Recommendations for Improving Accessibility of Social Media by HowTo.gov

HowTo.gov has a great article on how to make Facebook and other social media accounts accessible to people with disabilities. Here is the run-down for the Facebook article:

"Tips for Making Facebook Posts Accessible
For General Account Information
Ensure your website address is listed in the About section of your Timeline/Page in order to provide an easy point of entry to more information.
Include other ways to contact your organization, such as your 800 number, an online “Contact Us” form, or general contact email address for more information.

For Photos, Video, Audio
Always provide a link back to a .gov page that hosts a copy of the photo, video, or audio with full caption/transcript.
After posting the photo, video, or audio, immediately post a comment that directs users to the full caption or the full transcript.
If you have a YouTube channel, upload your video to your channel and make sure you enable closed-captions (you’ll want to upload your own transcript to make sure the captions are accurate). Then post a link to your YouTube video as your status update, rather than uploading the video into Facebook. This will ensure that visitors will be taken to your accessible version on YouTube.

For Composing Status Updates
Facebook provides ample space that allows you to spell out acronyms. Spell out the first instance of the acronym and add the acronym in parentheses after (e.g., U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)). This is especially helpful for those using screen readers, because after the name is heard the acronym is spelled out, and the user will associate the sound of the acronym with the full name."

Employment for People with Disabilities

Here is a great article enlisting the efforts some governors make in order to promote employment for people with disabilities:

http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2013/03/11/governors-promote-employment/17467/

How Technology Can Help People with Disabilities

At EmpowerTech, our mission is to educate, train, support, and empower people with physical and developmental disabilities through assistive technology (AT). Our TRADE Program's main goal is to instruct people with disabilities how to use technology and empower them to help find employment. We have found a great article that demonstrates just how beneficial technology can be for people with disabilities.

SPEEDING UP WORK FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

"With technology, people with disabilities, many who are unemployed or under-employed, can now take a job and be highly productive. After all, this group is an incredible adopter of technology because they depend on it for their livelihood...

All of this is positive for the future of work because people with disabilities add tremendous value to the workplace. People with disabilities are creative problem-solvers and technology adopters with fresh perspectives that organizations need.

Hiring people with disabilities enhances employee retention and engagement, as there are many job candidates with or without disabilities who want to work in holistically-diverse and socially conscious environments. We've found they have low rates of absenteeism and turnover, which reduces a company's recruitment and retention costs.

Hiring the disabled helps companies develop new products and services, expanding their customer base, which is increasingly filled with older people starting to encounter disability. All of this bodes well for the modern-day workplace.

I've said it before: If you want someone who thinks outside the box, hire someone who lives outside the box. So let "work speed up" begin for people with disabilities. With new technologies on the horizon, we can tap this underused talent pool and move our notion of how and where we work solidly into the 21st century."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19588052

Here is a link to our TRADE Program for more information:

http://empowertech.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=101&Itemid=105

People with Disabilites and Voting

According to the article titled, "People with Disabilities and Voting," by experts Kay Schriner and Douglas Kruse, "more than 20,000 polling places across the nation are inaccessible, depriving people with disabilities of their fundamental right to vote."

EmpowerTech is helping people with disabilites get this right to vote back. That is why starting today, we here at EmpowerTech will be helping people with disabilities register to vote online.

Come visit us today, Wednesday, September 26 and every Wednesday until October 10 from 3:30-6:00 PM. (Please note that this is during our Free Open Access Lab).

EmpowerTech
9100 S. Sepulveda Suite 204
Los Angeles, CA 90045
(310) 338-1597

http://www.accessiblesociety.org/topics/voting/

Justice Department Settles with Pennsylvania School for $715,000 Over Exclusion of Child with HIV

Justice Department Settles with Pennsylvania School for $715,000 Over Exclusion of Child with HIV
The Justice Department announced today that it and the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania have reached a settlement with the Milton Hershey School of Hershey, Pa., to remedy alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The agreement resolves allegations that the school violated the ADA by refusing to consider a child, known by the pseudonym Abraham Smith, for enrollment due to the fact that he has HIV.

Under the settlement agreement, the school is required to pay $700,000 to Smith and his mother, adopt and enforce a policy prohibiting discrimination and requiring equal opportunity for students with disabilities, including those with HIV, in the school’s programs and services, and to provide training to staff and administrators on the requirements of the ADA. T he school must also pay a $15,000 civil penalty to the United States.

“Children should not be denied educational opportunities simply because they have HIV,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “This settlement sends a clear message that unlawful discrimination against persons with HIV or AIDS will not be tolerated.”

“This is a very significant case, affirming the rights of persons with HIV, and we applaud the school for working so cooperatively to amend its position on this matter,” said Zane David Memeger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The ADA requires public accommodations, including private schools such as the Milton Hershey School, to provide individuals with disabilities, including people with HIV, equal access to goods, services, privileges, accommodations, facilities, advantages and accommodations.


The Department of Justice provides a webpage specifically dedicated to information about the ADA and HIV at www.ada.gov/aids. Those interested in finding out more about these settlements or the obligations of public accommodations under the ADA may call the Justice Department’s toll-free ADA information line at 800-514-0301 or 800-514-0383 (TDD), or access its ADA website at www.ada.gov. ADA complaints may be filed by email to ada.complaint@usdoj.gov.