According to Prevent Blindness America, 53.2 million Americans aged 45 or older have some form of visual impairment, from mild to severe, and about 18 percent of those affected are “legally blind.” Visual impairments span a range of issues and disabilities, the most prominent of which are color blindness, low vision, and blindness.
CLASS LAWSUIT
Blind and visually impaired customers of Gap and Lane Bryant file a class action lawsuit saying their websites are not accessible to those using screen readers.
Gap, Lane Bryant website accessibility class action lawsuits overview:
Who: Bryan Velazquez filed separate class action lawsuits against Gap, Inc. and Lane Bryant Brands Opco, LLC.
Why: Velazquez claims Gap and Lane Bryant are both violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by not making their websites fully accessible and independently usable for individuals who are blind or visually impaired.
Where: The class action lawsuits were filed in New York federal court.
Velazquez argues that Gap and Lane Bryant are violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by allegedly not having websites which are “equally accessible to blind and visually impaired consumers.”
For each complaint, Velazquez wants to represent a nationwide Class and New York subclass of legally blind individuals who have attempted to access Gap or Lane Bryant’s website and been “denied access to the equal enjoyment of goods and services offered.”
What tools do visually impaired people use to surf the web?
Here are the most common tools the visually impaired use to surf the web: 1. Screen Readers Screen readers are software programs that convert text and other content on a website into synthesized speech and allow users to access content in different ways.
SOLUTIONS
What makes a website accessible to visually impaired people?
Plainly put, web accessibility enables people with disabilities to perceive, understand, navigate, interact with, and contribute to the web.
Americans with Disabilities Act stepped up for those who cannot walk and required wheelchair access to all buildings constructed after 1991, user experience (UX) designers should ensure equal accessibility for all users by designing web-based experiences that can be used, understood, and accessed by people with a diverse range of visual, auditory, cognitive, and physical abilities.
The Atlantic, a content-heavy yet accessible website, allows users to increase text size on every article page. By providing users a clear option, whether it’s a slider, a drop-down, a button — anything — to alter the font size, brands and businesses (especially those with content-heavy websites) become friendlier to visually impaired users.
Because web experiences are inherently visual, the web is fraught with sites, tools, and apps that are practically unusable for people with visual impairments. For example, it’s not uncommon to see websites that use combinations of background and foreground colors that make pages virtually unreadable for colorblind users. Despite all this, people with visual impairments use the web every day to surf, read and write emails, and to do anything else anyone can conceivably do on the internet.
Many people don’t
understand the whole concept behind a non-profit or a movement that
nowadays are rising and thriving even more than years ago. We have some
background and key terms for you take into account, and hopefully you
can be one of those who can Change the World!
Never
doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. — Margaret Mead
People like
you, like us.. only need a little of motivation, support, innovation and
a whole lot of key people to make wise decisions, in order to form and
sustain a Non-profit. Non-profits can be sustainable, as long as the
Founder and group of Boarding Directors are driven by a common end goal.
Not all will be aligned as we wish or within the same
personality/opinions, but at the end, is for the common end goal! A
Non-Profit flourishes if all the members and consumers re aligned into
the same common end cause. That is why is very important for Founders to
have a well established common core of Values and Goals for the
organization.
Non- Profit Groups
Non-Profit encompasses many areas such as Hospitals, Universities, Medical research groups, faith-based groups such as Hope for Miami;
to Homeless shelters, Food banks, and Arts organizations- such as the
locals that holds a common goal to provide Arts access to the community.
Then we have the more
Global Non-Profits such as World Wildlife fund, CARE , Doctors without
borders and much more. National like feeding America, National MS Society or the Girls Scouts as American organizations. We also find the high impact groups like the United Way.
Today, we would like to feature a new emerging Non-profit organization that is flourishing in Miami, Florida:Miami Gifted Children . Their mission is to support the intellectual growth and socioemotional well-being of gifted and twice-exceptional children.
MGC wants
these incredibly intelligent, curious, creative, and intense children
to have access to all the tools (academic and socioemotional) NOW, so
that they may grow up to be well-rounded individuals, successful not
only in their academic lives and future careers, but in their personal
lives as well. Our goal is to work hand-in-hand with the
parents/guardians of gifted/2e children to nurture emotionally healthy
individuals.
It all started by a mom who had difficulties with the educational system. The founder found assistance inParent to Parent of Miami (a Miami based parent resource organization for parents with kids with disabilities ). Our ASTA (a Digital Marketing Agency )founder, who was an Advocate and Transitions specialist in the organization and took her family’s case to help her, empower and educate MGC founder
to advocate for her children. They met outside of the work partnership,
as a well as a group of parents who went through the same problem, they
brainstormed the group mission and the rest is history.
The founder of Miami Gifted Children states
that by reaching out to fellow parents within a Facebook group she
created and meeting with people who was interested in the organization’s
mission, MGC was able to be
formed by a founding Board. They are now officially a nonprofit
corporation in the state of Florida and a 501(c)(3).
This
is a community effort and we’re reaching out to any individuals and
organizations who we can collaborate with to provide the services our
community says it needs.- Tatiana Capitan-Founder of Miami Gifted
Children Inc.
MGC story is one of
many! so it’s important as a Non-Profit and as a contributor, to ask
and tell the reason as to why the Non Profit began or is about to be
formed. For the formation of a new one, or to be a sustainable
Non-Profit, keep in mind The Theory of Change Process:
Remember to always
sharpening your Theory of change as well as mapping out a winning
strategy plan. It is important for any business or Non-Profit
organization to always look at strategies to perform better as
organization as well as a Strategic Planning for your marketing.
Remember to always adapt and innovate continuously.
It
is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the
strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that
is able to adapt to and to adjust best to the changing environment in which it finds itself……so says Charles Darwin in his “Origin of Species.”
Adaptive Process in Non-Profits
Adaption is something
members in a Non-profit organization should learn and emphasize
throughout their work; since it is a non-ending process of adaption in
the life of a non-profit, the following are main points behind this
theory:
1- Listen to the environment — attuned by changes of economic, financial and country
2- Experiment and Innovate– pilot new products or services
3- Evaluate and Learn what works — many non-profits skip this, since you have to invest time and money, as well as a deep analysis.
4- Modify Programs and Plans– its hard to change something that was unsuccessful for some organizations.
Some ways to find Funding
After the whole
structure of the organization is set, then we have to take a look at
ways to find Funding. In 2017 more than 300 Billion was donated to
nonprofits, the vast majority is given by individuals (80%).The
following are some ideas, tips and strategies for Non-Profits to find
funds to be sustainable. There are mainly two that describes the most
sources used:
Transactional or Quid Pro Quo Sources
Individual Donations (small or big)
In-Kind donations — donation of services fee, food
Fees for goods or services (earned income)
Program related investments
Interest from Investments
Tax Revenue
Membership dues and Fees
Business sponsoring or Marketing ads in Newsletters
Relationship-Intensive Sources
Private or Family foundation grants
Corporate grants
Community foundation grants
Government grants/contracts
Individual donation
Major gifts ($10,000 and up) bequests
Some organizations use
Marketing strategies and relationships with the community, locally and
globally in order get funding. Focus in a Funding Model. Some of the
governmental or grants based funding will restrict your activities or
asks for a lot of reporting from the members of the organization.
Therefore make sure to make a plan, towards the best strategy to get funding, and don’t forget o be flexible, willing to learn and listen as well as to adapt to changes.Do not hesitate to consult with Marketing agencies as well as Individuals who are willing to assist you in this model. For example, ASTAhelps nonprofit organizations to achieve their mission and goals through Digital Marketing strategies.
There are social media
strategies that could help you exponentially, in creating awareness
towards your mission. This is a way to create “sticky relationships” .
Tapping into millennials, philanthropists and entrepreneurs who are
looking to help these causes.
Promotional
websites, marketing emails, interactive two way dialog that will help
contributors feel appreciated by their donations. Read this article
about the science behind the Marketing in all your nonprofit approach : The science behind why people give money to charity- Experts from the nudge unit explain how fundraisers can make their messaging more effective.
Researchers
have looked into why people donate, why they don’t do it as much as
they would hope to and how to bridge this gap. The explanations for
charitable giving fall into three broad categories, from the purely
altruistic — I donate because I value the social good done by the
charity. The “impurely” altruistic — I donate because I extract value
from knowing I contribute to the social good for the charity. And the
the not-at-all altruistic — I donate because I want to show off to
potential mates how rich I am.
The good news is that charitable giving is contagious
Social Entrepreneurs are
also helping those Non-Profits, because they are also a group of
like-minded people who their common goal is to help those who are
wanting to change the World: by changing their community, focusing in
educational programs or even taking their goal globally by helping those
with higher basic needs. Therefore, a piece of advice find these Social
Entrepreneurs! they are here in this world looking for the knock in
their door to release their funds to a common cause!
If you would like to get more information about strategies or assistance in your non-profit ASTA team can help you. Contact us in our Social Mediachannels or directly to www.ASTAbusiness.com / Info@astabusiness.com / 407–451–9550
