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June 2013
Date Published	News headline and description
20 June 2013	Electoral Commission falls at the last accessibility hurdle The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has made online enrolment available for the first time. However, by requiring a driver’s license, the AEC has missed the opportunity to make enrolling to vote and updating enrolment details substantially easier for Australians who are blind or vision impaired.
19 June 2013	Real-time captions to be delivered in NSW public schools Progress has been made towards equitable education in New South Wales public schools with captioning provider Ai-Media winning a competitive tender to provide live captions in classrooms across the state.
17 June 2013	Accessibility improvements announced at Apple WWDC A number of new features announced at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) held in San Francisco last week reveals some potential improvements to the accessibility of Apple devices. Presenting to developers, Apple unveiled its new operating system (OS), called OS X Mavericks, and the latest version of its mobile OS, called iOS 7.
14 June 2013	ABC to improve app accessibility The ABC has agreed to make its main mobile app accessible after complaints made to the Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes.
13 June 2013	Opinion: Do we still need specialist technology? Dr Scott Hollier shares his scepticism about some of the latest mobile devices to hit the disabled market.
13 June 2013	Awareness of audio description increases in the UK New research released by Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, shows that over 60% of people are aware of the service, which gives blind and vision impaired people access to television programs.
12 June 2013	ABC found in breach of captioning rules The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has found the ABC in breach of captioning rules due to poor captions on episodes of At the Movies (broadcast on 22 August 2012) and Gruen Planet (broadcast on 17 October 2012).
05 June 2013	ACMA releases new Television Captioning Quality Standard The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) today released its long awaited Television Captioning Quality Standard, which for the first time imposes obligations on broadcasters to ensure that the captions on their programs are readable, comprehensible and accurate.
04 June 2013	Mobile technology and disability at the M-enabling conference The Australian Communications Consumer Network (ACCAN) has announced the major speakers at the M-enabling Australasia Conference. The event will bring together consumers, government and industry, and focus on how mobile devices, operating systems and apps can be made more accessible for people with disability.
04 June 2013	The ACMA launches broadcasting codes inquiry The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has launched an inquiry into broadcasting codes of practice and whether they are keeping up with the rapid changes taking place in Australian society.
03 June 2013	News from the Round Table on Information Access 2013 Access to information through digital technologies was discussed and highlighted at the 2013 Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities held last week in Sydney. The conference covered a variety of subjects including access to arts and culture, access to desktop computers and mobile devices, regulation, publishing standards and access in education.
03 June 2013	cap that! campaign promotes captions for learning Media Access Australia’s education initiative cap that! today launched its 2013 campaign, asking teachers nationally to become a ‘Captions Champion’ and turn on captions on classroom videos to improve learning for all students.

May 2013
Date Published	News headline and description
31 May 2013	Computer literacy boosted in South African schools Phone manufacturer Huawei has partnered with the Khulisani Foundation to launch a training program in South Africa to increase computer skills amongst disadvantaged children with disability.
29 May 2013	Celebrities audio describe London UK audio description specialist Vocal Eyes has completed an inspiring series titled London Beyond Sight, securing the voice talents of 40 famous Londoners to describe significant landmarks and buildings. The project originated from a similar idea in New York.
23 May 2013	Guest post: Voting independently In a recent state by-election, screen reader user Andrew Devenish-Meares* was able to vote online. Here, he talks through the experience of being able to place a secret vote independently.*
22 May 2013	Google petitioned on accessibility Software giant Google has been petitioned by J.P. Shandra, a blind user, to make each of its products usable for people with disability. The petition, posted on global consumer campaigning site Change.org, identifies that Google is failing to keep up with its competitors on accessibility.
21 May 2013	Opinion: Regulating audio description the only way Australia is a long way behind the rest of the world when it comes to audio description on television. Media Access Australia CEO Alex Varley looks at the different approaches to regulating audio description and what conditions lead to across-the-board services around the world.
20 May 2013	UK regulator seeks to improve live TV captioning The UK communications regulator Ofcom has announced proposals aimed at improving the quality of live captioning on television, including asking broadcasters to report on the quality of their captions.
20 May 2013	Presentation: Web For All 2013 Dr Scott Hollier and Associate Professor Denise Wood, co-lecturers of the Professional Certificate In Web Accessibility presented at the Web For All (W4A) Conference in Rio de Janeiro last week.
17 May 2013	Captioned cinema moves forward with new technologies Two new accessible cinema developments in the USA and UK have movie fans getting excited about what might be the next steps in captioned movies. Both developments, InvisibleCaptions and the Off-Screen Cinema Subtitle System, present the compromise that can win over both consumers and exhibitors.