News

Trace Center Director Gregg Vanderheiden described the Raising the Floor initiative in his presentation Friday, March 20, 2009, at the annual CSUN conference. Raising the Floor (RtF) is an international collaborative effort to build access features directly into the Internet. Vanderheiden provided details of the initiative, including information on benefits and how to participate.

A key initiative of the Trace Center’s Universal Interface & IT Access RERC and Benetech, Raising the Floor (RtF) is part of a broader effort to ensure that every person with a disability on the planet has access to the basic technologies and knowledge they need to fully participate in education, employment and social inclusion. RtF was mentioned last year at CSUN in Jim Fruchterman’s keynote presentation and was also presented at the Assistive Technology Industry Association Annual Conference held Jan. 29, 2009 in Orlando, and at the European Ministerial e-Inclusion Conference held in Vienna, Dec. 1, 2008.

Other Trace Center presentations at CSUN:

• Web Specialist and WCAG Co-Editor Ben Caldwell joined Gregg Vanderheiden (WCAG Co-Chair and Co-Editor) as part of “The New WCAG 2: Web Accessibility Q and A with the Editors”
• Gregg Vanderheiden was part of a panel on “Mainstream Information and Communication Technology and People with Cognitive Disabilities: An Agenda”