The document discusses grassroots approaches to improving accessibility for people with disabilities. It argues that while governmental rules are important, they cannot fix all problems alone. It proposes directly engaging people to take smaller actions through better communication of personal stories of challenges, crowdsourcing accessibility issues, and crowdfunding for assistive technologies. The goal is to use modern communication tools to show people how they can contribute to accessibility and why an accessible world benefits everyone.

1. Domingos de Oliveira
www.oliveira-online.net
domingos20000@googlemail.com
Grassroots Accessibility
How Anybody can improve
Accessibility for people with
disabilities – and why to do it

2. Overview
• Status Quo
• What to do
• And why
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3. Status Quo
• Accessibility mainly is enforced through
governmental rules (top-down).
• We need this rules in many areas, but they can
not fix all problems.
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4. Targets
• Accessibility bottum
up
• go to the people
• tell them about
accessibility
• and convince them
what they can do.
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5. Approaches
• Better Communication
• Crowdsourcing
• Crowdfunding
• Connecting with engaged people
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6. Better Communication
• People with disabilities share their
personal story about their difficulties.
• The reports should be personal,
multimedial and authentic, for example
they can use Storify, info graphics, Audio
or Video.
• Go into public, make live demonstrations
of assisting technology, show people, how
it works, let them try it.
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7. Crowdsourcing
• OpenStreetMap or
Wheelmap to fix
mobility problems.
• WebVisum to fix
A11Y-Problems on
Websites for the
Blinds.
• It´s an easy way to
show people how
A11Y works and what
they can do.
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8. OpenSource
• Using all day technology to help people
with disabilities: (MS Kinect, Google
Glass, Augmented Reality)
• Fixing problems in existing assiting
technlogy, fix my hearing aid.
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9. CrowdFunding
• Community financed
development of cheap
assisting technology
and software.
• In the end there are
cheaper and
customizable aids.
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10. Connecting
• Win engaged people
from other
communities for
A11Y.
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11. Summary
• Accessibility can not be achieved only by
top down rules.
• People with disabilities have to play a
bigger role in engagement for A11Y.
• We have to use modern public relations
tools to reach our goals: a more
accessible and open world for all of us.
We have to win the hearts, not only the
heads.
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12. Thank You!
Domingos de Oliveira
www.oliveira-online.net
domingos20000@googlemail.com