August A11y Meetup

Join us Tuesday, August 18th from 5:30 – 7:30 pm for another Pittsburgh Accessibility Meetup, with speakers from:

Unlockphilly: Using open data and crowdsourcing to improve accessibility in Philadelphia
www.unlockphilly.com
Unlockphilly started out as a weekend hackathon project with an objective to map accessible and inaccessible stations and venues. The project has grown and is making an impact through collaboration with community members and groups that support the interests of people with disabilities. This talk discusses the project and the importance of making buildings, parks, maps and apps accessible to everyone. It also describes the efforts made to make online maps and visualizations more
accessible. Unlock Philly creator James Tyack is a software engineer, civic hacker and accessibility advocate. He’s passionate about building technology that helps create positive, inclusive change in the community.

Carnegie Library
www.carnegielibrary.org/lbph
Mark Lee and Don Ciccone from the Carnegie Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped will be presenting recent program initiatives undertaken by the library, such as an Advocacy and Advisory Committee to study and recommend programming, the acquisition of tactile maps
for circulation, game days using tactile games, and training for accessibility features available on iPads. We plan to have an open discussion as to how we can address the needs of the community going forward, as well as an overview of current services offered such as the Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD) for digital audiobooks.

Conversant Labs
Conversant Labs creates voice-enabled applications for the blind and visually impaired. Their first app, Say Shopping is available now in the Apple App store, and allows you to shop from Target.com with your voice. Chris will be talking about the future of accessibility and how we can better provide services for seniors who are losing their vision.

In addition to speakers we will have pizza and plenty of time for socializing!

Hope to see you all there.

These free events are made possible by donations from participants like you. Please consider making a donation at the event.

Please let us know how we can make this event more accessible, inclusive, and enjoyable for you by contacting Gabriel McMorland at g.mcmorland@gmail.com. We will have an ASL interpreter from Hearing and Deaf Services, and volunteers at the outside doors until 6 pm.
Want to volunteer? We’re so grateful to the volunteers who make these events possible. To volunteer, contact Gabe McMorland at[masked] or
[masked].

We’re grateful to the Urban Affairs Foundation of the Jewish
Federation of Pittsburgh for their support With their help we are able
to provide ASL interpreters and food at all of our events.