Find the latest stories in disability news

Read the latest stories on the hottest vocational rehabilitation industry topics, insightful guest blogs, and check out the latest videos showing breakthroughs in technologies helping those with disabilities.

NEWS

Say Hi to HiiDii Smart Glasses

by VR Horizons | December 10, 2019 | Accessibility, disability community, News, Technology | 0 Comments

HiiDii lets you interact with computers, tablets, and smartphones just by blinking your eyes and moving your head. Whenever you do an extended blink, HiiDii sends micro-electrical signals to the glasses. It detects the action and then translates that signal to a...

Mattel Relasese UNO Braille For Visually Impaired Players

by VR Horizons | October 8, 2019 | Accessibility, braille, gaming with disabilities, News | 0 Comments

Uno, the popular card game, is expanding its audience by offering a Braille edition that can be played by both visually impaired and sighted users. In addition to text information for sighted players, Uno Braille cards feature Braille markings on their corners to...

Olympic Coverage Will Include Video Description

by VR Horizons | February 9, 2018 | News | 0 Comments

The 2018 PyongChang Olympics will be the most accessible Winter Games in history, according to NBC Olympics and Comcast. The media companies announced coverage of the XXIII Olympic Winter Games in South Korea will include video description services (VDS) for viewers...

Lego Diversifies with Wheelchair Figurine

by VR Horizons | February 8, 2016 | News | 0 Comments

The world’s third largest manufacture of toys, Lego, has recently unveiled a figurine in a wheelchair. The newest minifigure is a part of a new Lego CITY set that will be available at stores around the world by June 2016. Toy makers around the globe have been feeling...

Breaking Down Barriers

by VR Horizons | December 8, 2015 | Accessibility, ePolicyWorks, News | 0 Comments

Finding Innovative Solutions for Accessible Transportation Many individuals with disabilities face mobility challenges that prevent them from holding employment. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) and the U.S. Department of...

Microsoft Announces Plan to Hire Individuals with Disability

by VR Horizons | April 7, 2015 | hiring, News | 0 Comments

Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Worldwide Operations, Mary Ellen Smith, announced last Friday its plan to launch a pilot program to hire individuals with autism. Microsoft has been known to be on the cutting edge creating opportunity and products for individuals...

VR Horizons Launches Feature Blog to Explore WIOA Requirements and the VR Scorecard Initiative

by VR Horizons | March 5, 2015 | News, Spotlight Series, WIOA | 0 Comments

Today, VR Horizons announced plans to host a recurring blog series examining the impact and evolving requirements of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). The VR Horizons WIOA Series is designed to provide VR professionals with the latest news and...

What Can You Do?

by VR Horizons | January 16, 2015 | Accessibility, Disability Employment, News | 0 Comments

The Campaign for Disability Employment's (CDE) feature PSA "What Can You Do" tells the stories of nine individuals, all who are working in jobs they love and also happen to have disabilities. The campaign is a real winner in our books, causing listeners to stop and...

TransitionSpot Joins VR Horizons’ Expanding Resources

by VR Horizons | December 16, 2014 | Career Planning, Disability Employment, hiring, News | 0 Comments

TransitionSpot is the newest resource to join VR Horizons expanding catalog of resources for the community. TransitionSpot serves individuals in the Oklahoma City community, helping individuals prepare for the workforce. Utilizing targeted career planning and life...

Annual Disability Statistics Compendium Released for 2014

by VR Horizons | December 12, 2014 | News, Statistics | 0 Comments

The Institute of Disability Statistics and Demographics at the University of New Hampshire's Rehabilitation Research and Training Center recently released the Annual Disability Statistics Compendium for 2014. The Compendium is a web-based tool that gathers all the...

Blind Inventor Creates WeWALK Smart Cane

by VR Horizons | November 26, 2019 | Accessibility, Blog, disability community, living with disabilities, Technology | 0 Comments

Over 217 million people in the world are severely visually impaired or blind. This is also a world of continuous technologization, but it is somewhat surprising that high-tech assistance for the visually impaired took so long. Now, there’s a Bluetooth-enabled “smart...

New Amazon Echo Feature Increases Accessibility

by VR Horizons | October 15, 2019 | Accessibility, Blog, Technology | 0 Comments

Show and Tell is an Alexa feature designed to help blind and low vision customers identify grocery items. With Show and Tell, blind and low vision customers can hold up an item to the Echo Show camera and ask, “Alexa, what am I holding,” and Alexa helps identify the...

Apple Pitches Disability-Inclusive Emojis

by VR Horizons | March 30, 2018 | Blog, Technology | 0 Comments

Apple® has proposed 13 new emojis to the Unicode Consortium, the non-profit that reviews emoji requests. Working with the National Association of the Deaf, the Cerebral Palsy Foundation and the American Council of the Blind, Apple’s request includes four categories of...

A Focus Group Around the Future of Case Management and Technology

by VR Horizons | March 8, 2018 | Blog, Conferences, CSAVR, NCSAB | 0 Comments

On Sunday April 8, 2018 VR Horizons will be partnering with Alliance Enterprises, the leading provider of case management solutions for Vocational Rehabilitation (VR), to host an on-site focus group at the Hyatt Regency Bethesda. This free session, scheduled to...

Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies Prepare to Report on Common Measures

by VR Horizons | May 12, 2017 | Blog, RSA, VR Agencies, WIOA | 0 Comments

Under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), core partner programs are required to report on common measures. Data collection for this new requirement begins July 1, 2017. This will be a new endeavor for vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies, that are...