Michigan Business Beat interview with Chris Knapp | What Is Accessiversity?
On July 21, 2020, I was granted the opportunity to speak to Michigan Business Beat’s Jeffrey Mosher about the work we are doing at Accessiversity Labs. While the highlight of the interview was being able to showcase the important things Accessiversity is doing to level the playing field for the disability community, it was also an opportunity to share my own experiences as a blind individual, navigating this increasingly digital world. Thank you to Michigan Business Network’s Michigan Business Beat and Jeffrey Mosher for highlighting the work we are doing to make this world a more accessible place for all. Check out the audio and transcript of the full interview below, and don’t forget to visit the Tales of the Reluctant Blind Blog and the Accessiversity Facebook Page for additional information.
Jeffrey Mosher: Welcome to the Michigan Business Beat on the Michigan Business Network, Jeffrey Mosher, sitting in for Chris Holman, on the road while recording remotely as we are all tending to do so these days, and reaching out to an individual who was interviewed several years ago – actually a couple of times for the Michigan Business Network by Chris Holman – and it is Chris Knapp. He is Accessiversity CEO/Managing Member, Knapp Strategic Projects & Consulting LLC out of the Lansing area. Chris, welcome back to the Michigan Business Beat.
Chris Knapp: Hey Jeffrey, it’s great to be speaking with you again today.
JM: Excellent, excellent. Now, I’d love to find out, what is Accessiversity?
CK: Accessiversity is an innovative accessibility and usability testing and learning lab. We offer businesses a safe, proactive way for them to dip their toe in the water to assess how well they’re doing when it comes to accessibility. What makes us different is that we use actual individuals with disabilities to perform these assessments to provide for an authentic accessibility experience so that businesses can understand how individuals with disabilities, who oftentimes use assistive technology to access digital content, will be interacting with their web site or systems.
JM: Excellent, and thank you for that explanation. Why is this an important issue that businesses across Michigan should be paying attention to?
CK: For businesses, the minimal threshold should really be ensuring that their website and systems are accessible, but really, what businesses should be striving for is to make their websites and systems more usable for everyone. Accessiversity can assist in this regard, by performing a holistic assessment that combines both accessibility and usability testing, and really helps the customers to get a better understanding of how individuals with disabilities will be interacting with their website or systems. The Accessiversity assessments go beyond the kind of technical elements that satisfy the Federal Section 508 standards and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. And those technical assessments are important, but you can have a website that is technically compliant, and still not usable for large numbers of individuals, especially individuals with disabilities.
JM: Indeed, and we were familiar with you, especially during your time serving with the Capital Area IT Council, how is it that you got into this line of work?
CK: So, I suffered late onset blindness in my early twenties as a result of an auto-immune disorder that attacked the retinas in my eyes. The recurrent vasculitis, retinal detachments, and countless procedures and surgeries left me with a prosthetic left eye, and 8/200 vision in the lower periphery of my right eye which resulted in me becoming statutorily blind. Starting with my undergraduate studies at MSU, and then all throughout my 15+ year professional career, I’ve had to use assistive technology to access information, effectively communicate with others, and compete on a high enough level with all of my non-disabled, sighted peers. I never planned on becoming disabled, let alone becoming a disability advocate. But now, as an accessibility consultant, and through my Accessiversity Facebook page and Tales of the Reluctant Blind blog, I realize that I have a platform for helping advance the important conversation about accessibility and disability-related topics, so that is exactly what I am going to do.
JM: Great, and yes, an important conversation and important work. And actually, let’s dive a slight bit into the nuts and bolts of it. Where exactly is your office and how would people go about being in contact with you if they wanted to learn more about this topic?
CK: So, folks can visit our website, knappstrategic.com, to learn more about Accessiversity and check out our Tales of the Reluctant Blind blog. I would also encourage people to visit our Accessiversity Facebook page, and you can help us out by sharing and liking the content that we post.
JM: Super. I’d love to turn the microphone back over to you to kind of sum up what we’ve been discussing today.
CK: If I had to sum it up, I would say this is really about leveling the playing field for people with disabilities. Whether it is working with a business to conduct an accessibility and usability assessment of their web site, or blogging about some disability employment topic, or just generally helping to build awareness of different disability issues, we are trying to improve the world by making it a more diverse, inclusive, and accessible place for everyone.
JM: Wonderful. Well Chris, thank you again so much for spending some time with the Michigan Business Beat today.
CK: Thanks again Jeffrey, I really appreciate the opportunity.
JM: Once again, we’ve been speaking with Chris Knapp, Accessiversity CEO & Managing Member, Knapp Strategic Projects & Consulting LLC in the Lansing area. We’ll be back with more, on the Michigan Business Beat, on Michigan Business Network.
“Tales of the Reluctant Blind” Blog: (link to introductory blog post)
Accessiversity Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/accessiversitylabs/
LinkedIn Profile:
www.linkedin.com/in/chris-knapp-/
Accessiversity Page:
www.knappstrategic.com/accessiversity
Knapp Strategic Home Page: