Dear Valued Readers,
We are excited to share Continual Engine’s first newsletter of 2025, which continues to bring together key updates in the world of AI for accessibility. Our goal is to help you stay informed on recent trends and learn how you can help shape the future of inclusive technology. We wish you a great year ahead, filled with growth, success, and purpose.
- Gain Insights from Our Latest Blogs on Accessibility: Section 508 vs ADA: Understanding Accessibility Laws for Your Business, Ensuring WCAG Compliance for Captions and Audio Descriptions
- Upcoming Event: Continual Engine’s Webinar on Municipality Document Compliance and CSUN Conference 2025
- Latest Advancements in Accessibility Include: Google Adds Emotion to Captions with Expressive Captions, and Meta’s Ray-Bans Get Live AI and Translation
- Discover the Latest News Articles that Include: Australia Introduces New Digital Standards for Government Access, Accessibility Action Plan Progress Report (Dec 2024), WCAG 3: December 2024 Update, AI & Accessibility: Ethics and Solutions, Understanding the New US AI Chip Rule, Princeton Launches Interactive Campus Accessibility Guides, Driving Banking Inclusion: Prashant Naik’s Accessibility Journey, Finland Invests €6.45M to Empower People with Disabilities in Syria, Design Lessons from Helping My Grandfather Send an Email, Why Accessibility is Crucial for SEO, Barriers to Public Accessibility: Insights from Canada’s 2022 Disability Survey, Govia Thameslink Improves Accessibility with Free Sign Language App
We aim to bring you engaging, insightful, and relevant updates on accessibility and compliance through these newsletters. We welcome any feedback or questions.
Warm Regards,
Continual Engine
LATEST BLOGS ON ACCESSIBILITY
Section 508 vs ADA – Making Sense of Accessibility Laws for Your Business
How to Make Your Captions and Audio Descriptions WCAG-Compliant
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines is a set of rules designed to make online content more accessible to people with disabilities. By following these guidelines, websites can ensure that everyone, no matter their abilities, can use and understand the content. This is where captions and audio descriptions come in—they help make videos and multimedia content accessible for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or visually impaired.
UPCOMING EVENT
Continual Engine will be Hosting a Webinar on “Municipality Document Compliance”
Continual Engine is thrilled to announce that we will be hosting the first accessibility webinar of 2025 with Ken Nakata (Principal, Converge Accessibility) and Kristin Yokota (AVP of Sales, Continual Engine) in March.
In this webinar, we will discuss the challenges municipalities face in making their digital documents compliant and accessible, and how they can evolve by adopting the right steps and proven strategies for document accessibility. We will also share best practices to help improve document accessibility. This will be a great opportunity to gain practical insights from accessibility experts and enhance your municipality’s accessibility efforts.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at contact@continualengine.com.
Continual Engine will be Presenting and Exhibiting at the CSUN Conference 2025
Continual Engine is thrilled to announce that we will present and exhibit at the upcoming 40th Annual CSUN Assistive Technology Conference in March.
Join us in Anaheim, California where we will be presenting a session on “Transforming Document Remediation: Expert-Led and AI-Driven” on March 13, 2025, from 9:20 AM PT.
Our leadership team at Continual Engine US LLC, Vijayshree (VJ) Vethantham, SVP of Growth & Strategy, and Kristin Yokota, AVP of Sales, will be presenting at the session and will also be available at our booth to connect and provide live demos of our cutting-edge accessibility solutions.
What to Expect at the Session:
- Discover how AI is revolutionizing document remediation
- Learn how PREP auto-tags 90% of documents, ensuring compliance at scale
- See how PREP streamlines workflows, reduces manual effort and accelerates accessibility across industries
If you want to schedule a meeting during the conference or learn about our accessibility solutions and services, reach out to us at contact@continualengine.com. We are looking forward to seeing you there!
ADVANCEMENTS IN ACCESSIBILITY:
Google is using AI to make captions more contextual and accessible. Google on Thursday announced an accessibility feature for Android it calls Expressive Captions. The software, which is built atop Google’s existing Live Captions feature, uses artificial intelligence to help Deaf and hard-of-hearing people understand emotion in spoken dialogue.
Meta’s Ray-Bans Can Now Do Real-Time Live AI And Translation
Whether you already own a pair or you’re hoping Santa drops one down the chimney, Ray-Ban Meta glasses* are the gift that keeps on giving. Right out of the box, they help you experience the world, share your POV, and capture the moments that matter, completely hands-free.
NEWS ARTICLES ON ACCESSIBILITY
Australia: New Digital Standards Enhance Access to Government Services
Starting 1st January 2025, newly launched government websites in Australia are required to adhere to three new standards aimed at enhancing accessibility, simplifying access, and ensuring consistent, high-quality user experiences. These standards are part of a broader initiative by the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA), which published the Digital Experience Policy in July 2024.
Accessibility Action Plan Progress Report (Canada), December 31, 2024
The Accessible Canada Act (ACA) established a three-year planning and reporting cycle for federal government departments and agencies. In 2022, Parks Canada published its Accessibility Action Plan, the first year of the three-year plan. As required by the Accessible Canada Regulations, Parks Canada has produced and published its first Accessibility Action Plan Progress Report.
WCAG 3 December 2024 Update
The Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AG) has updated the W3C Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 3 Working Draft. This post presents an overview of this update as well as AG co-chairs thoughts on the standard’s direction. The December 2024 update includes three guidelines that were used to explore how WCAG 3 might be structured.
AI and Accessibility: Ethical Considerations and Solutions
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing how people interact with technology, including tools that make websites and apps more accessible. From automatically adding descriptions to images to converting speech into text in real-time, AI offers some exciting possibilities for making the internet work better for everyone.
How the New AI Chip Rule from the US will Work
The U.S. government said on Monday it would issue a new regulation designed to control access to U.S.-designed artificial intelligence chips and technology by other countries around the world. The rule regulates the flow of American AI chips and technology needed for the most sophisticated AI applications.
Princeton Implements Interactive Guides Detailing Campus Building Accessibility
Princeton became the first U.S. university to partner with AccessAble, a disability access organization that recently expanded into the United States. Princeton has launched interactive AccessAbility guides, allowing students, alumni, and visitors to see all accessible entrances, restrooms, elevators, and accessibility features in buildings campus-wide.
Driving Inclusion in Banking: Prashant Naik’s Accessibility Journey
In this episode of the United in Accessibility podcast, Prashant Naik, a Digital Accessibility Specialist at Union Bank of India, discusses his decade-long efforts to enhance banking accessibility for individuals with disabilities, including the implementation of talking ATMs.
Inclusive Resilience: Euro 6.45 Million from Finland to Empower Persons with Disabilities to Lead Community Transformation in Syria
The Government of Finland announced a new contribution of Euro 6.45 million to the United Nations Development Programme to strengthen the resilience and overall well-being of communities in Syria through the active involvement and contributions of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in development and peacebuilding.
What I Learned About Design by Helping My Grandfather Send an Email
It started as a simple request, “Can you help me send an email to a friend.” Something most of us reading this have done countless times, but it was a new experience for my 89-year-old grandfather. He has always been pretty resistant to new technology. As a survey engineer, he drew site plans by hand long after most of his peers worked digitally. Today, he is retired and prefers newspapers and television over the internet and cell phones.
Why Accessibility Matters for Your SEO Strategy
Ever wondered if your website might be turning away potential customers without you even knowing it? Chances are, it probably is. In the EU alone, over 101 million internet users have a disability. That’s a lot of people who might struggle to use your site if it’s not accessible, making it a high priority for every website owner and developer.
Barriers to Accessibility in Public Spaces: Findings from the 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability
This study uses the 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability to explore the experiences of barriers to accessibility in public spaces among persons with disabilities aged 15 years and over. More closely examining the barriers encountered by persons with disabilities as they navigate their environments is important in furthering progress toward an accessible and inclusive Canada.
Govia Thameslink Railway Enhances Accessibility with Free Sign Language App
The UK’s largest train operator is offering free use of an innovative sign language app to remove barriers for passengers who are deaf or suffer hearing loss – and help them travel with confidence across its 11-county network. Customers will be able to use the SignLive app at all 236 of its managed stations, onboard trains, and with its call centers to communicate with Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) staff using a trained British Sign Language interpreter on their smartphone screen.
