AccessAbilities Podcast

Hello listeners, Thank you so much for being a part of this podcast journey with us. We appreciate you sharing, liking, and most importantly listening. We'd like to thank all guests who were a part of making these wonderful conversations happen. But all good things must come to end. Please condinue the conversation around #a11y in #highered. Transcript available at http://bit.ly/2NP03gQ

Hello all, Welcome to the March 2019 episode of AccessAbilities!! We are so excited to bring you an interview with Fernando Albertorio with the Sunu Band (www.sunu.io) "Designed for when you can’t easily use sight or due to a vision impairment, Sunu Band enables you to walk and travel with confidence. Sunu Band is the only smart-band that guides your way around obstacles. It uses sonar or echolocation to detect objects up to 16 feet or 5.5 meters away. Then haptic vibration feedback informs...

Transcript: http://bit.ly/2GlML9Q We are so excited to bring you the February 2019 episode of AccessAbilities featuring Todd Frank, Dan Clark, and Keith Paulson of Braille on Demand(choose your podcatcher of choice for listening at linktr.ee/umassatc). If you don't know about Braille on Demand, you should. Braille on Demand is a program through the Iowa Prison Industries (IPI). IPI is the job training program within the Iowa Department of Corrections, providing offenders with the opportunity...

Transcript: http://bit.ly/2BTBvgM Happy New Year, AccessAbilities Listeners! We are so excited to ring in 2019 with an exciting episode featuring Judy Heumann. If you don't know Judy, you should. She's a wealth of information and instrumental in the field of disability. She's a teacher, advocate, and brilliant mind. We feel honored to have had the opportunity to interview her, hear more about her story, and share this experience with all of you. You can follow Judy Heumann on Twitter:...

Transcript for this mini episode: http://bit.ly/2TiCXAF Transcripts for all episodes: http://bit.ly/AccessAbilitiesTranscripts Back in October and November of 2018, the UMass Amherst Assistive Technology Center ran a social media challenge called "30 Days of Access". The goal was to provide 30 actionable tasks on both Twitter and Facebook for people to engage will focused on disability, accessibility, and inclusion. The hope was to provide a wide array of information, tools, and resources to...

Access the transcript for this episode by visiting http://bit.ly/2BOQqdo (case sensitive). Welcome back to AccessAbilities! We are excited to feature Will Wade and Euan Robertson from Ace Centre, a charity specializing in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and assistive technology (AT) in northern England. Ace Centre provides support for people with complex communications difficulties. They offer assessment, training, and information services across England, delivered by their...

Access the transcript for this episode by visiting http://bit.ly/2CWJV9E. Welcome back to AccessAbilities! We are excited to feature Crystal Skahan, the Education and Training Director at Northeast Passage in Durham, NH. Northeast Passage aims to empower individuals with disabilities to define, pursue, and achieve their Therapeutic Recreation and Adaptive Sports goals. Sports and recreation must be accessible to everyone, and Northeast Passage is a stellar example of how education, adaptive...

World Usability Day, held on November 8th 2018, is a celebration of (and push for) making products and services usable and accessible to all people. We are so excited about this interview with its creator, Elizabeth Rosenzweig. How will you celebrate World Usability Day this year? Find out more info at https://worldusabilityday.org/ [IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Graphic of Earth surrounded by a circle. Text "World Usability Day - Making life easy!" underneath] A transcript for this episode can be...

Debra Ruh, founder of Ruh Global and Neil Milliken, Head of Accessibility and Digital Inclusion at Atos, are connected in the accessibility world in many ways, but most notably through an award-winning Twitter chat called #AXSchat. Debra and Neil have first-hand experience in the world of disability and accessibility, and are incredible advocates in the fight for equal rights and inclusion. Find out more about #AXSChat by following the "hashtag" AXSchat on Twitter every Tuesday from 3-4 p.m....

Diana Petschauer, founder of AT for Education and Access for Employment (atfored.com), is a RESNA certified Assistive Technology Professional and Special Educator with many years of experience working in K-12 and post-secondary education environments. Join us to learn more about the important role of assistive technology and accessibility in transition from K-12 to post-secondary education and/or the workplace. Find Diana on social media, as well (Facebook: @assistivetechnologyforeducation...

Episode 7 of the UMass ATC AccessAbilities Podcast features the founder of "Abroad with Disabilities", Juanita Lillie. Juanita talks about her life as a person with a disability, how having a disability has never stopped her from travel, and how she hopes the same for others! Curious about travel abroad with a disability? Want to know more about support and options? Give it a listen. Visit www.abroadwithdisabilities.org to make connections. Explore! A transcript of this podcast can be found...

This episode of AccessAbilities features Winston Chen, CEO and creator of Voice Dream Reader, an application for iOS and Android that supports individuals who experience disabilities (such as blindness, low vision, dyslexia, ADHD, etc.) to read and interact with text independently and with ease. Find out more about Winston and Voice Dream at www.voicedream.com. Winston has an incredible story, so we hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it! A transcript of this episode...

With Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD)coming up soon, we are so happy to share an incredible interview about #GAAD with all of you! We had a chance to interview the founders, Joe Devon and Jennison Asuncion, in anticipation of celebrating this year. GAAD is held each year on the third Thursday of May (May 17th of this year, 2018). Find more info at www.globalaccessibilityawarenessday.org. You can find a transcript of the podcast at https://bit.ly/2HV0fet

On this edition of AccessAbilities, we spread the word about a new piece of software available on the UMass campus, EquatIO from Texthelp. We also talk to Kathleen McClaskey, an educator, author, and entrepreneur leading the national discussion around the practice of making learning personal. Follow her on twitter @khmmc, and learn more about her or purchase her books by visiting her website "Make Learning Personal" at www.kathleenmcclaskey.com. A transcript of this episode can be found at...

The Digital Media Lab, Assistive Technology Center, and Bryan Monesson-Olson (Molecular Biology Professor) are collaborating on a pilot project to adapt the visual components of a STEM course. STEM courses are particularly challenging to students with disabilities due to inaccessible visual components of both online and in-person lectures. It is important to level the playing field by utilizing 3D-printing technology to adapt DNA (and other) models in order that blind/visually impaired...

In the second episode of AccessAbilities, Assistive Technology Coordinator (Kelsey Hall) and Assistive Technology Departmental Assistant (Josh Pearson) from the UMass Amherst Assistive Technology Center (ATC) interview Venkat Rao, an accessibility technology innovator and blogger extraordinaire! Venkat is well-known for his test runs of IFTT (If this, then that) criteria using Amazon Echo's Alexa, among much, much more. A transcript can be found at http://bit.ly/2nUkEnX

This is our inaugural episode! An interview with educator, photographer, and published author/consultant Luis Perez (https://luisperezonline.com/.) A transcript of the podcast can be found at http://bit.ly/2F3YxBV