Digital Accessibility

Meryl Evans, independent, Professional Speaker and TrainerMeryl Evans is an accessibility evangelist who works as a trainer, speaker, and consultant. Her early career was with business writing and digital marketing. She then became involved with making and instructing how to make high-quality captions for video. Meryl stresses the importance of going beyond digital accessibility and considering the touchpoints with the physical world. That includes offering multiple formats for interacting with a product or service. Mentioned in this episode:Info about Accessibility at Blink

Thomas Wlodkowski, Comcast, Vice President, AccessibilityCurrently, leading the accessibility program at Comcast. Tom's team supports both employee-facing or customer-facing accessibility. He shares his experience being blind from birth and finding his way into the media world through radio at WPOP in Boston. That led to work with audio descriptions, policy-making for accessible media and then a position at AOL as director of accessibility.Mentioned in this episode:Info about Accessibility at Blink

Miriam Nabinger, independent, Accessibility SpecialistMiriam Nabinger began her work career at IBM where she first became aware of accessibility. She decided to study accessibility and make that the focus of her work. That led to her starting her own accessibility consulting practice. She talks about the current status of accessibility in Austria and the need to create more awareness. Mentioned in this episode:Info about Accessibility at Blink

Rajesh Kalidindi, independent, Accessibility & User Experience ConsultantRajesh Kalidindi enables individuals and corporations through his accessibility consultancy by providing training, comprehensive validations, VPATs, usability studies, empathy workshops, etc. He began as a multimedia designer and moved into UX. Joining Microsoft, Rajesh found a passion for inclusive experiences that lead to learning about standards and observing users' challenges in usability studies. He enjoys presenting at conferences. Mentioned in this episode:Info about Accessibility at Blink

Sarah Horton, University of Southampton, Research FellowSarah Horton is currently a research fellow at the U. of Southhampton working on a study about the teaching of accessibility. Her career began by working with instructional technology in academic circles and the led to her work in web development. She was part of the staff in the early days of The Paciello Group, contributing to audits, design reviews, and usability studies. Along the way she has written many books.Mentioned in this episode:Info about Accessibility at Blink

Cam Beaudoin, CIBC, Senior Manager of AccessibilityCam Beaudoin is the Senior Manager of Accessibility for a financial institution in Canada. He started as a developer at a consulting company and was immediately charged with understanding the WCAG. That led to his current position as well as consulting, speaking engagements, and his own accessibility podcast. Cam describes a bit about regulatory compliance in Canada. He also talks about the importance of melding our work with business goals, design systems, and metrics. Mentioned in this episode:Info about Accessibility at Blink

Rachael Bradley Montgomery, Library of Congress, Digital Accessibility SpecialistRachael talk about her work as the co-chair of the W3C's Accessibility Guidelines Working Group and her charity work in supporting accessibility for small community organizations. In her work at the Library of Congress, she help create accessible experiences for employees and patrons. She talks about her own challenge with having a chemical sensitivity disability. Mentioned in this episode:Info about Accessibility at Blink

Ken Nakata, Converge Accessibility, PrincipalKen Nakata helps law firms and corporation understand web accessibility issues. His career began in the Department of Justice working on the original Americans with Disability Act legislation and litigation. When Section 508 appeared, Ken started working in that area and spent a long time in that digital accessibility effort. Mentioned in this episode:Info about Accessibility at Blink

Marie Van Driessche, Unc, UX DesignerMarie Van Driessche helps her organization's clients understand the importance of accessibility in their web sites and apps. She shared her own experience with the many accessibility issues specific to being deaf. Mentioned in this episode:Info about Accessibility at Blink

David Schleppenbach, Tactile Solutions, PresidentDavid Schleppenbach produces a braille computer for people who need tactile or haptic input. He gives a quick tour of the product and manufacturing facility. As an instructor at Purdue University, he began supporting blind students by creating a better learning environment. This led to participating in the tech entrepreneurship program at Purdue and the start of his accessibility company.  Mentioned in this episode:Info about Accessibility at Blink