Transcript

Why Access Matters: A podcast by Accessibrand (thoughts and talks about accessibility)

 

Jolene MacDonald (Founder of Accessibrand and Accessibility advocate):

“We are looking at sort of as a society and help people understand, you know, about people with disabilities and how important accessibility really is. And also to really showcase that it's not just about people with disabilities; it's how it affects everyone and how beneficial it is to society as a whole.”

 

Dave Dame (Director of Accessibility at Microsoft):
Work with the community specifically. Too often, people that don’t work with the community assume they know what to do to make it compliant and accessible. And really, you truly don't understand until you work with them, right? And begin to iterate with them to understand, in your area what are the problems you can solve.”

 

Maayan Ziv (Founder of AccessNow):

“When you have no experience or no exposure to what accessibility is, it can seem like this odd kind of after fact thing that, you know, you need to do to kind of tick off a box and, and that doesn't invite people to be part of this world that, you know, once you've converted, once you learn about the magic and the creativity and the opportunities that accessibility offers, it's a completely different response that, that people gravitate towards.”

 

Jessica Oddi (Designer and Illustrator at Accessibrand and Accessibility advocate):

“For me, the very core of what accessibility is, is me watching all the other disabled people be so darn clever just to exist. Like we create so many solutions on a daily basis. First of all, accessibility benefits everyone. It benefits everyone. And what people don’t realize, everyone has access needs. You just don’t realize it because they’re accommodated by society.”

 

Andrew Tutty (Tester and Auditor at Accessibrand and Accessibility advocate):

“When I tell people I’m blind because they may not know right away when they first meet me, [Yeah] Their first response is, “Oh, I’m sorry.” Well, why are you, sorry? [Yeah, ,] You didn’t do anything. And I’ve lived with this, and I’ve learned to live with this, and it’s who I am. It’s part of who I am, but, being afraid of accessibility, we’re all going to become disabled eventually. So why be afraid of something that’s going to help? So many thousands and thousands, millions of people. Don’t be afraid of it; embrace it because one day, you’re going to be disabled and will require some accessibility tools to help you manage.”

 

Why Access Matters: A podcast by Accessibrand (thoughts and talks about accessibility)

This podcast is published thanks to funding from CCRW (Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work)