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Information Technology: Not Just a Convenience

“For people without disabilities, technology makes things easier. For people with disabilities, technology makes things possible.”

This wise, simple statement has been used over the years in many accessibility speeches and articles to emphasize how access to information technology is not just a convenience for the estimated 54 million Americans with disabilities, it is a necessity and a civil right. However, in order for people with disabilities to be able to use assistive technology’s to access online resources for employment, education and commerce and lead lives of independence depends upon content developers making their information and communications technology accessible. Below are key resources to help public entities meet their responsibilities for accessibility of information and communications technology.

Accessibletech.org is a project of the Great Lakes ADA Center and the Pacific ADA Center to promote full and unrestricted participation in business and society by persons with disabilities through the use of electronic information technology that is universally accessible. Listed below are Accessible tech’s Top Five Technology FAQs that reflect national trends with accessibility.

What is the Status of the Section 508 Standards and Guidelines Refresh?

What is accessible electronic & information technology?

What is assistive technology?

Increasing the accessibility of technology in your business

How does accessible web design benefit all web users?

Listed below are a few upcoming free webinars on accessible technology.

• September 15, 2016 – Speaking the Same Language: Making Closed Captioning Work
• November 17, 2016 – Accessible IT – A status report on legal milestones

The latest archived webinar about electronic information and communications technology in the workplace, The Importance of Accessibility in Disability Employment is now available to view. Three leading Texas resources for information on how public entities can make their websites accessible are:

• Texas Health and Human Services Accessibility Center for Electronic Information Resources
• Another free training tool can be found at the Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities Texas Key Laws and Resources page which provides training videos and instructions on creating accessible documents in Word 2007 or Word 2010. The Governor’s Committee’s state agency partners are updating these training videos to support versions of MS Office 2013 and 2016 with a publication of the new versions expected this fall.
• The Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) EIR Accessibility Tools, Training, and Related Resources

The Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities (Committee) provides GovDelivery updates for informational purposes on a variety of disability related issues for a diverse audience. Updates may include information provided by external sources. The inclusion of this external information does not constitute an official endorsement or approval by the Committee or the Office of the Governor of any information, policy, product, or service offered by an external source.