According to the International Agency for the Prevention of
Blindness there are 43 million people around the world living with
blindness, and 300 million living with moderate to severe visual
impairment. Put those statistics next to these: There are nearly 2
billion websites, and 550,000 created every day.
Shouldn’t
sight-impaired people have the same access to these sites as sighted
people? Of course they should. There is good news. After previously
announcing guidance, the DOJ says new regulations are on the way
under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which describes
the obligations for state and local governments. My guests say there are
many reasons to be excited about this.
Ken Nakata is Co-Founder and Principal at Converge Accessibility, whose solutions help make sure websites and other technologies are accessible to people with disabilities. Ken is former Senior Trial Attorney with the DOJ Disability Rights Section where he developed nationwide ADA policies for the internet. He is a recipient of the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Information Technology. He served as lead counsel for the interagency working group, making the federal government’s information technology accessible. He is founding and former board member of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals and serves on their certification committee. Ken is passionate about the need for regulations to ensure greater accessibility to the internet for all people. You can read his latest post on the subject at the Converge Accessibility Blog.
Joining Ken is Hiram Kuykendall, Chief Technology Officer at Microassist,
an Austin-based learning and development consulting. Hiram is a
technical leader with hands-on experience in instructional design and
digital accessibility. He has more than 25 years’ experience developing
and managing custom applications on a variety of platforms and public
and private sectors, supporting training and training related services.
Hiram is also a frequent contributor to LexisNexis Mealey’s Litigation Report: CyberTech and E-Commerce,
which I launched when I was publisher there a thousand years ago. Hiram
is passionate about promoting accessible technologies in the field of
fields of e-learning and web and application development.
This podcast is the audio companion to the Journal on Emerging Issues in Litigation. The Journal is a collaborative project between HB Litigation Conferences and the Fastcase legal research family, which includes Full Court Press, Law Street Media, and Docket Alarm. The podcast itself is a joint effort between HB and our friends at Law Street Media. If you have comments or wish to participate in one our projects please drop me a note at Editor@LitigationConferences.com.P.S.
Anytime I make a self-effacing remark about my ignorance concerning
this or any subject, it’s strictly for entertainment value, a story I
will cling to with every fiber in my being.