As many of you may now have heard Dr John Slatin has passed away on Monday night. He was one of the original accessibility advocates, co-chair of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Working Group in 2005 and 2006 as well as author of “Maximising accessibility”. He was a familiar face at South by South West where he gave panels and presentations on topics such as “Can Stevie Wonder see your website” as well as many other conferences.
He was an inspiration to all of us here and will be missed.
Mike Elledge | 03/04/2008 at 15:02 | Permalink
I first met John five or so years ago at the University of Colorado Accessing Higher Ground conference in Boulder, when I went to his presentation on making accessible websites. After the class, I asked him if he was available for lunch, and we and several blind colleagues went to the executive dining room across the plaza. After a moment or two at the table, John looked in my direction, smiled and said, “Well, Mike, are you going to read the menu to us?” It was a great, if somewhat embarrassing, moment of insight for me.
That was my first glimpse into both John’s sense of humor and sense of purpose, followed by many others over the years. I will miss him profoundly.