The Focus on Ability short film festival

The Focus on Ability short film festival, now in its 13th year, asks film makers to 'Focus on the Ability' of people with a disability and tell a story on film for the world to view. Films are judged by a professional judging panel and subject to an online voting process. Karen McPerson and Tim Arch (the son of Andrew Arch who many of you would know) have entered Accidentally Possible about vision impaired para-athlete runner Jaryd Clifford and his guide runners. Jaryd has not only become a world champion in 1500m and 5000m and broken multiple world records, he is also competing in the able bodied space. Recently Jaryd ran a marathon by accident. Having never trained for a marathon and setting out to pace his team mate Michael Roeger possibly half way, Jaryd’s “super human feet” and their incredible partnership had them both break the world record within their classifications. Jaryd will run the 1500m, 5000m and another Marathon in the coming weeks in Tokyo at the 2020ne Paralympics. Consider voting for Accidently Possible, or another film you prefer.

The Zero Awards

The Zero Project (https://zeroproject.org/shortlist2022/) has recognized two Australian nominations through the first round of peer-review at the 2022 Zero Project! One of the winning projects of the 2019 Access Awards– the South Australia Online Accessibility Toolkit – has been selected for the Zero Project 2022 Accessibility Theme Awards shortlist.
The project was nominated by the Digital Gap Initiative and is one of 2 Australian projects on the shortlist.  The other is the Travel for All Guide.

All shortlisted projects can be found on the Zero Project website: https://zeroproject.org/shortlist2022/ and more details on the status of the selection process can be found in our latest press release: https://zeroproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2021-22-Press-Release-Zero-Project-Shortlist-final.pdf

Being part of the coveted 2022 Zero Project Shortlist also encompasses additional benefits, such as being considered for the Impact Transfer Programme, an exclusive 6-month accelerator that helps disability inclusion innovators scale and replicate their promising models. The Impact Transfer Programme supports the internationalization of innovative disability solutions for a barrier-free world and is organized by the Essl Foundation, Fundacion Descúbreme, and Ashoka. Stay tuned as our accelerator team considers your Innovative Practice for the Impact Transfer Programme in the coming weeks.

The Shortlist is the next step in the 2022 Zero Project awardee selection. In the following weeks, over 8,000 experts will vote on all shortlisted nominations. As the voting closes and the votes are tabulated, the shortlist will be known soon.

Accessibility Basics

Accessibility Basics

AccessibilityOz has worked for years, like their colleagues, to make accessibility more accessible. The latest contribution to the community is a two-part article that takes their popular webinar and presentation “Accessibility Basics” and present it in an easy-to-understand article format. Part 1 begins by explaining what web accessibility is and why it’s needed.

"What is online accessibility?

Online accessibility is the ability for a person with a disability to understand and use a website, application, intranet, mobile app or program. The rules and regulations for web accessibility are governed by the Australian Human Rights Commission Disability Discrimination Act: Web Advisory Notes (in Australia), and, in the United States, by the Department of Justice, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Section 508, Section 504, the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) and others. Online accessibility is achieved by following the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

Web accessibility allows people with disabilities to access information like anyone else, interact with others without being categorized as “disabled” and undertake activities which they are not otherwise able to do."

You can see more at https://www.accessibilityoz.com/2021/07/accessibility-basics-part-1-overview-of-accessibility/

Continuous Accessibility Testing

How to Efficiently Include Accessibility Testing Through Continuous Integration

(Brad Henry | July 28, 2021)

If you find it difficult to prevent and resolve accessibility issues throughout your software development lifecycle (SDLC), you aren’t alone. Integrating accessibility into your software development lifecycle can be challenging if you do so without proper commitments and accountabilities.

There can be obstacles when launching or updating a website page or application, even without considering these assets’ accessibility. Layering in additional quality standards and testing for accessibility can easily slow your operations if you’re testing for accessibility before deploying your digital assets. But fortunately, there is a better way. By utilizing a continuous accessibility strategy, you’ll discover accessibility issues early on before launch.

See more at https://www.tpgi.com/how-to-efficiently-include-accessibility-testing-through-continuous-integration/

HRC Webinars

Accessible technology for people with disability
(Jun 30, 2021)

You may be interested to watch the Human Rights and Technology webinar.

This webinar focused on the accessibility of goods, services and facilities that use Digital Communications Technology for people with disability, with a special focus on accessible broadcasting services and online platforms.   

Disability rights experts discussed the Human Rights and Technology Final Report recommendations that promote more equal access to the benefits of new technology for people with disability.   

Panellists

  • Edward Santow, Human Rights Commissioner
  • Disability Discrimination Commissioner Dr Ben Gauntlett 
  • Rosemary Kayess, Chair UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
  • Emma Bennison, CEO Blind Citizens Australia
  • Sean Murphy, Senior Digital System Specialist (Accessibility), Telstra 

More information is available at https://tech.humanrights.gov.au

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