New accessibility improvements now available for Skype

A few months ago, we provided an update on our continued commitment to making Skype accessible. We are very grateful for the feedback you’ve given us—it continues to be an essential and impactful part of our work. We listened and made changes to make Skype more accessible for everyone.

Below are just some of the recent accessibility improvements available in Skype version 8:

• Improved navigation now makes the app easier to use. Navigation is smoother and takes a more natural left-to-right and top-to-bottom path.
• Additional information about messages that are sent and received is now displayed. For example, we now announce when messages are sent and when messages you attempt to send have failed.
• A number of new keyboard shortcuts make it easier to start a chat, answer a call, and navigate within Skype. Visit Skype support for a full list of shortcuts.
• Accessibility functionality was rolled out across all platforms. Skype version 8 is available on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, and most recently iPad.

If you haven’t already done so, we encourage you to upgrade now—only Skype version 8 will be available after September 1, 2018.

We continually work to improve our technology to ensure it is accessible and empowers every person and every organization to achieve more. Please share your comments and feedback via Microsoft Accessibility UserVoice or contact the Disability Answer Desk for real-time support via phone, chat, or ASL videophone. If you are an early adopter and would like to participate in early preview releases, please consider joining the Skype Insider Community.

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#AM_Equality Tipsheet: July 25, 2018

A DESPICABLE ANNIVERSARY — ONE YEAR AGO TOMORROW, TRUMP TWEETED OUT A BAN ON TRANS TROOPS: Despite recent court victories for transgender troops and recruits, the Trump-Pence administration has continued to file appeals in an effort to force its extreme anti-LGBTQ agenda on the U.S. military. Bipartisan lawmakers, military leaders and an overwhelming majority of Americans oppose the Trump-Pence Administration’s ban on transgender troops bravely serving the country.

• Today at 3 p.m. ET, HRC, Lambda Legal, Outserve-SLDN, American Military Partner Association (AMPA), Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and others will host a national press call to discuss the state of the transgender military ban. Contact [email protected] for call-in information.

LGBTQ GROUPS CALL ON GOV. RICK SCOTT TO RESPOND TO THE EPIDEMIC OF VIOLENCE AGAINST BLACK TRANSGENDER WOMEN IN FLORIDA: Last week’s murder of Sasha Garden follows a disturbing wave of violence that has shaken the LGBTQ community in Florida. More from Orlando Sentinel and News4Jax.

�� #Thread: Horrifying reports of a transgender woman victimized by gun violence last night in Detroit. Over the last six months, there has been an alarming spike in violence across the U.S. against transgender people — particularly trans women of color. This must stop. ��

— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) July 24, 2018

• In Detroit on Monday, a trans woman was shot in the shoulder and remains in the hospital in serious condition. More from The Detroit News.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING WEDNESDAY — TRANS AND GENDER EXPANSIVE HRC YOUTH AMBASSADORS SHARE THEIR HEARTBREAKING STORIES OF DISCRIMINATION IN SCHOOL:

According to @HRC‘s #LGBTQYouthReport, 51% of transgender youth can never use the restroom or locker room that matches their gender identity. @JazzJennings__, Lucas, Zoey and Brendan (@jordvnhaus) share their harrowing stories. pic.twitter.com/N6EORoBvWE

— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) July 24, 2018

OUR HEARTS ARE WITH DEMI LOVATO DURING HER RECOVERY: Demi is a long-time supporter of LGBTQ equality and her openness in speaking out on her struggles with addiction and mental health has helped countless LGBTQ youth who may have felt alone in their own experiences. A resource on preventing substance abuse among LGBTQ teens can be found here. More from Pink News.

KANSAS’ ANTI-LGBTQ BILL IS FAILING LGBTQ FOSTER YOUTH IN NEED: In May, Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer signed into law a license to discriminate with taxpayer funds against prospective LGBTQ foster or adoptive parents, single parents or other qualified families. The law also may enable child welfare agencies to refuse to place LGBTQ youth. More from The Wichita Eagle.

MAJOR NEW STUDY FINDS NO TRANSMISSION OF HIV BETWEEN PARTNERS USING EFFECTIVE TREATMENT: The results from PARTNER 2 were announced at the International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam. More from Gay Star News.

• HRC Global alumni are also participating in the conference. More from HRC.

 ON TV SHOW, GEORGIA STATE LAWMAKER EXPOSES HIMSELF WHILE LAUNCHING A RACIST, ANTI-LGBTQ RANT: We aren’t kidding. State Rep. Jason Spencer has since resigned. More from Project Q Atlanta and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

JULY IS MINORITY MENTAL HEALTH MONTH: HRC is proud to join Mental Health America’s nationwide #MyStoryMyWay campaign to bring awareness to the ways in which diverse populations talk about mental health. More from HRC.

 READING RAINBOW – Bookmark now to read on your lunch break!

NewNowNext interviews Pose’s Billy Porter (@TheeBillyPorter) on centering the most marginalized within the LGBTQ community; Outsports shares a gay college tennis player’s struggle with mental health; NPR‘s Terry Gross talks with with Black, gay author Michael Arceneaux (@youngsinick) about his latest memoir; The New York Times profiles lesbian comedian Hannah Gadsby (@Hannahgadsby)

Paid for by Human Rights Campaign PAC (www.hrc.org) and not authorized by any candidate or committee.

Have news? Send us your news and tips at [email protected]. Click here to subscribe to #AM_Equality and follow @HRC for all the latest news. Thanks for

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New Rock Opera from ‘Hedwig’ Creator, ‘This Ain’t No Disco’ Is Right About That: REVIEW

There’s no shortage of stories to tell about Studio 54. Ian Schrager will spill the whole teapot in a definitive doc out later this year. Miramax dished up a splashy and hollow celluloid treatment in Ryan Phillippe vehicle 54. And of course there are the legendary tales that will likely be taken to the grave.

It’s tough to discern what story the creators of This Ain’t No Disco, a rock opera that opened off-Broadway tonight, aim to tell about the famed nightclub. It could, at various moments, be one about access and escape, fame and artistry, the primordial uptown-downtown tug-of-war endemic to pop culture. But it is rarely any one of these for long, and the result feels like a shopworn grab bag without much clutch.

This ain’t no disco, indeed.

The gang of stock characters is all here on Atlantic Theater Company’s main stage, including Steve Rubell himself (Theo Stockman); Warhol, known simply as “the artist” (Will Connolly, disguised under an unfortunate wig and shades); a gaudy loudmouth publicist (Chilina Kennedy), the D.A. with a hidden agenda and taste for young hunks (Eddie Cooper); the coat check girls, who are lovers and aspiring artists (Krystina Alabado and Lulu Fall).

The trials of tandem protagonists are woven throughout: One is a self-professed “teenage hustler runaway” (Peter Laprade) who knew it was time to go when Dad found his “fag rag and Jean Genet.” The other is a young single mom (Samantha Marie Ware) whose brand of Joey Ramone punk bears an unmistakable resemblance to “Rhythm Nation” Janet. They are both aimless until convinced by the vague allures of fame (and its makers) to become an artist and a singer-songwriter, respectively. How else to spend your youth?

Stephen Trask teamed up with Peter Yanowitz (of The Wallflowers) on a new-wavey pop-rock score that lacks the boldness and tart flavor of his cult hit Hedwig and the Angry Inch. (True to the show’s title, cribbed from a Talking Heads song, discernable disco influence is scarce.) Jersey Boys co-author Rick Elice collaborated with the pair on a book peppered with rhyming couplets and overstuffed with plot, including a rivalry with the edgier Mudd Club that winds up buried.  

Director Darko Tresnjak (Tony winner for A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) struggles to differentiate uptown from downtown, or outside club doors from interior splendor — extremes that make the city tick. As a chorus of “supplicants” clamors to be let in, it’s tempting to confess they’re not missing much. Jason Sherwood’s two-tier scaffold set, well suited to a rock opera, only modestly transforms with the descent of a disco ball and multi-colored bulbs (Ben Stanton designed the moody club lighting).

For a musical about dance clubs not to employ a choreographer seems like an odd choice (Tresnjak doesn’t receive dual credit in addition to directing). When the coat girls sing a seat-of-their-pants anthem, “we just make it up as we go along,” they might be speaking for half of the show’s uninspired steps.   

In the end, Warhol’s unnamed proxy delivers an eleven o’clock number that belies his dispassion, singing “life is suffering, life is pain.” He’s right, of course. Isn’t that why people go out in the first place? “Stop thinking and you will know,” he insists. “Stop wanting and you will have, stop looking and you will see.” It’s a ballad about the false promise of obvious pleasures. Now that’s a unifying theme for a musical.  

Recent theatre features…
Boys Will Be Boys in ‘Straight White Men’ Starring Armie Hammer and Josh Charles: REVIEW
Jesse Tyler Ferguson Is a Gay Neo-Con in Vacant ‘Log Cabin’ Off-Broadway: REVIEW
Idina Menzel Opens In Off-Broadway’s ‘Skintight,’ a Daddy-Twink Romance Where ‘Hot Is Everything’: REVIEW
The Grit and Heart of the 2018 Tony Award Winners Show Theatre Is More Relevant Than Ever: RECAP
Starry Broadway Revival of ‘The Boys in the Band’ Lends Gay History a High Sheen: REVIEW
Time’s Up? Not So Fast: ‘Carousel’ Is Back on Broadway: REVIEW
Get in, Losers: The ‘Mean Girls’ Musical Is Fun as Hell: REVIEW

Follow Naveen Kumar on Twitter: @Mr_NaveenKumar
(photos: ben arons)

The post New Rock Opera from ‘Hedwig’ Creator, ‘This Ain’t No Disco’ Is Right About That: REVIEW appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

New Rock Opera from ‘Hedwig’ Creator, ‘This Ain’t No Disco’ Is Right About That: REVIEW