I encountered this issue recently in one of our tests. The website the was generated had an entire background of active emojis and content just in the header.
NDVA read every. single. emoji. In a circle until it finally found the header. Insanity

Panel 1: character crying at a desk Text: this IS hard Panel 2: character is now drawing determinedly Text: but I can do it

Little gentle reminder to all the human creatives out there 💪

Ensure text is readable in data visualizations and information graphics. Small text is generally harder to read, and should be avoided where possible. Make sure the text is not obstructed by other chart elements, and has sufficient contrast against its background.

Accessibility Is Taking a Hit Across the Sciences (Gift Article) Confusion has ensued about the future of programs and research supporting people with disabilities as a result of President Trump’s executive order.

There’s much talk about how early career researchers are getting shafted. Researchers with disabilities and those who are working hard to maintain mentoring pipelines: hold my beer.

The CHI notification is on Thursday and I am trying to mentally prepare myself 👀 🤞🏻

"Disabled users don't use my website" is a cop-out and a lie. There's no way to know how many assistive technology users are using your site. You can't confidently exclude a large portion of the world's population that has a disability by claiming none of them use your site.

scatterplot of dots over time with total downloads on the y axis

A sign that accessibility and data viz is important: the most downloaded episode of the Data Stories Podcast ( @moritzstefaner.bsky.social @ebertini.bsky.social ) is the episode about accessibility with the amazing @fossheim.bsky.social

Check out the data: observablehq.com/@moritzstefa...

Section 504 is under attack A right that I had as a disabled student in the US is at risk of being destroyed.

One of the most important things about our public education system is at risk of being destroyed.

17 states are suing the federal government to bring down Section 504, which is arguably the single-most important law that paved the course of my entire life.

www.frank.computer/blog/2025/02...

thank you to everyone adding ALT text to your images. It ensures that your posts are #accessible.

Bluesky has a setting that will remind you to include text when you're posting an image. Go to Settings / Accessibility, and check the box next to "Require alt text before posting."

Justice for the em dash! ー

The ASSETS 2025 early bird mentoring deadline is Feb 20. Signup details here assets25.sigaccess.org/mentoring.html.

We also have an interesting blog post from mentoring chair Yasmine Elgaly describing her experiences with early ASSETS papers and why mentoring is helpful medium.com/@yasmineg/th...

Who'S Line GIF ALT: Who'S Line GIF

“Whose taxes is it anyway”

Announcing ASSETS 2025 Call for Papers and Mentoring. Technical papers are due April 16, experience reports are due June 11, posters and demos are due June 25, and the DC is due June 25. If you are new to ASSETS, you can also receive mentorship. Details at assets25.sigaccess.org Pls share.

Everyone who works on a website has a role to ensure the site and its content are accessible. This resource from Vox Media breaks down some accessibility tasks by job role, including content creators, designers, developers, project managers, and testers.

accessibility.voxmedia.com

Chicago Tonight | Chicago Lab Connects Computers With the Human Body | Season 2025 Pedro Lopes leads the Human-Computer Integration Lab at the University of Chicago.

Curious about what we are doing at @UChicago to advance Human Computer Integration? www.pbs.org/video/chicag... shows how we connect computers with the body to provide physical embodied assistance—1st live demo of Yun Ho (new PhD) where she shows wearable muscle stimulation to the TV reporter! 1/3

"All NSF grantees must [cease] all non-compliant activities... that [use] DEIA principles and frameworks" The EO asks that DEIA "discrimination programs" be terminated "to the maximum extent allowed by law." But it is illegal to fail at accessibility and to discriminate. I'll be obeying the law.

it's worth repeating that trump's executive order against DEI was actually against DEIA … the A stands for Accessibility, a very different issue. Accessibility means coding software and documents properly so everyone can use them, instead of making them wrong. Almost nobody is against accessibility

Thank you for this, I use grammarly and they’ve both been fighting with each other. It’s been driving me crazy

White House pauses all federal grants, sparking confusion The Trump administration has put a hold on all federal financial grants and loans, affecting tens of billions of dollars in payments.

I think some people hear “grants” and think that without them, scientists and government workers just have less stuff to play with at work. But grants fund salaries for students, academics, researchers, and people who work in all areas of public service.

“Pausing” grants means people don’t eat.

I’m currently applying for my PhD and I’m trying not to freaking out right now

All federal grants and loan disbursement paused by White House | CNN Politics The White House budget office has ordered a pause on all federal grants and loans, according to an internal memorandum sent Monday.

Higher education research is about to suffer. Students who need apply for financial aid for spring and grants will be unable to access them causing delay in enrollment confirmation

www.cnn.com/2025/01/27/p...

Maybe every generation has to fight for the value of user experience

a woman wearing glasses is waving her hand while sitting in front of a window . Alt: Actress and producer sitting down and high fiving herself while open mouth smiling

Just submitted for #CHI ‘25 late breaking for the first time. Regardless if this paper is accepted or not, I’m still grateful for the opportunity and proud of the work we put in for my very first paper submission.

Instagram interface with search results for the hashtag “democrats”. The screen shows various posts ex. infographics, video reels, VP Kamala Harris, CA wildfires, former president bill clinton

Interesting when I search posts seem to come up still

To all my fellow #HCI researchers working to finish your papers before next week’s #CHI deadline: May your coffee keep you energized, your ideas flow freely, and your computer run smoothly. We can do it 💪🏻

Another day another icon button that has no label and doesn’t indicate what it does clearly.

A lot of great information in here!! Thank you for also including plain text usage for those with cognitive disabilities and neurodivergence! @kateringland.bsky.social

As more and more of our favorite #HCI venues join Bluesky, I created a starter pack with the ones I found @chi.acm.org @acm-dis.bsky.social @chiwork.bsky.social @mobilehci.bsky.social @ieeevis.bsky.social @acm.org @acm-cscw.bsky.social @ozchi-conf.bsky.social #CHI2025

go.bsky.app/GN935Hq

I’m sure it will be since they’ll lump it with DEI and wonder why usership has gone down in their sites 🙄

I feel so conflicted, I want to delete it but my mother who passed away is friends with me on FB and I don’t know if I can get past not being able to go through her posts again 😞