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IMCCA Extends Invite to ‘Virtual Is Still Vital’ Chat for Open Discussion on Inclusive Technology

IMCCA logoThe IMCCA Inclusion Initiative held a kickoff meeting in September to discuss the mission and future goals for the initiative. The meeting was hosted by IMCCA board members, IMCCA Chairperson Mike Brandofino and Dr. S. Ann Earon, IMCCA Founding Chairperson. It was led by IMCCA end users Anthony DeVergillo and Gary LaSasso from Amicus Therapeutics. The IMCCA Inclusion Initiative founding members include AVI-SPL, Bluescape, Caregility, Cisco, Compunetix, Crestron, Intel, Jabra, Logitech, Pexip, Poly, QSC, Salamander Designs, Synnex, Xilica, Yorktel and Zoom.

“We talked a lot over the past year about equity and inclusion for gender and race, but disability has really been on the backburner,” said LaSasso.

Anthony DeVergillo was empowered by his experience living with a rare disease. He created the Disability & Rare Advancement in the workplace employee resource group at Amicus Therapeutics and partnered with IMCCA to grow awareness and action on a larger scale. Technology that supports virtual meetings and conference attendance allows people living with a disability to grow social connections and share their story and perspective with others — a connection that is independent of physical, in-person barriers and difficulties.

“Virtual experiences became a necessity in 2020,” DeVergillo said. “But for people with rare and chronic diseases who cannot easily travel, UC&C technology became the great equalizer!”

“IMCCA connects the vendor and end user communities to tackle challenges, so I truly believe technology inclusion is important for us to discuss,” Brandofino said. “The UCC industry develops software and hardware that allows everyone to connect virtually, so who better to consider accessibility and adapt technologies to better include people living with a disability who have difficulty traveling? This is especially true as industry conferences begin to take place in person again. We must all band together to ensure events that allow in-person, free, real-time attendance using now-proven technologies and platforms.”

The IMCCA extends an open invite to an online fireside chat called “Virtual Is Still Vital” on Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021, at the link below to empower the entire industry to think outside the box when it comes to inclusive technology and related business decisions. To register, visit here.

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