In early March, I attended the 30th Annual International Conference on Technology and Persons with Disabilities, better known as CSUN. This conference is one of the year’s best opportunities to find out what’s new and interesting in accessible technology, from business to entertainment to emerging technologies and beyond. The Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego, California was packed with thousands for web developers, tech trainers, policy experts and vendors for a week of networking, exhibits and over 400 presentation sessions. Both mainstream technology companies (Yahoo, Google, IBM, Microsoft, to name a few) and companies specializing in assistive technology were in attendance. Blind and low-vision participants made up a sizable portion of the crowd, and white canes, guide dogs and Voiceover-enabled iPhones were ubiquitous. Commentary, logistical information and session reminders kept our Twitter feeds busy throughout the week under the #CSUN15 hashtag, and I’m grateful to those exhibitors and presenters who made their materials available on Twitter so that people not attending the conference can benefit.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be highlighting resources from CSUN that I hope will be of interest to our patrons. One of the most informative sessions I attended focused on resources for workers and entrepreneurs with disabilities. 

Small Business in a Box: Enabling Entrepreneurship with Accessible Tech: The accelerating pace of technological innovation holds both promise and peril for people with disabilities: we have unprecedented access to all sorts of information and tools for getting work done, but not all new tools are accessible, and it can be exhausting to try several methods for doing the same task until one finds an accessible solution. J.J. Meddaugh of AT Guys, an accessible technology retailer; and Ted Drake of Intuit, makers of Quickbooks; are committed to taking the guesswork out of finding accessible software and hardware for business. They presented their picks for an accessible business toolbox, including points of sale, payroll management and accounting, e-commerce and social networking. The slides from their presentation are accessible and packed with recommendations that entrepreneurs with disabilities can put to work.

IOS Apps for Blind and Low Vision Users in the Workplace: Lyndon Dunbar’s presentation highlighted some of the most popular accessible apps for productivity at work, including Fantastical for calendar management; Voice Dream Reader and Writer for document reading, annotating and composition; and Skype and Dropbox for collaborating with colleagues. 

If you’re interested in learning more about government resources, mentorship opportunities and other types of assistance available to current and aspiring workers and entrepreneurs with disabilities, check out these American Foundation for the Blind Career Resources.