As I prepare for the United States Business Leadership Network (USBLN) Conference in Los Angeles, CA, I have to pack up my hats and canes for the trip. Yes, I wrote hats and canes. I love wearing a nice hat with my suit, and I don’t leave home without “Slim,” my long white cane.
I am looking forward to hearing about all of the new initiatives and efforts by some great corporations to include people with disabilities in their workforce. I haven’t been able to attend since the 2009 conference in National Harbor, MD, right outside of Washington, DC. I was truly impressed with the conference the last time, and I came back with a lot of information about mentoring projects, employer contacts, and a ton of connections for our organization. I go with the goal to make sure that persons who are blind or visually impaired are being included in the conversation specific to the push for employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. I believe that people with vision loss are overlooked in many cases. Employers are often unaware of the opportunities created through the use of access technology and developing proprietary software in an accessible manner. Technology has opened many doors for people with disabilities.
Here is my shameless plug for our organization. The American Foundation for the Blind’s free online techonology magazine, AccessWorld®, does a great job of highlighting mainstream and assistive technology that makes the grade or needs improvement through technology evaluations and a lot more. From a different angle, AFB Consulting does a lot of work in improving the accessibility of mainstream products, apps, websites, and a lot more. AFB works to improve the possibilities for persons with vision loss. Our APH CareerConnect program creates resources, connections, and tools that help with the preparation of teens and adults for employment, while being also utilized by professionals for this purpose too.
If you are attending the conference, I look forward to connecting with you and getting your input on what AFB can do to create more possibilities for persons who are blind or visually impaired. The USBLN Conference will be packed with organizations, businesses, corporations, and individuals who embrace the cause. AFB offers many resources that could benefit these organizations, and I look forward to discussing these topics. AFB has a long tradition of helping corporations improve their accessibility and providing training and resources to corporations around the United States and abroad.
I will be tweeting from the USBLN Conference using the #USBLN13, so follow my tweets and me at my Twitter handle, @jstrechay.