Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home IT Management
    • IT Management

    IBM Appoints Chief Accessibility Officer

    By
    Darryl K. Taft
    -
    July 22, 2014
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin
      IBM logo

      IBM has created a new position, Chief Accessibility Officer (CAO), aimed at redefining accessibility for users and ensuring that all users can have access to technology.

      Big Blue appointed Frances West as the company’s first Chief Accessibility Officer. In this new role, West will guide IBM accessibility policies and practices. Additionally, she will lead IBM’s collaboration with business, government and academia to advance accessibility standards and policy.

      West started at IBM Research as the leader of the Human Ability & Accessibility Center. She has served on the board of directors of the American Association of People with Disabilities, the Assistive Technology Industry Association and the U.S. Business Leadership Network, among others. She currently sits on the board of the World Institute on Disability, is a trustee at the National Braille Press and is an adviser to the National Business & Disability Council.

      “The success of enterprises and institutions, and their impact on the world, will increasingly be determined by how easily they engage with individuals,” said Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman, president and CEO, in a statement. “We see a great opportunity to design for accessibility fundamentally from the start and to enhance the abilities of individuals through technology—and we intend to lead.”

      In addition to the more than 1 billion people with disabilities worldwide, there are aging populations and people with language, learning and literacy challenges. As mobile devices become the primary means of engaging consumers, workers and citizens, they can become a transformational platform to broaden accessibility.

      “IBM has long embraced accessibility to create an environment where all individuals can do their job and reach their full potential,” West said in a statement. “We believe that technology can bridge individual differences, enable a diverse pool of talent in the workplace and improve lives. We are at a crossroads where we can begin to personalize every experience and integrate technology in ways that will be very powerful.”

      Today, West is speaking on Capitol Hill about the government passing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which is a United Nations Treaty that identifies the rights of persons with disabilities and also obligations to promote, protect and ensure those rights. The CRPD is grounded in a broad human rights framework and was modeled on the U.S. American with Disabilities Act.

      West will work with IBM teams around the world that are spearheading efforts to deliver accessible and assistive technologies to the market. IBM has long been involved in enhancing accessibility technology and various units within the company to continue to focus on it at different levels. For instance, IBM Interactive works with clients to embed technologies like text-to-speech, voice recognition, real-time translation and location-based preferences to create more personalized experiences and to remove both persistent and situational barriers for their customers.

      Meanwhile, IBM’s Bluemix cloud platform as a service will provide an ecosystem of accessibility services, from development tools for design and testing to enterprise-wide compliance services. In addition, IBM will design for accessibility in the apps and solutions it creates to unlock the potential of enterprise mobility. And IBM Watson will extend the abilities of individuals by tapping knowledge from vast stores of data, using natural language in areas as diverse as financial services and personalized medicine, IBM officials said.

      “Frances is a respected leader and has been instrumental in supporting inclusive technology policies and accessibility standards,” Axel Leblois, president and executive director of G3ict, the Global Initiative for Inclusive Information and Communication Technologies—a United Nations global initiative. “Removing barriers and giving individuals the ability to design their own experience is the right way to create an inclusive environment.”

      For more than 100 years, IBM has advanced technology access for people of all abilities. Some of its earliest innovations include the first Braille printer, a talking typewriter and the first commercially viable screen reader.

      Darryl K. Taft
      Darryl K. Taft covers the development tools and developer-related issues beat from his office in Baltimore. He has more than 10 years of experience in the business and is always looking for the next scoop. Taft is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and was named 'one of the most active middleware reporters in the world' by The Middleware Co. He also has his own card in the 'Who's Who in Enterprise Java' deck.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Big Data and Analytics

      Alteryx’s Suresh Vittal on the Democratization of...

      James Maguire - May 31, 2022 0
      I spoke with Suresh Vittal, Chief Product Officer at Alteryx, about the industry mega-shift toward making data analytics tools accessible to a company’s complete...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×