In January, AccessComputing PI, Richard Ladner, gave a Design Use Build (DUB) seminar at the University of Washington. DUB is a grassroots alliance of faculty, students, researchers, and industry partners interested in Human Computer Interaction & Design research and education at UW. The seminar Accessibility is Becoming Mainstream, is based on the keynote presentation he gave at the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS (ACM’s Special Interest Group on Accessible Computing) Conference on Computers and Accessibility (called ASSETS 2016).
According to the World Health Organization there are one billion people in the world with significant disabilities. The view of disability has changed over the past 100 years and continues to change from primarily a medical issue to more of a social issue. Accessibility has become a professional field both in research and practice. Technologies originally intended for people with disabilities have become useful technologies for everyone. More and more technology for people with disabilities are being built into mainstream products. For example, screen readers are built into iOS and Android platforms. Increasing numbers of mainstream companies are requiring knowledge of accessibility best practices in their job descriptions. More and more accessibility research is appearing in mainstream conferences. Overall, accessibility is becoming mainstream in both research and practice.
To view the full video of the seminar, visit the DUB seminar page.