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Glenda Watson Hyatt Inspirational Start Up Story
By Jerrilynnb | April 4, 2006
While taking a pre-employment program for people with disabilities, the instructors were scrambling to keep busy. One day the computer instructor introduced me to basic HTML. I gobbled it up! I soon realized that, although I grew up in silence, I now had a way to communicate with the world. That realization was so exciting, so liberating!
I continued to learn HTML on my own and came across the term “web accessibilityâ€. Like the real world, the Internet also presented barriers to people with disabilities if particular guidelines weren’t followed. Although using the Internet didn’t pose insurmountable barriers, as I did more reading and learning, I understood how people with other kinds of disabilities would have problems using the Internet.
These problems existed simply because web developers and decision-makers were not aware of the need for making websites accessible. Wanting to make sure other people with disabilities had the same freedom, the same opportunities that the Internet had provided to me, I became a Web Accessibility Specialist to assist organizations with making their sites accessible.
I have been in business for seven years now and, to be honest, the first few years were tough, partly because web accessibility is such a nebulous concept for the average person to understand. It took much subtle educating to increase awareness of the need for web accessibility. After all, people with disabilities can’t use computers, can they? Isn’t surfing simply “point and click�
Recently, the need for accessible websites is catching on, like people are finally getting it! That is exciting and is what keeps me going.
As the virtual world continues to expand and new technologies and applications become available, more and more doors are opening for people with disabilities. For example, Browsealoud is enabling people who are illiterate to read online. They can now read online newspapers and such independently for the first time in their lives. How liberating is that!
It is awesome the possibilities that now exist! As a businesswoman with a physical disability, I truly believe the future is mine! I want to share this optimism with others.
Glenda Watson Hyatt, Principal
Soaring Eagle Communications
Accessible websites. Accessible content. Accessible solutions.
www.webaccessibility.biz
Watch for my autobiography I’ll Do It Myself due out November 2006!
Topics: Start Up Stories, Women Partner |
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