Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Yahoo! is commemorating this milestone and its commitment to providing accessible websites, services, and advertisements to people of all abilities. In addition to making its services - including the Yahoo! Homepage and Yahoo! Search - accessible to people of all abilities, Yahoo! is starting to work with its advertisers to make display ads accessible to those with vision and hearing impairments. On July 26th, Yahoo.com will serve an accessible ad from a major advertiser, and Yahoo!'s house display ads for its search product will be accessible to individuals with vision and hearing impairments.

On this day, Yahoo! is also proud to announce the launch of the new Yahoo! Accessibility blog (http://accessibility.yahoo.com) which will highlight accessibility developments and trends, share perspectives from experts and influencers, and foster dialogue from the community.

"At Yahoo!, our goal is to enable everyone to experience the best of the web and we are proud to provide ways for individuals with disabilities to independently access their world online," said Elisa Steele, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Yahoo!. "Yahoo! is celebrating and honoring the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act at company headquarters, on our homepage, through new accessible display ads, and on our newly created Yahoo! Accessibility Blog. We hope our actions will inspire other industry leaders who are committed to keeping accessibility at the forefront of innovation."

"The ADA is a celebration of independence. When he signed the ADA into law 20 years ago, President George H. W. Bush remarked from the White House lawn, 'This is indeed an incredible day,'" said Alan Brightman, Yahoo!'s senior policy director. "So happy anniversary to the ADA and congratulations to all who work tirelessly to make sure that individuals with disabilities - online or otherwise - are able to say: 'Now I can do it myself!'"

Yahoo! Accessibility Program
With approximately 650 million people living with disabilities worldwide, industry-leading companies are making huge strides in developing and implementing accessible technologies that extend services to those with disabilities and keeping accessibility at the forefront of innovation. One of Yahoo!'s core values is making its website and products usable by people of all abilities and accessibility is a key component to the product development process across Yahoo!'s services including the Yahoo! Homepage, Finance, Mail, Search, Sports, and News. Yahoo!'s unique Accessibility Lab plays an integral role in educating Web designers, product managers, and marketers across the company, and has been visited by hundreds of groups inside and outside the company over the years.

About the ADA
The Americans with Disabilities Act is a law that was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1990 that prohibits, under certain circumstances, discrimination based on disability. The ADA has outlined requirements for ensuring equal opportunity for persons with disabilities in employment, state and local government services, public accommodations, commercial facilities, and transportation, and requiring the establishment of TDD/telephone relay services.

Yahoo!

Yahoo!

Yahoo! attracts hundreds of millions of users every month through its innovative technology and engaging content and services, making it one of the most visited Internet destinations and a world-class online media company. Yahoo!'s vision is to be the center of people's online lives by delivering personally relevant, meaningful Internet experiences. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif. For more information, visit pressroom.yahoo.net or the company's blog, Yodel Anecdotal (yodel.yahoo.com).

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