For more information:
Program Advisory Committee Coordination:
- Francesca Cesa Bianchi
VP, Institutional Relations & Advocacy, G3ict
fcesabianchi@g3ict.org
“Launching a Standard for Accessible and Equitable Artificial Intelligence (AI) Systems”
Accessibility Standards Canada (ASC) is developing the Accessible and Equitable Artificial Intelligence (AI) Systems Standard (CAN-ASC-6.2), as a regulatory standard of the Accessible Canada Act. The draft standard will be the first standard to address barriers, risks, and opportunities specific to persons with disabilities. The draft standard is also designed to account for the unpredictable pace of change of AI systems. A kick-off keynote will be delivered by Dr. Jutta Treviranus, the chair of the ASC standard committee and director of the Inclusive Design Research Centre, who drafted the seed standard. Dr Jutta Treviranus is well known for her accessibility work over the past 40 years. In addition to her research and academic responsibilities, she has served as lead project editor of the ISO 24751 standard, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 36, which supports automatic matching of user accessibility needs with digital resources and user interface configurations as well as the chair of the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AUWG) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative. She is the recipient of the 2022 Women in AI Award for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Introduction of keynote speaker by Pina D’Intino, CPACC, Business Transformation, Accessibility Strategist Consultant, Aequum Global Access
Keynote will be followed by Q&As from the audience.
Several legislative, regulatory, and enforcement initiatives impacting digital accessibility are currently underway in the United States at the national level. These include proposed legislation as well as on-going and planned rulemaking, and recent official agency guidance on topics ranging from AI hiring tools to telehealth accessibility. At the same time, enforcement of existing laws continues by both federal agencies and private sector advocates. This session will provide an overview of what is happening in the federal digital accessibility legal space and what to expect in 2023 and 2024. What impact will current initiatives have over time, and will they change compliance considerations for organizations? Topics include:
Session Chair: Lainey Feingold, Disability Rights Lawyer and Author, Law Office of Lainey Feingold
Panelists:
Startups are drivers of innovation, most often the source of disruptive technologies and key job creators across all economic sectors. How are startups contributing to digital inclusion and accessibility innovation? Are persons with disabilities involved in accessibility innovation and value creation though start-ups? What specific attributes of the digital accessibility eco-system may present barriers or opportunities? This session, led by successful entrepreneurs dedicated to digital accessibility innovation, will examine case studies and explore possible policies, partnerships, funding sources, incubators programs, channels and market access regulations that may help further the role of startups in advancing digital accessibility innovations.
Session Chair: Tomer Aharoni, Founder and CEO, Nagish
Panelists:
Impactful public and private sector initiatives are helping realize Art. 32 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on international cooperation. This session will feature examples of impactful projects helping facilitate the transfer of knowledge or the implementation of digital accessibility around the world including innovative public-private partnerships.
Session Chair: Francesca Cesa Bianchi, VP, Institutional Relations and Advocacy, G3ict
Panelists:
With ChatGPT and OpenAI in the news, there’s a lot of hype around AI. Despite all the recent progress in the field, AI and ML can be seen as dirty words in the digital accessibility community.
There are some solutions that claim that using AI can solve all digital accessibility issues on a page like a magic pill. However, neural networks like ChatGPT don’t work well for digital accessibility because it's trained on a very large general dataset of all the code on the internet that is mostly inaccessible.
The truth is that AI-augmented tools can be ethical if they are built by accessibility experts and used to simplify the testing process. AI can significantly expand what is possible for automated accessibility testing and lower the barrier of entry for non-experts to do manual testing.
Attendees of this session will learn:
Speaker: Dylan Barrell, Chief Technology Officer, Deque Systems
A complete update on the recent advances of the Canadian legislation on accessibility and inclusion, its implications for the public and private sectors and in matters of enforcement. Panelists will also compare key features of the Canadian legislation with those of the US and EU accessibility legislative and regulatory frameworks.
Session Chair: Jutta Treviranus, Ph.D., Chair, ASC Standard Committee and Director, Inclusive Design Research Centre (IDRC), OCAD University
Panelists:
With more than 7.2 billion active subscribers with 3G or higher generations mobile networks covering 95% of the world population and driving 60% of Internet connections globally, mobile service providers are the most powerful communications channel that ever existed to promote digital accessibility. Thanks to advanced accessibility features offered by the leading mobile operating systems, service providers have engaged in a variety of powerful partnership to promote the digital inclusion of persons with disabilities. This session will stage some of the most impactful examples of partnerships in action around the world.
Session Chair: Sabine Lobnig, Director of Communications, Mobile & Wireless Forum
Panelists:
Session Chair: Andrew Nielson, Government-wide Section 508 Program, U.S. General Services Administration
Speakers:
The Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled – is designed to remove legal barriers to making books and other copyright-protected works available in accessible formats such as Braille and digital audio. Now ratified by 117 countries including the United States and Canada, it creates an international legal framework for organizations to share accessible format copies with other countries that have joined the Treaty. This session will examine the progress made globally in implementing the Marrakesh Treaty, its impact and implementation in the United States and other leading ratifying countries and why promoting its universal adoption matters to both industry and advocates.
Session Chair: Everette Bacon, Secretary, Board of Directors, National Federation of the Blind (NFB)
Panelists:
With the advent of AI-generated images, and the exponential growth of the usage of graphic content for everything digital, specific challenges and opportunities lay ahead for Persons with Disabilities. Panelists from advocacy organizations and companies involved in leading digital image technologies and applications will brainstorm and share their perspectives on how AI-generated images may impact Persons with Disabilities, including but not limited to their potential influence on disability representation, how AI-generated images or graphics may contribute to cognitive accessibility solutions, and how much progress is achieved in embedding AI-generated alternative text. The panel will also explore how to ensure the accessibility and compatibility with assistive technologies of emerging solutions to authenticate real Vs AI-generated images and of AI-enabled digital rights management solutions.
Session Chair: Jennison Asuncion, Co-Founder, Global A11y Awareness Day & Vice-Chair, GAAD Foundation
Panelists:
Given their pervasive usage, the accessibility of kiosks, ATMs, and automated self-service payment systems is a key area of concern for persons with disabilities and older persons. This session will examine accessibility requirements for all forms of kiosks, relevant regulatory and jurisprudence references including the latest work of the U.S. Access Board, and examples of solutions that exist today and may be replicated in all sectors of activity.
Session Chair: Matt Ater, Vice President, TPGi, A Vispero Company
Panelists:
Session Chair: Alison Sutton Levy, Director, Office of Technical and Information Services, U.S. Access Board
Panelists:
For the first time in history people with disabilities in Brazil could watch on Cable TV the Brazil football matches during the FIFA World Cup 2022.
Claro – America Mobil provided accessible content such as audio description, Brazilian sign language and real-time captions for their Cable TV clients.
Beplay was the innovative technology used to transmit accessible content to mobile and computer devices of people with disabilities, so that they could have full comprehension at one of the Brazilians Passion – Soccer Games.
This session has the objective of share experiences and share the process to show how technology and the engagement of people with disabilities guaranteed full access to soccer games. The success of the initiative was only possible with the partnership among Claro, Globo Television and Beplay, with the objective to create a simple and scalable methodology that can be used for everyone.
Speaker(s):
The digital inclusion of older persons is a challenge for governments, corporations and advocates as aging demographics grow at a fast pace alongside digital transformations in all sectors of society. This session will examine current initiatives to address those challenges and the emergence of a Universal Human Rights framework for Older Persons. The panel will explore how accessibility good practices, technology solutions and standards and policies will have to evolve to address the digital inclusion of older persons and how this will impact the accessibility profession and ecosystem.
Session Chair: Frances West, Founder, FrancesWestCo.; G3ict Committee on Digital Inclusion and Accessibility for Older Persons, and IAAP East Asia Liaison; Author of Authentic Inclusion™: Drives Disruptive Innovation
Panelists:
The 2023 M-Enabling Summit Innovation Sprint is a working group dedicated to solving barriers to workplace inclusion for individuals with cognitive disabilities/individuals who identify as neurodiverse. Topics include but are not limited to:
The goal of the working group is to develop a resource for dissemination that shall be composed of insights and solutions that provide support for individuals with cognitive disabilities/individuals who identify as neurodiverse in the workplace setting.
Team Leaders:
To be announced.
Presenter(s): Randy Cooper, Director, U.S. Department of Defense Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program, DHRA DSSC CAP
In the ever-evolving landscape of business, harnessing the potential of Artificial Intelligence is not just a trend; it’s a transformative force for those ready to embrace it.
INNoVA is an employment strategies firm focused on dynamic inclusion to create systemic change. We strive to innovate solutions that resolve inequitable employment models, remove barriers, and create accessible and inclusive environments. We thrive with the purpose of making new connections to talent, enhancing accessibility, and creating equitable solutions to foster employment of people with disabilities.
How do you leverage accessibility as an advantage in AI? Our session on AI-Powered Inclusion aims to support businesses to utilize AI as an asset to create a more inclusive and diverse workforce. The session will explore how AI can revolutionize Recruitment, Onboarding, and Employment practices, while simultaneously discussing ethical considerations and best practices in the context of employment.
Speakers:
G3ict, through its Smart Cities for All global initiative, formed a partnership with the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), the world’s largest association of cities, and the World Economic Forum Secretariat for the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance, to help cities worldwide adopt technology procurement policies for accessible information and communication technologies. This session will review the work completed in 2023 by the G3ict Global Advisory Center with an initial cohort of six cities, including Istanbul, Kisumu, Los Angeles, Quito, Sao Paulo and Valongo in implementing a model procurement policy for Smart Cities in support of accessible technologies for city services inclusive of persons with disabilities. Panelists will discuss key learnings from this global endeavor, how technology providers can benefit from offering accessible technologies and services to cities and how they can work going forward with G3ict, UCLG and WEF to further promote good practices in accessible procurement among Smart Cities.
Session Chair: Monica Duhem, Director, Global Advisory Center (GAC), G3ict
Panelists:
Making digital gaming more accessible to persons with disabilities is a critical area of concern given the size and impact of the digital and video gaming market forecasted to reach half a trillion US $ by 2025. This session will examine the various sources of enabling technologies and good practices such as the Microsoft's Xbox Accessibility Guidelines, the Game Accessibility Guidelines (GAG), developed by the International Game Developers Association, AbleGamers or SpecialEffect resources, or Ubisoft’s recently promoted inclusive design practices. This session will explore how developers are implementing accessibility features in their games and involve disability experts and advocates throughout their development process. Examples of development success stories will be shared by panelists.
Session Chair: Sonali Rai, Media, Culture, and Immersive Technologies Lead, RNIB
Panelists:
Whether on-line or in physical retail locations, competitive, inclusive customer services in business, government or education seek to offer effective interactions that eliminate barriers resulting from a variety of disability situations or conditions that are difficult to anticipate, most often not disclosed by customers, including among older adults. Panelists from a variety of sectors including advocates, experts in assistive solutions and alternative communications will share practical methods and solutions to anticipate those barriers and to scale up holistic and responsive customer service interactions online and in physical retail situations for different types of disabilities.
Session Chair: Geoff Freed, Director, Digital Accessibility Consulting, Perkins Access
Panelists:
In April 2023, the Partnership on Employment and Accessible Technology (PEAT) collaborated with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to host a virtual think tank on the use of AI tools in hiring. Following this successful think tank, PEAT, NIST, and community stakeholders are collaborating to create an Inclusive Hiring Profile (“Profile”) based on the NIST AI Risk Management Framework (AI RMF). Once completed, this Profile will serve as a policy framework that organizations can use to ensure fairness in their use of AI hiring tools. This session will outline progress being made with developing this AI RMF Profile, one of the first Profiles developed using the NIST AI RMF.
Session Chair: Bill Curtis-Davidson, Co-Director, Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT)
Panelists:
This session will stage presentations of innovative technologies that open new paths to mainstream accommodations for deaf and hard of hearing persons in the workplace, for education and social and cultural activities. Short presentations by companies participating in the M-Enabling Summit will include Q&As and an opportunity to network with presenters.
Session Chair: Greg Pollock, Vice President of Business Development, Communication Service for the Deaf (CSD)
Presenters:
Harnessing the Velocity of Constant Change to Advance Accessibility
As technology accelerates yet again with AI and LLM, so does the potential for accessibility. We take a look back at Amazon’s efforts over the last decade and highlight the several durable truths that have emerged in advancing accessibility. How can we continue to harness the velocity of constant change and make the next decade even stronger for accessibility?
Registration ends October 6.