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Thread: Accessibility Myths 2011: a call for accessibility advocates to be more business-minded
Number of posts in this thread: 6 (In chronological order)
From: Jonathan Hassell
Date: Tue, Dec 27 2011 4:51PM
Subject: Accessibility Myths 2011: a call for accessibility advocates to be more business-minded
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Often the publication of 'accessibility myths' articles has crystalised thinking in the accessibility community around the myths we need to dispel to be more effective.
However, many of the current myths articles we are using are rather old.
So, I've come up with a new set of myths for Christmas 2011, designed to challenge some of the accepted assumptions we accessibility advocates hold that may no longer be true.
So, as one of the foremost places where the accessibility advocate community virtually gather, I thought I'd share a link to the blog here: http://wp.me/p1NwIQ-5H.
The blog has already got many big voices in the accessibility community talking - Nomensa's Leonie Watson thinks the blog 'feels like a stepping stone to the next generation of thinking around inclusive design'.
I'd love it if you'd check it out and add your voice to the discussion.
Best regards
Jonathan.
Prof Jonathan Hassell
Director, Hassell Inclusion
www.hassellinclusion.com
From: McKeithan, Thomas
Date: Wed, Dec 28 2011 7:27AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility Myths 2011: a call for accessibility advocates to be more business-minded
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I will definitely check out the blog.
Respectfully,
Thomas Lee McKeithan II
Accessibility Program Manager
National Industries for the Blind
1310 Braddock Place
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703)310-0586 Direct
(202)276-6437 Cell
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
"Believing is achieving, for if I believe, I can and I will achieve."
From: Jonathan Hassell
Date: Thu, Jan 12 2012 5:51AM
Subject: Accessibility Myths 2011 part 2 published
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After a huge amount of interest and debate around Part One of my Web Accessibility Myths for 2011-12...
I've now published my follow-up Part Two which shines a light on more false assumptions for the start of 2012 at: http://www.hassellinclusion.com/2012/01/web-accessibility-myths-2011-part2/
Being demolished this time:
- Accessibility and inclusive design are anti-creative;
- Accessibility and inclusive design help everyone;
- Disabled people use assistive technologies;
- Accessibility’s just about blind people – now for platforms;
- Text is more accessible than other media;
- The most important accessibility requirement for images is alt-text;
- The most important people in accessibility are developers;
- It doesn’t matter if your mobile site/app isn’t accessible, just as long as the desktop version is;
- Websites have to be accessible from the start;
- BS8878 is just for huge companies
I'd be delighted it you'd check it out, and add your comments to the discussion...
Best regards
Jonathan
Prof Jonathan Hassell
Director, Hassell Inclusion
www.hassellinclusion.com
From: Will Grignon
Date: Thu, Jan 12 2012 10:36AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility Myths 2011 part 2 published
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I am blind and I use JAWS. I was wondering whether people with dyslexia can use JAWS - i.e., rely on the audio output from JAWS rather than try to navigate and interface with the visual screen. If so, could people with other disabilities (cognitive and otherwise) benefit from using a screenreader - e.g., turn off the screen, avoid all the challenges posed by text and flickering images, and rely on the screen reader audio input?
If so, wouldn't it be simpler, more efficient, and cost effective to perfect screen reading technology that people with many kinds of disabilities could use and come up with standards for optimal screen reader website accessibility, instead of trying to develop separate adaptive technologies for each kind of disability or trying to configure websites to accommodate a growing list of disabilities and their respective accessibility requirements?
In addition, people without disabilities could use and benefit much more from a wider application of screen reader functionality - i.e., they already use hands-free and voice-control operability in their cars, why not expand this kind of interface (e.g. a kind of JAWS-Dragon-J-Say configuration) to home and office?
I apologize in advance if my comments display a modicum of blind-centric insensitivity.
Will Grignon
727.290.6454
From: J. B-Vincent
Date: Thu, Jan 12 2012 11:00AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility Myths 2011 part 2 published
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Will: The key to access for many people with learning disabilities (LD) is simultaneous presentation of text and audio--if only audio is used, it won't be any better than if only text is used. Text-to-speech programs for people with LD often have other visual aids, such as highlighting each word as it is spoken.
In addition, one of the main differences between speech output programs for blind people and those for people with LD is that the latter is primarily reading what's visible, while the former is reading underlying code. This means that JAWS is conveying all kinds of information (e.g., text equivalents) that would be annoying or even confusing to a sighted user with LD.
So in theory it would be possible to create a speech output program that benefits both people with LD and blind vision people, but it would have to be highly customizable.
--Jane Vincent, Assistive Technology Lead, University of Michigan
--- On Thu, 1/12/12, Will Grignon < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
From: Will Grignon < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessibility Myths 2011 part 2 published
To: "'Jonathan Hassell'" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >, "'WebAIM Discussion List'" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Date: Thursday, January 12, 2012, 9:38 AM
I am blind and I use JAWS. I was wondering whether people with dyslexia can use JAWS - i.e., rely on the audio output from JAWS rather than try to navigate and interface with the visual screen. If so, could people with other disabilities (cognitive and otherwise) benefit from using a screenreader - e.g., turn off the screen, avoid all the challenges posed by text and flickering images, and rely on the screen reader audio input?
If so, wouldn't it be simpler, more efficient, and cost effective to perfect screen reading technology that people with many kinds of disabilities could use and come up with standards for optimal screen reader website accessibility, instead of trying to develop separate adaptive technologies for each kind of disability or trying to configure websites to accommodate a growing list of disabilities and their respective accessibility requirements?
In addition, people without disabilities could use and benefit much more from a wider application of screen reader functionality - i.e., they already use hands-free and voice-control operability in their cars, why not expand this kind of interface (e.g. a kind of JAWS-Dragon-J-Say configuration) to home and office?
I apologize in advance if my comments display a modicum of blind-centric insensitivity.
Will Grignon
727.290.6454
From: Jonathan Hassell
Date: Thu, Jan 12 2012 4:09PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility Myths 2011 part 2 published
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Couldn't have put it better myself, Jane.
Many thanks
Jonathan.