Catherine Skivers: Organizer, Activist, Friend, Blind Community Leader

[Update: Catherine Skivers died on December 12, 2019, a week after this post was written.] Catherine Skivers came to California in 1949 at the age of 23 with the man she had married at 16. Within a year, her husband had left her, offering her a one-way bus ticket back to her family in Missouri.… Read more… Catherine Skivers: Organizer, Activist, Friend, Blind Community Leader

Bank of America Honored for Accessibility Work; Structured Negotiation Gets Shout Out

On October 21, 2019 friends and supporters of Disability Rights Advocates, a national nonprofit disability rights legal center, gathered in New York to celebrate the organization and honor this year’s Eagle Award recipients. One of the honorees was Bank of America, a long-time digital accessibility and disability inclusion leader and Structured Negotiation champion. The picture… Read more… Bank of America Honored for Accessibility Work; Structured Negotiation Gets Shout Out

U.S. Supreme Court Passes on Domino’s Case: Commenters Misunderstand

I made a rookie mistake after tweeting about my post on the U.S. Supreme Court’s Order in the Domino’s Pizza web accessibility case: I read the comments. Then I compounded that mistake and read comments on articles about the case on main stream media. The comments were disheartening. Some were downright mean and screamingly ableist.… Read more… U.S. Supreme Court Passes on Domino’s Case: Commenters Misunderstand

Patience: A Negotiation (and Accessibility) Strategy

Last week I delivered the annual Lawrence Lecture at the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University (OSU). My talk was titled: “Forget the Shark, Be a Dolphin Instead.” The focus was captured in the sub-title “Advancing client interests with collaborative negotiating tools.” It was fun presenting to a room full of students and… Read more… Patience: A Negotiation (and Accessibility) Strategy

Structured Negotiation Book Turns Three. Gratitude Abounds

This month marks the three year anniversary of my book, Structured Negotiation, A Winning Alternative to Lawsuits. This post is about gratitude and memories. About the global and national interest in collaborative problem solving and digital inclusion. Although the official pub date for the book was in August 2016, the official book launch happened in… Read more… Structured Negotiation Book Turns Three. Gratitude Abounds

Ethics in the Digital Accessibility Legal Space: ADA Enforcement Cases or Something Else?

A 177% jump in the number of web accessibility lawsuits filed in federal court over two years. A handful of lawyers filing hundreds of cases, settling quickly, with no public statement about any accessibility improvements. Industry associations looking to roll-back the ADA, state legislatures limiting the right to sue about digital accessibility. So called experts… Read more… Ethics in the Digital Accessibility Legal Space: ADA Enforcement Cases or Something Else?

2019 CSUNATC Digital Accessibility Legal Update

On March 13, 2019, I presented the 2019 Digital Accessibility Legal Update to a packed house at the annual CSUN Assistive Technology Conference. With so much content, and no recordings, I try to follow up the powerpoint with a post like this one — summarizing this year’s updates with links to more information for those who are curious. And since it took me a month to get this out, there are even two new items in this post that were not part of the update. Read more… 2019 CSUNATC Digital Accessibility Legal Update

Happy Birthday WCAG — Now You are Twenty!

On May 5, 1999 the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) issued a press release announcing the publication of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0. The headline was confident: “WAI Provides Definitive Guidance for Web Access by People with Disabilities.” Let’s honor WCAG’s birthday by redoubling efforts to make the promise of the web a reality — let’s make it available to everyone, including people with disabilities. Read more… Happy Birthday WCAG — Now You are Twenty!

Community in Toronto: What Made the #A11yTO Conferences So Spectacular?

I’m sitting in the airport on my way home from two conferences put on by #A11yTO. I’ve been trying to figure out what made the three days in Toronto so great. This post is what I’ve come up with. #A11yTO is a volunteer-run digital accessibility community in Toronto. Puzzled by the title? A11y (that’s A-eleven-Y)… Read more… Community in Toronto: What Made the #A11yTO Conferences So Spectacular?