{"id":5010,"date":"2022-10-02T13:02:47","date_gmt":"2022-10-02T20:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522\/?p=5010"},"modified":"2022-10-02T15:15:36","modified_gmt":"2022-10-02T22:15:36","slug":"5010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522\/2022\/10\/02\/5010\/","title":{"rendered":"Shir Ekerling &#8211; Founder of AccessiBe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>AccessiBe offers a suite of services: Some free and others paid. They advertise powerful tools such as their AccessWidge that use AI to go in and fix issues of accessibility directly within the code of the website. It has an easy-to-use interface that allows users to customize their approach to accessibility. AccessiBe also offer a host of other services as well, notably also offer expert consultations directly to their customers (see <a href=\"https:\/\/accessibe.com\/accesswidget\">AccessiBe Products<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"3-minute accessWidget demo: The #1 Rated Accessibility Solution for ADA Compliance &amp; WCAG Adherence\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7OfcbvYVxNY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Founder Biography<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shir Ekerling (See his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiBmqrkqcL6AhVsElkFHYVlAIwQFnoECAkQAQ&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fil.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fshir-ekerling&amp;usg=AOvVaw0EC4h5lcbyBo_b4Dx-WyjH\">LinkedIn<\/a>) is the CEO and co-founder of accessiBe and was named one of Forbes 30 Under 30. He got the idea for AccessiBe while he was co-owner of a marketing design and web development company in Israel&nbsp;and a 2015 law was enacted that would require all websites to be created to be accessible to users with disabilities. Intially, Ekerling and his team were worried that the cost of accessibility would be too high, but ultimately it gave them the idea to create AccessiBe (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.superbcrew.com\/an-interview-with-shir-ekerling-ceo-and-co-founder-of-accessibe\/\">Superb Crew, 2020<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Quote<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSustainable web accessibility is not just for businesses but first and foremost for users with disabilities.\u201d<br>Shir Ekerling CEO of accessiBe<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Reflections<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One thing I really found interesting about Ekerling&#8217;s story as a founder is that his idea came from what he originally thought of as an issue (i.e. his marketing firm potentially facing legal ramifications of not meeting accessibility standards) and in doing research on the topic he says &#8220;Our worry turned into empathy&#8221; as they realized &#8220;how much people with disabilities are excluded from online services.&#8221; (see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.superbcrew.com\/an-interview-with-shir-ekerling-ceo-and-co-founder-of-accessibe\/\">Superb Crew interview 2020<\/a>). I think empathy and compassion can be incredible motivators for entrepreneurs &#8211; something that is not always seen in conjunction with the idea of a typical venture. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AccessiBe offers a suite of services: Some free and others paid. They advertise powerful tools such as their AccessWidge that use AI to go in&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522\/2022\/10\/02\/5010\/\">Read more<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Shir Ekerling &#8211; Founder of AccessiBe<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":86685,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-founders-parade","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86685"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5010"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5022,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5010\/revisions\/5022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}