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This is a fun and Free resource for learning American Sign Language (ASL) at your own pace. It uses Video-based learning materials with interactive exercises, quick lectures and reviews. It is Time Efficient and focuses on learning the ASL most relevant to you with a modular curriculum. There are on-Line and Mobile Apps available. Learning to say even a few words or phrases directly to a Person who is Deaf and Speaks ASL and who belongs to your Community will help remove barriers and create a more Inclusive, Accessible Community Environment! Before you know it, you will be having entire…

If you are planning a Baha'i event or gathering and you are in need of an American Sign Language ( ASL) Interpreter or Captioning Services, the first thing to do is contact the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Task Force for the Baha’i community. This Task force was appointed by he National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States. The task force focuses on two groups. One is the Deaf community, members of which belong to a unique culture with a unique language—American Sign Language (ASL) in the United States. For many Deaf people, English is a second language, so ASL interpretation is…

5 Takeaways From Screen Reader Usability Interviews | Jess Budd | Senior Front-End Engineer Specializing In Web Accessibility Editor: This article does an absolutely extraordinary job describing how screen reader users interact with websites. | Jess Budd: Earlier this year I worked on the re-development of my workplace's primary website navigation. We went from a simple, single-tier nav with no drop-downs to a two-tier nav with a drop-down mega menu. I was pretty confident we were ticking the major boxes of complying with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), but I also know that…

Nearly fifteen percent of the world's population lives with a disability, yet this massive chunk of humanity is still routinely excluded from opportunities. Sharing her experience growing up with an autistic sister, disability inclusion advocate Meghan Hussey illuminates the path towards an inclusive future in four steps, and it starts with an attitude check on assumptions and stereotypes. Designing a world built for everyone is not a "nice to have," Hussey says -- it's critical to the fabric of society.

By Eli A. Wolff, Contributor and Dr. Mary Hums, Contributer Educator, Innovator, Advocate Professor of Sport Administration, University of Louisville Sep 5, 2017, 09:20 AM EDT Updated Sep 6, 2017 ... “Nothing about Us Without Us” emphasizes how people with disabilities must be valued as integral and essential contributors to every sector, industry and community including entertainment, fashion, education, sports, medicine, business and law. While people with disabilities need to be leaders of disability-focused organizations, that is not enough. We also need to be front and center in…

Disability can be difficult to talk about sensitively because of how embedded ableism is in our language, biases and perceptions of disability. Conversations about disability are slowly increasing, especially when it comes to ableist language and how disabled people are represented in the media. Disability advocate Talila A. Lewis' working definition of ableism is a "system that places value on people's bodies and minds based on societally constructed ideas of normalcy, intelligence and excellence." NPR spoke to Cara Reedy, the director and founder of the Disabled Journalists Association, and…

Nasa Added Amazing Alt Text Image Descriptions to James Webb Space Telescope Photos There was a ton of excitement when the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was launched into space last month. What made the excitement exponentially larger was when NASA made the first few photos received from JWST public. The pictures were gorgeous and stunning, and the world was captivated by the sheer beauty of our universe as shown by these photos. These stunning photos, which are a feast for our eyes, were accompanied by something that made sure blind people enjoyed these photos as much as sighted people…

Language has long been used to dehumanize or marginalize people with disabilities. Ableist language shows up in different ways: as metaphors, jokes, or euphemisms. While ableism exists beyond the words we use, in structures and policies, our vocabularies can help us how we think and behave with people around us. We spoke to four disability rights activists to know why our words matter, how they influence our biases, thoughts, and behaviors and what we can do to check them. https://hbr.org/2020/12/why-you-need-to-stop-using-these-words-and-phrases

A moment of historic portent has arrived for your nation as the conscience of its citizenry has stirred, creating possibilities for marked social change. It holds significance not only for the destiny of America anticipated in the Sacred Writings, but also for the mission entrusted to your community by the hand of ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá, who cherished you dearly and called you to a path of sacrifice and high endeavor. We are pleased to see that, led by your National and Local Spiritual Assemblies, you are seizing opportunities—whether those thrust upon you by current circumstances or those derived from…

Deaf and Hard of Hearing people have a great deal to contribute to Baha’i activities, and with a few accommodations can more readily take part in them to everyone’s benefit. This is a message championed by the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Task Force for the Baha’i community. Appointed by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States, the national governing council, the task force has existed off and on since the 1980s. Today, it has four members—Naledi Raspberry, Tavoria Kellam, Jason Schwartz and Erin Salmon—who, with assistance from people like Austin Vaday, are working to…

Statement to the fortieth session of the United Nations Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. Agenda item 7: human rights and disability GENEVA—6 August 1988 Until recently, the disabled have constituted a minority in obscurity. Unlike certain other groups that fall victim to discrimination, the disabled do not comprise a self-contained, close-knit social community. Instead, they populate every social sector, every class, every age group, every ethnic and religious community. And at every level, society has tended to ignore them, believing them incapable…