{"id":7739,"date":"2022-12-07T12:10:01","date_gmt":"2022-12-07T18:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=7739"},"modified":"2022-12-07T12:10:03","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T18:10:03","slug":"ablr-works-bvi-training-program-for-digital-accessibility-testers-meet-ceo-disability-awareness-speaker-and-author-john-samuel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=7739","title":{"rendered":"ABLR Works: BVI Training Program for Digital Accessibility Testers &#8211; Meet CEO, Disability Awareness Speaker and Author, John Samuel"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--powerpress_player--><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_7382\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-7739-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/blindabilities\/JohnSamuel2022.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/blindabilities\/JohnSamuel2022.mp3\">https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/blindabilities\/JohnSamuel2022.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Podcast Summary:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When speaking to businesses ,adding Accessibility to Diversity Equity and Inclusion, an IDEA worth Spreading.is what John Samuel is all about. As CEO of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ablr360.com\/\">ABLR Works<\/a>, John talks about a new program that they have developed to teach Blind and Visually Impaired students to become Digital Accessibility Testers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ablr360.com\/\">ABLR Works<\/a>&nbsp;has teamed up with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services\u2019&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncdhhs.gov\/divisions\/services-blind\">Division of Services for the Blind<\/a>&nbsp;(DSB) to kick off the statewide initiative this month.&nbsp;With this model, John hopes the programs at ABLR Works will spread across the States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>John talks about his Blindness journey and&nbsp;embracing his disability\/authentic self and the release of his new book, &#8220;Don\u2019t Ask the Blind guy for Directions: A 30,000-Mile Journey for Love, Confidence, and a Sense of belonging&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Here are useful links from the episode:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ablr360.com\/\">ABLR Works web site<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Article from the web:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wraltechwire.com\/2022\/09\/22\/first-of-its-kind-program-to-train-visually-impaired-as-digital-accessibility-testers\/\">\u2018First-of-its-kind\u2019 program to train visually impaired as digital accessibility testers<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>John&#8217;s new book:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Dont-Ask-Blind-Guy-Directions\/dp\/B0BFV9HHYB\">Don\u2019t Ask the Blind guy for Directions: A 30,000-Mile Journey for Love, Confidence, and a Sense of belonging<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Contact Your State Services<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you reside in Minnesota, and you would like to know more about Transition Services from State Services contact Pre-ETS Program and Transition Services Coordinator Shane&nbsp;DeSantis&nbsp;by&nbsp;<a href=\"applewebdata:\/\/584A186A-6B46-45D0-B5B2-A2EC78AD6E01\/shane.desantis@state.mn.us\">email<\/a>&nbsp;or 651-358-5205.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Contact:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You can follow us on Twitter&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/blindabilities\">@BlindAbilities<\/a><br>On the web at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/\">www.BlindAbilities.com<\/a><br>Send us an&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:info@BlindAbilities.com?subject=Podcast\">email<\/a>&nbsp;and give us a call at 612-367-6093, we would love to hear from you!<br><br>Get the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/blind-abilities\/id1085849859?l=es&amp;mt=8\">Free Blind Abilities App&nbsp;on the App Store<\/a>and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.blindabilities.android.blind&amp;hl=en_US\">Google Play Store<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Give us a call and leave us some feedback at 612-367-6093 we would love to hear from you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Check out the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/607027582712671\/\">Blind Abilities Community<\/a>&nbsp;on Facebook, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BlindAbilities\/\">Blind Abilities Page<\/a>, and the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/jobinsightsgroup\">Career Resources for the Blind and Visually Impaired<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<!--powerpress_player--><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_7384\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-7739-3\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/blindabilities\/JohnSamuel2022.mp3?_=3\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/blindabilities\/JohnSamuel2022.mp3\">https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/blindabilities\/JohnSamuel2022.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p>https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/blindabilities\/JohnSamuel2022.mp3 Podcast Summary: When speaking to businesses ,adding Accessibility to Diversity Equity and Inclusion, an IDEA worth Spreading.is what John Samuel is all about. As CEO of&nbsp;ABLR Works, John talks about a new program that they have developed to teach Blind and Visually Impaired students to become Digital Accessibility Testers. ABLR Works&nbsp;has teamed up with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17,373,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bapresents","category-career","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6rcRg-20P","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6577,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=6577","url_meta":{"origin":7739,"position":0},"title":"How a Journey Through Vision Loss Prepared Laura Allen to Become Head of Strategy for Accessibility and Disability Inclusion at Google","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"March 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript Show Summary: Laura Allen joins Raqi and Jeff in the Blind Abilities Studio to talk about new developments in Google\u2019s accessibility and disability inclusion. Laura Allen is Head of strategy for Accessibility and Disability Inclusion,\u00a0bringing together the Google network of teams to bring awareness to accessibility and disability\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;BlindAbilities Presents&quot;","block_context":{"text":"BlindAbilities Presents","link":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?cat=17"},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5914,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=5914","url_meta":{"origin":7739,"position":1},"title":"Believe in Yourself. If You Don\u2019t Believe in Yourself, Trust Me, No One is Going to Believe in You. Meet Google Accessibility Testing Program Manager &#8211; Jyotsna Kaki.","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"May 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript Show Summary: Jyotsna Kaki, Google\u2019s Accessibility Testing Program Manager,\u00a0joins the That Blind Tech Show team in the Blind Abilities studio to talk about Google Accessibility and Jyotsna\u2019s journey to her present position at Google. Jyotsna tells us about her use of the Google Suite in her daily routine,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Transcribed&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Transcribed","link":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?cat=514"},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2736,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=2736","url_meta":{"origin":7739,"position":2},"title":"Aira Presents: A Conversation With John Herzog &#8211; Accessibility Solutions Engineer With AT&#038;T","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"July 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Aira once again offers a feature presentation: A Conversation with John Herzog. John is an Accessibility Solutions Engineer with AT&T. He sits down with the Blind Abilities Team to share an in depth look at his life as a blind man: his youth, education and his time at law school.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Aira Presents&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Aira Presents","link":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?cat=485"},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6331,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=6331","url_meta":{"origin":7739,"position":3},"title":"Tech Has the Power to Change Lives, Especially People with Disabilities \u2013 Meet Kiran Kaja: Google&#8217;s Accessibility Lead for Search, Assistant and News","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"November 3, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript Show Summary: Kiran Kaja is the Accessibility Lead for Search, Assistant and News at Google. Kiran joins Jeff Thompson in the Blind Abilities Studio for a conversation about Kiran\u2019s journey from a bleak outlook for education to his jobs that led him around the world and to Google.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;BlindAbilities Presents&quot;","block_context":{"text":"BlindAbilities Presents","link":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?cat=17"},"img":{"alt_text":"Google written in Braille","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Google-Doodle-for-Louis-Brailles-107th-Birthday.-has-Google-in-Braille.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Google-Doodle-for-Louis-Brailles-107th-Birthday.-has-Google-in-Braille.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Google-Doodle-for-Louis-Brailles-107th-Birthday.-has-Google-in-Braille.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5363,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=5363","url_meta":{"origin":7739,"position":4},"title":"Fresh from the Summer Transition Program, Working as an AT Specialist and Volunteering for Apple, Microsoft and Google, Yahya Abdikadir Picks the U of M for his Programming and Computer Science Goals","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"September 4, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript Show Summary: School is back in session and Yahya Abdikadir, a transition age student from Minnesota, took time out from his busy schedule to sit down with Jeff Thompson and talk about his choices and experience preparing for his studies and planning his career. Yahya attended the Summer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;College&quot;","block_context":{"text":"College","link":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?cat=263"},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5886,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=5886","url_meta":{"origin":7739,"position":5},"title":"Global Accessibility Awareness Day with Larry Goldberg, Head of Accessibility at Verizon Media Group \u2013 Bringing Awareness to Accessibility","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"May 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript Show Summary: Larry Goldberg, Head of Accessibility at Verizon Media, joins Brian Fischler and Jeff Thompson in the studio to talk about bringing awareness to accessibility as May 21, 2020 is Global Accessibility Awareness Day. Larry talks about developers building in accessibility from the start, Born Accessible is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;BlindAbilities Presents&quot;","block_context":{"text":"BlindAbilities Presents","link":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?cat=17"},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7739"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7741,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7739\/revisions\/7741"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}