WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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Re: ABBR vs. just spelling it out.

for

From: Penny Roberts
Date: Mar 23, 2006 5:40AM

Kynn Bartlett wrote:

> Web accessibility is primarily about people with specific needs due to
> disabilities. There are benefits which extend to other user groups as
> well, sure.
>
> But no, you can't just pretend that web accessibility is about you
> (presuming from your comment that you're not a person with disabilities)
> instead of about enabling access for populations with disabilities.

I am classed as disabled by my workplace but since the disability is
asthma it has no bearing on my use of the web. I was using me as an
example because I use the web every day in my job (as a user).
However, I am one of the x% of people who would have been dyslexic had
I not developed coping strategies very early on. I have a very poor
memory for some things (like acronyms!): is that attributable to the
brain patterns/links that cause dyslexia? I don't know. [Memory
malfunction is a facet of dyslexia for some sufferers.]


> Accessibility is a subset of good web design that focuses on people with
> disabilities. And so far, tagging up every short form of a word with an
> <abbr> tag doesn't sound very much like an accessibility issue, if there
> not identifiable disabled populations that will benefit from this. (Feel
> free to prove me wrong by identifying some.)

Anyone with impaired memory through age, stroke etc.. People with motor
disabilities? Using an assistive device which is voice activated or
controlled by limited physical motion or by mouth might find it
fatiguing to seek out the first instance of the acronym (and equally
fatiguing working through the additional text if it were written in full
every time). Possibly some forms of dyslexia.

Penny