our web address is: http://a11y.org

Open A11y Mission Statement

   First chartered in 2004 as the Free Standards Group Accessibility
   Workgroup (FSGA), the Open Accessibility (A11y) Group functions today
   within the Linux Foundation to establish free and open standards that
   enable comprehensive universal access to various computing platforms,
   applications, and services. Open A11y makes it easier for developers,
   ISVs, and distributions to support assistive technologies (AT).
   Assistive technologies enable individuals to make full use of
   computer-based technology despite variability in physical or sensory
   abilities due to illness, aging or disability.

   AT enables individuals who are blind or visually impaired to read
   online text, for example, and provides the means for individuals who do
   not have the use of their arms and hands to write and correspond. AT
   also enable individuals who cannot speak or hear to participate on the
   telephony interfaces of today -- and will support their participation
   on the multimodal computer interfaces of tomorrow.


Explaining our name:
Open A11y = Open Accessibility
	a + [ccessibilit=11chars] + y
a la i18n = internationalization
	i + [nternationalizatio=18chars] + n

Our specification activities include:

*	"Expert Handlers"

*	at-spi = assistive technology service provider interface
	atk = accessibility toolkit interface

*	IAccessible2 -- provides extensions to MSAA on Windows computers.

*	Keyboard Accessibility

Other terms:
dbus
corba
lsb = Linux Standards Base
KDE
Gnome
qt
gtk+