2018 has began where we started using videos as a medium of video to send greetings. We have started with a video message on the occasion of new year and birth anniversary of Louis Braille.
During January, 2018 – Inclusive STEM in partnership with International Association of Information Technology has hosted Inclusive STEM Hack-a-than. It has been a privilege to have been part of this event both as a mentor and judge. January has also witnessed grand win of Indian team won against Pakistan at World Cricket Cup for the Blind. Ola has stepped up their efforts to make their mobile app accessible to people with disabilities. It was also heartening to see recognition for Rajani Gopalakrishnan, who happens to be first women with blindness to become a chartered accountant. We have posted about all of these great things in January 2018.
January 2018 also recorded great milestone that Web Accessibility Initiative group of W3C has released Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 as a recommended standard.
In February, 2018 got an opportunity to present at 50p conference on Accessible Digital Payments. It was for the first time, got an opportunityto talk in the mainstream fin tech industry. opportunity to present about accessibility in mainstream events in the FinTech industry. The room was full for this talk and great to see fabulous pre-planning by HasGeek Team. The conference was well organized.
In February, I have started using Android and wrote two blog posts one is about Day 1 experience of switching to android and then about one week of life with Android. Interestingly, I did not feel regret though I have been an iOS user for about 8 years. There is a great improvement in android both as a platform and for accessibility as well.
On March 4, 2018 The Pioneer in the disability sector and well known disability activist Shri. Javed Abidi has passed away. It was a huge loss for community of people with disabilities in India and many around the world. He has been instrumental for many disability related issues in India. It has been a blessing to know him a bit closely though I have not worked much with him directly. Post I have published to his memory.
Inspired by Steve Faulkner, started writing short notes and in the month of March, we wrote a short note on importance of making email promotions accessible.
Then to get ready for Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), we have started writing about different things and started with missing alternate text. As part of #GAADSeries, in the month of April, we wrote about Using WAVE – Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool by WebAIM and posted some ideas to mark GAAD beyond digital accessibility.
May was huge, a lot of events took place around the world and great set of events took place in Bangalore. In fact, in Bangalore, GAAD was marked as a month long events. There was a competition for college students, an event for organizations working in the area of disability, a meet up was organized for developers and there was also a gala event. It was great to have Facebook accessibility team has joined us in Bangalore.
DAISY forum of India has released Simply reading app – an android app that enable users to connect directly with a few digital libraries for people with print impairment. Read our post on simply reading app to learn more. In the month of May, during Google I/O, accessibility team at Google has announced many new accessibility features on android.
On June 5, 2018 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 has become official. In June, IRCTC has released next generation ticketing system and we have published an accessibility review of IRCTC new portal.
We have removed Twitter for WordPress plugin and replaced with Accessible Twitter plugin by Joe Dolson and wrote a post that talks about how accessibility has been improved.
It has been a privilege to present “Accessibility – a game changer” talk to design team at IBM.
Towards end of June, Mozilla has released Accessibility inspector for firefox.
In July, we wrote a tip on inserting widgets into a wordpress post and reviewed Eye-D app. This is a great app – intended to help people with blindness but helpful to all.
In August, we wrote about prioritizing accessibility issues and app review of 6 by 6 that has currency identifier, magnifier and light detector.
In September, we wrote about WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.5.1 Pointer gestures (Level A), events that are happening in October and we have also written about International Day of Sign Language.
In October, I have presented on Building Accessible websites using wordpress at Inclusive Design 24; this was a live event on YouTube and thanks to Intuit for hosting in-person talk at their office. It has been also a pleasure to join annual accessibility summit and dinner hosted by Intuit. I was also part of a great event at The National Association for the Blind, Karnataka Branch to mark International White Cane Safety Day. Towards end of October, attended Empower 2018 and it was great to meet Dr. TV Raman in person. Great conference and awesome products displayed at the exhibition.
In November, Government of India has published revised guidelines for Indian Government Websites and apps. It has been an honour to got an opportunity to work with a few other awesome people on Mobile Accessibility Practices document.
In December, 2018 hosted Dr. Ramana Polavarapu, Data scientist and VP of Goldman Sachs at my work place (Informatica) on the event of International Day of Persons with Disabilities. I also got an opportunity to witness Wheelchair Tennis Tournament; also addressed students at Sri Ramana Maharshi Academy for the Blind.
The United Nations has declared 4th January as World Braille Day. Read the announcement.
Thank you for all the support in 2018 and looking forward for a great 2019.
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