This short presentation was an introduction to a panel discussion on how financial institutions can use new technology to provide accessible solutions. It was part of this event: G3ict Hosts International Briefing: Inclusive Financial Services for Seniors and Persons with Disabilities, Paris, France
Notes from the Disability Matters 2016 conference
The Disability Matters conference helps companies increase their employee diversity by building an accessible workplace and hiring more people with disabilities. The following are some of the notes I took during this event. Many were also shared on my Twitter feed.
Continue Reading Notes from the Disability Matters 2016 conference
Accessible Font Sizing
The biggest font size requirement is that the user is able to adjust their font size and the application inherits their preference. In Web, this means we use a relational font, such as em, rem, percentages, vm, and vh. Pixels are passable, but we don’t want to use points.Continue Reading Accessible Font Sizing
ARIA Label Bookmarklet
I love simple bookmarklets that visualize coding patterns. I was working on a project today and wanted to verify that aria-labels were sufficiently descriptive. So I put together this quick bookmarklet.
Simply drag that up to your bookmark bar and click on it whenever you need to test a page.
If an element has an aria-label, it should get a yellow background and the label displayed in red. Your particular styles may affect this.
If an has an aria-labelledby, it should have a pink background and the object it is pointing to will be displayed in green.
I’m labelling the next element
Usage
I’m using this on a project that uses aria-label extensively in a complicated form. In the past, I found some of the aria-label attributes didn’t provide adequate context, so this now makes it pretty simple to discover.
Students: build your brand and get your dream job
An online “brand” is critical for students. Especially for students with a disability, as it can open doors & provide opportunities. Continue Reading Students: build your brand and get your dream job
I had the opportunity to visit many colleges and meet with the students as a Yahoo! Developer Evangelist. During these visits, I worked with students and helped them prepare their first hack, set up a private server, and begin their process of establishing their unique identity on the web.
Creating an online “brand” is critical for college students, as companies have a large pool of applicants to choose from and you need to make sure your resume rises to the top. I believe this is especially important for students with a disability, as this online brand can open doors and provide better opportunities than cattle-call recruitment fairs.
Over the years, I’ve also been a part of resume screening and job interviews for dozens of positions. From this vantage point I’ve learned a candidate’s resume is just a starting point. I search their online history to find what they’ve learned from their classes. A candidate that only has a resume is not going to be impressive as one that also has a blog, Twitter, GitHub, and other points of reference.
With that in mind, I visited UC Berkeley recently to give this presentation. It’s a topic I’ve discussed many times over coffee with interns, students, and my family.
Continue Reading Students: build your brand and get your dream job