Newsletter Archives - April 2004
Note
This newsletter is maintained here for archival purposes. The content presented here may be outdated, may contain out-of-date links, and may not represent current best practices or represent the opinion and recommendations of WebAIM. For up-to-date information, please refer to the WebAIM web site.
This last month the WebAIM team attended, among other conferences, CSUN 2004 (California State University Northridge's Center on Disabilities conference on "Technology and Persons with Disabilities"). As many of you know this is a preeminent national conference blending disability and technology. We were thrilled to visit in-person with many of you. We can now put faces with your virtual personalities. At our exhibit booth this year we awarded the new WAVE t-shirt every 2 hours to those who had visited our booth. Congratulations to those winners. We have requests to sell this shirt and will do so in the future so stay-tuned. It was a great conference and we look forward to seeing you there next year.
Featured Article
Accessible Taxes? A blind man's experience with the US tax system
by Paul Bohman, Shane Anderson, and Sachin Pavithran
It's the most wonderful time of the year, tax time! Have you ever been frustrated with filing taxes or been confused with the mountain of forms and documents required to complete the arduous task? Now imagine completing the process being legally blind. Such was the experience of Sachin Pavithran as he tried to file his taxes with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Read the full article on Accessible Taxes? A blind man's experience with the U.S. tax system.
On Target Tip
Understanding the User perspective
When designing a Web site it is important to understand the perspective of users that might visit the site to better serve them. By gaining a greater understanding of what an individual with disabilities experiences when navigating the Web, we can begin to think about not only the technical aspects of coding a page properly, but the underlying principles of usability and good design. The links listed below include simulations and demonstrations of what it might be like for a user with a disability to navigate the Web in various scenarios. They allow for a person who might not have a disability to gain an experience of what it could be like for a person with a disability to navigate various scenarios. These are only simulations and shouldn't be considered exact replicas of the user experience, but rather a general idea of user experiences.
WebAIM - Screen reader simulation, Low-vision simulation, and Distractibility Simulation.
Disability Rights Commission - Inaccessible Web site Demonstration
On Target Resources
Access E-learning - An accessible distance education tutorial
Access E-learning (AEL), from the GRADE Project at the Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (CATEA) at Georgia Tech, is a ten-module tutorial for those seeking to make their distance education materials accessible for individuals with disabilities. AEL offers information on the most common needs in distance education, and provides instruction in techniques that will enhance the usability of online materials for all students. This is a free resource for those designing distance education courses.
Untangling the Web: Making Online Teaching and Learning Accessible
This is a live satellite broadcast on accessibility in online teaching and learning from 2:30-4:00 pm ET on April 22, 2004. The broadcast will be in the form of a moderated panel discussion with call-in questions from participants at sites around the country. Produced by University of Maryland University College (UMUC) for PBS Adult Learning Service.
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