Much More Than Just an Accessibility Acronym

Rosemary Musachio, Author of Article — Rosemary Musachio

By Rosemary Musachio, CPACC, Chief Accessibility Officer

Notice the acronym after my name. CPACC stands for Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies. I recently discovered that I had earned this title after I took the certification exam in January. I’m excited and honored to be among the few so far to be recognized as an expert in the accessibility industry. Currently, around 200 industry professionals have earned their CPACC. The International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) offers the certification to qualified individuals who have worked in the accessibility industry for several years. CPACC candidates also must be proficient in English.

IAAP: International Association of Accessibility Professionals (Logo)

By being certified in accessibility, something that I’ve been doing for sixteen years, I will be seen as more credible. More people on social media networks, such as LinkedIn, are reaching out to me for advice and input. Not only does that strengthen my self-esteem, it also makes me feel that I’m making a difference in the business and education worlds.

Having a CPACC means companies will know you have fundamental knowledge about disabilities, accessibility and universal design, and laws and standards. With the prestigious credential following your name, business leaders will recognize your commitment to the accessibility field. They seek your advice and insights on accessibility issues regarding technology, architecture, commerce, and transportation. If an employer seeks applicants who have CPACC or require current employees to take it, the company realizes how important accessibility and inclusion are to its success. The certified accessibility professional ensures the office environment and technologies would be accommodating for employees with disabilities. For instance, someone who’s accredited in accessibility would be sure to know that buttons on a kiosk should be in different shapes or sizes for a blind person to use it, than someone who lacks the accreditation.

CPACC’s also are more competent in helping businesses reach out to customers with disabilities. For example, an accessibility accredited web developer ensures that they can use a website without difficulties based on laws and standards such as Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 508 Refresh, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0). Consequently, the certified personnel are expected to know accessibility laws thoroughly so a business would avoid potential litigation.

CPACC also is beneficial because it gives credence to accessibility principles in college courses and job training. Right now 92% of federal websites don’t comply with accessibility standards. This is because many web developers don’t have instructors who were accredited in accessibility. Besides technology, other fields lack accessibility competence in educating their professionals. For instance, if pre-meds and

Young boy holding an iPad at an Assistive Tech Demo, Taken by Raminta Zebrauskas - AMAC Team Photographer — Young boy holding an iPad at an Assistive Tech Demo, Taken by Raminta Zebrauskas – AMAC Team Photographer

nursing students have courses who are taught by CPACC professors, they would treat patients with accessible attitudes, learning how to communicate better with them. Or if future teachers take courses in universal design for learning, which is part of CPACC, they would know to apply different learning and testing techniques based on students with

diverse abilities.

As more professionals become CPACC certified, persons with disabilities will start noticing the impact. Accessibility in every realm of life will become the norm, not the exception. The employment rate of individuals with disabilities will increase. Commercial and professional services will reap from our patronage. ADA and other disability-based lawsuits will dwindle, being replaced with appeals for more consumers to buy from businesses. Medical professionals who will receive CPACC-based training will communicate with patients with disabilities more effectively, and teachers will understand better the learning dynamics of students with diverse abilities. That’s what being certified in accessibility does.

For more information on becoming a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies, Please visit the CPACC’s FAQ Page.

August 12, 2016

Don’t Pull Your Hair Searching for Code Examples – ARIA and Form Fields

Rosemary Musachio, Chief Accessibility Officer, Ruh Global Communications

If you are like me, searching for good code examples when you try to find solutions to accessibility issues can make you pull out your hair. You Google it and you get tons of results. When you finally find something, you go to the site to realize it’s only a forum unanswered question. Your excitement peaks again when you find a blog post that discusses the solution you’ve sought, but it doesn’t show the specific code example. Conversely, the blog post may have the code example without showing the actual component.

To prevent you from going bald, I’d like to share a complied list of websites each month that offer good code examples and the finished products. This month’s list is categorized into ARIA and Form Fields.

ARIA

Ajax Accessibility Examples – A great site for ARIA examples. It has a summary table of code examples and their associated roles, properties, and states. When you go to an example page, it has the actual component, a list of ARIA elements that are used, and the code example. Besides the summary table, you can search for examples by the three ARIA categories mentioned above.

W3C’s Role Model – The site explains everything you wanted to know about ARIA Roles and more. It describes each role in depth, including listing all the properties that are compatible with it. Even though the site offers code examples, it should provide them for every role-property combination. However, it is a must for anyone who wants to learn about ARIA.

Illinois Center for Information Technology and Web Accessibility ARIA Examples – The website has a table for concise searches concerning ARIA form control properties. When you click a link in the table, you see the form control that uses ARIA and the code in HTML and CSS.

ARIA Landmarks in (X)HTML – The webpage describes ARIA landmarks and how to implement them. The descriptions are straightforward. Since the page itself uses landmarks, you can view the code to it.

Form Fields

Accessible Web Form – The page screams simplicity. It is so easy to follow. It shows a form with various types of fields, including field groups (i.e. fieldset). After the form, it shows the code for it. That’s it.

Jim Thatcher’s Accessible Forms – What’s a list of accessible form examples without the father of web accessibility, Jim Thatcher? He explains accessible forms as clear as the mountain air. He presents form elements, including edit fields in a table, and the codes.

Webaim’s Creating Accessible Forms – The webpage offers an organized description of each type of form field, visual examples, and codes. It also describes different types of labeling, such as title attributes and aria-label.

Web Accessibility Tutorials – Form Concepts – The page offers links to different aspects of accessible forms, from firm labeling to custom controls. When you click each link, it shows visual examples and code snippets. W3C did a good job of making these pages concise, a pleasant turn from the norm.

Do you know other sites of great ARIA and Form Field examples? If so, put them in comments for this post. This is a great way to help each other out in making the Web more accessible.

Learn more about our work at www.RuhGlobal.com or follow us on Social Media @rosemusachio, @debraruh and @ruhglobal on most channels.

#AXSChat: Join Debra Ruh, Neil Milliken, and Antonio Santos for a weekly Twitter Chat on Disability Inclusion, ICT Accessibility, Built Environment, CRPD, Empowerment and Employment. Just search the hashtag #AXSChat at 3pmEST and join the conversation. You can learn more about AXSChat at www.AXSChat.com.

http://connections.accessibilityassociation.org/blogs/rosemary-musachio/2016/08/07/dont-pull-your-hair-searching-for-code-examples-aria-and-form-fields

July 5, 2016

Travel Behavior & Accessibility

For Your Consideration
Dear Traveler,

ILUNION T.A. in conjunction with Ruh Global Communications is assisting the travel & leisure industry with helping collect valuable insight to providing its customers with the best service and quality experience when traveling either locally or abroad. In line with their commitment to continuous improvement, the travel industry is looking to examine their current performance across a broad range of issues critical in providing the best possible traveler experience. The best way to do this is by asking you, as a travel (either for business or leisure) to participate in this brief Traveler Survey and to provide us with your opinion based on your own travel experiences.

This important traveler survey is being conducted by ILUNION T.A., an independent research consultancy organization. ILUNION T.A. undertakes to keep your responses strictly confidential.

The survey is completed on-line, is anonymous and should take around 5 minutes to complete. We encourage you to complete this survey in a quiet time when you are able to concentrate without interruption. The survey is set out in a number of sections and every statement in each section should be responded to before moving to the next.

Please remember, there are no right or wrong answers. It is only your honest feedback we are seeking.

Should you have any concerns or questions about this survey, please feel free to contact Richard Streitz from Ruh Global Communications at (949) 793-1300.

This customer survey will run from Today, June 24^th 2016 until Friday, July 24^th 2016. By participating in this survey you will be making an important contribution by providing invaluable information to help the travel industry improve and serve the community better. Your opinion counts!!!

What do you have to do?

The customer survey is web-based and is set out in a number of sections. Please click on the link below to start the customer survey:

Survey address (URL)
http://accessibilityintravel.consultaopinion.com/Encuesta.aspx?idEncuesta=145

May 26, 2016

PR: Ruh Global Communications Announces Rosemary Musachio Chief Accessibility Officer

Rockville, Virginia — Ruh Global Communications, a global leader with corporate inclusion strategies, accessibility advocacy and corporate inclusion industries, announces today it has named Rosemary Musachio Chief Accessibility Officer.

Ruh Global Communications, an international leader in strategic disability inclusion and accessibly policies, programs and marketing, announced that it has named Rosemary Musachio as Chief Accessibility Officer (CAO). With over fifteen years in the arena of electronic and Information technology (E&IT) accessibility, Miss Musachio will manage internal and external accessibility projects. She will ensure that accessibility best practices will be followed within the company and help clients meet their accessibility needs, including website and product accessibility. Additionally, she will consult on accessibility and inclusion issues that clients face from the employee to the customer level. Prior to this new position, Miss Musachio was the company’s Chief Strategy Officer.

“Every business needs to include accessibility in its fabric to become stronger. Otherwise, it will rip and create big gaps,” Miss Musachio explains. “Making every aspect of a company accessible and inclusive increases productivity, embraces diversity with common goals, and promotes more of a positive image to the public. Since I have cerebral palsy, I bring a personal perspective to my role as CAO. I know what a company needs to do for employees with disabilities to feel accepted and purposeful, and what a business must do to serve customers with disabilities with consideration and respect.”

“Honored to promote Rosemary Musachio as our Chief Accessibility Officer (CAO). She has been in the ICT Accessibility field for over 16 years. She has worked with national and multi-national corporations, non-profits, agencies and organizations all over the world,” says Debra Ruh, Ruh Global Communications, CEO. “Rosemary represents everything we want to achieve in the field. She is a talented technologist, college graduate, tester, user of Assistive Technology (AT), published author, poet, person with Cerebral Palsy (CP) and undisputed global expert in ICT accessibility. This woman is changing the world with her talents and we are extremely proud of her.”

About Rosemary Musachio

Since 2001, Rosemary Musachio has been well versed in the accessibility realm. She has been an accessibility analyst and training manager. She has worked with a number of major cooperate clients on accessibility projects and has written numerous blogs on the topic. Before Rosemary entered the accessibility industry, she was a local monthly columnist and freelance writer. She also edited and published resource newsletters for persons with disabilities.

About Ruh Global Communications:

Founded in March 2013, Ruh Global Communications is a strategic digital marketing firm that helps businesses and government entities include persons with disabilities within every level of an infrastructure, from interviewing and hiring to job training and retention. We help countries implement of the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). We also work with national and multi-national firms to help them include persons with disabilities in their workforce and developing accessibility and social media programs, providing outreach and training, and helping companies procure assistive technology. Ruh Global has presented at conferences throughout the world about accessibility and disability inclusion.

For further information, please visit us at www.ruhglobal.com , and follow us on Twitter: @RuhGlobal or @DebraRuh. or call: +1 (804) 986-4500

Press Contact:

Debra Ruh, CEO
Ruh Global Communications
18122 Vontay Rd.
Rockville, VA 23146, USA
(804) 986-4500
Debra@RuhGlobal.com
www.RuhGlobal.com

February 12, 2016

A girl’s anger transformed into a woman’s advocacy

Growing up with spinal muscular atrophy, a genetic neuromuscular disease that affects all muscles of the body, can bring social challenges for anyone. For Alice Wong, the challenges made her angry. Rather than the anger becoming a negative impact on her adult life, she has been able to utilize it to fight for her rights and those of others with disabilities.

As she wrote in her essay Hey, Angry Girl, Alice faced a lot of attitudinal barriers while she was growing up in Indianapolis, Indiana. Besides the usual stares and naïve questions from people, she also faced barriers in her education. For instance, to complete her second year drama class, one of the requirements was to do a skit that required physical action. The professor insisted it had to be done standing up, which Alice couldn’t do. So she had to forego it.

Attending the University of California, Alice discovered ways to break down barriers that she had encountered during her youth and still was facing. Works of disability activists and researchers such as Paul Longmore, Irving Zola, Erving Goffman, and others inspired Alice to express her ideas and voice her frustration through writing and research. Her writings have helped people with disabilities to live as independent as possible.

Direct Course Online

For instance, Alice is the Staff Research Associate for the Community Policy Living Center at the University of California where she authors curricula for the College of Personal Assistance and Caregiving and producing reports on Olmstead-related legislation and lawsuits. In fact, Alice is the co-author of several online courses on personal assistance care, which can be found at Direct Course Online. She’s also the founder of the Facebook group “Self-Directed Care Discussion Group”, where members can voice their concerns and ask questions about personal assistance issues.

National Council on Disability Image from: https://www.facebook.com/NCDgov/

Besides personal care assistance, Alice also has motivated other persons with disabilities to make their voices heard. She has launched the Disability Visibility Project, a blog-like platform so persons with disabilities can write about their challenges and successes. These stories make our voices heard, act as a historical resource, and illustrate their diversity. As with the Facebook personal assistance group, she also utilizes Twitter to encourage them to discuss issues that concerns the disability community. Hopefully, agency or government officials notice these discussions and act upon what needs to be done to ensure our basic rights as humans.

President Obama Appoints Alice Wong to National Council on Disability. Image from: www.ucsf.edu

Alice also promotes social media accessibility as a council member of the National Council of Disability (NCD). In 2014, she co-moderated a series of online dialogues to discuss how social media platforms can become more accessible, such as users adding text alternatives to images and including correct captions for videos. “{O}ne of my advocacy efforts is through community-building efforts on social media such as Facebook and Twitter,” Alice says. “I’ve come across some amazing people with disabilities all over the world and we share our experiences that seem to be universal.”

As an avid advocate for persons with disabilities, Alice offers three bits of advice. First, don’t consider yourself the problem. Society creates most of the barriers that you need to overcome. Second, reach out to other persons with disabilities who have experienced similar situations that you do for guidance and mentoring. Third, share your struggles and successes with others who may need help.

Alice turned her anger as a little girl into something positive as a woman—her passion and desire to help others with disabilities.

Follow Alice on Twitter at @SFdirewolf.

February 12, 2016

Introducing Dr. Christopher M. Lee in “Leaders Making a Difference in the World” : A Story of Dyslexia, Learning Disabilities and Finding his Greatness

Debra Ruh - CEO of Ruh Global Communications — Debra Ruh – CEO of Ruh Global Communications

I believe that the best way to further inclusion of persons with disabilities is to tell the stories of the organizations and leaders that are making a difference. Progress is being made all over the world and I want to highlight efforts coming out of Atlanta, Georgia. I have had the pleasure to collaborate with Dr. Christopher Lee and his team at AMAC Accessibility Solutions and Research Center (AMAC). AMAC is part of the Georgia Institute of Technology located in the College of Architecture.

Dr. Christopher Lee has been an advocate and pioneer in promoting social entrepreneurship to benefit humankind and further strive for sustainable social change in the field of disabilities.

Why does Dr. Lee care about the community of persons with disabilities? He is part of the community and was diagnosed with a cognitive deficit disorder in the second grade. He was placed in special education and speech classes.

Dr. Lee describes his dyslexia in this way: “Nothing I hear seems to stick with me and nothing I say seems to come out right. It is as though I am in a world where the air is packed with floating symbols. I watch as everyone swallows the symbols, digesting them to produce something that everyone else understands, but I can only swallow bits and pieces. Choking, I remain hungry in my struggle to find a way to communicate and comprehend effectively.”

He recalls being a student and standing in front of the classroom, he did his best to recall the ways to spell, to read and to say the right words and phrases. He understood that he needed to recall and use the words and phrases in the correct order to be able to connect and communicate with his peers and teachers.

He spent hours organizing his thoughts and preparing for presentations in front of his classmates. He tried to find ways to help him get his thoughts across to his peers and teachers. The efforts left him feeling very alone and frustrated, and in his mind and heart he longed to decipher the code of language.

“Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.” Albert Einstein

Dr. Lee has built a lot of character and drive to make the world a better place for individuals with learning disabilities and other disabilities. He admits to being a perfectionist and he worked very hard to fit in and succeed in a world that is not set up for his “twisted perception of language.”

He was determined to go to college and scored low scores on his SAT due to his severe visual and audio process disorders. He had to work his way through developmental studies before he was mainstreamed at the University of Georgia (UGA).

“With everything that has happened to you, you can either feel sorry for yourself or treat what has happened as a gift. Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose.” Wayne W. Dyer

He notes that his story is not unique from the high percentage of people in the United States and all over the world who are also dealing with learning disabilities. This story is experienced by parents and teachers globally. Many “experts” expected him to fail, but he worked hard and decided to become a success story and a beacon of hope for others with learning disabilities.

His motivation to become a collegiate swimmer athlete at UGA drove him hard to create his own academic action plan which included strategies, tools like assistive technology, and most importantly, a strong tutoring and mentoring network.

He also developed a communication strategy that included the use of role-playing activities where he perfected how to disclose his learning disabilities. He became an expert in and promoting his strengths and managing his weaknesses.

Today he holds multiple college degrees including a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences in Speech Communication from University of Georgia. He also earned a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on Social Psychology from Union Institute and University.

His work has centered on the innovation of new models and techniques to support accessible electronic information in corporate, governmental and nonprofit entities. Dr. Lee is an internationally recognized advocate, author, speaker, principal investigator and leader in the fields of learning disabilities and assistive technology.

In1992, at age twenty-three Christopher wrote his first book, Faking It: A Look into the Mind of a Creative Learning. This book can be purchased on Amazon by following this link: http://ow.ly/Avs8V

In 2003, he was highlighted in Microsoft “Accessible Technology for Everyone”, a Microsoft video and publication. http://www.microsoft.com/enable/

In 2007, he was featured in the PBS series “A Chance to Read”, hosted by Molly Ringwald, which highlights new strategies driven by emerging research that shows what’s happening across the country to help children with disabilities find success. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us8-tG6R024

Today Dr. Christopher Lee is the Founder, Director and Department Head of the AMAC Accessibility Solutions and Research Center (AMAC), located in the College of Architecture of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. AMAC is committed to promoting technological innovation and developing effective user-centered products and services for individuals with disabilities.

AMAC’s mission is to address unmet accessibility needs in government, non-profits, and corporations by providing products that benefit those with physical or cognitive impairments. AMAC has pioneered a cost-effective, replicable, scalable, full service center for alternative, digital and captioned media for college students with disabilities, along with the downloadable assistive technology software. AMAC receives baseline operational funds from the University System of Georgia (USG).

AMAC services and costs vary depending on the annual membership status of its 2,287 participating institutions. AMAC offers a variety of services to meet the individual needs of students with print-related disabilities and post-secondary institutions.

Christopher has been recognized for his advocacy and leadership many times and most recently was awarded a “Campus Technology Innovators Award for 2014”. AMAC was also awarded a coveted “Zero Project Award 2013” from The World Future Council and the European Foundation Centre.

To learn more about Dr. Christopher Lee’s work, please visit AMAC at http://www.amacusg.org/

To learn more about Ruh Global Communications, please visit www.RuhGlobal.com

February 5, 2016

Love, Compassion, Tenacity and Desire to improve his Sister’s Life – a story about Eric Zeiberg

Ruh Global Communications Logo

Love, Compassion, Tenacity and a Desire to improve his Sister’s Life: A story about Eric Zeiberg

Debra Ruh, CEO of Ruh Global Communications, Founder of TecAccess

By Debra Ruh, CEO and Founder of Ruh Global Communications

What can we accomplish when we put our minds to it? Eric Zeiberg of Connecticut believes we can accomplish anything even helping his big sister learn to communicate with him.

Andy Zeiberg Image from: whatsnext.nuance.com

It is always interesting when a friend or family member creates a product to help another friend or family member. This is a cool story about a young man that wanted to make a difference in another child’s life. At the time Eric was in the 6^th grade and 11 years old. One of Eric’s family friends has muscular dystrophy and has trouble speaking. She is practicing physician and writes on a simple notepad that she wants to say, and shows to people to communicate. Eric was fascinated as she wrote something on paper and showed it to others. “It could have been so much better if she could write on iPad and iPad would “speak” for her,” Eric thought.

Eric was intrigued and did some research to discover there were no handwriting-to-text applications. He decided to create one because he knew it could help his friend but also could help his sister Julie. Julie now 23 was born with Autism and has speech impairments.

Eric Zeiberg, 12, and his sister Julie work on an iPad. Eric designed an app that converts handwriting to speech. Photo by Harlan Levy/Journal Inquirer. Image from JournalInquirer.com

Eric says “Julie was my inspiration for the whole project. She can’t communicate, and it’s really hard for her to get words out. This is a starting point for helping her.” The app was finally ready on Dec. 2 with the debut of HandySpeech at Apple’s app

store, the only handwriting-to-speech iPad and iPad Mini. The application can help anyone with speech problems including people with Autism, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, CP, stroke, muscular dystrophy, and post-operation voice difficulties.

Plus it is easy to use. All it takes is a finger or a stylus to write in the yellow section at the bottom of the iPad screen, then hit the speech button, and the writing turns into a male or female voice.

Was HandySpeech easy to produce? “I started from scratch,” Eric said. “I didn’t know anything about the programming languages you use. I just had experience with computers. First I had to learn how to build the application — all the technologies and the Internet and how to code, and I used tutorials and websites to help me build it.”

iSpeech Logo Image from: www.ispeech.org

Eric also gained two partners — text-to-speech software company iSpeech and handwriting recognition software maker PhatWare.

The app provides for automatic corrections, learns user writing patterns, and allows simple finger gestures to insert special characters such as space and return.

Young inventor Eric Zeiberg, 12, created the HandySpeech mobile application. Image from: http://pvamag.com/pn/

Eric has a new version with several new features including:

Phrases: you’ll be able to scroll down a list of phrases such as “Please wait while I am writing” or “How are you?” and click on any one, and a voice will say it.
Speech speed control, so you can slow down or speed up the voice.
Ability to upload the app to an iPhone.

As you can imagine Eric’s father Boris is very proud of his son’s tenacity and desire to help not only his sister but millions of other people around the world.

Eric Zeiberg, 12, left, sits with mother and father, Maya and Boris, Zeiberg and big sister, Julie Zeiberg, 22, in their West Hartford home. Johnathon Henninge/ Hartford Courant

“I am very proud of him because he put his mind together, saw it through, and did something significant, but mostly because he shows that he cares about people.” Boris Zeiberg

The App sells for $29.99 and can write and “speak” in 13 languages, including Dutch, French, German, Danish, Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Italian, U.S. English, British English, and Portuguese as spoken in Brazil and as spoken in Portugal.

For details, call 860-874-8212, email info@iSpeak4u.com, or visit www.iSpeak4u.com

Follow Ruh Global Communications — To follow up on Debra Ruh’s current endeavors, follow her on social media: @DebraRuh or visit Ruh Global Communications

February 5, 2016

Take Disability Travel Survey

Ruh Global Communications Logo

Ruh Global has created a survey for clients to determine travel preferences for people with disabilities and all stakeholders. Please take this survey and pass to others to complete. Thanks for helping us gather this critical data. Our goals are to encourage hospitality and tourism to value, accommodate and include people with disabilities. Please share and take the survey. It is not only for people with disabilities but family members, friends and other stakeholders.

Take the Survey Here!

February 5, 2016

Focus on Abilities, a series: Jessica Cox

Ruh Global Communications Logo designed by Emily Ha

By Debra Ruh, CEO and Founder of Ruh Global Communications

I am writing a series about people with abilities and am proud to tell the story of one amazing woman named Jessica Cox.

Pilot, Jessica Cox standing by a plane. Image from www.katolik.ru

I am blessed to meet interesting people all over the world that are making a difference. It is time to celebrate our differences and understand that we come in all shapes, sizes, colors and abilities.

Many years ago a neighbor told me that she cried for me

every night because our daughter Sara was born with Down syndrome. I was shocked because I never thought of Sara being born with Down syndrome as a “tragedy”. Sara has so many gifts and I believe she is perfect the way she was born. She was born with hazel eyes, brown hair, a beautiful soul and Down syndrome. As she grew she complimented these god given talents with a good sense of humor, quick smile, compassionate heart and other talents.

My daughter, Sara Ruh, using different Apple Products simultaneously. Sara has Down Syndrome and loves the Accessibility Features that Apple's Products offer — My daughter, Sara Ruh, using different Apple Products simultaneously. Sara has Down Syndrome and loves the Accessibility Features that Apple’s Products offer

It is time to rethink the negative connotation of a person with disabilities and instead focus on the entire person. Each of us has abilities and disabilities. As we live our lives our gifts, ability and disabilities shift and change.

Jessica Cox is a perfect example of someone that is using all her abilities to make a huge difference in the world.

Jessica Cox a 30 year old born with no arms but born with many other talents. From a young age she was determined to make a difference and fully embrace her life. She is a beautiful, talented and amazing young woman.

Jessica cox, Pilot and Motivational Speaker. Image from: http://media.azw.s3.amazonaws.com/

Jessica Cox has achieved more using just her feet than most people. She also decided at a young age to not let anything get in the way of accomplishing her dreams. She achieved a black belt in Taekwondo at the tender age of 14. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona by typing papers with her toes.

She always dreamed of becoming a pilot, and in 2008, after years of persistent effort, she achieved this goal by soloing a single engine 1946 415C ErcoupeAirplane. Cox loves adventure sports—rock climbing and snowboarding to name a few—and she just made her first sky dive in January. Cox is named in the Guinness World Record for being the first armless person certified to fly an airplane.

Jessica cox, Pilot and Motivational Speaker. Image from: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/

She is also a sought after motivational speaker, mentor, and advocate for living your life to the fullest. She has traveled the world from Europe to Australia and Africa, sharing her inspirational story. She has spoken at the World Economic Forum and the Pentagon, met Pope Benedict XVI and President Obama, and appeared on The Ellen Show and CNN. She also recently won a Susan G. Komen Inspiration Award.

Her speeches emphasize the importance persistence and dreaming big. “There are two words I’ve eliminated from my vocabulary,” Cox says. “’I can’t.’ Because once you say those words, you’ve already failed.” She also emphasizes the importance of inclusion and opportunities of for persons with disability.

Jessica Cox sitting on the side of a plane. Image from www.marieclaire.com

A documentary called RIGHTFOOTED is being created to document Jessica Cox’s life. Her goals are to change attitudes about

Jessica Cox writing. Image from: http://winnerswithinus.com/

what’s possible, and to inspire change. Want to learn more about Jessica Cox and her most recent project? Visit her Indiegogo campaign at bit.ly/Xyx15O where she is currently raising funds to support a trip to Ethiopia to advocate for disabled kids. For more information please see the press release at http://bit.ly/WfxlZj.

Please help me spread these stories by sharing them with your networks. You can find more information about my work at www.RuhGlobal.com. Please follow me on Twitter, Linked-in, SKYPE, Tumblr, Facebook, Pinterest: @debraruh

February 4, 2016

Social Media and Accessibility

TecAccess, Making the world of technology accessible

Social Media and Accessibility

By Debra Ruh, CEO of Ruh Global Communications

I am a big communicator and to be honest it got in trouble a lot in school for chattering. In High School, teachers said that I couldn’t stop talking and my Mom often got notes about this issue. I remember in 5^th grade my teacher saying if one more person talks or laughs you will be staying after school. You guessed it that made me giggle and yes – I stayed after school and then stay in my room that weekend on restriction. I love to talk, sing, write and just chatter. My family and friends understand and usually appreciate this about me. Sometimes I think my husband wouldn’t mind gagging me but after 29 years of marriage he would never openly say that because then we would have to “talk” about it. He says that I even talk in my sleep.

A photo of Debra Ruh, iPhone near by — A photo of Debra Ruh, always an iPhone near by!

So I bet you have guessed it – I LOVE social media. Social Media allows me to chatter with people all over the world. Plus I can get instantaneous chatter back, I remember when Virginia had our earthquake (okay California- no wise cracks) it was traumatic for us. I couldn’t believe how many aftershocks we felt. One night we had a 5.3 aftershock and it woke everyone up in the house. My husband and daughter went back to sleep but I was shaken and started thinking scary thoughts like what if a really big one comes and what if a tree falls on the house. I have a great imagination and sometimes I don’t appreciate it late at night. So I got up and got on my social media to chatter about it and calm my nerves. I chattered with people all over Richmond and it really helped calmed me down and made me feel safe knowing others were feeling the same way.

I also use social media to chatter about the community of people with disabilities (PwD) and accessible Internet, Communications and Technology (ICT). I believe that the community of PwD is starting to find our voices via social media. However, there are some significant accessibility problems with social media. We find that many social media tools and applications are not blending accessibility into their products. So PwD are often left out of the social media conversation and movement because they are inaccessible

Really – come on – can’t everyone be allowed to participate? If we don’t make social media accessible than we continue to widen the “Digital Divide” and according to the World Health Organization (WHO) one in seven people are impacted with disabilities worldwide. Plus 1 out of 3 households in the U.S. are impacted by disabilities. Worldwide, this group numbers 500-750 million people and is a key influencer of the public’s perceptions.

The Internet has opened many opportunities and has greatly improved the quality of life for these users, but they still face barriers. You might think of disabilities in extreme terms such as blindness and deafness, but it also includes many others with visual or hearing impairments that are increasingly common in our aging population, and other challenges such motor and cognitive impairment.

Can an organization really afford to lose this audience? I don’t think so and this community is really chattering on the more accessible platforms so if social media tools are not accessible those platforms stand to lose out on major benefits.

Sometimes we hear that it is too hard to make an application or platform accessible. How ridiculous – accessibility should be built into the system just like you would build in privacy, security or usability.

Accessibility Features on an iPhone. Image Thanks to AMAC Accessibility Solutions www.amacusg.org

There is NO excuse to not make your Social Media applications fully accessible so that everyone can use them. In years past, developers were afraid that making the application accessible would make a system less usable or “dummy” the system down. Once again, ridiculous – we have seen amazing strides with accessible social media and now it is BAD design if you do not blend accessibility into the process level.

Want to know more? Join our free webinar on Accessible Social Media or download a free trial version of our Accessibility Management Platform (AMP) it is a knowledge platform that has tons of tips, online training and suggestions for making applications fully accessible.

For further information about TecAccess and their current endeavors, visit their website at SSB Bart Group