WITH Foundation

Mission

The mission of WITH Foundation is to promote the establishment of comprehensive healthcare for adults with developmental disabilities that is designed to address their unique and fundamental needs.

Services Provided

WITH Foundation is a private foundation focused on supporting organizations and projects that promote the establishment of comprehensive and accessible healthcare for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Project Spotlight

As a healthcare funder that focuses on supporting comprehensive care for adults with developmental disabilities, WITH understands how deeply the intellectual and developmental disabilities community is impacted by COVID-19. In response, WITH has re-allocated approximately 7% of its annual grant funding into a COVID-19 Response Fund. WITH invited 41 of its current and past grantees to apply for $25,000 grants through the fund. Applicants were asked to provide a brief summary of what their organization would do with $25,000 to respond to COVID-19 and its impact on adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Learn more.

Interesting Facts

WITH Foundation and Sidebench Partner for Fourth Annual Universal Design Symposium.

In the United States, an estimated 18.7% of Americans live with at least one disability. Over 21 million people experience some form of upper extremity disability. Universal design is becoming more commonplace because companies are becoming increasingly aware of the positive business case for accessible design. The best product experiences come by incorporating accessibility and inclusivity. To maximize success, organizations must design their products and services to be more accessible to the greatest number of users, both with and without disabilities.

As an organization certified by the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP), Sidebench champions the value of accessible design, and strives to implement Universal Design principles throughout its work. 

On June 22, 2020 Sidebench and WITH Foundation teamed up to produce its fourth annual Universal Design Symposium. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this marked the first year its event went completely virtual on the Zoom platform. Previously hosted at SXSW, the 2020 virtual event included workshops, panel discussions, and interactive exercises geared to educate participants on the value and necessity of Universal Design practices.

The Symposium

Featuring industry thought leaders from organizations like Adobe, OCAD University, and Flexability, our workshop dove into fundamental topics like Assistive Technology, Lean Accessibility, and Web Accessibility Principles. Participants learned about content covered on the Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC) exam from Sidebench’s very own CPACC designer, Cassy Gibson.

To increase the accessibility of our workshop, we hired a Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) provider to stream captions in real-time through StreamText. Zoom webinar features maximized the security of participants, allowing Sidebench to moderate attendees’ audio and video streams. These best practices allowed us to spotlight the Universal Design principles shared in our presentation. Learn more about the Symposium here.