Skip to Content Skip to Main Menu Skip to Submenu Skip to Search View Mobile site

You are here:

Latest News

July 2012
Date Published	News headline and description
05 July 2012	Accessibility you can bank on A bank in Switzerland, Credit Suisse, is calling itself “the barrier-free bank” as it launches its accessibility initiative for the fifth year running. Showcasing its services for those with impaired hearing, vision or mobility, as well as the elderly, the campaign aims to increase awareness amongst customers and staff.
04 July 2012	Audio description now mandatory on US television As of 1 July, audio description is once again mandatory on television in the US, with the top four networks and top five cable TV channels obliged to screen 4 hours of audio described programs each week.
04 July 2012	The Other Film Festival returns for 2012 The biennial Other Film Festival has announced its return in 2012, showing films that are not only accessible, but tell stories of people with disabilities from around the world.

June 2012
Date Published	News headline and description
28 June 2012	Captions included on ABC iView app The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has today launched the ABC iView app for iPhone, with caption functionality included.
28 June 2012	Overstream website for captioning videos experiencing problems Free online captioning software Overstream is currently experiencing problems with its video streaming functions. Videos can be searched for but not played online or uploaded so that captions can be created for them.
27 June 2012	Fleksy app improves texting for blind or vision impaired users A yet-to-be-released iOS iPhone app called Fleksy has stripped down the traditional touchscreen keyboard to make typing text more accessible to people who are blind or vision impaired.
26 June 2012	Open audio described movie in Melbourne Water for Elephants, the 2011 blockbuster movie starring Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson, will screen with open audio description at Reading Cinemas Dandenong Plaza in late July.
25 June 2012	TV captioning bill passed in Senate This morning, a bill to amend the access provisions of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 was passed by the Senate, and now only awaits royal assent to become law. The bill enshrines in legislation a number of key recommendations of the Federal Government’s ‘Media access review final report’, which was released in December 2010.
21 June 2012	New Zealand TV programs to be captioned for DVD Three of New Zealand’s largest media organisations have joined forces to ensure local content that is broadcast with captions will now also be captioned for DVD release.
21 June 2012	US deafness organisation wins next stage of Netflix captioning suit The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) has had a significant win in its lawsuit against the online movie provider Netflix, with the District Court of Massachusetts holding that the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to website-only businesses.
20 June 2012	Dell and Microsoft create program for accessible classrooms A new collaborative effort by Microsoft and Dell has introduced an education program in the U.S. that will provide training and support to teachers of students with disabilities.
15 June 2012	Campaign video calls for action on captions A new international media campaign, Don’t Leave Me Out!, has been launched by The Collaborative for Communication Access via Captioning (CCAC) with the release of a powerful short documentary that promotes the need for captioning in everyday life.
13 June 2012	Web accessibility course brings skills to industry and government Registrations are now open for our six-week online web accessibility course, Australia's only tertiary-backed accessibility course for web professionals.
12 June 2012	Siri update boosts accessibility on iOS devices The update to Apple’s operating system iOS 6 announced today will provide a boost to the accessibility of Apple’s mobile devices such as the iPhone and iPad.
08 June 2012	Accessible movie goers asked for feedback In a bid to gain feedback from movie goers, Media Access Australia has today launched an online questionnaire which will provide industry with information on technical issues that everyday cinema patrons encounter with closed captioning and audio description devices used in accessible cinemas in Australia.
08 June 2012	Closed Captions now available in Google+ Google has announced closed captions are now available on the Google+ video player, following suit with YouTube, the online video streaming and sharing site where closed captions are already enabled.
07 June 2012	cap that! education campaign kicks off for 2012 Our annual cap that! campaign promoting the use of captions in the classroom for every student is back for 2012, providing free tools and information to help teachers use captions in their classrooms and champion captions in their schools.
07 June 2012	Alligator clips make for accessible gaming Two graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who live by the belief that ‘everyone is an inventor’ have come up with an invention kit that will potentially make different technologies accessible to people with a disability.
06 June 2012	Court upholds ruling against Canadian government’s website The Canadian government has lost its appeal against a court ruling that said its website was in breach of charter rights of people with vision disabilities.
06 June 2012	Canadian access company launches audio described TV guide Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) has launched an online guide listing all programs available with audio description on Canadian TV channels.