Our Story
“We believe that NO ONE should be excluded from an education because of a lack of accessibility” - Dr. Fadlo Khuri, President of AUB.
Who We Are
ABLE (Accessibility for a Bolder Learning Experience), is an initiative by the Office of Information Technology (IT) in collaboration with the Student Affairs Accessible Education Office (AEO) at the American University of Beirut (AUB) to open the doors of higher education for all through digital accessibility.
ABLE Story
ABLE started as a dream inside the American University of Beirut (AUB) Information Technology (IT) offices and kept growing until the dream materialized and crossed AUB walls to achieve, national, regional and international reach. "Special needs or not, equal access is your right" - ABLE Team.
Outcomes of Our First Summit
ABLE’s ripple effect started, the event created an awareness wave and connected effective affiliations. ABLE also put Lebanon on the map of the Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) 2019. Multiple capacity building efforts started and new affiliations such as REACH (Research for Education Accessibility Challenges) took place.
Success Stories
ABLE helped connect special needs students with the administration to support enrollment and fostered 3 innovative students’ projects (Automated Braille-Encoder, Mappable (campus accessibility navigation guide), Accessibility Web Engine (AWE)). ABLE today aims to have new success stories after Dr. Bassam Farah, Rima Kaddoura and Lama Joudieh.
Partners
Speakers
“What was impossible yesterday, is possible today with technology.” - ABLE Team.
Dr. Fadlo Khuri
President of the American University of Beirut
Dr. Yousif Asfour
Chief Information Officer at the American University of Beirut
Dr. Talal Nizammedin
Dean of Student Affairs at the American University of Beirut
Adam Spencer
President of AbleDocs Inc.
Jeremy P. Seda
IT Accessibility Coordinator at North Idaho College
Rami Farran
IT Director at the American University of Beirut
Myles Pilling
Council Member and Director British Assistive Technology Association
Chris Gaulin
Accessibility Advocate - #a11yTO Organizer
Maha Zouwayhed
IT Business Development Manager at the American University of Beirut
Robin Christopherson MBE
Head of Digital Inclusion at AbilityNet
Emina Ćerimović
Senior Researcher on Disability Rights at Human Rights Watch
Michael Cyr
Group Leader at Educause IT Accessibility Community - University of Maine System
Apply before January 15
For more info, contact able@aub.edu.lb
Highlights from Previous Summit
A national level event, with ripple effects in the region, the ABLE Summit 2019 featured renowned speakers from global leading organizations in industry and academia, to boost awareness, charge collective momentum and trigger related initiatives.
164
Organizations
347
Attendees
15
Countries
Register Now!
Attend one of the biggest fora in the region.
Exhibit!
Demonstrate your latest products & services.
Sponsor Us!
Gain exposure in Digital Accessibility.
Testimonials
“Special needs or not, equal access is your right” - ABLE Team.
“Unforgettable times in Beirut by listening, socializing and sharing experiences and best practices with wonderful leaders, from the Arab region, and around the world.”
“It was a real pleasure to talk about “Three Fundamentals for Improving Digital Accessibility and Inclusion” (trust me, I could have gone well beyond three) at the first ABLE Summit”.
“The first Assistive Technology conference in Lebanon has been a great success as speaker after speaker spoke of making things more accessible for everyone.”
Attend one of the biggest fora in the region!
