As we close in on the end of the first month of 2025, there’s a flurry of accessibility activity emerging across the globe. The conference season is kicking off, professional association programming is starting to reemerge, and the pace of communications and meetings is accelerating rapidly—hard as it is to believe, spring is nearly on the horizon!
But first, February. The month of love and lore! Let’s look at some of the stories we’re focusing on right now.
In my short video below, I highlight some of the stories that stand out to me, explore their significance, and explain why I recommend that you check them out.
As you jump into the video, be on the lookout for a special guest!
Do you have a story you think we should read? Please share it on social and make sure to tag us! You can also leave a comment on this post.
Featured articles
There has been a lot of accessibility and DEI-related press in the news cycle lately. It’s been covered, analyzed, and amplified. Much of it has been concerning. However, for this post, I’d like to give you some positive news—consider it a nod to the month of love!
I think we all need reminding that there continues to be amazing people working amazingly hard –against the grain and into the headwinds–all around the world:
IAAP has us looking back at some new (and amazing) assistive technology innovations from 2024.
Honeywell has launched a new technology that enables first responders to quickly locate and assist those with disabilities in the event of an emergency.
Illinois Governor Pritzker has signed a bill to phase out subminimum wage for disabled workers.
Brett Cooper shared his insights from the NFR Conference about Target’s new point of sale self-checkout device that enables visually impaired shoppers.
Open Road Access has launched a “revolutionary” wheelchair-accessible vehicle (WAV) rental service from all major UK airports. Wheelchair users can now travel the UK on their own terms—independently, and with flexibility. Every vehicle in the Open Road Access fleet has been specially adapted so that a wheelchair user can travel comfortably and safely without leaving their wheelchair.
The Australian federal government has unveiled a seven-year plan to improve the lives of autistic Australians. Australia’s first-ever national autism strategy aims to create “a safe and inclusive society where all autistic people are supported and empowered to thrive.”
In a groundbreaking move, the Portland Trail Blazers have partnered with Ticketmaster and OneCourt to become the first professional sports team to offer OneCourt’s haptic display technology at all home games.
Brown University alums are shedding light on what it’s like to be visually impaired through a public art installation project, The Blind Urban Subject, near their campus.
Walmart has partnered with Aira, a visual interpreting app that helps blind or low-vision users, to integrate their services into the Walmart mobile app and website.
Kate Sonka (Executive Director, Teach Access) wrote a great CES 2025 Retrospective report with highlights of some of the events, reviews of some key brand efforts, and lots of ideas on groups and organizations that are participating at CES.
Travel Ability Insider published their Accessibility Champions of Change to Watch for 2025.
IAAP has announced that the WAS BoK has been updated to include WCAG 2.2 in English and is now available. It will be the basis for the 2025 March/April WAS Exam.
The Privacy Commissioner of Canada reports progress in their 2024 report, while Max Brault shares his top takeaways from 2024 that impacted Canadians with disabilities.
Victor and Karo share their joyful experience of their first ride in a self-driving car. A video about their ride is also linked in the article.
Finally, Susanna Laurin at Funka Foundation shares that it’s time for good news!
More stories
Below, I’ve gathered some additional links to compelling stories that I think are well worth exploring:
Procurement is taking a bigger role in two key areas: sustainability and accessibility
From Foresters’ What it Means podcast, Principal Analyst Gina Bhawalkar and Senior Analyst Jeffrey Rajamani talk about how procurement is related to these key areas.
Ready or Not: U.S. Tech Companies Must Be Ready for EU Accessibility Compliance Rules
Jason Baum takes a DevOps view on the first upcoming EAA deadline.
“What’s new in Google accessibility” episode 7 is here!
Discover exciting updates across Pixel, Android, Chrome, Workspace, and Google Wallet.
State of play: accessibility in fintech
Phillip Benton’s hope for 2025 is that “accessible by default” is used in conversation in the financial services industry as commonly as digital, cloud, and AI.
Developing accessibility competence at Vincit
Vincit writes about their approach to creating accessible digital services and how it requires expertise from people in various roles across the software development lifecycle.
New Techniques for Accessible PDFs
These new Techniques for Accessible PDFs are designed to help software developers, document authors, and remediators create accessible PDF files that better meet the needs of users with disabilities.
What Makes a Good Accessibility Designer?
David Kennedy reports, “Someone asked me recently what skills a designer needs. Since I work in the accessibility space, I started thinking about how the question translates to designers who tackle accessibility every day.”
Disability is often neglected in medical school curricula, new study finds
Northwestern Now reports that “Doctors do not know how to care for people with disabilities, because they never learned.”
Reading signs: New method improves AI translation of sign language
Sign languages have been developed by nations around the world to fit the local communication style, and each language consists of thousands of signs. This has made sign languages difficult to learn and understand. Using artificial intelligence to automatically translate the signs into words—known as word-level sign language recognition—has now gained a boost in accuracy through the work of an Osaka Metropolitan University-led research group.
Revolutionizing accessibility: The rise of assistive technology in India and beyond
From AI-driven speech devices that give voice to those unable to speak to innovations allowing the visually impaired to read and translate text, these advancements are redefining possibilities in healthcare, education, and beyond.
What do CTOs need to know about accessibility and technical debt?
Did you know accessibility can be helpful for keeping down technical debt? Does your Chief Technical Officer (CTO) know this?
Introducing the Leader’s Guide to Accessibility
This leader’s guide is for anyone responsible for a digital team, product, or service. It will help you work out how to build accessibility into your product or service from the start.
Bring The Voice Of People With Disabilities Into Your VoC Program
A critical component of the EAA Directive is working with People with Disabilities (PwDs.) Read Gina Bhawalkar’s (Forrester) report covering how most organizations that claim to be committed to digital accessibility lack one of the most critical elements of an accessibility program: Direct feedback from people with disabilities.
This week’s recommended read
If you read just one thing this week, I recommend:
IAAP Nordic’s round-up of which countries have the highest rate of accessibility experts, as they prepare for their upcoming event in February. The numbers might surprise you.
Bonus content!
Most people are not aware that I lived and worked in Minnesota for over 28 years, a place where they certainly know how to face the cold head-on. In this week’s bonus, I wanted to share a great example of event inclusion as showcased by the Minnesota Art Shanty Projects—an event held in the dead of winter on a frozen lake.
Next steps
Thank you for joining me for Accessibility Reads, and for all that you are doing to bring equality to the digital world. Keep being brave and continue to fight for digital equality. Remember that you are part of a community—lean on each other for support!
Please visit deque.com to learn more about how we’re advancing digital accessibility and inclusion across the globe.
Is your business ready to take your digital accessibility efforts to the next level? Schedule a free strategic consulting session today!