Members of AFB’s Public Policy team joined leaders in the technology and workforce space to share how AI could affect workers with disabilities at the first AI Skilling Fair held by the AI Workforce and Skills Roundtable and House Taskforce on AI. AFB’s Senior Advisor of Public Policy & Research, Sarah Malaier, spoke during the briefing and shared her thoughts after the event.

When it comes to days or months designated to draw attention to specific issues or give voice to those traditionally unheard, the term "awareness" is often used. However, for Disability Pride Month, the word "pride" is used instead. This distinction is important and worth discussing. As someone with a disability who works in the field, I've thought a lot about Disability Pride Month over the last few weeks and its significance.

Today marks the 34th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This year, we've partnered with Teach Access, an organization that aims to broaden accessibility knowledge among industry and academia, to detail multiple resources that can elevate your disability knowledge.

Recently, in the blindness and low vision community, there has been discussion about Sonos, a popular manufacturer of smart speakers, releasing an update to their mobile app that significantly affected its accessibility for VoiceOver users on iOS. If you would like to learn more about this situation, or discover where things stand currently with Sonos accessibility, see this excellent blog post by Jonathan Mosen.

Today marks the 13th anniversary of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). In celebration of GAAD, I want to highlight the direct impacts on digital inclusion and accessibility that we at the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) have achieved over the past year.

Researchers at the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) Public Policy and Research Institute just released results from the second Barriers to Digital Inclusion study, which show how often commercial websites and apps continue to exclude blind and low-vision customers.

We at AFB are thrilled that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) published its final rule on website and mobile application accessibility this week. This rule is the culmination of decades of advocacy and rulemaking and marks a significant step in ensuring that the digital environment is fully accessible to people who are blind, have low vision, or are deafblind.

Editor's Note: Each year, AccessWorld writers who attend the CSUN Assistive Technology Conference detail the most cutting edge or noteworthy pieces of technology they encounter. This year, Judy Dixon brings us details on new developments in mobility technology, AI Vision, and braille displays.

When making digital technology accessible for people using screen readers, the implementation may be of varying levels of complexity, but the task is, in most situations, relatively straightforward: "Is this element labeled and viewable to the screen reader or not?" When we discuss accessibility, we generally are referring to websites, but this holds true for the vast majority of other modern digital interfaces including apps, desktop software, even operating system UIs.

As time passes, technology becomes more commonplace and increasingly crucial for most aspects of life, be it work, school, or leisure. As we integrate and evolve with digital spaces, equal access to technology and digital resources is essential for people with disabilities to ensure they can fully participate and engage with the world. That is our mission– to create a world of endless possibilities for people who are blind or have low vision.