Is the web accessible enough to disabled users?

More Vista Features

2006-11-13T11:11:00.000-05:00

The Vista Ease of Access Center provides tools beyond the speech recognition. The center offers features that increase accessibility for a number of disabilities.

Magnifier
The magnifier allows the user to increase the screen by levels from two to 16. This will increase the amount of scrolling necessary. The user can choose to scroll with the mouse, keyboard, or text editor.

Narrator
Narrator is the screen reader included in Vista. It is a text-to-speech program, meaning it reads text out loud to the user. Vista boasts that the voice is a pleasant, natural sounding voice.

On-Screen Keyboard
An on-screen keyboard is available, making the physical keyboard unnecessary. This will help individuals with poor fine motor skills which are necessary to type well.

High Contrast
This feature increases contrast for text and images that are meant to stand out. Items that are meant to be distinct will be easily recognizable. This reduces eye strain and helps color blind people.

All of these features can be accessed two different ways. You can choose to turn them on for one session. You can also choose to have them on everytime you log on.

This suite of features to aid accessibility is a big step in the right direction. It allows people with many different disabilities to have a positive experience with Vista. Way to go, Microsoft!

Speech Recognition

2006-11-13T10:46:00.000-05:00

I visited Microsoft's information on Vista to find out more about the speech recognition feature.

What you can do using speech recognition
The feature enables you to use your computer with limited keyboard and mouse interaction. Using speech recognition, you can:
* Dictate documents
* Dictate emails
* Start applications
* Switch between applications
* Control the operating system
* Fill out forms on the web

Wow...it's great!
The Vista speech recognition feature is able to adapt to your speaking style and vocabulary patterns for accuracy. It is available in eight different languages-it even differentiates between United States English and Britsh English. One of the features I find most interesting is the "Disambiguation" feature. If the system is confused about your command, it prompts you for clarification.

Why this is great
I think this feature of the new Windows operating system will really help visually impaired people. It allows use of a large number of programs without use of the keyboard or mouse. This is the first time this feature has been included in a Windows operating system. I think it is a very comprehensive program, especially since it is a pilot. The website wasn't clear if the prompts for clarification were voice prompts or not. This would be important for a visually impaired person. If the prompts are not voice, I would like to see that improvement in the next version.

Vista is Accessible!

2006-11-10T10:52:00.000-05:00

I found a web blog reporting on Microsoft's new operating system, Vista. Vista is very accessible to the disabled! It improves upon the accessibility features offered by Windows XP.

The Features
* A screen reader will be shipped with Vista
* Vista includes speech recognition which allows dictation and and voice control of computer fuctions
* Expanded screen magnifiers
* High contrast text displays

Beyond the Features
Vista also improves the way the features are displayed. XP had the features available by clicking a green wheelchair. This connotates a stigma, and people may have been reluctant to use the features. Vista has the features available under a "Ease of Access" center.

My Take
It is great that Microsoft is making improvements with their new program. The added features will help a wide audience. It is also great to see Microsoft striving to be more politically correct. By changing the way the features are accessed they are likely increasing the amount of people that will use the features. Good job Microsoft!

Allow me to continue...

2006-11-06T08:53:00.000-05:00

A New York Times article by Bob Tedeschi legitimizes some arguments I've made on the Target issue. It also acknowledges an issue one of our guest speakers spoke about. Note: you may need a log in to read this article.

My Arguments
I pointed out that it seems it would be a great advantage to Target to make their site usable by screen readers. It would open up a new customer base. More potential customers leads to more potential sales. The New York Times article says, "Most online stores go to great lengths to make sure that their sites are accessible to people with disabilities, simply because it is good business to allow as many people as possible to shop." The article indicates that their are 200,000 visually impaired people in the nation...which means 200,000 potential new customers.

I also noted that Target's competitors have made their site accessible. If so many other sites are accessible to screen readers, it must not be too hard to do. The New York Times article says, "And online-shopping technology specialists say it is not too difficulty or costly a task."

The article also calls Target's decision to not make their site accessible a "public relations blunder."

Search Engine Optimization
Meg Weir spoke to our class about search engine optimization. This refers to making your site pop up on Google or Yahoo searches. She mentioned good writing, links, and common search terms to be factors in search engine optimization. The New York Times article says, "...the more software coding a Web site could offer to help screen readers and other technologies navigate a site, the more likely it was that the Web site would show up on search engine results..." Accessibility is called an "advantage in the marketplace."

Target and Accessibility

2006-11-03T11:10:00.000-05:00

No Acknowledgement of a problem
I visited the Target website. They have a page devoted to press releases about what is going on with the company. There is no press release about the suit by the NFB. This seems like bad business. Typically a business is expected to acknowledge negative media. By acknowledging negative media, they have a chance to show what they are doing to solve the problem or why the negative media is wrong. By not acknowledging the suit on the site it seems like Target is hiding. This implies that they know they are wrong and that they're not doing anything to solve the problem.

Another Accessibility Issue
With the knowledge I have gained from writing this blog I noticed another accessibility issues on the Target site. The major one is that all headlines and important information is in red. This is the Target signature color, so it the design choice is understandable. However, it must present a problem to red color blind users. Couldn't Target offer an option to change the color scheme of the site?

More on Target

2006-11-03T10:59:00.000-05:00

Chris Danielson, advocate of accessibility for the blind, spoke to MSN for their article on the Target suit. He demonstrated the use of Jaws. He illustrated that he has difficulty navigating the Target website with the screen reader. However, he can navigate and successfully make a purchase on the Wal-Mart site.

His Blog
Danielson writes a blog for the NFB. It is titled Voice of the Nation's Blind. A post dated October ninth indicates that most commentaries on the suit of Target have been positive or fair. A recept exception of a "hostile editorial" in the Texarkana Gazette is noted.

His Quote
In the MSN article Danielson says, "The blind have more access to information than they ever had in history-but that's only true to the extent that web accessibility is maintained. The technology is out there, and we don't need barriers to be put in our way. Give us a way in."

My Take
It is unfortunate that Target is placing barriers to web accessibility. Again, don't they realize they're losing customers? Can it be that difficult to make their site compatible with screen readers? For my next post I will investigate what Target has to say about this...

Danielson demonstrating the use of a screen reader.

Target Under Pressure

2006-10-29T20:01:00.000-05:00

The Suit
Target is being sued by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). The NFB claims that parts of the site are inaccessible to blind people using screen readers. The major issue is whether or not a website falls under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Inaccessibility
According to the NFB, the links on Target's website are inaccessible to the screen reader (the program used to test the site is called Jaws). A final purchase from the Target website requires the use of a mouse. Blind web users navigate almost exclusively with the keyboard. The use of a mouse would be difficult even to sophisticated users.

How does Target Compare?
When considering the sites of competitors, it is shocking that Target hasn't chosen to make their site more accessible. Amazon, Wal-mart, and Best Buy have all made considerable efforts to make their sites screen reader friendly. It doesn't make sense to me that Target wouldn't make the same effort. Why go through a suit and make people angry instead of putting some work into the website and reaching more customers?

Find out more about the suit at the MSN article.

Captioning for the web

2006-10-25T11:01:00.000-04:00

My Internship
I am currently working at an internship at Planned Parenthood. We often have meetings via teleconference with employees in the Syracuse office. As the dependency on technology increases, this type of cross distance meetings are becoming more and more common. I began to wonder if a TTY would be efficient enough to enable a hearing impaired person to participate in these meetings.

Captioning
WebAim uses a captioning service called CaptionCaster to provide real-time captions. Most relevant to my question is the ability to provide captions for video conferencing. The only requirement is that the user have a web browser and internet connection. The text for captions is streamed in real-time. Seems like it would be faster than dealing with the notorious delay TTY technology has. Another benefit of CaptionCaster is that it stores a copy of the text for later viewing.

The Technology
Video conferencing is a step up technology wise from teleconferencing as it provides audio and visual. It seems like a good investment for organizations with hearing impaired individuals.

A tool for web designers

2006-10-18T18:22:00.000-04:00

Flicker Test Rate allows you to check the flicker rate of a website or image. It alerts you if the flicker rate is approaching a range that may be potentially dangerous to a photosensitive epileptic person.

My tests
I tested my blog. The results-null Flicker rate. Makes sense since I don't have any moving image! I also tested the ABC website, which has several images moving at once. The images are slow moving-and again null Flicker rate. I tested the Macys website, which has a large moving image "above the fold." Null Flicker rate!

Be responsible!
It seems that mainstream websites are responsible enough to pay attention to flicker rate. I imagine homemade websites are the ones that cause potential danger. I think Flicker Test Rate is a good tool for anyone creating a site with flashing images.

Photosensitive Epilepsy

2006-10-16T10:57:00.000-04:00

What is it?
Photosensitive Epilepsy is when a person experiences a seizure due to visual stimuli. About 3 to 5 percent of epileptic people are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy. It is more prevalent in females, and commonly develops between the ages of nine and 15. Most photosensitive epileptic seizures occur to do television or computer games. However, creators of web content must be aware of the possibility as well.

Making your website safe
Most seizures occur when flashes occur between 16hz to 59hz. One option is to include a warning that content is between this range. This may not be the best option, because not everyone will understand the warning. As photosensitive epilepsy is most common in children, this is especially a cause for concern. The best option for making your site safe is to not include content between this range.

For Photosensitive Epileptic Users
If you find yourself exposed to dangerous content, cover one eye immediately. This will reduce the amount of brain cells exposed to the stimuli. Navigate away from the page immediately.

For more Information...
I explained this in simple terms. You can find more technical information here.

Online Shopping and Color Blindness

2006-10-13T10:48:00.000-04:00

The Online Shopping Craze
Online shopping is on the rise. Convienence combined with increasing speed and reliability encourages people to shop from the comfort of their homes. Just browse the site for a few minutes, add some items to your "shopping cart," enter your credit card, and receive your package in X business days.

Color Blind Online Shoppers
You can imagine that color blind online shoppers experience the same difficulty they would shopping in a store. Does this shirt match these pants? Is this shirt red or green? Some online sites, however, have made it easier for color blind shoppers. Sites have the ability to increase color contrast. Most sites use text to name the color, as well as showing it in the picture. Two things that are often indicated by color are required fields and discounted prices. An asterix (*) can be used in addition to color to indicate these items. Color blind online shoppers can find the most accessible sites and make their entire shopping experience easier.

Read a scenario about a color blind online shopper.

Color blind Web Users

2006-10-11T09:48:00.000-04:00

Does being color blind really inhibit your web use?
It may not seem like being color blind is too much of an issue. You can still read the words on the screen, right? Most color blind people have red and green color blindness. Now consider an online form with required fields. The required fields are most often indicated in red, right? This is just one way a color blind person could experience difficulty on the web.

Making a color blind friendly website
It is difficult to create a color blind friendly site if you are not color blind. Consider your color choices. Don't put red and green close together. Consider a color besides red to indicate important or required information. For a graphic, try desaturating the image. This sucks all the color out-is it still useful? Ask a color blind friend to look at your site.

Consider providing alternatives
Making your entire site available in different color schemes is a great way to make your site more accessible to color blind users. David Weinberger made his blog available in four different color schemes.

Are you color blind?

What colors do you see? Color blind people often don't know they are color blind. This may cause them to miss things on the web without even realizing it.

Social Behavior and Autism

2006-10-06T10:47:00.000-04:00

Socialization
I am still on the track of how using the computers in class helps Joey. I went back to the website I used in my last post, and found information about socialization. Autistic children have often have difficulty with socializing with their "typically developing peers." The combination of inappropriate behaviors and expressing less positive attitudes can put a barrier up between the autistic child and their peers.

Overcoming socialization difficulties
One way to help an autistic child be better able to socialize with his or her peers is to have them play with objects that are also popular with their peers. This is found to help initation of socialization, as well as increase duration.

Joey
As access to the internet continues to increase, kids are becoming computer literate at a very young age. Using computers and the internet in schools is becoming standard. The research indicates that since Joey is able to go to the computer lab and be successful at a game, he is more likely to socialize with his peers. Joey and his peers share a common interest (or object), which may help initiate and increase duration of contact.

Motivation and Autism

2006-10-04T10:48:00.000-04:00

Motivation
I wanted to provide some more information on how students like Joey benefit from using computers and the internet during school. According to Intensive Educational Therapies, Autistic children are motivated by reinforcement, stimulus, and task variation. Stimuli that is chosen by the child provide more motivation than tasks assigned or chosen by a parent or teacher. Tasks that fit provide reinforcement, stimulus, and task varation are found to decrease disruptive behavior by autistic children.

So what about Joey?
Let's talk about how this relates to Joey. Chrissy mentioned that Joey is particularly good at playing the games on the Nickelodeon website. This skill is reinforced by Chrissy and her cooperating teacher by encouraging him to play. Joey is allowed to chose the game (stimulus) he wants to play. This increases his motivation and, I would assume, his satisfaction. The break from traditional education Joey gets while he plays the game may in turn motivate him to continue succeeding when he returns to the regular classroom.

Internet use in special education

2006-09-29T14:33:00.000-04:00

Joey
For this post, I spoke to my friend Christina Senecal who is currently student teaching at Bryant School in Hornell. She is in a class with four special education students-two with autism and two with down syndrome. I asked her to tell me a little bit about how they use the internet. They use computers twice a week, mostly to play games. One little boy, Joey, loves to play the games on the Nickelodeon website, and is very good at them!

What I Think
I was pleased to hear that the students in Chrissy's special ed classroom were able to use the internet during class. It is used as a reward, so it encourages the students to focus and work hard so they can get a break and use the computers. It is also good to hear that the games on the Nickelodeon website are accessible to students with mental disabilities.

Design tips for making your web page accessible to the dyslexic

2006-09-25T20:04:00.000-04:00

The Source
Tonight I decided to look into web accessibility for dyslexic people. I was curious to see if there was any way to make it easier for a person who has difficulty reading to read a web page. I came across a site that gives tips on making your web page easier for someone with dyslexia to read.

The Definition
According to this site, the definition of dyslexia is "A cognitive disability that is generalized as a difficulty with reading and writing."

Some Tips for Web Design
The site gives a number of tips. I liked the site because it shows examples of both text that would be difficult to read, and the way to make it easier to read.
1)It is easier to read text in two columns.
2)Justified text becomes difficult to read because it causes the space in between each word to vary.
3) An off-white background with a text color that has a large contrast to the off-white color is easiest to read.
4) Use bold instead of italics when emphasizing a point (isn't the bold easier to read?!).
5) Numbered lists tend to be easier to read than bulleted lists.

The list of tips goes on.

Follow up on accessibility for the blind

2006-09-20T10:49:00.000-04:00

Think about how often websites require the use of a mouse. Now close your eyes and try to navigate a website using a mouse. Pretty impossible, even you if you have a voice reading the site to you.

Visually impaired people that use screen readers rely almost exclusively on their keyboard to navigate the web. A visually impaired person misses out whenever the site has an effect caused by scrolling your mouse over an object. Again, this information was found at WebAim. I recommend scrolling down to the "experience it for yourself" boxes. It gives an example of how a website might use mouse dependent effects.

Screen readers

2006-09-18T20:42:00.000-04:00

A screen reader is a software program that allows a blind person to navigate a website while it reads out loud. This opens up the internet to a group of people who constantly face obstacles while trying to obtain information (from any written source). Using a screen reader, a blind person is able to independently and successfully navigate the web.

Screen readers also make the web available to blind-deaf individuals by working together with a device which creates Braille characters.

Unfortunately, screen readers have some limitations. The available space to provide images in one of the biggest strengths of the web, but a screen reader cannot describe an image. Data tables may also be difficult for a screen reader. A person without a vision impairment is able to scan the entire screen, whereas a blind person using a screen reader must be patient with the linear design of the software.

This information was found at WebAim. I recommend scrolling to the bottom of the page to view a video describing one person's experience with screen readers.