Other News

September 19, 2012— Google claims to have worked to improve accessibility in Google Docs, Sites, Calendar and mobile apps over the past year. In Google Calendar, there were enhancements in focus handling, keyboard access and navigation. Optical Character Recognition technology was added to Google Drive, which allowed screen readers to read the text in scanned PDFs and images. Related to the Google Apps (Gmail for mobile and Google Drive on iOS and Android), improvements were made to explore-by-touch capabilities and keyboard/trackpad navigability.

The Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA) announced their 2013 Student Design Competition (SDC). The annual competition provides teams of students with the opportunity to present creative and innovative assistive technology designs that can help people with disabilities function more independently. Students from a variety of disciplines are able to participate, including: mechanical, electrical, biomedical engineering, computer information science, architecture, and physical and occupational therapy.

The Accessible Aquarium Project at Georgia Tech is studying how to improve exhibit experiences at zoos and aquariums through the use of spoken information and music. They are recruiting partner groups, one person with an acquired vision loss and a person familiar to him or her such as a friend or family member who does not have vision loss.

September 4, 2012 – The 2013 International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference (CSUN) general session call for presentations was announced.  Topics of interest include emerging assistive technologies; web accessibility; aging and disability; technologies designed for people with specific disabilities such as blind or low vision, deaf or hard of hearing, cognitive, and learning; technology applications for employment and education; and legal ramifications, among a multitude of other topics.  Submissions are due Friday, October 12, 2012.

August 29, 2012 –The National Federation of the Blind and AccuWeather® have joined forces to provide accessible weather alerts to the blind and print disabled.  Audible weather alerts will be disseminated via NFB-Newsline®, a free service that offers hundreds of newspapers and magazines in audible formats.  According to NFB, the service is the first of its kind, bringing independent access to emergency information to the blind.