Vincenzo Rubano

Hello, and welcome to A11A! If you happen to be here, o well… Looks like you wish to know a little bit more about myself! Here you go.

Something about myself

Blind from birth, I started using a computer when I was 10. But soon I realized that it was not enough: when I was 14 I decided to start “getting my hands dirty” with programming and web development.

In 2011, I launched the survey “Mi illumino di meno… ma ci vedo di più!” to spread the word about web accessibility in Italy, trying to inform the public about the difficulties that blind and visually impaired people have to face in order to browse the Inter.Net. Given the great and unexpected success of the campaign, the next year I started “Ti tengo “, an Italian website whose goal was to report publicly inaccessible websites and applications, disclosing critical issues that involved many mainstream companies and even public administrations. The website succeeded in achieving significant accessibility improvements, but also encouraging important discussions about web accessibility not only in technical forums, but also in social media and the more traditional ones.

Using a cane before, and walking with my guide dog on my side after, I moved to Bologna in 2013, where I started studying Computer Science at Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna. I pursued both a bachelor degree and a two years master degree in Computer Science, grading at 110 over 110 (cum laude).

I am now pursuing a PHD in Computer Science and Engineering. My research activities mainly focus on “rethinking web accessibility from the ground up to make it more accessible”, in order to facilitate web developers, designers and content authors in producing accessible content wether they are accessibility experts or not.

If you want to know more (much more! 😁) about my activities, work experiences, skills and competences, you can read my resume.