People in the News

This topic includes articles about people in the digital accessibility or disability rights communities.

Attacks on Public Broadcasting Lead US Accessibility Champion to Reject Prestigious Award Guest article by Larry Goldberg, Accessible Media and Technology Consultant

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Lainey’s Introduction As the republican attacks on rights, benefits and democracy continue in the United States, resistance takes many forms. One problem in the country right now is that main stream media normalizes trump and republican activity, as if we are not creeping toward fascism with every act of cruelty. I believe that any action,… Read more… Attacks on Public Broadcasting Lead US Accessibility Champion to Reject Prestigious Award Guest article by Larry Goldberg, Accessible Media and Technology Consultant

Sassy Outwater-Wright: Accessibility Champion and More, Dies at 42

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Sassy Outwater-Wright died on July 12, 2025 of cancer. She was the self-described Tumor Killer Girl in her fierce, honest, and often heart wrenching writing about the disease that ultimately took her life. As she said during a 2022 public radio interview “My superhero name is Tumor Killer Girl. I just went through my 100th… Read more… Sassy Outwater-Wright: Accessibility Champion and More, Dies at 42

Case is Over! New Low in the Accessibility “Industry:” Overlay Company Sues Globally-Recognized Accessibility Expert

Posted on Updated on January 29, 2024
This is an article about a lawsuit filed by AudioEye, a multi-million dollar accessibility company, against Adrian Roselli, a long-time leader in the global digital accessibility community. Adrian has been a vocal critic, as have I, against one-line of code software that claims to make websites accessible. AudioEye sells (licenses) an overlay. The company has… Read more… Case is Over! New Low in the Accessibility “Industry:” Overlay Company Sues Globally-Recognized Accessibility Expert

Paul Parravano: Structured Negotiation Champion, Disability Advocate, Dies at 71

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When I submitted my book manuscript to the American Bar Association in 2015, an East Coast lawyer reviewer had but one question. It basically boiled down to this: “How the hell do I find clients who want to resolve legal claims without fighting? With collaboration, calmness, and kindness instead of conflict?” I don’t have to “find” these clients because for the past 29 years these committed and ethical problem-solvers have found me. One of those people was my friend and client Paul Parravano, a kind, generous man, an accomplished professional, a beloved community and family member, and an unsung hero of Structured Negotiation who died last month from cancer at the age of 71. Read more… Paul Parravano: Structured Negotiation Champion, Disability Advocate, Dies at 71

Path-Breaking Accessibility Elder Sharron Rush Wins National AARP Prize

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On July 28, 2022, AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons) announced winners of the organization’s prestigious Purpose Prize for 2023. AARP, with over 38 million members, is one of the largest non-profit organizations in the United States. It chose Sharron Rush, founder and executive director of the digital accessibility consultancy Knowbility, as one… Read more… Path-Breaking Accessibility Elder Sharron Rush Wins National AARP Prize

William Loughborough: Web Geezer Extraordinaire

Posted on Updated on December 8, 2020
Accessibility advocate, gadfly and big thinker Bill Loughborough died on April 7. The news, with abbreviated tributes, was all over Twitter, as it should have been. They say Twitter is for the young, and you’re a Tweezer over age 40. Or is it 30? But the first line on Bill Loughborough’s WebGeezer page says: “Those of us past 80 years old find it amusing that old folks are still thought of as Resistant to learning new things.” Read more… William Loughborough: Web Geezer Extraordinaire

Marlaina Lieberg and Ken Metz: Advocates Extraordinaire

Posted on Updated on October 1, 2020
The past two months have seen too much loss in the blind advocacy community in the United States. In April I wrote about the death of Sue Ammeter, the blind activist behind a successful Structured Negotiation with the American Cancer Society. Then in May came news that Marlaina Lieberg and Ken Metz had died within days of each other. Both were committed advocates and Structured Negotiation champions. Read more… Marlaina Lieberg and Ken Metz: Advocates Extraordinaire

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

Posted on Updated on September 29, 2020
[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