Article 19 is back! After a hibernation, we're ready to bloom again. Listen to Katie and Kristen interview longtime listener, first time caller, Raquella Freeman, as she shares her disability journey with us. While ableism and sexism tried to keep her down, Raquella leaned hard on the voices that lifted her up and is now an advocate for those who follow. At the end of the episode, Katie gives Raquella a unique gift, and Raquella undergoes a surprise metamorphosis. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about web accessibility at Tammaninc.com and document accessibility, and accessibility training and consulting at ChaxTC.com. 00:00:00,171 Article 19 Intro Recording: Expression is one of the most powerful tools we have. A voice, a pen, a keyboard. Eleanor Roosevelt Recording: “The real change which must give to people throughout the world their human rights must come about in the hearts of people. We must want our fellow human beings to have rights and freedoms which give them dignity.” Article 19 Recording: Article 19 is the voice in the room. (tech Music bed) 00:00:25 Walt Zielinski: So for me, the moment that I realized digital accessibility was something I wanted to learn more about was when it dawned on me that the same sort of fight for gay rights and being visibly queer was sort of the same exact fight being fought for people with disabilities. Accessibility is all about championing people whose voices are inherently, by society, stifled or shut down because they exist outside of the typical space. And when I realized that it was all part of the same fight, that my fight for religious freedom, for queer liberation, was the same as the fight for disability rights, it became very obvious that it was something that I had to pursue in some way. 00:01:23 Rose Bliesner: I was drawn into digital accessibility when I first met people who worked in this space. When I learned that digital accessibility was something that people had careers in and something that people dedicated their lives to, I was intrigued. I met several accessibility professionals and learned that they are the most empathetic, most passionate people, and that they really, really love what they do. And so their enthusiasm for their craft really motivated me to educate myself on how to make the world more accessible. And I have loved every minute of it. 00:01:55 Rob Underwood: When I got hired by Chax to remediate InDesign documents for assistive technologies it was the very first time I realized that digital accessibility was something that I wanted to learn more about. I've been teaching InDesign for 20 years, but I never knew how to make an accessible document. When I was hired, I was taught the process of document remediation in small, incremental steps at first. I learned about the importance of headings and document structure. Once we got into color contrast, tables, and the pack checker, I understood the importance of the job we were performing, and how accessibility wasn't a nice-to-have, it was a must. The real aha moment for me was the first time DAX showed us what the documents we created sounded like with a screen reader. For the first time, I could finally grasp how people interact with assistive technology. It was then that I realized that my skillset could provide value to the team and that I wanted to learn everything I could about document remediation. Being part of a team that is at the forefront of accessibility makes me feel good about the work I'm doing. For the first time in my life, I feel like I'm working at a job that gives me purpose. 00:03:07 Taylor Kellar: When I first started working for Chax, I had a very vague understanding as to what digital accessibility meant. I thought that because technology was ever evolving, that accessibility was something that was already being automatically considered. It wasn't until I realized that programs that I use as an able-bodied individual, like Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat, have barriers that my coworkers who don't utilize technology in the same way have trouble accessing. What inspires me to learn more about digital accessibility is my co-workers. I feel very lucky that I get a first-hand experience learning tips and tricks on how to make my own content more accessible, and as a world that's primarily online, I think we owe it to ourselves to make content accessible for everyone. 00:03:51 Katie Samson, (cohost): Hello, everyone, and welcome to Article 19. What's up, Kristen? Kristen Witucki, (cohost): Oh, it's been a minute, Katie. We're, you know, we've taken a little break, and it's really great to be back with you again and with our producer, Markus Goldman. 00:04:06 KS: Yes, we got the band back together. KW: Yeah, we did. KS: We're going to have some great music, some awesome topics coming up in 2026. And we figured we'd start a little bit...
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