Frokostsamling 2. november Accessible to Everyone!

The Norwegian Computer Society – DND (Den Norske Dataforening) and Mobile Era invited you a complimentary morning (09:00 – 11:00). The topic is: Accessible to Everyone!

Friday morning at DND; November 2nd you can participate and discuss Universal Design with Svetlana Kouznetsova plus a voice from the Norwegian regulator on accessibility and a local expert on accessibility. Other speakers TBA.

Have you ever struggled with a staircase because you had a baby stroller with you? Have you tried to pick up the phone while you were walking with crutches? Have you had problems following a movie in your second language because the characters had a strong dialect? Have you wanted to speak to an audience but lacked the words? Have you tried to make a phone call in a noisy bar?

If you have ever experienced a situation where your abilities or circumstances made you unable to participate fully, you have suffered from lack of accessibility.

Through our lives, we all experience periods or situations where we are unable to use software, devices or even buildings. There are regulations in place and failing to follow these regulations can result in hefty fines. For example, SAS Airlines would have to pay a fine of 150 000 NOK (10 000 EUR) per day when their new web pages were in violation of the requirements. As they should, they fixed the problem quickly.

But beyond the financial incentive, we need to make accessible solutions because it’s the right thing to do. It’s necessary to include those of us that experience limitations at one time through our lives, and it’s necessary to include Svetlana Kouznetsova, the main speaker at the Norwegian Computing Association’s event Accessible to Everyone.

Svetlana is not your average speaker. As a deaf consultant who specializes in the area of accessibility, she knows both the business side and the personal side of accessibility. She gives her talks in American Sign Language that are voices by a sign-language interpreter. The experience is quite extra-ordinary.

» … we want to create a forum that shines a light on accessibility
The Norwegian Computing Association together with the Mobile Era conference want to create a forum that shines a light on accessibility. We want to bring together the regulators, the professional experts and the industry. We believe that the problems and solutions of accessibility are well known, but that the implementation lacks behind. We believe that the time has come for the industry to step up when it comes to accessible solutions.

Accessible to Everyone is a morning event on November 2nd, 9:00-11:00 in Oslo, Norway. The programme includes Svetlana Kouznetsova (about.me/svetlanakouznetsova) plus a voice from the Norwegian regulator on accessibility and a local expert on accessibility. The event is free for all attendees and will be live streamed.

View images from the event on Skyfish.

If you have input for this collection or suggestions for future topics, please contact Christian Torp, 93258222. christian@dnd.no