December 14, 2000 | Read Time: 2 minutes
By NICOLE WALLACE
The founders of Knowbility, an Austin, Tex., charity that raises awareness about the potential for technology to improve the lives of people with disabilities, thought long and hard about what to name their organization.
“We wanted something that could convey the idea that in the world of the Internet and technology, knowledge equals ability, and the notion of disability becomes irrelevant,” explains the group’s founding executive director, Sharron Rush.
The organization — and its mission — grew out of Austin’s first Accessibility Internet Rally, or AIR, in September 1998, which Ms. Rush helped to organize in her role then as coordinator of development at Easter Seals Serving Central Texas. Goodwill Industries of Austin and the Metropolitan Austin Interactive Network also sponsored the 1998 rally.
The event brought together Web developers from across the city to learn about techniques they could use to build sites that are accessible to people who use assistive technology — and then put their new skills to work during the one-day rally designing Web sites for 20 local charities.
The rally exceeded its organizers’ expectations, and led to the formation of the new group. “Once we had this group of very informed and very energized volunteers, we realized that we couldn’t keep this as one little annual event,” says Ms. Rush.
Now Knowbility also helps people with disabilities connect to educational opportunities in technology, and works with community technology centers, schools, and businesses to show them how they can meet the technology needs of the disabled.
But the AIR events remain the organization’s signature program. Austin held its third annual rally in October — and Knowbility is taking its act on the road. This fall, along with local groups, Knowbility coordinated rallies in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and in Denver.
The rallies, Ms. Rush believes, can catalyze a chain reaction that spreads Knowbility’s message about the importance of accessible Web sites well beyond the event’s participants. She points to the example of Navidec, a Web development company in Greenwood Village, Colo., that participated in the Rocky Mountain AIR in Denver.
The team from Navidec was so enthusiastic about the accessibility training that the company sent additional designers to take the class. Navidec is now redesigning its company Web site to be accessible to people using assistive technology, and has added a section on accessibility issues to the orientation session it presents to new clients.
Knowbility plans to continue to work with groups in other cities to organize rallies. For groups that are interested in running their own event, Knowbility is developing a how-to kit, AIR in a Box. The kit, which will be available this spring, will include the accessibility curriculum Knowbility uses to train participating Web developers and charities, sample press releases and forms, and advice on how to manage the event.
For more information: Go to http://www.knowbility.org.
