Live from Ability in Tech Summit in Berkeley, California

Ability in Tech Summit

In this episode we meet the participants, speakers, and organizers at “Ability in Tech Summit” . The summit addresses barriers and biases for people with different physical and mental abilities in tech – through workshops, panel discussions, a technology showcase, a career fair and a safe space to learn and meaningfully connect.

The first Tech Inclusion Conference in September 2015 began as a simple idea by co-founders Melinda Briana Epler and Wayne Sutton to bring together the tech community to discuss solutions to the industry’s diversity and inclusion challenges. The idea quickly gained momentum with overwhelming support from impassioned speakers, supportive sponsors and engaged partners.

Listen to the Podcast Episode 

Meet San

“Ability in Tech Summit”

This is day 23 of our 30 Day Podcast Project!  Today, you will meet San, from the “The Lions Center for the Blind”. The Lions Center for the Blind uses the latest in technology to provide individualized, one-on-one training to develop the skills necessary to succeed.

San feels more work needs to be done to educate those who are not aware of the laws protecting those of disabilities. They feel more resistance based on the skepticism and lack of understand of person’s ability rather than the actual disability.

San hopes to see what’s in the store, for the progress of those who are disabled. His organization provides rehabilitation services for people who are blind or low vision to build independent and productive lives. There is a professional team of experienced instructors provide individualized, one-on-one training for our clients to develop the skills necessary to succeed. To know more please visit lbcenter.org

Meet Lorna

Lorna Seitz is from Legis Institute, they are in process of developing an online platform to facilitate collaborative policy and legislation development.Lorna is attending the session so that she take care of the concerns for the disabled.

Legis tailors interventions to build on an institution’s existing strengths and address its unique challenges. They begin the needs assessment process by using unique institution-mapping and assessment system to identify repetitive patterns of behavior that undermine institutional fairness, effectiveness, and efficacy.  Clients and partners have used their resources to improve

• legislative drafting processes in Government ministries and in parliaments,
• public hearings and the use of public input to law and regulations,
• monitoring and evaluation of legislation as it is implemented,
• law reform processes
• court functioning

To know more please visit legisinstitute.org

Meet Darlene

Darlene is working with Alameda County Social Services Agency. The agency promotes the economic and social well-being of individuals, families, neighborhoods and communities. The Alameda County Social Services Agency is comprised of 2,200 men and women working collectively and in partnership with community-based organizations to serve the needs of the community. 

• The Agency assists approximately 11.3 percent of Alameda County’s residents.
• Benefits programs contribute over $278 million to the local economy through cash assistance and CalFresh.
• Every month more than 52,000 people receive CalWORKs (assistance for families with children), CalFresh and General Assistance.
• Every month health insurance is made available to more than 78,000 people through the Medi-Cal program.
• Every month more than 11,000 frail, elderly and disabled individuals receive in home care, adult protection and support managing their affairs, and throughtout the year 16,000 seniors will receive services through the Area Agency on Aging. 3,700 children are in foster care.

More About Ability in Tech

• Website: http://ability.techinclusion.co/
• Value Proposition: “As technology continues to affect every sector of business and innovation, there’s a growing concern for the lack inclusion across the tech ecosystem. While we work to correct this through a growing focus on diversity and inclusion, we often leave out populations of capable people in tech like those with visible and invisible disabilities.“