Accessibility in action

As the pace of smart city development intensifies, AT&T leaders recognize the importance of including accessibility during the earliest stages of planning. They say that designing inclusive smart cities for all will require a human-centric approach and intensive involvement, planning and collaboration.

At AT&T’s Disability & Aging Call Center, agents are specifically trained to assist customers with special needs related to vision, hearing and aging. Fielding 220,000 calls per year, they not only help customers access services to improve their lives but create bonds with them in the process. 

New Year’s Day is just a few weeks away. What can you do to improve the year ahead for people living with a disability – and for you, too? Take a look at seven do’s and don’ts to consider and resolve to make 2020 more welcoming to all.

Living with a disability is a global experience. AT&T is using the Dec. 3 observance of International Day of People with Disabilities to spend a week focusing on disabilities in North America’s largest city. 

Accessible solutions can expand the world in surprising ways. Curb cuts, automatic doors, text messaging and speech-to-text applications are just a few examples of innovations that originated to help people with disabilities and are now in widespread use.

Disabilities shouldn’t be kept in the shadows. The observance of World Mental Health Day and a program at AT&T are just a few efforts fighting the stigma that still keeps mental and physical disabilities in the dark.

Blind Awareness Month includes many special days and weeks dedicated to increasing understanding, expanding access and cultivating inclusion for people with low or no vision.  Susan Mazrui of AT&T discusses why it’s important to celebrate, educate and advocate for this community.

The AT&T Accessibility Lab shares glimpses into the lives of people with disabilities. Charged with serving all people, AT&T employees can gain a sense of what it’s like to live with a cognitive, visual, hearing or motor disability by visiting  the hands-on, traveling lab.

Deaf Awareness Week, Sept. 20 to 28, promotes the positive aspects of deafness and deaf culture while encouraging inclusion for all. To mark the occasion, Matt Myrick of AT&T shares an important innovation he worked on that improved 9-1-1 calling and other services for those with speech and hearing disabilities.

Passed July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act provides people with disabilities the same rights and opportunities as everyone else.  The passage of the groundbreaking legislation created significant progress toward inclusion for all.

David Huntley, a senior executive vice president and the Chief Compliance Officer for AT&T, understands why accessibility matters. Because for us, it’s personal.

The AT&T team observed Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) for the second time this year. The event included demos of innovative new technologies and information about 14 separate initiatives currently underway.

The OnePulse smartwatch, powered by AT&T wireless connectivity, goes beyond tracking steps. By transmitting certain critical medical and health data to the cloud, it makes monitoring health conditions easier.

Hundreds of AT&T employees unite to make a dream kayak trip come true and set an historical first in the process.

Bowling is Jonathan’s passion. See how this young man living with autism, who competed in the Special Olympics World Games, has a lifelong connection to AT&T.

A distracted driver with a smartphone caused a crash and a traumatic brain injury for AT&T employee Carolyn Chandler. Read about Carolyn’s efforts to heighten disability awareness and remove the stigma of a brain injury.

A full 30% of professionals fit the current federal definition of having a disability — and the majority are keeping that status a secret. Disclosing “invisible disabilities” on the job can relieve the stress of keeping things bottled up and support career development.

The tool lays out specific steps that cities and their partners can take to infuse the urban innovation ecosystem with a greater focus on accessibility and a commitment to persons with disabilities.

If you are assisting a loved one online, you may need to help safeguard against scams, spam, malware, identity theft and other online threats.  Critical measures like strong passwords can be intimidating to many users, but support is available to help you protect the people you care about.

A new study intends to combine 5G with virtual reality and augmented reality (VR and AR) to test if it can help reduce chronic pain and anxiety for certain hospice patients. The goal: an alternative therapy that is easier for caregivers to implement and makes the patient most comfortable during this difficult time.

Suzanne Montgomery is the new chief accessibility officer (CAO) at AT&T. She will work closely with the company’s Corporate Accessibility Technology Office (CATO) to ensure AT&T products and solutions are accessible to people with disabilities.