Once upon a time in an office not so far away, a bot was created to simplify your life. It was designed to keep an eye on your website, let you know if something went wrong, pages went down, links got broken, content publishers went rogue, or you...
Disabled people fear Twitter changes under Elon Musk leave them behindTwitter has long been an essential public space for people with disabilities because of its unique format and broad reach. But now many people worry that recent cutbacks and...
DOJ and Congressional Updates on Digital Accessibility - Ken Nakata, former Senior Trial Attorney with the U.S. Justice Department's Disability Rights SectionWhile Federal agency websites are important for shaping how the Federal government...
A more inclusive Thanksgiving Day for the deaf and hard of hearing. Find Your Guest’s Preferred Mode of CommunicationDo they need a microphone in the middle of the table? Do they have single-sided hearing loss and prefer a specific...
5 Visual Treatments that Improve AccessibilityTo design accessible visuals, account for color contrast, don’t rely on color alone, make interactive elements easy to identify, provide useful alternative text for images, and test your...
Associate Director, Student Accessibility Services - The College of William & MaryThe Associate Director provides ongoing support and advocacy for students with disabilities, both within and outside of the classroom. The incumbent will serve...
Great news! Your dashboard is expanding! You will now have "the rest of the story." Widgets for SEO reporting and Best Practices are being added to your Sites and Groups Overview dashboards. Sites Overview Dashboard Groups Overview...
The "A" in DEIA: Why Corporate Leaders Must Include AccessibilityAlthough corporations have strategies in place to support employees with reported disabilities, DEIA efforts must extend beyond checking boxes and complying with laws....
Have you heard? DubBot has launched its brand new policy library! What’s a policy library, you might ask. The DubBot policy library is a collection of pre-written policy checks that you can import to your site, strengthening...
WordPress Accessibility Day - November 2-3, 2022WordPress Accessibility Day is a 24-hour global event dedicated to promoting and learning website accessibility best practices for WordPress websites. Representation in alt text - Aaron...
We all know how important SEO is to website visibility, and increased user traffic. And don’t forget about the relationship between an accessible website and SEO. With DubBot’s latest update to SEO reporting, you now...
3 Jobs Edition Accessibility Document Specialist - University of FloridaThe Accessibility Document Specialist is responsible for providing Section 508 compliant document remediation support to clients with an emphasis on PDF, MS Suite, and...
3 Volunteer Positions with HighEdWeb Link Journal EditorThis position works as part of the Link Journal Committee to edit content for Link, The Journal of Higher Education Web Professionals. Editors will work with the...
3 Ways to Celebrate National Disability Employment Awareness Month Put Up a Poster! NDEAM is a great time to freshen up bulletin boards in workplaces, schools, libraries or other community locations. Educate Employees! For employers,...
What exactly does "uptime" mean in reference to your website? Uptime means the number of hours your website is operational and available to users. Uptime is generally measured as a percentage and calculated in monthly or yearly increments. The...
Inclusive Design 24 2022 - September 22Inclusive Design 24 (#id24) is a free 24-hour online event for the global community. It celebrates inclusive design and shares knowledge and ideas from analogue to digital, from design to development, from...
National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM)! Next month marks the 34th annual observance of National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Every October is a celebration "honoring the achievements and contributions of U.S. workers...
A11Y Apps JABtalk (Android)JABtalk is a free speech communication application designed to help non-verbal children and adults communicate. Speech therapists commonly refer to JABtalk as an easy and effective augmentative and alternative...
Disability Voting Rights Week, formally known as National Disability Voter Registration Week, is September 12 - 16, 2022. Disability Voting Rights Week is coordinated by the REV UP Campaign. REV UP stands for "Register, Educate, Vote,...
6 Helpful Accessibility Features in the Amazon KindleThese Kindle features help people with dyslexia, vision impairments, and other disabilities experience the joys of reading. Android Accessibility - Made for the way you want to use it.From...
3 Jobs Edition Digital Accessibility Coordinator ~ University of VirginiaAs a critical member of the Office of Equal Opportunity & Civil Rights team, the Digital Accessibility Coordinator serves as a subject matter expert and...
A11y peeps to follow on Twitter Dax Castro - Accessibility Advocate, public speaker, trainer and lover of all things Adobe. Not to mention blacksmith, whitewater rafter and non-stop talker. Thomas Logan - CEO @Equal_Entry,...
Evaluating the Accessibility User Experience - Chax Chat podcastDo you ask yourself "What do I want the end-user experience to be?" when designing your forms? What about the heading structure of your document? Chad and Dax take this episode to...
According to Google’s English dictionary, which is provided by Oxford Languages, the definition of a business case is "a justification for a proposed project or undertaking on the basis of its expected commercial...
Accessible Email Testing ToolIt is the mission of Accessible-email.org to promote email marketing accessibility and usability. Accessibility Acceptance CriteriaAutomatically generate test cases for Web, iOS, and Android components. The...
3 Jobs Edition Accessibility & Communications Specialist ~ American Association on Health & DisabilityThe American Association on Health and Disability (AAHD) www.aahd.us is a cross-disability national non-profit 501(c) (3)...
He's My Brother - documentary PBS Point of ViewChristine's brother Peter experiences his world through touch, smell, and taste. Now 30 years old, Peter's family is having trouble finding the proper care for his multiple disabilities. He's My...
The problem with overlays is that they are still a problem! In February of 2021, I posted about the havoc that overlays cause to assistive technology and its users. According to a recent article in the New York Times (July 13, 2022), not...
Disability activists suggest that disability allies learn ways to support the disability community. Each 3Things post during July, Disability Pride Month, will provide ideas for participation, education and support. Watch Crip Camp: A...
What is an invisible disability? According to the Invisible Disabilities Association, "an invisible disability is a physical, mental or neurological condition that is not visible from the outside, yet can limit or challenge a...
Disability activists suggest that disability allies learn ways to support the disability community. Each 3Things post during July, Disability Pride Month, will provide ideas for participation, education and support. Watch "Coda""There has been...
Disability activists suggest that disability allies learn ways to support the disability community. Each 3Things post during July, Disability Pride Month, will provide ideas for participation, education and support. Educate yourself about...
It's Disability Pride Month! Disability Pride Month July is Disability Pride Month. If you didn’t know that, to be honest, we’re not surprised! Even though it’s been celebrated by some members of the disability...
The Higher Education Web Professionals Association or HighEdWeb is an organization of people dedicated to the "future of digital in higher education." Their annual conference is "created by and for" higher education professionals across campus....
The Hiring Process The use AI, or Artificial Intelligence is finding its way into the hiring, promotion, and other employment decision-making processes. For example, software that screens out applications using a pre-defined list of keywords or...
3 Webinars Stop Screaming Into the Void - Getting Your Accessibility Ideas Heard by Those Above You - June 28, 2020 (IAAP, free)You've got the accessibility consultant role, something that makes a real difference in your company. But your...
3 Youtube Channels The Blind Life Sam Seavey - The Blind Life is a representation of what is going on in my life and what I enjoy, all from the visually impaired perspective. I'm a big fan of mobile technology and Low vision...
To answer that, we need a little history lesson. Back in 2008, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) published the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. Fast forward to 2018. Wow…a lot has changed on the web…live...
3 Jobs Edition Senior Systems Quality Assurance Analyst - ADA (THIS JOB POSTING HAS EXPIRED)Wells Fargo BankWells Fargo is seeking a Senior Systems Quality Assurance Analyst - ADA in Credit Card & Merchant Services as part of...
Why Does Accessibility Matter? Smashing Magazine's Vitaly Friedman talks in-depth to Sara Soueidan to find out. A Tsunami of Disability Is Coming as a Result of 'Long COVID'We need to plan for a future where millions of survivors are...
3 Conferences HighEdWeb 2022 Accessibility Summit ($) - July 28, 2002Learn best practices, share stories with your peers and expand your knowledge on a wide range of accessibility topics. Beginners and experts, non-technical...
Because infographics are visual, they inherently present accessibility barriers to users with visual and cognitive disabilities. Infographics can also be challenging for those who use keyboard-only navigation. People with color blindness may miss...
On the third Thursday of May, we celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). GAAD "started" on Sunday, November 27, 2011, when Joe Devon penned a post on MySQLTalk.com challenging his fellow back-end programmers to increase their...
May 19 is Global Accessibility Awareness Day! Purpose The purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access and inclusion, and the more than One Billion people with disabilities/impairments. How to...
Web forms should be easy to navigate, complete, and submit while being keyboard accessible from the first input field to the submit button. Instructions, input format requirements, and error messages should be written in plain language and...
Supporting the Higher Education Web Professionals Association (HighEdWeb) is not new for DubBot. We have been Silver or Gold sponsors of the Annual Conference since 2018 and the Accessibility Partner in 2021 and again for this year’s...
3 Jobs Edition Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence ~ Georgia Institute of TechnologyThe College of Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology seeks experienced applicants for the position of Associate Dean for...
Voters with Disabilities Face New Ballot Restrictions Ahead of MidtermsAs voters went to the polls last month in the Texas primary, the voting rights hotline lit up at the nonprofit advocacy agency Disability Rights Texas. Delaware groups raise...
The University of West Florida utilizes a CMS to manage their website content which allows non-technical users to manage their own web content. While this is a great practice that allows UWF to output timely content, manually reviewing all content...
Help celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) on May 19! Here are three ways you and your organization can participate. (The following are taken directly from the GAAD website.) Publish a blog post on or before Global...
The 11th annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) is on Thursday, May 19, 2022. "The purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access and inclusion, and the more than One Billion people with...
#DeafTalent #DeafTalent was started as a way for actors, performers, and directors who are deaf to push back against an industry that continuously hires hearing individuals when a deaf individual would be a much more appropriate choice....
Even a mild case of COVID-19 can cause long COVID. "It is estimated that anywhere from 10% to 30% of patients might experience long COVID after recovering—even if they weren’t very sick in the first place." ~ What...
3 Jobs Edition Digital Accessibility Specialist ~ Elsevier, Philadelphia/PAAs a Senior Accessibility Specialist, you will develop and oversee the delivery of compliant and usable designs for our global e products. You will...
What is a design pattern? "User interface (UI) design patterns are reusable/recurring components which designers use to solve common problems in user interface design. For example, the breadcrumbs design pattern lets users retrace their steps....
Letters to the Editor: Aphasia is a form of hidden disability Following reports in the media about the condition, it is clear that there needs to be a conversation about aphasia. There needs to be accurate reporting and a clear...
Paralympic Gold Medalist Changes Adaptive Sports Paralympic gold medalist Mike Schultz lost his leg in a snowmobile race in 2008 — now he’s creating lower limb prosthetic equipment for high-impact gravity sports. How the...
We all want that web page we’ve been searching for to be viewable, usable, and interactive with lightning speed. But alas, that is not always the case. We have all had to "Let the Spinning Wheel spin," much to our displeasure and...
3 Focus State Facts Focus states need to have at least a 3:1 contrast ratio against the background color. All interactive components on a page need a focus state, not just buttons or links. Focus states cannot just be a color change. You need...
3 Podcasts AccessAbility Works is a podcast that explains authentic digital inclusion —ensuring that organizations’ digital offerings, websites, mobile apps, and work environments are accessible and usable to people of all...
There are many different models of disability, along with varying titles and definitions, so it can get confusing. For the purpose of this post, we will be looking at just three of those models…medical, tragedy / charity, and social....
3 Jobs Edition Accessibility Program Manager, AWS Accessibility ~ AmazonAs an Accessibility Program Manager, you will work with global teams to develop and implement strategies to improve accessibility. You will establish,...
Your Wordle Results Are Annoying, but Not for the Reasons You ThinkWhen sharing Wordle results and other emoji-heavy content, it’s important to know how inaccessible these results can be for disabled people and what it is like to have...
What do we mean when we talk about best practices? Merriam-Webster defines best practices as "a procedure that has been shown by research and experience to produce optimal results and that is established or proposed as a standard...
The crisis is real: Where are the web accessibility professionals?The shortage of qualified talent is felt by all of us. But from where will these individuals come, and how can we accelerate their availability? How To Hire For Digital...
What is Microcopy? According to Adobe, "...microcopy refers to the tiny tidbits of copy found on websites, applications, and products - from the words that comprise a call to action, to the disclaimers that assure users that their email address...
3 A11Y Meetup Groups WordPress Accessibility MeetupVirtual meetups on making WordPress websites accessible with ASL interpretation and live captions. This meetup has been officially approved for Continuing Accessibility Education Credits for...
Did you know that just by making your website accessible you also are boosting your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts AND improving your organic search rankings? Pretty awesome, right? DubBot scans and tests for six in-page elements...
3 Tips for Accessible Emails Use Headers. If you use headers screen reader users are able to work out the hierarchy of the page. Use contrasting colours for backgrounds and text. Some colours might look nice but don't work in terms of...
NYC Gallery Displays Works By Artists With Special NeedsA Manhattan gallery known for displaying works by world-famous names is hosting a rare exhibit by a unique group of relative unknowns: artists with autism and other special needs. 'As We...
What is Artificial Intelligence? According to the Oxford dictionary, artificial intelligence (AI) is "the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech...
3Etiquette Best Practices Ask before you help Just because someone has a disability, don’t assume she needs help. If the setting is accessible, people with disabilities can usually get around fine. Adults with...
Why Miss America Winner Emma Broyles Considers ADHD To Be Her 'Superpower'"She even shared that while sometimes having ADHD is a struggle, she sees some aspects of it as an advantage or "superpower." Artist Makes Prostheses With Darker Skin...
According to the Center for Plain Language, "Readability is about making your digital content clear and easy to understand. When you focus on readability, you increase the chance your target audience will actually read and interact with your...
3Jobs Edition Manager, Accessibility Center for Excellence (COE) - TwitterAs part of this team you’ll be using your knowledge of Accessibility and Disabilities to help integrate accessibility into Twitter’s...
Some of you may have noticed a new report available to you in DubBot. That’s right, the Web Governance Report. We are really excited about this one! The Web Governance report will combine Custom Checks (soon to be called "Policies") and...
Back in December, I posted an article A11Y vs Inclusion that discussed the differences and similarities between accessible and inclusive design practices. Here’s a short review: Definitions: According to Adobe...
Happy New Year! 3Things from 2021 Department of Justice reached settlement agreements related to digital and physical accessible with dozens of entities. Here's a few: Kroger Brown University Rite Aid (PDF) The disability...
According to Psychology Today, "a heuristic is a mental shortcut that allows an individual to make a decision, pass judgment, or solve a problem quickly and with minimal mental effort." Heuristics are also referred to as "a rule of thumb," which...
Happy New Year to you and yours from your friends at DubBot! 3 New Year's Resolutions Invite people with lived experience to the table.Systemic barriers in policy, practice or procedure mean that some people are excluded or receive less than...
What’s the difference between accessible design and inclusive design? Accessible design and Inclusive design, "Along with other human-centered concepts such as Ethical Design and Responsible Design, they [form] a vanguard of design...
3Things - Procuring Accessible ICT Asking the Right Questions for Procuring Inclusive, Accessible TechnologyPostsecondary institutions have obligations to ensure the accessibility of electronic content, especially content purchased from third...
3Things - User Testing Edition Why You Need to Do User Testing with Deaf and Hard of Hearing PeopleOne of the most powerful ways to ensure your content is accessible is to involve people with disabilities at all stages of development and...
What is the Accessibility Tree? Simply put, the Accessibility Tree is what all operating systems use to power assistive technology. It is a modified Document Object Model (DOM). A browser takes the DOM and modifies it into a form that is useful...
WCAG 3.0: What you need to know about the future of accessibility standards WCAG 3.0 will be here soon and it will represent a significant shift in how accessibility is measured. Apple’s IPad Gets Assistive Technology...
Before emojis, there were emoticons. Emoticon is short for "emotion icon." Emoticons are "pictorial representations of facial expressions using characters — usually punctuation marks, numbers and letters — to express a...
Introducing updates to make it easier for guests with disabilities to travel Under our new accessibility review process, Hosts simply submit photos of the accessibility features in their home, which are then manually reviewed by a...
Those of us in the digital accessibility field can spot an accessible video at 20 paces. But what about an inclusive video? What does one look like? Producing an inclusive video means designing with accessibility in mind — captions,...
3Things - Thanksgiving Edition How to Be a Good Thanksgiving Host to Guests with DisabilitiesWhile disabled needs may not be as familiar as non-disabled needs, they’re not...
CVS withdraws Supreme Court case on disability rights, announces new partnership The plaintiffs objected to changes to the company's terms that meant they could not opt out of mail-only delivery or utilize another pharmacy with...
It’s been said that disability is the "missing D" in diversity and inclusion discussions and initiatives. In December 2020, research conducted by The Valuable 500 showed that "only three percent of articles discussing diversity...
Lauren Ridloff, Marvel's first deaf superhero"[I] hope that, by bringing my story to the audience, people from marginalized communities will feel that there’s room for their own stories." Nyle DiMarco, deaf super model"I sent in my...
The 3 functions of alternative text: Screen readers announce alternative text in place of images, helping users with visual or certain cognitive disabilities perceive the content and function of the images. If an image fails to load...
The designers, programmers, and engineers at DubBot have been burning the midnight oil over the past several months and have released quite a few important updates. Let me tell you about the three most exciting (and requested) updates to be...
On November 2, DubBot’s own Blaine Herman will be joining other experts in accessible technology for the November Meetup of the NY Tech Alliance. The NY Tech Alliance was created in 2016 when the NY Tech Meetup and the New York...
3 Higher Ed Accessibility Professional Organizations Access Technology Higher Education Network (ATHEN)ATHEN is a professional association and network for Access Technology in Higher Education. The purpose of ATHEN is to collect and disseminate...
3 Things, 3 Jobs WatchOS Accessibility Engineer - Apple, Inc. - Santa Clara Valley (Cupertino), CaliforniaApple's Accessibility team is looking for a motivated Software Engineer to help develop and enhance features that make watchOS more usable...
Happy National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM)! This year's theme is "America’s Recovery: Powered by Inclusion." As our nation begins the process of recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s more important...
3 Things, 3 Disability Activisits Marilyn Golden"Radicalized" after an accident left her disabled, she became a "linchpin" in the fight for the Americans With Disabilities Act as a leading policy analyst. Robert Marx"We had a common experience...
Ensuring that your organization utilizes appropriate alt text for images within your website is pretty much considered Accessibility 101. For those readers who are not familiar, alt text or alternative text is the text version of an image read to...
