XR Social Accessibility in Practice: Lessons from Meta Horizon Worlds

This event will be online at YouTube and in-person. The speaker and live stream starts at 7:30 pm ET. In-person attendees may arrive as early as 7 pm ET. If arriving late, please leave a comment on this page and someone will come down ASAP.

Important note
Google Maps currently incorrectly pins the location around the corner on Crosby Street. The entrance is not on Crosby. The entrance is on Spring Street, inside the Marc Jacobs International building. It is roughly halfway between Crosby and Lafayette, almost directly across Spring Street from the Chipotle restaurant.

Description
This presentation provides a snapshot of XR social accessibility at the beginning of 2026, examining where the industry currently stands through Meta Horizon Worlds and the Quest ecosystem. We explore three interconnected layers:

• Quest headset accessibility screen reader, text-to-speech, color correction, customizable text)
• How these enable participation in Horizon Worlds social experiences
• Meta's developer framework addressing five disability categories (vision, hearing, speech, motor, cognition).

This presentation brings together a live presentation with a virtual presentation at the same time. As always, in our work with the A11yVR Meetup we will be open to receiving feedback on how the presentation can be improved for accessibility. If you are unable to join us in the physical space, you will be able to participate through our YouTube stream.

Presenter bio
Thomas Logan has spent over twenty years helping organizations design and implement technology solutions that are accessible to people with disabilities. Throughout his career, he has led projects for federal, state, and local government agencies, as well as private sector organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies.

He is the founder and owner of Equal Entry, whose mission is to contribute to a more accessible world. Equal Entry advances this mission by providing training, education, and accessibility audits across websites, desktop and mobile applications, games, and virtual reality. The company partners with organizations that build digital technologies to ensure accessibility is embedded from the start.

Accessibility
The presentation will have human captions [CC], not automatic captions. For ASL preferred speakers, learn about the Aira ASL App, and download it before the event.

For the Blind and Low Vision community, learn about the Aira Explorer App and download it before the event.

To access the online webinar for audio description, use the A11yNYC Access Offer to call, or simply inform your Visual Interpreter that you'd like that offer applied when you connect.

For additional accessibility requirements, please email meryl@equalentry.com two weeks before the event.

Livestream
YouTube link coming soon

Provided by Internet Society Accessibility SIG.

Location details
The event is on the 4th floor. Everyone must be accompanied to the event on the 4th floor. Because everyone needs to be escorted, please arrive early or on time. When you enter the ground floor, a representative from A11yNYC will be there to provide elevator access.

The building is near several transit stops:
6 train

• Spring Street (non-accessible stop): 100 feet
• Canal Street (accessible stop): 0.4 miles

NQRW trains

• Prince Street (non-accessible stop): 0.2 miles
• Canal Street (accessible stop): 0.3 miles

M1 / M55 Bus lines

• Broadway/Spring Street stop: 500 feet

Cabs and rideshares can let passengers out right near the building entrance

Accreditation
All A11yNYC meetups are pre-approved for IAAP Continuing Accessibility Education Credits (CAEC).

Sponsors
Thanks to AKQA, Deque, Evinced, Equal Entry, and Fable for sponsoring. Want to be a sponsor? Contact meryl@equalentry.com