Give this six segment episode with Chris Knapp a listen in the podcast below:

Living in a digital world means that we have access to information at our fingertips 24/7/365. But how accessible is really for those with disabilities? You may have heard about accessibility for websites. Your website might even have tools and plugins that allow your website to be accessible to those who are visually impaired.  

In this episode of the Bottom-Line IT Show, Mike Maddox talks with Chris Knapp of Accessiversity about his mission to use technology to meet the needs of those with disabilities. Chris and Mike talk about how accessibility goes much deeper than a website plugin. It’s about business processes and considering your user experience. 

Accessibility hits close to home for Chris, having lived most of his adult life visually impaired. He shares a personal experience from when he applied for a job online a few years ago. The job application was pretty accessible for him considering his impairment. However, when he got to the very end of the application, he was asked if he had a valid state driver’s license.  

While he has a valid state ID, that’s not what the question asked him. The question was if he had a valid state driver’s license – which he had to answer “No” because he is legally blind. His application was ultimately tossed out because of this one answer. 

He shared this story with Mike to drive home the point about culture, process and understanding the user experience for those with disabilities. Chris and Mike talk about their mutual belief that there needs to be a business process behind everything. Companies need to understand why they’re doing it and who it impacts. 

Check out the rest of their conversation in this episode!