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Re: Reality Check (was RE: accessibility for deaf)

for

From: Sandra Andrews
Date: Apr 23, 2006 10:20AM

As for clear and simple writing: we are thinking about podcast accessibility
over here. Should we be presenting, along with the podcast, an expanded
outline, rather than just a word for word transcription? The word for word
transcription is hardly clear and simple.

Sandy Andrews


On 4/23/06, zara < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
>
> > In any given territory, deaf users that are functioning in their
> > particular society have already developed coping mechanisms to deal with
> > the printed form - their level of reading comprehension may not be at
> > the highest level (thus WCAG #14.1 "Use the clearest and simplest
> > language appropriate for a site's content") however we don't see product
> > packaging in sign language, nor newspapers, magazines, junk mail or any
> > other form of written communication - why should the web be different?
>
>
> Actually, I was not speaking specifically of text to sign language
> translation, I was speaking of providing sign language for appropriate Web
> media. However, while sign language and other languages like English and
> French, etc., are different in structure, some have looked into the issue of
> providing sign language for text before, whether to aid comprehension of
> written text or as a learning tool for the deaf. I know of Vcom3D which had
> developed signing avatar software that could sign text content. I am
> unaware of what became of this project but I remember seeing this product
> demonstrated at CSUN a few years ago and deaf people who attended the
> session were pleasantly surprised at how well it was able to sign and how
> understandable it was, despite certain kinks still to work out. It should be
> noted that this kind of product needed a powerful computer to run as well.
> If someone from Trace is member of this list, perhaps they could tell us
> more about it as, if I recall correctly, they were a partner of this project
> at the time.
>
> Although many deaf people have indeed developed coping mechanisms to deal
> with written languages, the fact remains that it still represents a great
> challenge for many. Illiteracy is still an important problem among this
> segment of the disability community and so of course, continued efforts need
> to be applied to help overcome this issue as well. I feel that the deaf are
> often short-changed in Web accessibility, if only when it comes to applying
> the very few WCAG guidelines that concern them. In my mind, just the fact
> that we are talking about their needs, something that I rarely see on these
> lists, can only be a good thing.
>
>
>
> Catherine
>
>
>
> --
> Catherine Roy, consultante
>
> www.catherine-roy.net
> 514.525.9490
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>



--
Sandra Sutton Andrews, PhD
http://ideal.azed.gov
University Technology Office
Arizona State University