provide a high-level catch-up of accessibility benefits and obstacles that modern day CSS features can offer. We will demonstrate each feature using practical examples and discuss its relevance to current and upcoming WCAG requirements.

Presenters: Steve Faulkner, TPGi
Hans Hillen, TPGi

Getting in Touch With Tactile Map Automated Production

Usage data and feature requests for the Tactile Map Automated Production system from six blind and six Orientation and Mobility users will be presented.

Presenter: Brandon Biggs, Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute

How to Get Started with Better Digital Content Accessibility

Equal access to information on your website and other digital content channels is vital for successful marketing and communication. This session presents a practical approach for Marketers and Communicators to get started with better digital content accessibility, and helps break down barriers for a more accessible and inclusive content creation.

Presenter: Jacob Riff, Monsido

Open Source & Low Cost Assistive Devices for ADL

This is a presentation of multiple assistive devices created as part of a creative research program at the University of Delaware providing open-source and low-cost solutions to assist people with activities of daily living.

Presenter: Ashley Pigford, University of Delaware

Read Anywhere - EasyReader Opens a World of Accessible Books

In this session we will be showcasing the results of our international pilot of EasyReader, appropriate for individuals, digital accessible library personnel, educational organizations, and assistive technology partners.

Presenter: Mary Jo Barry, Dolphin Computer Access

The Ten Commandments of Accessibility

In an obscure corner of American disability law, you'll find ten fundamental principles to every digital experience. These describe the core use cases for digital accessibility, and they apply to all digital products, including gaming, kiosks, mobile apps, and VR.

Presenter: Claudio Luis Vera, Stark

UbiDuo 3 Communication Device for Deaf, HH, and Hearing

Attendees will learn how easy the UbiDuo 3 is to use to enable face to face communication between people who are deaf, hard of hearing, and late-deafened and hearing. Use 24/7/365 any place/any time.

Presenter: Anna Hanson, sComm

3:20 PM

Applying UDL to a Training Program on Digital Accessibility

In this session, we share the digital equity and e-inclusion training program we designed to move away from a compliance model to a model where faculty consider accessibility at the course design level. Our program is built for instructors but its tenants can be applied broadly to other populations.

Presenter: Elisa Sance, Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning, University of Maine

Controlling Zoom, VoiceOver and iOS by Bluetooth Keyboard

This session will demonstrate the benefits of using a Bluetooth keyboard with an iDevice and configure an iDevice to work optimally with such a keyboard. Specific keyboard commands to control Zoom, VoiceOver, and processes in the iOS environment will be reviewed.

Presenters: Harris Rosensweig, iYellow Access
Jeff Ermold, iYellow Access
Jessica Aiello, iYellow Group

Crowdsourcing Annotated Storefront Accessibility Data

This paper aims to develop a web-based application to collect annotated storefront accessibility data for the visually impaired by using online crowdsourcing and Google Streetview.

Presenters: Jiawei Liu, City College of New York
Hao Tang, CUNY/BMCC

Low-Key AT: Less-Obvious Options for Entry-Level Workers

This session will examine workplace situations and accommodation solutions involving individuals with various disabilities working in entry-level positions with a focus on strategies and technologies that can be implemented subtly. Cost and benefit data from an ongoing study will be provided as available.

Presenter: Teresa Goddard, Job Accommodation Network (JAN)

Security + A11y = Streamlined Higher Ed Vendor Assessments

Higher education accessibility experts from 15 universities synthesized procurement best practices into a curated list of vendor questions. They were incorporated into the HECVAT, a widely-used IT Security assessment toolkit for third-party platforms, addressing a consistent organizational accessibility challenge. Learn about the questions, scoring and how to use the toolkit.

Presenter: Kyle Shachmut, Harvard University

Smart Home for Independent Living of the Elderly

The authors suggest a new smart home model for the elderly based on the users' views. The authors have interviewed staff of facilities for the elderly and the families of the elderly, who are assumed to be the users of a smart home.

Presenters: Masato Hoshino, Shibaura Institute of Technology
Hiroyuki Nakamura, Shibaura Institute of Technology

Understanding Document Tag Structure

Learn basic and nested tag structures of a PDF document and what it means to have a well-formed tags tree. Explore how differences in tag structure affect how screen readers voice content. Leave this session empowered with the knowledge and understanding to tackle your next PDF confidently.

Presenter: Dax Castro, AbleDocs

What's New with OrCam MyEye and OrCam Read

Recent updates, features, and benefits on the OrCam MyEye and Read technologies. This session, conducted by a low vision optometrist with working experience of the technology, discusses best practices, patient experiences, and the future of artificial intelligence and computer-assisted vision technology.

Presenter: Michelle Mendez, OrCam

Writing an Accessible Kiosk RFP

Requests for Proposal (RFP's) are used to evaluate options for kiosk solutions across both the private and public sector. In this session, the recommended language and options for writing a kiosk RFP that results in an accessible kiosk will be discussed and presented.

Presenter: Laura Miller, Vispero

4:20 PM

Accessibility Report on a Tripartite Evaluation Approach

This study investigates the current accessibility status of scientific journal systems for blind or visually impaired professionals using a tripartite evaluation approach.

Presenters: JooYoung Seo, School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Soyoung Choi, Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Accessible PDFs: Holistic Approach to Accessibility Testing

Many people do not test PDF documents adequately to ensure compliance. This presentation will demonstrate the steps required to ensure PDF compliance via a holistic testing process that includes automated and manual testing processes. Both simple and complex documents will be reviewed, as well as how to test special characters.

Presenter: Michael Parker, Access Ingenuity

Automating Keyboard Testing Using Visualizations

Manual keyboard accessibility testing is arduous, repetitive, and prone to error. IBM has pioneered a novel keyboard tab stop visualization as part of the IBM Equal Access Accessibility Checker. This work will automate manual keyboard testing - making it easier, more efficient and less error prone.

Presenters: Ali Unwala, IBM Accessibility
Josiah Hoskins, IBM Accessibility
Phill Jenkins, IBM Accessibility

Building Equitable Family AAC Training in your Community

Community programs focusing on equitable access to family AAC training proved invaluable for the progression of student communication skills throughout distance learning. Attendees will leave with guidelines on creating community groups, topic ideas, agendas, bitmoji classroom templates, and questionnaires to obtain information about the cultural impact on AAC use.

Presenters: Rachel Moore, Lane Education Service District
Sara Mansfield, Lane Education Service District

Connect with Sony's Accessibility Initiatives

Sony's Accessibility initiatives are supporting disabled communities with their products and services both globally and locally.

Presenters: Mike Nejat, Sony North America
John Kim, SIE

How Accessible is TV for People with Sight Loss?

With audio description firmly embedded in the broadcast streams, it is now time to investigate alternative ways in which programs that have remained inaccessible can be made accessible. The presenters will share findings on the programs from various genres including children's content, documentaries, science, nature, and travel shows.

Presenters: Sonali Rai, Royal National Institute of Blind People
Alison Long, Royal National Institute of Blind People

Making Streaming Video Inclusive

Join TPGi as we review accessibility considerations for delivering streaming video across multiple platforms using a variety of input modalities. Designers and developers will learn how to improve the user journey of finding and playing video content on demand.

Presenters: Rachele DiTullio, TPGi
Carolina Crespo, TPGi
Charu Pandhi, TPGi

Retinal Imaging Digital Camera as New Low Vision Aid

A digital camera with a retinal imaging viewfinder is introduced as a low vision aid. The presentation includes the device's function, specification, principle, safety, and impact on the life of low vision people. Videos of users and the device demonstration will be included.

Presenter: Yuria Shoji, QDLaser, Inc.

Visual Interpreting & Workplace Inclusion

Access to information in the workplace for blind and low vision people does not end with a screen reader or magnifier. Through our partners in some of the world's largest businesses, we'll look at how visual interpreting leads to productivity and inclusion.

Presenter: Troy Otillio, Aira Tech Corp.

Thursday, March 17, 2022

8:00 AM

Featured Presentation: Accessibility is a Civil Right: 2022 Digital Accessibility Legal Update

Digital accessibility is a civil right of people with disabilities. The law in the United States, and increasingly around the world, provides a strong framework supporting digital inclusion for disabled people in the public and private sectors, in education, and throughout society. Join Lainey Feingold for a fast-paced overview of what is happening in the legal space — the good and the not-so-good. Whatever your role in the accessibility world, this session will help you "put the law in your pocket" to protect and advance the rights of disabled people to participate in the digital world.

Presenter: Lainey Feingold, Attorney

9:20 AM

Combining Virtual with In-Person? (Hybrid or Hyflex)

Accessibility is one pillar of the hyflex (hybrid) approach. But what does that mean, and how do you implement it? We'll review what we learned prior to our hyflex pilot, the steps we took to improve accessibility when combining in-person with online participants, and lessons learned from our first semester.

Presenters: Kathryn Tipton, CSU Northridge
Van Nguyen, CSU Northridge

Inclusive Design and Cognitive Disability

This session explains types of cognitive disabilities and their prevalence. A variety of goals and techniques are presented to help make your digital designs more inclusive and accessible particularly for users with a cognitive disability. Goals discussed include helping users find what they need, understand content, and maintain focus.

Presenter: Dennis Lembree, Diamond

Intro to Freedom Scientific Student of the Month Program

The Freedom Scientific Student of the Month program, celebrates individual achievement of students' who are blind or low vision! Meet the extraordinary Students we've featured!

Presenter: Mike Wood, Vispero

It Starts with Design

The journey of inclusive products begins with inclusive design. Get insights into how your designs could say all that is needed to make the experiences more accessible and usable by embracing the principles of universal design and building a process with enough room to innovate involving real users.

Presenters: Ajay Sharma, HCL America Inc.
Zariah Gaelyn-Levai, HCL America Inc.

Math & STEM Content Made Accessible in an eLearning World

In today's world of learning, uncertainty is the only thing that is certain. In this session, participants will learn how to create and share digital STEM content and make sure it's accessible for a diverse range of learners in the classroom, at home, or anywhere in between.

Presenter: Louis Shanafelt, Texthelp

Outdoor Navigation Assistants for Persons with Visual Impairment

We investigate how an outdoors visual navigation system can be built on smartglasses, present its computing requisites and highlight the main problems involved.

Presenter: Renato Busatto, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom

SkipTo Landmarks & Headings: Browser Extension & Page Script

The browser extension and script provide keyboard navigation to landmark regions and headings on any web page. They give keyboard-only users, and web developers a powerful alternative to the simple "Skip To Main" link often used to implement the "Bypass Blocks of Content" requirement of WCAG.

Presenter: Jon Gunderson, University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign

Website: How to Find, Remediate, and Maintain Compliance

Making web content/documents accessible, along with the web structure itself, is not only a nice thing to do but a necessity and, in many places, required by law. We will discuss how simple it is to achieve, and maintain website document compliance via a find, test, fix approach.

Presenter: Scott Baker, Crawford Technologies

10:20 AM

Braille, LV, Speech, and Switch Access for the Chromebook

Typing Club, universally designed for all. Low vision options. IPEVO video magnifier. ChromeVox frequently used commands, configuring ChromeVox, Google Drive for OCR, files, and folders, obtaining a Braille file from a Google Doc & more. VoiceTyping. Chrome, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Drive, Gmail, & Slides with ChromeVox.

Presenter: Bruce McClanahan, WA State School for the Blind

Branding Guidelines: Components, Colors, and Character

We will share the work done on our Branding Guidelines, including important resources and components meant for the accessible implementation of colors and complex widgets.

Presenter: Jay Nemchik, Elsevier

Future of Digital Accessibility: Mental Health Overview

Mental health is the single largest cause of disabilities in the world and yet, it was never properly addressed in digital accessibility field. Until now. This presentation will cover the topics of digital accessibility for users with mental health disorders such as ADHD, Anxiety, Depression, OCD, and PTSD.

Presenter: Albert Kim, ServiceNow

Gaming for People with Sight Loss

What are the barriers people with different levels of sight loss (mild, moderate, severe) experience in playing games on various consoles and platforms? Findings will be presented from RNIB's Accessible Gaming Research and the differential experiences of blind and partially sighted people.

Presenters: Sonali Rai, Royal National Institute of Blind People
Alison Long, Royal National Institute of Blind People
Robin Mackenzie Spinks, RNIB

Illuminating Accessibility Tools You May Not Know You Have

Your browser contains great tools that help you check you're providing the information and functionality assistive technologies need to support your users. They can also help you diagnose problems. We'll explore how these tools can help you learn through immediate feedback, and address key challenges such as good labelling.

Presenter: Matthew Atkinson, TPGi

Implement Accessible Wealth & Financial Services Documents

This presenters in this session will discuss how they have approached accessible document implementation from a transaction output and static document perspective. There are many areas to consider, including the archive, composition, post-composition remediation, compound documents, and websites.

Presenter: Dennis Quon, Crawford Technologies

Making Web Accessibility a Priority

This presentation will define web accessibility and discuss how it benefits individuals with disabilities. Attendees will learn three reasons why web accessibility should be a priority for their organization or business. In addition, they will learn how to become accessibility champions and how they can help make accessibility a priority.

Presenter: Keith Bundy, Siteimprove, Inc.

MS Word: Bridging the Accessibility Gaps with axesWord

This session reviews common limitations and shortcomings of exporting accessible documents from Microsoft Word and how to easily overcome them using techniques in Adobe Acrobat and in the source file using axesWord.

Presenters: Dax Castro, AbleDocs
Chad Chelius, AbleDocs

Towards a Visual AI Assistant

Imagine a future where you could ask questions about your surroundings and a Visual AI Assistant answers them effortlessly for you. It's not sci-fi. This session will introduce to all the AI advances happening today that will bring in visual assistants into a reality much sooner than you think.

Presenter: Karthik Kannan, Envision

Captions & Interactive Transcripts Improve Test Scores

For a long time, we've assumed that captions and interactive transcripts improve learning - but now there's data to prove it. This session will dive into the latest quantitative research on how video accessibility improves learning outcomes.

Presenter: Lily Bond, 3Play Media

11:20 AM

Evaluation of a 3D Audio Augmented Reality Navigation App

We have developed waveOut, an intuitive 3D audio augmented reality application for intuitive navigation without looking at a map. We will present the results of our latest user testing where blind and visually impaired users went to real-world destinations solely using our app.

Presenter: Hugo Furtado, Dreamwaves

How to Make a 3D Printed Tactile Map

This session will show individuals with little to no 3D printing experience how to print a custom tactile map, complete with braille markings, for their own campus or location.

Presenter: Kevin Cleppe, CSUSB

insideONE + - Windows 11 Braille Tablet - Power is in Your Hands

Due to COVID 19, education and work environments have changed the structure, delivery, and technology used to support daily activity especially for the visually impaired. The insideONE Braille computer with an embedded braille display and a keyboard is the ultimate tool to become proficient in Braille and learn Microsoft applications.

Presenters: Chris Nova, Insidevision Inc
Kim Nova, Insidevision Inc

Next Generation Remediation Tool

In this session, we will discuss, and demonstrate, how using the right PDF remediation tool, one that is GUI driven and intuitive, can make a world of difference in the overall process. We will also show a comparison between a complex and a next-generation PDF remediation tool.

Presenters: Aimée Ubbink, Crawford Technologies
Karol Krzywon, Crawford Technologies
Mackenzie Banks, Crawford Technologies

Notifying AT of Dynamic Changes Using Status Messages

CGI will take you on a deep dive of WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 4.1.3: Status Messages for communicating dynamic changes within web content. CGI will explain what this success criterion covers, who benefits from it, when status messages are needed, and how to implement them using ARIA markup.

Presenter: Elizabeth Whitmer, CGI

Social Norms of Digital Accessibility in Silicon Valley

This paper presents the findings from interviews with digital accessibility practitioners in the technology industry from the author's unpublished dissertation at the University of Oxford.

Presenter: Dana Frayne, Oxford Internet Institute at University of Oxford

What's New in Fusion and ZoomText 2022

Power Point Presentation and Live Demonstration of the latest and greatest Windows Screen Magnification Technology with Fusion and ZoomText 2022. Plenty of opportunity for Questions and Answers.

Presenter: Eric Damery, Vispero

"Checking Out" the Accessibility of Online Food Ordering

With an uptick in online ordering of food, whether grocery or restaurant during the pandemic, has accessibility been factored in? Online ordering has long been an accommodation for people with disabilities, but has the growing usage included all its users?

Presenters: Sharon Rosenblatt, Accessibility Partners
Dana Marlowe, Accessibility Partners

1:20 PM

A Technology Journey: The Story of Codi's Life

Please join us as we present family perspectives of our experiences with AT/AAC challenges and celebrations, such as the lack of AAC normed cognitive assessments. Attendees will learn strategies to successfully incorporate AT/AAC into school and community settings.

Presenters: Jennifer Mendenhall
Codi Mendenhall

Best Practices: Implement Enterprise Document Accessibility

Participants will understand what an organization needs to build an inclusive and accessible culture. Define what types of documents are in an enterprise and test them. Best practices to tackle a critical part of making a document accessible. Tools that may be used to reach this goal.

Presenter: Aimée Ubbink, Crawford Technologies

Design of Augmented Tactile Books for Blind Children

Prototypes of augmented tactile books, embedding electronic sensors and components within book pages, based on works on psychology of sensory-motor system.

Presenter: Dominique Archambault, Université Paris 8

Healthcare Access and Designing a COVID-19 Vaccine Scheduler

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected healthcare access for people with disabilities and emphasized existing challenges. This presentation will share how understanding those challenges informed design while working on accessibility for CVS Health's COVID-19 vaccine scheduling tool.

Presenter: Nora Hanlon, CVS Health

Inclusive XR Technologies Enable DEIA in Hybrid Workplaces

Employers are increasingly using XR technologies to attract diverse talent, improve job training, and enhance collaboration as organizations adopt hybrid workplace policies. This session will explore how accessible XR can help them advance DEI and Accessibility (DEIA), gain an edge in a tight labor market, and create a compelling workplace

Presenters: Bill Curtis-Davidson, Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT)
Ashley Coffey, Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT)
Stephanie Montgomery, XR Association

Licensing Freedom Scientific Software: Work, School, & Home

Providing a full explanation of licensing options for large organization/agencies, Universities, or for home users deciding on the best approach at the best prices. Bring your questions and consider solutions that will expand your licenses to all staff or students at home for no cost.

Presenters: Eric Damery, Vispero
Douglas Gerry, Vispero

Perception, Pedagogy, and Practice for 3D Printing

3D models offer exciting opportunities for universal design in STEAM education. Given the promise of multimedia accessibility, how can blind and low vision individuals be more active in designing, producing, and engaging with 3D printing processes? Join us to explore the 3Ps of 3D printing: Perception, Pedagogy, and Practice!

Presenters: Chancey Fleet, New York Public Library
Yue-Ting Siu, San Francisco State University
Charity Pitcher-Cooper, Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute

SAPI Interface for Human-like Cloud Neural TTS

The session will show how the Code Factory Cloud Reader SAPI interface brings human-like speech capabilities to content generation tools that use SAPI voices in Windows.

Presenter: Ferran Gállego, Code Factory SL

Solutions for Creating Accessible Tables with Color

This session explores complex table presentations that use color as a primary means of communicating information.

Presenter: Chad Chelius, AbleDocs

2:20 PM

Accessibility Checker Open-Sourced and Redesigned

Dive into the IBM Equal Access Accessibility Checker (formerly RPT/DAP). This tool will help you get your web application from inaccessible to accessible. It's now open-source, with free extensions for Firefox and Chrome. This tool with robust ARIA/ACT support will help both developers and auditors become accessibility experts.

Presenters: Josiah Hoskins, IBM Accessibility
Ali Unwala, IBM Accessibility
Phill Jenkins, IBM Accessibility

Browsing the Web With a Screen Reader

The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate various ways in which users of screen readers browse the web. Content creators will learn about things they can do to make the browsing experience more enjoyable for users who are blind or who have significant visual impairments.

Presenter: Keith Bundy, Siteimprove, Inc.

Cracking the Code: Teaching Coding Concepts to the Blind

The process of teaching a blind student how to code can pose significant challenges. This presentation will demonstrate how to use accessible tools to introduce coding concepts and provide attendees with accessible methods by which one can write and edit code using a refreshable braille device.

Presenters: Andrew Flatres, HumanWare USA
Peter Tucic, HumanWare USA

Document Accessibility Compliance for Higher-Ed

Join this educational session to review higher education facilities' challenges to ensure online content and student course materials meet the ADA, AODA & Section 508 accessibility standards. The team will share ways to make online content accessible and usable for everyone, including students, who need alternate formats for classwork.

Presenters: Glenn Gross, Crawford Technologies
Doug Koppenhofer, Crawford Technologies

Goldilocks and the Three Magnifiers

Goldilocks and the Three Bears is a well-known English fairy tale. Selecting an electronic magnifier leaves no time for a random "just right" search. Criteria should include various models available from handheld to desktop and the recognition that the same criteria may have different priorities based upon individual needs.

Presenters: Roger Steinberg, HumanWare
Eric Beauchamp, HumanWare

Leveraging Windows 10 Accessibility Features for the AT User

This session will provide detailed knowledge through demonstration and an electronic handout of key accessibility features built-in to Windows 10 and Microsoft Office for people who are blind or low vision, neurodiverse, or experience motor difficulties.

Presenter: Harris Rosensweig, iYellow Access

Requirements Beyond WCAG: An Accessibility Decision Tree

WCAG is our common denominator, but user needs go beyond WCAG for many kinds of digital products (ICT). Understand how other regulations and standards, such as Section 508 and EN 301 549, add more specific requirements for websites, documents, apps, hardware devices, and particular product functions.

Presenter: Mitchell Evan, TPGi

Teach Everyone How to Fish for Tools

This presentation explains how expanding everyone's understanding of investigating and using tools may help improve AT success. We'll discuss how to enhance your decision-making skills, how to research and test tools to determine if they meet a requirement, and why an expert isn't always required.

Presenter: Priscilla Danielson, Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions

Video Game Trends Over Time for People with Disabilities

This paper examines video gaming trends over time for people with disabilities using survey data to understand patterns across disability types and demographic groups.

Presenter: John Morris, Shepherd Center

3:20 PM

Easy Manual and Automated PDF Remediation Tools

There is often confusion between what tools to use for automated and manual document remediation. In this session, we will discuss, and demonstrate, two of these tools showing that using the right tool can make the process easy and efficient.

Presenters: Scott Baker, Crawford Technologies
Karol Krzywon, Crawford Technologies

Educational Tools: APH Mantis Q40 and APH Chameleon 20

The APH Mantis Q40 & APH Chameleon 20 are excellent educational tools used nationwide. Learn how to use the native apps in these devices, Editor, Terminal, Library, File Manager, and Calculator. Download and read books. Learn how to use these devices with Windows/JAWS, Chromebooks, and iPads.

Presenters: Bruce McClanahan, WA State School for the Blind
Leslie Weilbacher, American Printing House for the Blind

Enabling Autonomous Walking with Wearables and Sensor Fusion

The session showcases how the AI and sensors being built today for autonomous cars will be adopted to help blind and visually-impaired people get from point A to point B independently. Using accessible AR and inbuilt sensors on wearables may see this feat be a reality in the future.

Presenter: Karthik Kannan, Envision

Explore Bonocle: One Braille Cell, Endless Functionalities

You have heard about Bonocle, read about it, or ordered it. This session is your guide to the first hands-on experience with Bonocle. Know what to expect in terms of the product's shape, size, functionalities, and the library of apps and immersive games available for the blind community.

Presenter: Abdelrazek Aly, Bonocle, Inc.

Learning with ADHD: A Review of Technologies and Strategies

We examined the impact of ADHD on online learning through literature review. We identified interventions to support students with ADHD through technology, content, and pedagogy.

Presenter: Lindsay McCardle, D2L Corporation

Tactile Graphics Creation by and for Visually Impaired Users

Whether visually impaired yourself or looking for an accessible drawing tool for a student, child, or colleague, this session combines 25 years of ViewPlus know-how and a desire to make tactile graphics creation accessible to all. Be self-sufficient with your own TIGER embosser.

Presenter: Dan Gardner, ViewPlus Technologies Inc

Value-Driven Accessibility Implementation

In this session, we invite you to a critical conversation exploring real interdependencies between organizational values and accessibility work. You will learn actionable strategies to implement value-driven technical and strategic accessibility work in your organization.

Presenters: Lucas Colusso, BECU
Carolyn Chesler, BECU
Karla Holman, BECU

You Don't Know, What You Don't Know

Coding boot camps are increasing in popularity, but a skills gap exists. Accessibility isn't part of the boot camp curriculum. Learn what it means to be qualified to work in this field and how the gatekeepers of web accessibility could be harming the industry.

Presenter: Jonny James, TPGi

4:20 PM

A11y, AI & Machine Learning: Opportunities & Threats

Discussion on new technologies impacting people with disabilities, both good and bad, including innovations on the horizon and around the corner presenting promise and risk.

Presenter: Christopher Land, Oracle

Captions in 360 Video: Rapid Prototyping for User Testing

Extended reality is reinventing our approach to work, learning, culture, and social interaction. Nevertheless, the integration of accessible services within immersive environments is still in progress. This presentation will introduce new prototyping for immersive captioning and discuss how to achieve an optimal and fully inclusive viewing experience.

Presenter: Marta Brescia-Zapata, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Demystifying Eye Gaze Access

An eye gaze assessment can be an intimidating type of evaluation to perform. In this session, you will learn how eye gaze systems work and how to pre-screen an individual for optimal success. See typical and atypical eye images, their accompanying diagnoses, and discuss considerations for successful eye gaze access.

Presenter: Katerina Fassov, Eyegaze Inc.

Inclusive User Research to Support Inclusive Design

Are you looking to make your user research more inclusive or are you curious what user research can add to your accessibility work? This presentation will explore the what, why, and how of inclusive user research based on our experiences creating an accessibility-oriented research program at CVS Health.

Presenters: Gregory Weinstein, CVS Health
Maria Lamardo, CVS Health
Andrew Wong-Crocitto, CVS Health

Involving Users with Disabilities in UX Research

It is imperative to involve users with disabilities in UX research to evaluate the accessibility of complex single-page web applications such as MATLAB Online. This talk describes our process for finding and working with users with disabilities so they have a voice in our efforts to make MATLAB Online accessible.

Presenter: Bora Eryilmaz, The MathWorks, Inc.

To Err(or) is Human: Inclusive Error Handling Approaches

CGI will take you on an exploration of error handling for web content. We will provide demonstrations and technical details on implementing some common types of error techniques (including inline and top of the page errors), discuss potential accessibility barriers, and share best practices for inclusive error handling.

Presenters: Karen Herndon, CGI
Eric Watts, CGI

WorkingWell 2.0: Assistive Technology for Autistic Employees

WorkingWell 2.0 is an assistive technology (i.e., mobile app) that utilizes principles from evidence-based supported employment models. It offers a suite of resources to help meet the needs of autistic people in the workplace, with a focus on fostering collaboration with co-workers and managers.

Presenters: Spenser Wright, University of Colorado Denver & Brandeis University
Ian Moura, Brandeis University

Friday, March 18, 2022

8:00 AM

Featured Presentation: Disability Through a Whole New Lens - Reframing Disability in Media

Media has the power to shatter myths or reinforce stereotypes about people with disabilities. With the democratization of the Web, barriers to entry are fading, disability-savvy technology companies are creating content for streaming, gaming and entertainment, along with tools to create accessible content. Where do aspiring media professionals with disabilities fit into this equation? How do you best convey your disability-savvy brand in advertising, products, and messaging across social media and broadcast platforms? Discover creative talent with disabilities in front of and behind the camera/keyboard through the Lights! Camera! Access! (LCA) Career Incubator Initiative, and ADA Lead On Productions Disability Talent Pipeline.

Presenters: Danny Woodburn, Actor
Tari Hartman Squire, EIN SOF Communications

9:20 AM

Accessible Documents for Small Government Agencies

Actionable suggestions to create and remediate documents specific to municipal government agencies, including budgets, infographics, flyers, forms, and more.

Presenters: Sharon Rosenblatt, Accessibility Partners
Dana Marlowe, Accessibility Partners

Augmented Reality Assistant for Independent Living

We will discuss the practical impact of augmented reality in assisting caregivers and dependents with daily tasks required for independent living. The primary application is in the healthcare and rehabilitation industry, providing tools to support the staff and the patients.

Presenter: Bryan Rowe

Making Accessibility a Part of Company Culture

Are you trying to build an accessible community in the workplace but not sure where to start or how to overcome complacency? What has prevented success? Let's talk about how we can build an inclusive workplace; what works and doesn't, new tools, and how to build an enthusiastic accessibility audience.

Presenter: Rachel Comerford, Macmillan Learning

More Than Just Webinars, It's Certified Continuing Education

The Freedom Scientific Training team offers ACVREP (Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation & Education Professionals) credits for specified webinars. This session explains the process.

Presenter: Mike Wood, Vispero

People with Disabilities Online Engagement During COVID-19

Examination of adults with disabilities online engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic via survey data on food access, school and work, health, and social activities.

Presenter: John Morris, Shepherd Center

Role-based Analysis Update: WCAG 2.2

Role-based analysis of the nine new WCAG 2.2 success criteria confirms the increasing need for – and the ability of – accessibility to "shift left." Learn the new requirements content authors, user experience, and visual designers must conform to the new standard now and in the future.

Presenter: Bill Tyler, Optum Digital

World Services for the Blind path to Certified AT Instructor

World Services for the Blind presents a path to certification as an Assistive Technology Instructional Specialist for the Blind and Visually impaired. Participants of this session will learn the CATIS exam process and requirements, explore our course Curriculum, and discover employment opportunities.

Presenters: Eric Yarberry, World Services for the Blind
Sharon Giovinazzo, World Services for the Blind

10:20 AM

Accessible Next Level Visualizations

Highcharts and Elsevier share recent research into making interactive web charts more accessible. Our usability studies focused on three areas, including stacked column charts, scatter plots, and charts with drill-down interactivity. We will share design considerations for keyboard navigation and the understandability of non-visual representations of data visualizations.

Presenters: Ted Gies, Elsevier
Øystein Moseng, Highcharts

Accessible Technology Under the ADA and the Role of the DOJ

The Department of Justice will discuss its work to achieve the promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act in the area of accessible technology through investigations, litigation, technical assistance, and mediation. This presentation will focus on the Department's past and recent work to address technological barriers for people with disabilities.

Presenter: Rebecca Bond, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section

Assistive Technologies in the Hybrid Workplace

Assistive Technology (AT) at Ernst & Young (EY) adapted to the Covid environment by expanding into virtual ergonomic analyses & increased its self-service software options via a global 'EY App Store'. This session will provide personal stories (names changed) reflecting these adaptations.

Presenter: Kevin Grogg, Ernst & Young (EY)

Making PowerPoint Math Contents Accessible with Infty

Many online educational materials for math are now produced with Microsoft PowerPoint (PPT). Our new add-on allows You to add easily alt-text/aloud reading by a TTS voice to any math part included in PPT slides. An accessible MP4 video for math education also can be produced efficiently.

Presenters: Katsuhito Yamaguchi, Nihon University
Toshihiko Komada, Nihon University
Toshihiro Kanahori, Tsukuba University of Technology

Microsoft Teams and Fusion 2022

In this session, we go beyond the basics and demonstrate the power of Fusion screen reader with JAWS 2022 and Microsoft Teams.

Presenters: Matt Ater, Vispero
Elizabeth Whitaker, Vispero
Rachel Buchanan, Vispero

Polly: Gaming the Way to a Braille Display

In partnership with Thinkerbell Labs, APH is debuting Polly, the sister product to Annie™, an independent electronic braille learning device. Attendees will experience an overview of the product, be introduced to how the various games can help expedite braille learning, enhance students' interest, and view the teacher's monitoring platform.

Presenters: Donna McClure-Rogers, American Printing House for the Blind
Greg Stilson, American Printing House for the Blind

Secure Color Combinations of Stairs for Senior Citizens

The color scheme of Munsell value 10R4/6 for the nosing and 5YR6/2 for the tread of stairways is more secure for the elderly.

Presenter: Hiroyuki Nakamura, Shibaura Institute of Technology

WCAG for PDF in Plain English

This session focuses on unraveling the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1). Attendees will leave this session with a clearer understanding of the Success Criteria and how they apply to PDF Documents. You will learn several myths about WCAG for PDF and several 'must-know' rules to watch out for.

Presenter: Dax Castro, AbleDocs

11:20 AM

Accessibility Leadership from the Grass Roots

Accessibility maturity does not always depend on top-down executive driven action. We'll share how real change at a large complex organization has been achieved by action from the ground up. We'll provide 5 examples that anyone who's passionate about accessibility can apply to drive change at their organization.

Presenters: Pauline Kiet, Kaiser Permanente
Sherri Rita, Kaiser Permanente
Mark Stimson, Kaiser Permanente
Eric Yeh, Kaiser Permanente
Vita Zavoli, Kaiser Permanente

AR-Based Haptic Whiteboard User Interface for Blind People

This work presents an AR-based user interface approach and prototype, which allows blind people to haptically access spatial information on two-dimensional information spaces, like whiteboards.

Presenter: Reinhard Koutny, JKU Linz

Ems, Rems, and Flexible Interfaces

Flexible interfaces have been central to development practices since responsive websites became a business priority. In typography and visual design systems flexibility is also an accessibility requirement. We will explore flexibility with CSS through ems, rems, and relative sizing techniques and how these impact user experience.

Presenter: Christina Adams, Siteimprove

JAWS Screen Reader Compatibility Testing in Real Life

Experience a real-world scenario exhibiting the synergy between the JAWS screen reader and TPGi's JAWS compatibility testing tool, JAWS Inspect, as part of the accessibility QA process

Presenters: Mike Desorda, TPGi
Ryan Jones, TPGi

Making Tactile Graphics with Braille Embossers

Braille embossers are a widely available technology for blind people. However, users can overlook that they can be used beyond text documents. In this session, participants will learn how to create tactile graphics using Braille embossers, their challenges, and where to find the tools to achieve them.

Presenters: Maria Fernanda Zuniga Zabala, BTactile.com
John Alexis Guerra Gomez, Northeastern University Bay Area

Tracking Physical Rehabilitation with Smartphone App

Reha Buddy provides a tool to digitalize manual processes in physical rehabilitation to simplify the workload of medical professionals and to increase transparency of rehabilitation success for patients. We will present how we achieved a user-centered approach with a medical device and the learnings that helped to improve our product.

Presenter: Harald Jagos, Reha Buddy

1:20 PM

CSUN's MS in Assistive Technology Studies & Human Services

This presentation provides a description of CSUN's Master of Science in Assistive Technology Studies & Human Services, including admission requirements, support services, and professional opportunities.

Presenter: S. Victoria Jaque, CSUN ATHS MS program

Designing a Non-Visual Drawing Tool

This presentation provides an overview of a longitudinal participatory study focused on co-designing a cross sensory 3D interface for and with blind and partially sighted drawers (BPSD) during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Presenter: Mitali Kamat, OCAD University

Digital Accessibility Trends: 2022 Update

Explore key digital accessibility trends and developments related to laws and regulations, the market in general, and the ever-changing landscape of technology.

Presenter: Timothy Springer, Level Access

How Can Micro-Mobility Include the Needs of Disabled People?

How can the needs of people with disabilities be accurately integrated into a fast developing industry of micro-mobility?

Presenters: Robin Mackenzie Spinks, RNIB
Alan Clarke, Lime

Practicing Inclusive Meetings

Learn practical strategies for pre-meeting prep and communication, meeting organization and flow, and post-meeting follow-up to ensure everyone gets a chance to contribute, and all voices have equal weight.

Presenters: Colleen Wood, Level Access
Sarah Schaidt, Level Access

Sign Language App for Learning and Communication

The purpose of this presentation is to suggest a tablet application to support learning sign language and communication for students with/without disabilities, especially those with hearing disabilities and developmental disorders. It helps them interact, understand, and prepare for learning in their daily, school, and social lives.

Presenter: Kuniomi Shibata, Tsuda University

Web-Based Caption Player Brings Accessibility Anywhere

Technology and awareness have expanded the availability of live captions and other accessibility options for organizations. Captionmax has developed an innovative web-based captioning player, bringing media accessibility to anyone with an internet connection. This new tool, Jetstream Express, is accessible on browsers and devices, providing live captions for any event.

Presenter: Derek Throldahl, Captionmax

2:20 PM

Enabling Widespread Accessibility with AI-Powered Captioning

Captioning plays a pivotal role in increasing engagement and retention, however many institutions rely on dated platforms that are inaccurate, costly and non-compliant with ADA regulations. This session discusses how AI integration in the captioning workflow can make content shared in the workplace, classrooms and online platforms accessible for all.

Presenters: Najia Sabir, Management Concepts
Bethany Stoltz, Verbit
Scott Ready, Verbit

Focus First: An Approach for Better Access and Usability

Shouldn't the element in focus be the first thing you see when looking at a screen? If so, then you're in for a re-thinking of how we build apps and approach this important accessibility feature.

Presenters: Claudio Luis Vera, Stark
Marcelo Paiva, UKG - Ultimate Kronos Group

Leveraging SaaS to Vastly Simplify Accessible Documents

T-Base Communications has created a sophisticated and advanced SaaS platform that enables the conversion of any document into an accessible format. This session will demonstrate the platform's features, its simplicity and intuitive nature for any user skillset, and its potential applications in a myriad of vertical markets.

Presenter: Jeff Jullion, T-Base Communications

Navigation for Every Ability Everywhere

Navigation is tough. It's easy to get lost, whether running to an appointment or traversing an airport. Furthermore, maps of most spaces, are not good, providing little detail. In this session, we discuss new methods in spatial mapping for navigation applications, providing persons of every ability safe and efficient travel experiences.

Presenter: Mike May, GoodMaps Inc

Technology Implementation: Effective Strategies & Processes

Implementation Science and corresponding models provide best practices and approaches to effectively roll out initiatives and change within an organization. This session will discuss these principles as it applies to educational institutions adopting assistive or educational technology through a UDL lens and/or institutional accessibility initiatives.

Presenter: Rachel Kruzel, Texthelp

Towards Knowledge Equity through Inclusion

Wikimedia Foundation believes that everyone should have access to ever-increasing digital powers of content creation, distribution, and consumption. How the Foundation's diversity, equity and inclusion product framework helps pave the way closer to knowledge equity.

Presenter: Volker Eckl, Wikimedia Foundation

How 7 Top Speech Recognition APIs Perform for Captioning

Presenter: Lily Bond, 3Play Media

3:20 PM

Defining an Accessibility Testing Strategy for MATLAB Online

Transforming desktop applications into accessible web applications requires the development of new testing strategies that leverage available accessibility testing tools. This talk shares testing strategies that MathWorks has developed that include integrated automated accessibility tests in a continuous integration system to enable new feature development while preventing regressions in accessibility.

Presenter: Tristan Yang, The MathWorks, Inc

Does ASR Have a Place in the Classroom?

Join this session for a light-hearted informative look at Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) captioning. Compare caption service types, understand the value of different captioning service types, learn from others in the field regarding what works and what doesn't when it comes to ASR captioning via streaming content or the classroom.

Presenter: Kyle Phillips, Ai-Media Technologies

Improving Telecommunication Access Through Research

Join an interactive discussion of MITRE's research and development efforts supporting the Federal Communications Commission's initiative to improve telecommunication accessibility for people who are d/Deaf or Hard of Hearing. Explore free, open-source solutions to test and improve ASR and caption quality and accuracy, and further development of DVC solutions.

Presenters: Jim Malloy, MITRE Corporation
Joe Gruessing, MITRE Corporation

Teaching Digital Accessibility to Non-Tech Students

Learn how a course in digital accessibility promotes broader awareness and adoption of accessibility best practices and policies in a project-based, interdisciplinary course for students in technology management, business, K-12 education, and other majors.

Presenter: Paula Kaplan, Marshall University

UDL Needs New Learning Skills for True Equity

Learning environments are evolving so now's the time to advocate for UDL. But are students equipped? Digital learning exposed the challenges of information overload, stretching working memory, attention, and information processing. Explore the skills now needed to learn with technology so true equity is achieved in the modern classroom.

Presenter: Paddy Heaton, Glean (formerly Sonocent)

4:20 PM

A Conversational Approach to Accessible Design

This presentation will discuss approaching design as a conversation between you and your customers. This approach will most directly benefit Product Design and Content roles, but anyone involved in the creation of new digital products or features will come away with a new tool for your accessibility toolkit.

Presenter: Kevin Kalahiki, Wells Fargo

Auditorial: Immersive and Inclusive Storytelling

What does truly inclusive storytelling look, sound and feel like? The session will summarize the Auditorial project, a unique and innovative collaboration between the Guardian, RNIB and Google.

Presenters: Robin Mackenzie Spinks, RNIB
David Clarke, RNIB

The Dot Pad: The Full Screen Tactile Display for the Blind

Introducing The Dot pad: The Full Screen Tactile Display for the Blind that can bring GUI.

Presenter: Kikwang Sung, Dot Inc.