Today, Liz Hyman, XRA CEO, joined Bill Curtis-Davidson, Co-Director of the Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT), and Mike Shebanek, Head of Accessibility at Facebook, at CSUN’s Assistive Technology Conference. The presentation focused on how workplaces will be enabled by inclusive extended reality (XR) and presented how platform providers and app developers are working to make XR accessible to employees with disabilities.
Hyman shared statistics from our newest report, “A New Reality in Immersive Technology (XR): Insights and Industry Trends.” Released in October 2020, the research sought to benchmark the growth and adoption of XR technology among enterprise users across six key industry segments: healthcare, education, public safety, manufacturing, workforce training, and retail. With three in four leaders (75%) expect to dedicate more resources to XR in the next five years, it becomes even more important that we ensure accessibility is included in the development process of XR technologies from the start.
She introduced the audience to Chapter Three of the XRA Developers guide, which aims to do just that. The new chapter spells out accessibility techniques to address people with sight, auditory, speech, mobility, and cognitive disabilities. It outlines best practices for implementing features and applications that are inclusive, gives users control over their experiences, and reflects input from people with disabilities at all stages of development. She pointed out that XRA will continue to reach out to persons with disabilities and other stakeholders to ensure that this guide is relevant and up to date. Our Accessibility Standards Group drives these efforts, along with our new Developers Council.
Learn more about the 36th CSUN Assistive Technology Conference.
This program will be viewable by registered conference attendees on-demand until 5:00 PM PDT on Sunday, March 21, 2021.
