CITY OF HOUSTON WEB DESIGN TEAM WINS PRIZE IN CONTEST
December 4, 2006 – The DJM Web Design Team, comprised of Donna Hill-Wiley from the Planning and Development Department, John F Vanden Bosch from Information Technology Department, and Marty Blaise from Health and Human Services, won third place in the "Stock Car" Division of the 2006 AIR Houston Internet Accessibility Rally (DJM is from first names).
DJM, the only team from the City of Houston, designed an accessible web site for Brilliant Lectures, Inc. a non-profit organization that invites renowned leaders to speak to groups of secondary students. Brilliant Lectures' mission is to inspire students to believe in the value of their own ideas. Their first speaker was Queen Noor of Jordan in October.
The Accessibility Internet Rally (AIR) pairs area web designers with local non-profit organizations to improve website access to the disabled. AIR, a part of the www.knowbility.org network, is an award-winning, website building competition held annually around the country. This year's Houston competition included 12 teams that either created or reformatted websites for non-profits in order to comply with "Section 508" standards for Americans with disabilities.
Section 508 is a 1998 amendment to the Rehabilitation Act that requires Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. Accessible web sites, in addition to meeting government compliance, have a global economic impact. It is estimated that the 54 million Americans with disabilities have an aggregate income of $1 trillion, which includes $220 billion of discretionary spending.
