AccessWorld Magazine

Dear AccessWorld readers, Happy holidays from everyone here at AccessWorld. At the time of writing, we have just concluded the AFB Leadership Conference for 2025. Stay tuned to the AccessWorld podcast, as we have several episodes coming soon from the conference. This month, we have a full issue for you as we head into the holidays.

AgeTech Collaborative™ from AARP is an innovation ecosystem bringing together startups, investors, enterprises, and thought leaders to accelerate solutions that make aging easier for everyone. Comprised of more than 670 companies across industries and product categories, the AgeTech Collaborative represents a diverse and growing sector of innovation, tools, and technology designed to meet the needs of the U.S. and global aging population.

Janet Ingber Happy Holidays! It’s time for AccessWorld’s online shopping guide. This year we focus on food gifts and review offerings from Harry & David, Hickory Farms, Nuts.com, and See’s Candies. All four companies maintain accessible websites, and Harry & David is also part of the Celebrations Passport app, available in the App Store. For this article, I used an Apple Mac running macOS 26.1 Tahoe.

Janet Ingber Online reviews and ratings have become an essential part of modern decision-making. Two of the most popular platforms are Yelp, which primarily focuses on businesses, and TripAdvisor, which specializes in travel. Both platforms generate their ratings by consolidating feedback from users. Whenever you make a purchase online or in person, you are often prompted to rate the product or service. This is how these websites collect their data.

Steve Kelley In the small group of professional certified vision rehabilitation therapists (CVRT), to which I belong, it is not uncommon for us to use the term “magic glasses.” These are the glasses some of our clients hope to find that will improve or restore their vision. It makes sense—in that for many of them, a new prescription once brought things back into focus.

Dear AccessWorld readers, Welcome to the fall edition of AccessWorld! Before we jump into this month’s issue, I want to make you aware of a research opportunity currently available through AFB. Our Public Policy and Research Institute is continuing its work on the impact of AI on people who are blind or have low vision. This study explores how AI use differs between people with and without disabilities.

Deborah Kendrick I’ve been shopping online for so many years that I can’t even pinpoint when I started, but I can tell you that it used to be fun and easy. You could enter a search term, get results, and blithely arrow through them, reading detailed descriptions, prices, and other relevant details.

Dear AccessWorld readers, Welcome to the Summer 2025 edition of AccessWorld! Before we dive into this month’s issue, did you know that AFB has another quarterly publication covering our broader work? It’s called Focus On AFB and includes articles on various projects and initiatives, including those from our Public Policy and Research Institute, the AFB Talent Lab, and other programs. If you're interested in the wider work of AFB, it's definitely worth checking out.

Aaron Preece If you're a longtime reader of AccessWorld, you may recognize the name Joshua A. Miele. In the late 2000s, we published articles on his work at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute. More recently, in 2021, we interviewed him when he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. Now, with the release of his memoir, Connecting Dots: A Blind Life, I wanted to take some time to reflect on the book and explain why I personally would highly recommend it.

Aaron Preece Suno AI has gained recognition as the first AI music generator to draw significant public attention to the possibilities of music-generating AI. To be clear, it was not the first AI of its kind, but much like ChatGPT, it served as the spark that captured widespread interest in what might be possible for AI in the music space.