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Celebrating Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD)

Group Photo:  Jesse Cortez, HPE Inclusion Leader, is wearing a black suit with white shirt and black tie; Patricia Solano, HPE Chief of Staff for Executive VP of HR, Alan May wearing a maroon dress; Alan May, HPE Executive VP HR and Board Member for American Foundation for the Blind wearing a navy blue suit and white shirt and light blue tie; Bill Tipton, from the HPE Product Accessibility Program Office wearing a charcoal grey suit and white shirt with a mauve tie; Bill Bettega from the HPE Product Accessibility Program Office wearing a navy suit and royal blue shirt; Caroline Atherton, HPE VP of Talent Enablement wearing a powder blue dress with double ruffled sleeve and Adrian Stevens, HPE VP of Learning and Development, wearing a black suit with a royal blue shirt and striped tie of blue, tan and brown.Group Photo: Jesse Cortez, HPE Inclusion Leader, is wearing a black suit with white shirt and black tie; Patricia Solano, HPE Chief of Staff for Executive VP of HR, Alan May wearing a maroon dress; Alan May, HPE Executive VP HR and Board Member for American Foundation for the Blind wearing a navy blue suit and white shirt and light blue tie; Bill Tipton, from the HPE Product Accessibility Program Office wearing a charcoal grey suit and white shirt with a mauve tie; Bill Bettega from the HPE Product Accessibility Program Office wearing a navy suit and royal blue shirt; Caroline Atherton, HPE VP of Talent Enablement wearing a powder blue dress with double ruffled sleeve and Adrian Stevens, HPE VP of Learning and Development, wearing a black suit with a royal blue shirt and striped tie of blue, tan and brown.

Celebrating Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). GAAD was created to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital/access/inclusion and people with disabilities.

Accessibility remains a priority at HPE and continues to garner leadership support.  In fact, our Executive VP of Human Resources is on the board of the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), an organization at the forefront of the accessibility conversation.  Recently, top HR executives and Bill Bettega and Bill Tipton of the HPE Product Accessibility Program Office attended the AFB Conference and the Helen Keller Achievement Award Ceremony.

We are proud of the work done by Bill Bettega and Bill Tipton in the HPE Product Accessibility Program Office.  They manage a corporate initiative to make HPE products accessible to all users, including those with a disability. Through continuing education, participation in industry associations and community forums, the Accessibility Program Office brings insight, knowledge and representation to our stakeholders of the needs of persons with disabilities, as well as regulations and standards that drive accessible design and best practices to help deliver accessible solutions.

Group Photo:  From the HPE Product Accessibility Program Office, Bill Tipton wearing a charcoal grey suit with white shirt and mauve tie  and Bill Bettega, wearing a navy suit with royal blue shirt.Group Photo: From the HPE Product Accessibility Program Office, Bill Tipton wearing a charcoal grey suit with white shirt and mauve tie and Bill Bettega, wearing a navy suit with royal blue shirt.

Visually impaired, Bill Tipton understands the importance of accessibility first hand.  He has worked in the technology field for more than three decades, including the last 21 years with HP/HPE. He uses both computers and mobile devices by using screen reader software on his devices.  The screen reader reads aloud, in synthesized speech, the application components including the user interface controlling elements for the application โ€“ enabling him to use the technology.  It also reads web pages, web applications and the user interface elements to perform the system administration task for his devices.

He shared the importance of being as descriptive when publishing any story with pictures.  A great example is in the attached picture, Bill is in a charcoal grey suit with white shirt and mauve tie and Kathy is wearing a black pantsuit with a black and white lace top. 

Group Photo:  Bill Tipton, from the HPE  Product Accessibility Program Office with his wife Kathy.  Bill is wearing a  charcoal grey suit with white shirt and mauve tie and Kathy is wearing a black pantsuit with a black and white lace top.Group Photo: Bill Tipton, from the HPE Product Accessibility Program Office with his wife Kathy. Bill is wearing a charcoal grey suit with white shirt and mauve tie and Kathy is wearing a black pantsuit with a black and white lace top.

Bill recommends using Alternative Text. Adding alternative text for images is one of the first principles of web accessibility and is sometimes overlooked and is not difficult to implement in your web or application.

Determining alternative text is a matter of personal interpretation and is important because although some applications have good automatic text descriptions it is best to manually add well described alternative text to images to allow screen reader users on computers and mobile devices to experience equivalent visuals and pleasures as a person without any visual difficulties. Without alternative text these users will not be able to experience these visuals and pleasures. Even worse, if the image is on some user interface control which requires an action from the end user, the web page or application may not be usable by the end user who uses a screen reader (assistive technology).

Alternative Text

  • Is read by screen readers in place of images
  • Is displayed in place of the image in browsers
  • It provides a semantic meaning and description which can be used by search engines

 


About the authorBill Tipton wearing a black suit with white shirt and red and blue paisley tie.Bill Tipton wearing a black suit with white shirt and red and blue paisley tie.
Bill Tipton has worked in the technology field for more than three decades, including the last 20 years with HP/HPE. Bill also has over 16 years of accessibility and usability experience. He enjoys spending quality time with friends and family, especially in the outdoors, taking walks through the woods and forests, breathing in fresh ocean air, going to antique shows, flea markets, farmerโ€™s markets, enjoying motorsports, as well as being included in a good game of bocce ball on occasion.   Bill is a true cat lover, who shares all his adventures in life with his wife, Kathy.  Learn more about Bill and how he helps people with disabilities in their professional and personal life through his blog http://globaldialoguecenter.blogs.com/disabilities/ or connect with him on LinkedIn.

Susan Graye
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