Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a life so impactful, marked by such rare courage and strength of character, that words like "extraordinary" and "inspiring" knowingly fall short — well short. To honor his legacy and recognize that his leadership directly changed the course of American history — not just for the lives of the marginalized groups he fought and ultimately died for, but for the enlightened consciousness of an entire nation — we celebrate him on the third Monday of January each year.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a full 25 percent of U.S. adults are living with a disability, which can create large and small complications and difficulties for the people who have them. In some instances, technological developments have made the daily lives of people with disabilities easier than ever before. Here are five ways that people with disabilities can use digital technologies in the world around them.

Amazingly, online videos are still growing and aren’t going away anytime soon. According to Statista, the number of digital video viewers in the United States is currently at around 228 million, with projections at 236 million by 2020. This includes platforms like Netflix and YouTube — the latter of which receives over 72 hours of uploaded video a minute.

The Bureau of Internet Accessibility (BoIA) announced today that it has launched the industry’s first live accessibility support phone line that will aid a website’s visitors 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The new support system enhances the company’s robust accessibility monitoring and support program to assist organizations with digital accessibility legal requirements.

How do you know if your website is ADA compliant? As web accessibility lawsuits continue to rise, many organizations are seeking to answer this question sooner than later. As places of public accommodation, websites need to be accessible to people with disabilities — in the same way that physical locations need to be accessible to be in compliance with laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Microsoft recently announced a new grant called AI for Accessibility. This grant is geared to encourage developers to create products using Microsoft’s AI tools that will help people with disabilities. Here's an introduction to AI's role in accessibility and some information about Microsoft's grant.

Beyonce's company, Parkwood Entertainment, is being sued over allegations that the singer's official website (Beyonce.com) is not accessible to blind or visually-impaired people and is thus in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Here's what the lawsuit states and what we can learn from it.

Equal access to websites and apps is a civil right — so how do you know if your website is accessible? WCAG 2.1 A/AA is the standard in digital accessibility. Right now you can take advantage of this offer to receive the ultimate beginner's guide to how and why those guidelines apply to your website. Get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to Web Accessibility now.

January 4 marks World Braille Day, a celebration of the reading and writing code used by some blind people. To honor this day and to spread some much-needed awareness, we're sharing five facts about Braille that many people who don't use the system may not yet realize.

Digital marketing practices drive business growth, but to reach all audiences and keep businesses compliant they need to be accessible. Here are three key marketing trends that will continue to boom in 2019 that need to carefully consider how they can help, or hinder, the experiences of people with disabilities.

2018 is in our rear-view mirror, which means that now is the perfect opportunity to look back on some of the most important events in web accessibility from the past year. From WCAG 2.1 to ADA lawsuits, it's been an eventful one.

On the web, we use images everywhere! Images can be an effective way to communicate information. But what happens when we use images of text instead of actual text? This is a design and development practice that’s been around a long time, but usually affects web accessibility negatively.

There are a number of accessibility tests and exercises you can perform on your own computer right now. One of those is simple: see how content performs when zoomed to 200%. WCAG 1.4.4 Resize Text requires the ability to zoom content to 200% without assistive technology and without loss of content or functionality. Give it a try!

Instagram is now using AI to automatically add alt text to images. As an image and video-focused platform, this is a big accessibility win, as screen readers or other assistive technologies need a text alternative available to know what an image is portraying. Users can also add custom alt text for more accurate descriptions.

If you had to, could you move around your favorite website, catch up on the day's news, or complete a purchase transaction without using your mouse? Many people cannot or do not use a mouse, and instead navigate the digital world with a keyboard, keyboard emulator, or other input device.

By promising to change the way we live, work, and travel, the Internet of Things (IoT) is projected to have a more dramatic impact in the very near future. When IoT devices are built to be accessible, they can greatly enhance the quality of life for some people. But what happens when they aren't accessible?

Email accessibility is the art of crafting emails that everyone, including people with disabilities, can use. Practicing email accessibility represents a commitment to diversity and inclusion, and has serious impacts on audience reach and ultimately, the bottom line. Here are 10 tips to improve the accessibility of emails.

Many people don't know that Santa Clause knows Braille. That's right — children who read Braille can have their very own letter from Santa. Check out some of the organizations that help with this and get your requests in on time!

December 3rd in the global observance of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. According to the United Nations, the day "aims to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in all spheres of society and development, and to increase awareness of the situation of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life."

Many people are surprised to learn how much of the population actually lives with a disability. According to the CDC, 1 in 4 US adults has a disability, and the percentage is higher in those age 65 and older. When we consider that by 2030, people 65 and older will outnumber children in the country, it's a reminder that the time for accessibility is now.

You're an advocate for disability rights and digital accessibility and you want to introduce somebody to the reasons for and best practices of accessibility — but where do you even start? Here are seven tips to help you teach someone the importance of accessible websites and apps.

Last year, the biggest 100 US retailers brought in $108 billion in online sales in November and December. But what happens when online retailers leave out the 1-in-4 American adults with a disability? Consider the impact accessibility has on the holiday shopping season and Cyber Monday.

More than just a buzzword, your brand is vital to your success in the digital age. Increasingly, digital accessibility needs to be part of your brand strategy, presenting opportunities to both create accessible experiences and let people know about it.

Many people know that we test in accordance with the most well-established digital accessibility standards, which is critical as these provide the rules to help determine the accessibility of a website or app. But how do we test? Here's a peek into our four-point hybrid testing!

It's a common misconception that web accessibility comes at a cost to web developers and marketers with little benefit. Search engine optimization (SEO) best practices and following the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) actually overlap. In fact, websites that take web accessibility seriously consistently rank higher than their competition on Google and YouTube.