The pandemic's influence on accessibility | Meryl Evans | TEDxPlano

While no one wanted a pandemic to happen, Meryl Evans points out that history has shown events like this can lead to changes for the better. For her, the rise of automatic captions on video calls provided a new way to communicate, socialize, and most importantly, connect. Meryl Evans is an accessibility and digital marketing consultant and author. As a marketing professional, Meryl knew the importance of video and shied away from making them because of her accent that hails from nowhere accessible by travel. She received such a tremendous response to her videos that she's now on a passionate path to create a more accessible world.

She uses a virtual megaphone to educate anyone who will listen about accessibility and inclusion with a focus on people with disabilities. She’s a highly sought speaker who is known for sharing her stories and lived experiences as a person who happened to be born hearing-free aka profoundly deaf.

She has spoken at AccessU, ID24, sxsw, Content Marketing World, AccessibilityPlus, and PCMA Convening Leaders. Her most recent forays include delving into accessibility in virtual reality working with XR Access and the W3C Immersive Captions Community Group. She is a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx