13 Letters Be My Eyes

Access to television is in many ways still evolving, and as one of the leading TV, phone and internet providers in the United States, Spectrum is thinking beyond closed captions and large-button remotes to innovate across different channels. Their large accessibility team, headed by designers and incorporating people with disabilities to ensure that all products are optimized for all customers, is one of a kind in the industry. And with the recent release of apps such as Spectrum Access and Spectrum News, they've taken huge steps forward in inclusion for people with many different abilities and proficiencies. We sat down with Senior Outreach Manager for Accessibility, Petr Kucheryavy, to learn more about how got into accessibility and what Spectrum is doing different.

Shell Little actually studied accessibility in college – making her a rare example of someone who didn't "stumble" into accessibility but hit the job market knowing exactly what she wanted to do. Still, she didn't know that she, herself, was part of the demographic that benefitted from inclusive design. Now an inclusive design lead on Wells Fargo's Accessible User Experience team and accomplished speaker in her own right, Shell shares her journey, talks about what a "Cognitive disability" can really mean, and even explains the surprising connection between accessibility and cosmetology.

Martez Mott is a senior researcher at the Ability Group at Microsoft Research, where he works everyday to challenge assumptions and rethink paradigms for how people interact with technology. In one of our favorite interviews yet (on Global Accessibility Awareness Day no less), we chatted with Martez about AR, VR, touchscreens and everything in between.

The author of the beautiful accessibility book Mismatch, Kat Holmes, comes on to share her own personal journey and how inclusive design can take some of its greatest learnings through examining acts of exclusion.

Accessibility expert Adrian Roselli comes on the show to share his story, and talk about the questionable implications of the now-popular “accessibility overlay.”

Colleges and universities are proving grounds for digital and physical accessibility. With disabled students living on their own in many cases for the first time, these institutions need to be fully compliant, ADA literate, and not just accessible, but highly accommodating –– and if they're not, students are left out. With the cost of education on the rise and remote learning now a norm,, many are taking a hard look at college and asking if it's even the right path for them. Therefore, we need our institutions of higher education to be more accessible and inclusive than ever. In this episode, Will and Cordelia sit down with accessibility leaders from the University of California, Harvard and the University of Cincinnati to hear about where they're at in their accessibility journey and what they're doing to make sure everyone can get a good college education.