Students across the United States had their school days and classes upended by the pandemic this past year, but the break in routine was especially difficult for many students with disabilities or in need of specialized instruction. According to an article in the Washington Post, officials from school districts across the country conceded that they…
Read MoreTDI’s recent Biennial Conference brought together speakers, educators, and accessibility leaders representing a variety of industry sectors, government agencies, and advocacy groups. The four-day virtual conference featured a broad range of interactive panels and discussions, including a “No More Craptions” session focused on captioned IP programming, captions created by automatic speech recognition (ASR) programs, and…
Read MoreVITAC once again was thrilled to be a sponsor of and participant in TDI’s Biennial Conference. The virtual conference – which featured community discussions, plenary sessions, and breakout meetings – was held July 26-29. Heather York, VITAC’s Vice President of Marketing and Government Affairs, was part of a breakout session on closed caption quality. “No…
Read MoreThe Tokyo Summer Olympic Games Open this Friday, and VITAC is Ready Thousands of individuals are putting the finishing touches on months of preparation leading up to this Friday’s opening ceremonies, ensuring that Tokyo, Japan, is safe, secure, and prepared for the start of the Summer Olympic Games. At VITAC, nearly every department is heavily…
Read MoreThere is an old saying that “the numbers speak for themselves” but we’d be remiss if we didn’t add a few thoughts as well. VITAC captions more than 582,000 hours of programming each year. Breaking that down a little further, that translates to captioning more than 48,000 hours of programming each month or more than…
Read MoreToday (July 26) marks the 31st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the first comprehensive civil rights legislation addressing and granting basic accessibility needs for people with disabilities. The act dramatically changed – and improved – the social and political landscape of the United States, and greatly advanced the rights of people with…
Read MoreWelcome to the latest edition of “ADA in the News,” featuring recent news, updates, and rulings regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit against a work placement agency for individuals with disabilities alleging that the agency routinely refused to provide sign language interpreters to deaf employees. According…
Read MoreThe Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is accepting replies to its call for comments on what updates, if any, are needed to the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (CVAA). The CVAA was enacted more than a decade ago to help ensure that people with disabilities weren’t left behind as technology progressed in…
Read MoreJune is Effective Communications Month, highlighting the importance of using successful communication skills to enhance personal and professional interactions. Even in the best of circumstances, effective communication can be difficult, and the move to more remote interactions – email, texts, and video conferences rather than in-person social activity, conversations, and meetings – over the past…
Read MoreA recent study by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) found that despite legislative requirements, many federal government websites are not accessible for people with disabilities. ITIF, a non-profit think-tank, tested a number of the most popular federal websites and found that 30 percent did not pass an automated accessibility test for their homepage,…
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