KNOWBILITY APPOINTS JIM THATCHER SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW AND LAUNCHES ADVISORY SERVICES FOR IT ACCESSIBILITY
Expert Assessment is first offering in response to State of Texas mandate, HB-2819
Austin, TEXAS – AUGUST 10, 2005 – Knowbility, Inc., the award-winning authority on information technology (IT) accessibility for public and private sector organizations, today announced Knowbility Consulting and Advisory Services, a new range of research and professional offerings complementing Knowbility’s existing training and advocacy programs.
Anchoring the announcement were the appointment of noted IT accessibility expert Dr. Jim Thatcher as Senior Research Fellow with Knowbility and the introduction of a new, affordable Expert Assessment to help companies and agencies identify their IT accessibility problems and incorporate best practices. The Expert Assessment addresses the accelerating requirement for state and federal agencies, as well as those organizations that do business with them, to provide accessible IT for people with disabilities.
The concept of IT accessibility means that software, web sites, and other electronic and information technology must be designed in a manner to enable people with disabilities to use the technologies, often with the aid of assistive tools. For example, a blind person using a screen reader can confidently navigate and interact with a web site when that site is designed according to IT accessibility guidelines.
"With recent developments ranging from HB-2819 mandating IT accessibility passed in June by the State of Texas’s legislature to the State of New York’s legal actions brought against Priceline.com and Ramada Inn by Attorney General Elliott Spitzer, organizations know they must make their products and services electronically accessible to everyone," said William H. Cahill, chairman of Knowbility’s board of directors. "Our Consulting and Advisory Services meet the growing demand for accessible information technology. The Expert Assessment, our first offering, makes immediately available to any organization the same level of expert review and action plans that have been available through our award-winning training for years."
Knowbility’s Expert Assessment is conducted by Knowbility trained professionals and includes a proprietary, point-by-point diagnostic review and specific recommendations to comply with IT accessibility standards. Further, it includes a customized training session and a referral service to web and software professionals in the Knowbility network that clients can hire to implement IT accessibility recommendations.
"I am delighted to accept the appointment as Senior Research Fellow with Knowbility," said Dr Thatcher, who is the lead author of Constructing Accessible Web Sites and served as vice-chair of the Section 508 Standards Committee. "I doubt there is any venue, any forum, any organization, that has trained so many web developers, so well, as Knowbility, through its Accessibility Internet Rally program.
# # #