by Claire Stanley
In mid-July, ACB’s executive director, Scott Thornhill, and I traveled to Las Vegas, Nev., to participate in the annual Disability:In conference. Disability:In is a global organization driving disability inclusion and equality in business. It is composed of many major corporations ACB regularly collaborates with, such as Amazon, Microsoft, and CVS. Scott and Claire used the opportunity to meet up with several of the companies to build and solidify relationships.
Many of these companies are long-time financial supporters of ACB. For instance, several of the participating corporations were sponsors for the 2024 annual convention in Jacksonville, Fla. We hoped to interact with the companies as an advocacy tool for the blind and low-vision community. Many of the companies put out products or services that are directly used by our community. As a result, ACB continuously advocates for such businesses to make their products and services accessible for our members. We had a wonderful conversation with a representative from Google who has discussed putting on regular community events to educate our members on new accessibility changes to Google products. Similarly, several other companies have begun discussions to allow our members to test their products for accessibility challenges.
Disability:In works to encourage companies to employ more people with disabilities. We know that a large number of people with disabilities do not have jobs. We discussed the possibility of connecting ACB Students to find opportunities for mentorship and similar opportunities to help push back on these statistics. Overall, we left Las Vegas excited about the opportunities to work with many leading organizations.
The ACB national office is located right outside of our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. This enables ACB to advocate for federal policies with Congress or other federal agencies that will enhance the rights of people with disabilities. However, advocacy can be carried out in a myriad of ways. ACB’s attendance at the Disability:In conference illustrated how advocacy can also be carried out by working directly with corporate partners.