Large companies in the online, like Facebook, Microsoft, Dropbox, Yahoo and LinkedIn, joined strategies to increase accessibility for persons with disabilities to technology, according to huffingtonpost.com.
According to the source, 19% of the US population is represented by persons with disabilities, which makes them to be the largest minority group in this country. However, frequently, their basic technology is inaccessible. Despite the growing number of tools and functions, continues to be a lack of expertise in this area in terms of accessibility technology so that it can be used by anyone really.
Thus, in the context of celebrating 25 years of the implementation Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a law that prohibits discrimination against persons with physical and mental disabilities, Silicon Valley giants have stepped up their commitment to increase the availability of these people to technology.
Companies like Facebook, Microsoft, Dropbox, Yahoo and LinkedIn works with lawyers in the field and academic institutions to launch Teaching Accessibility Initiative. The project, announced Thursday aims to stimulate accessibility to technology through changes made in the curriculum of schools which train engineers, designers and researchers. Thus, educational institutions such as Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon University will ensure that the principles of accessibility and universal design their courses to be included in this specific technological field.
In addition, technology companies have announced job descriptions which include standard issues in the increasing accessibility. The goal is to select from among those HR people who understand the aspects of the technology accessibility issues.
