Technology and Disability

Gregg Vanderheiden: Dr. Vanderheiden is the Founder and Director Emeritus of the Trace R&D Center and Professor in the iSchool at the University of Maryland. He has been active in the field of technology and disability for 50 years and was a pioneer in the field of Augmentative Communication (a term originating from his writings), assistive technology, and computer access. Access features developed by Dr. Vanderheiden and the Trace Center team can be found in every computer and mobile device internationally (Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Linux,...) as well as kiosks, ticket machines, and more. He has also been a long-time leader in the area of web accessibility, creating the first set of Web Accessibility guidelines in 1995 and serving as co-editor and co-chairing the WCAG 1.0 and 2.0 Working Group. At the 6th World Wide Web Conference, he was the third annual recipient of the Yuri Rubinsky Memorial World Wide Web Award. His most recent work has focused on development of Morphic and proposing a completely different way to approach accessibility for next-next generation ICT. Dr. Vanderheiden is a past President and Fellow of RESNA, a Founding Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and Fellow in the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Jonathan Lazar, Ph.D., LLM is a professor in the College of Information Studies (iSchool) at the University of Maryland. Professor Lazar has authored or edited 14 books, including Accessible Technology and the Developing World (co-edited with Michael Stein), Research Methods in Human-Computer Interaction (2nd edition, co-authored with Heidi Feng and Harry Hochheiser), Ensuring Digital Accessibility Through Process and Policy (co-authored with Dan Goldstein and Anne Taylor), Disability, Human Rights, and Information Technology (co-edited with Michael Stein), Universal Usability: Designing Computer Interfaces for Diverse User Populations, and Web Usability: A User-Centered Design Approach. Professor Lazar has published over 150 refereed articles in journals, conference proceedings, and edited books, frequently serves as an adviser to U.S. government agencies, regularly provides testimony at the federal and state levels, and multiple U.S. federal regulations cite his research. At the University of Maryland iSchool, he teaches courses on human-computer interaction, user-centered design, accessibility, and legal research methods. He is the recipient of the 2021 ACM SIGCHI Academy Award, the  2020 ACM SIGACCESS Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computing and Accessibility, the 2017 University System of Maryland Board of Regents Faculty Award for Excellence in Research, and the 2016 ACM SIGCHI Social Impact Award. Dr. Lazar recently served as the general chair of the ACM ASSETS 2021 conference. At the University of Maryland, Dr. Lazar is a faculty member in the Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL) and was recently appointed as the director of the Trace Research and Development Center, the nation's oldest research center on technology and disability.

Amanda Lazar is an assistant professor in the College of Information Studies with an affiliate appointment in the Department of Computer Science at the University of  Maryland, College Park. She received her Ph.D. in Biomedical and Health Informatics. Her research in Human Computer Interaction examines the design of technology for older adults as well as individuals with dementia to support social interaction and engagement in life. In parallel, she examines the ways that technologies shape (and are shaped by) attitudes towards these populations. Amanda's research draws on the health sciences as well as critical frameworks. She regularly publishes her research with her students at conferences such as the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) and Computer Supported

Trace Center Origin and Evolution.- Augmentative Communication (1971-).- Pre-Internet/Pre-Web Summative Information (1970s-1990s).- Computer Access (1980-).- Electronic Consumer Products and General Accessibility (1990-).- Web Access (1990-).- Telecommunication Access (1990-).- Kiosks and Information-Transaction Machine Access (1999-).- Accessibility Infrastructure (2010 -).-  Move to University of Maryland (2016).- Elements that Have Defined the Trace Center.- Some Lessons Learned from Trace's First 50 Years.- Trace's Focus for the Next Decade(s) (2021-).