Accuracy of TV subtitling in the UK
Following numerous complaints, Ofcom, the communications regulator in the UK, organized a series of four exercises to establish the quality of live subtitling on national television and the latest results were published at the end of last month. The assessments…
Mapping app to pin-point accessible locations
Maayan Ziv, a student from Ryerson University that lives with Muscular Dystrophy, has developed an app that shows accessible locations worldwide. Using crowd sourced information, AccessNow, a web based interactive map classifies places in 4 different categories (Accessible, Partially Accessible,…
Affordable solutions for persons with disabilities in rural areas
The Red Cross started a 2-month long programme that will run until January 2016, named Makeathon, to develop affordable hardware and software for persons with disabilities. It is centred around 9 challenges: Performing activities of daily living Mobility around the…
UK’s efforts to end digital exclusion
After hosting two events surrounding the theme “Digital Training and Support Framework Industry Engagement”, the British government has recently issued a tender, with a net value of £35 million, to support digital inclusion research, skills training, marketing and promotion of…
Accessibility meets libraries in the digital era
With the help of both optical character recognition software and volunteers, Bookshare, an online digital library dedicated solely to people with specific needs, is now the largest provider in their field. Admittedly, Bookshare moves towards different objectives than those of…
New braille typing keyboard to increase accessibility of smartphones
A one-handed braille typing keyboard was launched last week by the Qatar Computing Research Insitute (QCRI). Called BrailleEasy, it is iOS compatible and transforms the two hand typing system into a one-handed one, intensifying the ease of use for touch…
Australia’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
Australian government agencies have been required to provide information and services in a non-discriminatory accessible manner since the early nineties (Disability Discrimination Act 1992) and, in 1999, the first regulations involving web content, WCAG 1.0, were published. Since 2008 the…
ONCE Foundation and the European Social Fund join forces to help digitally train persons with disabilities
Last week, ONCE Foundation1’s body responsible for training and employment of people with disabilities, FSC Inserta, hosted free-of-charge courses in different regions of Spain to train people in digital literacy and prepare them for the labour market, making sure they…
Accessible technology helps overcome transportation obstacles
“I feel absolutely amazed and grateful to Uber and to this unique experience. (…) What a pair! A blind person and a deaf person doing business.” Emrah, Chicago. (Uber Newsroom) Uber is capitalizing on its technology based business model to…
