Dear AccessWorld Readers,
Welcome to the Fall issue of AccessWorld! Before we discuss the articles in this issue, I have some exciting AccessWorld developments I would like to share with you.
AccessWorld now has its own podcast! The podcast covers a range of topics related to digital inclusion with a focus on blindness and low vision. The podcast releases on the first of every month, and we have two episodes released thus far. Our latest episode discusses the updates found in the recent iOS 17 operating system upgrade, with appearances from long-time AccessWorld authors Judy Dixon and Janet Ingber. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or using the podcast app of your choice. You can also find more information on our podcasts page.
In addition to the new AccessWorld podcast, we also have been publishing AccessWorld related content on AFB's main blog. This allows us to publish technology and accessibility related content on a wider range of topics while also providing you more content between issue releases. As an example of some of the AccessWorld content we have published on the blog, Judy and Janet's discussion on the podcast was based on their articles on the blog regarding iOS 17. Judy discussed the accessibility updates while Janet discussed the mainstream features. I also recently produced an article on some useful NVDA addons. You can find the main blog where recently published articles are displayed here.
To begin this issue of AccessWorld, I bring you another article on accessible gaming, this time a deeper dive into accessibility specifically for those who are blind or severely low vision. The article aims to provide actionable information for developers of video games, while also giving you a look at a few games you might enjoy if you yourself are blind or have low vision.
With the holidays around the corner, we know you might be seeking gifts for friends and family. With clothing being a fairly popular gift option, I have put 5 different online clothing stores through their paces to determine their accessibility with a focus on diverse styles and clothing types. At this point, it's generally true that if you shop at a technology based online site like Amazon or Best Buy, or through a massive department store such as Walmart or Target, their sites will almost certainly be accessible. Being focused on technology as a whole, we wanted to also use this piece to explore the landscape for this category of store to get a feel for the general state of accessibility in this sector.
As always, we aim to foster employment among people with blindness and low vision. Our Ability is a website which aims to match job applicants with disabilities with companies interested in hiring this segment of the population. What makes this site unique is that even though it is specifically aimed at applicants with disabilities, job matching is based on your skills, not your disability. In this piece, Janet Ingber interviews the founder of the site as well as gives some details on getting started with Our Ability.
Finally, this month we received a letter from researchers at the Substance Abuse Resources & Disability Issues (SARDI) Program at the Boonshoft School of Medicine. The letter is an article detailing their findings regarding adapting virtual reality so it would be more accessible to people with low vision. Virtual reality looks as if it is going to be a significant presence in the life of many in the near future so we have published this piece in our Inclusive Technology Research track.
As always, I hope you find this issue informative no matter your background and thank you for being a reader of AccessWorld. If you have a question or comment, you can always reach out to me at apreece@afb.org
Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at AccessWorld,
Aaron Preece
AccessWorld Editor in Chief
