What kind of animation or visualization would you most like to see developed, in the area of accessible technology? There are so many points worth making: universal design, the size of the disabled user base, who are we reaching (and not reaching), etc. Maybe I’ll put up a poll….

AFB surveyed 2 groups of people: a random sample of American households, screened for vision loss; and a sample of people who had previous contact with AFB. Read the article to see the interesting ways in which these 2 groups differed in demographics and in technology use.

Bravo! We need lots more like this — clean, simple explanations of why disability matters and how accessibility can help.

There’s another side to the equation, though. Here’s what I’ve seen and heard about consumer experts that can undercut their otherwise righteous claim of professionalism:

• “I have disability X;  I speak for all Xers everywhere.” We know there’s a range of severity of all disabilities, plus lots of individual differences in how people want to achieve access. Learning about this diversity will improve your ability to provide the good advice your clients deserve.
• “I have disability X; I speak for people with disability Y and Z.” You client may need advice across all disabilities. Learning about other disabilities and their typical needs and preferences increases your value greatly.
• “I won’t be satisfied until accessibility is as important to you as it is to me.” Your client may only be trying to make small accessibility improvements because accessibility is not their mission, which is selling more stuff, getting more members, whatever. They have many other things to be concerned about in the course of their work. The more you respect their mission and the way they go about it, the more valuable your services are.