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Mixtape podcast: Making technology accessible for everyone – TechCrunch

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Welcome back to Mixtape, the TechCrunch podcast that examines diversity, inclusion and the human labor that drives tech. This week, Megan moderated a panel at Sight Tech Global, a conference dedicated to fostering discussion among technology pioneers on how advances in AI and related technologies will alter the landscape of assistive technology. The panel featured three heavy hitters in the accessibility space: Haben Girma (pictured above), the first deafblind person to graduate from Harvard Law School and who is a human rights lawyer advancing disability justice; Lainey Feingold, a disability rights lawyer who was on the team that negotiated the first web accessibility agreement in the U.S. in 2000; and George Kerscher, the chief innovations officer for the DAISY Consortium. Among the topics they discussed were communicating via Zoom and other video platforms in the days of COVID, how tech companies have adhered to the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the need for a culture shift if we're going to realize any significant change. "It's all about a culture change to really make sure technology is accessible for everyone," Feingold told Megan. "And you can't get a culture change, I don't believe, by hammering people.