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From: Pooja Nahata
Date: Tue, May 10 2005 1:49AM
Subject: Workshop on Designing Accessible Website
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Workshop on Designing Accessible Website - June 16, 2005 at Bangalore



People with disabilities comprise of approximately 600 million or 10% of the world population that form a potential market which is untapped.



Don't IGNORE this market.........



Accessibility means enabling IT hardware, software, and services to be used by all. Accessibility will enhance your products by making it usable by ALL!!



In countries like UK and USA, there are laws that protect the disabled and ensure that a barrier free access can be provided to them. India has also taken on this initiative by signing the Biwako Framework.



At Net Systems Informatics, we believe that for companies to compete in the International arena, their products should be accessible as well as usable to all including the disabled.



Accessibility is about designing solutions keeping in mind people with disabilities. We have broadly categorized our services:

* Web site accessibility

* Software accessibility



Net Systems Informatics, an Accessibility Consulting firm is proud to present a one day workshop on, Designing Accessible Websites.



Training Methodology

* Active Learning through interactive games

* Business Process Examples implementing Accessibility guidelines

* Group Discussions facilitating exchange of ideas and information

* Demonstrating Assistive Technology

* Providing Handouts



Workshop Contents

* Why Web accessibility?

* Types of Disabilities

* Assistive Technologies

* Laws associated with Web accessibility

* Web Accessibility Guidelines

* WCAG and Section 508



Who should attend?

* Web Designers

* Web Developers

* Flash developers

* E-learning Training Developer

* Project Managers

* Quality Managers

* Testers



Workshop Information

Workshop Name: Designing Accessible Workshop

Date : June 16th, 2005

Venue : Taj Residency

City : Bangalore

Registration Fee: Rupees 5,000 per participant (Plus service tax of 10.2%)





Kindly note discounts are available for group registrations and students.



For further information contact at: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = .


From: Mark Magennis
Date: Tue, May 10 2005 3:03AM
Subject: Re: Workshop on Designing Accessible Website
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>>People with disabilities comprise of approximately 600
>
>> million or 10% of the
>
>>> > world population that form a potential market which is untapped.
>>> > Don't IGNORE this market.........
>
>>
>> I hate this argumentation.


I hate it too but it helps, so I use it. As I see it, there are five
main arguments for accessibility:

1. The moral argument, which appeals to kindness or the business
benefits of Corporate Social Responsibility.
2. The "ignoring your potential customers" argument, as stated above.
3. The "designing for diversity is good design practice" argument, which
emphasizes the importance of considering users' access capabilities as a
part of user-focussed design.
4. The "future technologies" argument, which points out that computer
use and Internet access is increasingly moving away from the 'desktop
and big screen' scenario towards mobile, in-car, ubiquitous and
immersive scenarios in which access is limited in many ways by situation
and technology.
5. The legal or public policy argument, which says you're going to get
hammered if you don't comply.

>From my experience, I would rate these roughly in order of increasing
effectiveness. So, maybe unfortunately, the moral argument is the least
effective of the five. Bear in mind that I am talking about Ireland in
2005 so things may be different in other places or in the near or
distant future. The legal one is a funny one. I put it highest in the
list because most of the demand for accessibility in Ireland seems to be
coming from the public sector, based on non-binding government and EU
policy. However, there is very little demand from the private sector
because Ireland simply has no effective laws whatsoever. Not even
general disability legislation like the Americans with Disabilities Act
or the UK Disability Discrimination Act. But I believe effective
legislation, if it were in place, would far outweigh the other arguments
at the moment.

Hopefully, the "future technologies" argument will become stronger and
more apparent in the near future. Currently I tend to push the
"designing for diversity is good design practice" argument because I
believe in it, although it is quite difficult to convince people.

I'd be really interested to hear other people's opinions on this - what
arguments are there and how effective do you think they are.

Mark

From: Christian Heilmann
Date: Tue, May 10 2005 1:55AM
Subject: Re: Workshop on Designing Accessible Website
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>Workshop on Designing Accessible Website - June 16, 2005 at Bangalore


Does it come with complementary tickets? I prefer Emirates!


>> People with disabilities comprise of approximately 600 million or 10% of the
>> world population that form a potential market which is untapped.
>> Don't IGNORE this market.........


I hate this argumentation. "Don't block out these visitors" would be
much more appropriate. If the stance on accessibility is that people
only become noteworthy because of their financial potential then you
might as well add "Only rich people" signs to restaurants.

-- Chris Heilmann
Blog: http://www.wait-till-i.com
Writing: http://icant.co.uk/
Binaries: http://www.onlinetools.org/

From: webaim
Date: Tue, May 10 2005 5:24AM
Subject: Re: Workshop on Designing Accessible Website
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>From my own experience, in the UK, I find difficulty using the LEGAL
argument; because in the UK no Website owner has yet been legally
challenged under our Disability Discrimination Act - that's the
impression I get. Yet owners continue to disregard accessibility
issues on their Sites.
In my opinion, we could really benefit from a high profile Court case
like the legendary "Maquire Versus the Commonwealth Games".

When approached, by email, a spokesperson from the RNIB agreed with
my concern about the lack of action against non compliant Websites
but said this had been expected. I was surprised!

This has been my experience. Hope it helps.

Regards
Joe Bosher

From: Mark Magennis
Date: Tue, May 10 2005 7:12AM
Subject: Re: Workshop on Designing Accessible Website
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>like the legendary "Maguire Versus the Commonwealth Games".


The amazing thing is, that was 5 years ago! At the time, many people
thought that this heralded a new age of Web accessibility legislation
and litigation. But since then - virtually nothing.

By the way, it was the Olympic Games.


>> When approached, by email, a spokesperson from the RNIB agreed with
>> my concern about the lack of action against non compliant Websites
>> but said this had been expected. I was surprised!


Maybe people like you and I are too optimistic for reality :-{

Mark

Dr. Mark Magennis
Director of the Centre for Inclusive Technology (CFIT)
National Council for the Blind of Ireland
Whitworth Road, Dublin 9, Republic of Ireland

= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = tel: +353 (0)71 914 7464