Computer Science faculty take part in the Maryland Initiative for Digital Accessibility (MIDA)

Two faculty members of the Department of Computer Science, assistant professors Huaishu Peng and Abhinav Shrivastava, are a part of the new Maryland Initiative for Digital Accessibility (MIDA) that combines the expertise and passion of researchers, designers, developers and educators from multiple disciplines at the University of Maryland (UMD) with a united goal of making digital technologies accessible for all. 

The world of digital technologies and content (including software apps, websites, and digital documents) is often designed without considering the needs of people with disabilities. That means that over 20% of people can be excluded from education, employment, and healthcare due to inaccessible digital technologies and content. Remediating existing accessibility issues can be a time-consuming and expensive process that still fails to include the disability community and often leads to delays in getting access. 

MIDA aims to change technology design research and practice so that it involves disability communities as equal partners from the beginning of the design process, and accessibility is proactively built-in. To achieve this, MIDA will involve organizations that support and represent disability communities, technology researchers and designers, and policymakers.  

Currently, MIDA has 12 disability rights groups and four tech companies involved as partners, and the number is expected to grow. These partners include the National Federation of the Blind, the National Association of the Deaf, the American Association of People with Disabilities, the Maryland Library for the Blind and Print Disabled, Teach Access, Adobe, Microsoft, Meta, and Vispero. 

For more information on MIDA click HERE