Allied

This month, we’re excited to share a conversation with Sam Sepah, Lead Accessibility Research Product Manager at Google.

In this conversation, which was recorded live in September 2023, Sam takes us on a journey through his experiences at Google and beyond, showcasing how innovation in accessibility technologies has transformed product experiences for users with disabilities.

Additionally, Sam shares his insights on the global impact of accessibility advocacy and its role in shaping a more inclusive future. Drawing from his experiences, he discusses the challenges and triumphs of advancing accessibility on a global scale, shedding light on the cultural nuances and collaborative efforts that contribute to creating universally accessible solutions.

Sam is interpreted in this podcast recording, but if you’d like to watch the episode in American Sign Language, you can do so at www.3playmedia.com/alliedpodcast/innovating-for-inclusion

This month, we’re excited to share a presentation by Albert Kim, which was recorded live during 3Play Media’s ACCESS 2023 conference.

Albert is an award-winning accessibility subject matter expert and public speaker who previously worked with Doordash, Intuit, ServiceNow, Korn Ferry, Siteimprove, and Fable. He is also the founder of Global Accessibility NextGen Initiative, a global community of future accessibility champions and leaders. Albert pioneered the Neurodiversity & Mental Health inclusion in digital accessibility and currently serves as an invited expert at W3C Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Task Force as well as Mental Health Sub-Group.

In this presentation, Albert discusses the challenges of using technology for individuals with chronic mental health conditions.

Thank you for listening to Allied! For transcripts, show information, and updates, visit our website.

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Joe Baker is the Senior Product Manager for Accessibility for the Design System at Atlassian and has previously worked on several digital accessibility teams, including at Amazon and Microsoft. He is passionate about building sustainable accessibility programs and design systems to ensure all customers are considered when building products and services. Utilizing his background in front-end development and UX design, he shares his guidance on his site Diga11y.com to help advocate for pushing past compliance and to focus on the user experience of people with disabilities.

Thank you for listening to Allied! For transcripts, show information, and updates, visit our website.

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Derek Throldahl entered the media accessibility industry in 2007 as a live closed captioner for news, sports, education, and corporate events. He now heads the live captioning department at 3Play Media Minneapolis, where he oversees workflows, meets with existing and prospective clients, and pushes industry advancement to provide high-quality captioning and language accessibility for live events.

Josh Summers trained as a live and offline closed captioner in 2003, working in the broadcast television industry. He helped implement and develop 3Play Media Canada’s voice-captioning department and managed its team for several years before moving into a multi-pronged, customer-facing role focusing on live and offline workflows, production efficiencies, and best practices.

Thank you for listening to Allied! For transcripts, show information, and updates, visit our website.

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At the end of every year, 3Play Media co-founders and co-CEOs Josh Miller and Chris Antunes propose media accessibility predictions for the year ahead.

This month, Elisa chatted with them about their predictions for 2023, trends from this last year, and where the future of media accessibility is headed.

The conversation revolves around five predictions: 1. Audio description will become a media accessibility given rather than an afterthought. 2. End users’ voices will be heard, and studio-quality captioning will continue to be the standard for high-end content. 3. Despite the hype around OpenAI, it will not change the media accessibility landscape much in 2023. 4. Media accessibility will continue to become an even higher priority globally. 5. Despite the challenging economic environment, the world’s largest companies will continue to set a high bar for accessibility and inclusion.

Cheryl Rayburn was 16 years old when she was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic disorder that involves the loss of cells in the retina, the light-sensitive tissue that lines the back of the eye. She finished high school, graduated from Missouri State University, and began a career in the mortgage industry. After 10 years, she stopped working because of her vision loss.

In 2015, Cheryl toured Alphapointe and enrolled in training, studying braille, orientation and mobility, activities of daily living, and adaptive technology. Eventually, she started working for Alphapointe, an agency of National Industries for the Blind, so that she could help people with low vision.

Thank you for listening to Allied! For transcripts, show information, and updates, visit our website.

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This month, we're excited to share a fireside chat with lifelong disability rights advocate Judy Heumann.

Judy has been instrumental in the development and implementation of legislation such as Section 504, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Judy has 20 years of non-profit experience working with various disability organizations, including being a founding member of the Berkeley Center for Independent Living and serving on a number of non-profit boards. 

Judy has also written a memoir, been featured in an Oscar-nominated documentary, and produces a podcast called “The Heumann Perspective.” 

In this conversation, which was recorded live in August 2022, Judy discusses her personal story, key issues taking place in today’s accessibility landscape, and where the future of accessibility advocacy is headed.

Thank you for listening to Allied! For transcripts, show information, and updates, visit our website.

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Jacquelyn Sawyer and Liz Vacchiano play different roles in the guide dog process. Hear from both of them about how a puppy becomes a guide dog.

Jacquie Sawyer is an expert in influencer marketing strategy and joined The Dogist as The Director of Partnerships in the Spring of 2020. A renowned marketer, she has run campaigns for Google, Sephora, Converse, and many others. A vet tech in college and a dog lover to her core, Jacquie now resides in New Jersey with her husband, Steve, their dog Artie, and their Guiding Eyes for the Blind puppy in training, Biscuit.

Liz Vacchiano has been working professionally with Guiding Eyes for the Blind for two years and just started raising her third puppy, a German Shepherd named Kathleen. While in college at the University of Delaware, she interned at the Penn Vet Working Dog Center and raised two puppies for The Seeing Eye. After college, she was a kennel technician at The Seeing Eye before working as an Assistant Dog Instructor at Canine Companions. In her free time, Liz works at her family's 300-acre farm in New Jersey and is restarting an off-the-track Thoroughbred.

Thank you for listening to Allied! For transcripts, show information, and updates, visit our website.

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Charlotte Dales is the Co-Founder and CEO of Inclusively, a workforce inclusion platform that connects job seekers with employers who are committed to attracting and retaining people with disabilities. Charlotte’s cousin Cameron became the first licensed aesthetician in the state of Florida with Down syndrome, and after witnessing Cameron’s career fulfillment, Charlotte became passionate about replicating her employment success story for disabled talent and started Inclusively.

Under Charlotte’s leadership, Inclusively is proud to be modernizing recruitment by creating structure and transparency around accommodations, which benefits all job seekers. Charlotte graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and lives in Richmond, Virginia with her husband and 2 children. This is her second start-up venture; she sold the first to American Express.

Thank you for listening to Allied! For transcripts, show information, and updates, visit our website.

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Today, we’re joined by Dr. Joel Snyder, who is known internationally as one of the world’s first “audio describers.” He is a pioneer in the field of Audio Description, a translation of visual images to vivid language for the primary benefit of people who are blind or have a vision impairment. Since 1981, he has introduced audio description techniques in over 40 states and 64 countries and has made thousands of live events, media projects and museums accessible. Most recently, Dr. Snyder was named a Fulbright Scholar to train audio describers in Greece over a four-week period in 2019.

In 2014, the American Council of the Blind published Dr. Snyder’s book, The Visual Made Verbal – A Comprehensive Training Manual and Guide to the History and Applications of Audio Description, now available as an audiobook and in Braille from the Library of Congress, in screen reader accessible formats, and in English, Polish, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Chinese print editions; a version in Italian is planned for 2022. His PhD is from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona with a focus on audiovisual translation/audio description. Dr. Snyder is the President of Audio Description Associates, LLC and he serves as the Founder/Senior Consultant of the Audio Description Project of the American Council of the Blind.

Thank you for listening to Allied! For transcripts, show information, and updates, visit our website: https://www.3playmedia.com/alliedpodcast/

Follow us on social media! We can be found on Facebook and Twitter.