"amazon accessibility" - Google News - Wednesday, March 18, 2020 at 9:43 AM
Blind exec: Highlighting digital accessibility is 'silver lining' of
coronavirus crisis - WRAL Tech Wire
Editor’s note: John Samuel is head of LCI’s new tech division, working to break
down digital accessibility barriers. He had been scheduled to be a keynote
speaker at NC TECH’s Diversity + Inclusion Summit at Durham’s Sheraton Hotel on
March 13. That event is now postponed to June 23 due to the coronavirus
outbreak.
CARY — This week was supposed to be a very big week for me. I was supposed to
travel to Anaheim to attend the 35th CSUN Assistive Technology Conference, and
then return to North Carolina to keynote NC Tech’s Diversity + Inclusion in
Tech Summit. However, I was not able to attend either event because of
precaution against the coronavirus.
Each day, we hear about new companies implementing a work-from-home policy, as
the world tries to navigate through the global pandemic we are facing. However,
this type of policy is not applicable for many types of jobs, in particular,
roles that many people who are blind fill.
At LCI, we employ hundreds of people who are blind in manufacturing,
distribution, and retail, not all of which can be done from the comfort of
people’s homes. However, when we launched LCI Tech, our goal was to create
employment for people who are blind in the knowledge economy – which are often
the same jobs that can be done outside of the confines of a company’s walls.
John Samuel, head of LCI Tech
LCI headquarters
To me, the positive aspect of this terrible situation we are going through is
that more companies are figuring out how to enable their workforce to be able
to work from home. This will greatly benefit the disability community, who are
often limited because of transportation barriers, and open them up to
opportunities in the knowledge economy, which they were previously blocked from.
Like many people, I have been more glued to CNBC than normal; watching the wild
swings in the stock market, and one show that I often listen to is “Mad Money
with Jim Cramer.” Over the past couple of weeks, he has been talking a lot
about companies that will thrive in the “stay at home economy.” This includes
companies like Zoom, Amazon, and Netflix, where they will help people work,
shop, and enjoy being at home.
What is interesting about all three of these companies is that they are also
very accessible, and have done a great job of ensuring that people with
disabilities can consume their products and services.
So, as we think about all of the products and systems that will be required for
people to work from home, it is important to think about the accessibility and
make sure that all members of our teams will be able to successfully complete
their work away from the office.
I am hopeful that this experience will force companies to not only worry about
the accessibility of their external facing websites, but also place a spotlight
on their internal systems, which will make the knowledge economy more inclusive
of all people.
Note: This post was originally published on LCI’s blog.
Blind Triangle exec makes it his business to break down digital accessibility
barriers
https://www.wraltechwire.com/2020/03/18/blind-exec-highlighting-digital-accessibility-is-silver-lining-of-coronavirus-crisis/
David Goldfield
Assistive Technology Specialist
Feel free to visit my Web site
WWW.DavidGoldfield.info
