WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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Re: accessible chat clients

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From: Moore,Michael (DARS)
Date: Mar 22, 2010 8:54AM

Dallas asked,

"Do you know of any resources out there that talk about what's desirable in an accessible chat client and techniques for making chat accessible?"

Other than the usual accessibility standards - WCAG or 508 and perhaps the University of Illinois Functional Accessibility Guidelines I would recommend looking at how you indent to use and deploy the service.

In our case we were looking for an accessible means for staff to communicate with deaf and hard of hearing consumers and also with fellow staff members who are deaf and hard of hearing. We wanted to look at AIM specifically because it is the service that is used with the SideKick texting device which is very popular in the Deaf community in Texas. Our requirements were simple, we only needed the chat functionality to work since we were not planning to use links, voice, or attachments.

Mike Moore
(512) 424-4159