When we talk about making the Web accessible for people with disabilities, who are the people we are talking about? Before we can learn what to do with our web pages, we need to understand what we are doing and who we are doing it for.
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Simulations
To help you understand what web navigation is like for people with disabilities, some organizations have developed simulations:
The first group that most people think of when considering accessibility for the Web is the blind and visually impaired.
Blind: Users have little or no usable vision. While a few users may use Braille, the majority use a screen reader—software that reads text out loud. Some people listen to the Web at speeds that sighted users find completely incomprehensible—the audio equivalent of “skimming” a page. Keep in mind that screen readers read everything that they encounter, and that they read it in the order they find it. In some cases, users with screen readers encounter online multimedia elements that start playing without warning. They must contend with two audio sources at the same time: the screen reader reading the web page text and the multimedia audio.
Visually impaired: Users may have some sight, but difficulty focusing or distinguishing small text. They may use a screen magnifier—software that enlarges everything on the screen to a more manageable size.
Colour blind: Most colour blindness involves difficulties distinguishing red and green. A smaller percentage of people have difficulties with the blue-purple portion of the colour spectrum. Still others are completely colour blind. There is a misconception that accessibility means using only black and white text, and that colour should be avoided. This is not true. The point is not to rely on the requirement of colour perception to reveal information. For example: asking readers (or learners) to “use only words in red to compose a paragraph”, or telling readers while filling in the form, that only “blue” fields are required.
As we will find, making the Web’s highly visual content accessible is not as daunting a task as it might seem. There are methods in place for providing alternatives for nearly every type of web content, and for making sure your content works well with the specialized hardware and software used.
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Ever wondered what the world looks like to colour-blind people? Test out Vischeck, a colourblindness simulator, on your site or any image. http://www.vischeck.com
Since the majority of content on the Web is visual, students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing are not as likely to be affected. However, they often have communication and comprehension difficulties. If audio files or videos are a part of the curriculum, a text alternative should be provided. Many users will also benefit from easily understandable icons and clear terminology.
Ideally, videos should be captioned. Professional captioning can be costly, though for course materials requiring extremely high accuracy (such as math and physics equations), it may be the best choice. Software is also available to allow you to include captions in your videos yourself. If captioning is simply not an option, a text transcript of the video would be a reasonable alternative.
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Hearing people might assume that hard-of-hearing or deaf students would be reluctant to watch a video clip. But on the contrary, many find video and multimedia material entertaining and especially valuable because of all the other non-verbal communication that they convey. Samuel, a hardof-hearing ESL student in our focus group, greatly preferred videos or webcam interactions to text so that he could see the emotions and gestures of the other person. For students who can lip-read, video is still helpful if the speaker’s face is clearly visible at all times.
Mobility
Students with physical disabilities may be affected if their impairment hinders their ability to use a mouse or keyboard. This could be due to having little or no muscle control, nerve damage, or trembling; it could be a temporary problem, a lifelong condition, or the result of aging. Fine motor movements can pose a challenge, such as clicking on a very small icon.
Some users with mobility impairments will use a typical keyboard or mouse, but may take more time to perform tasks. Others use assistive input devices instead or in addition to a keyboard or mouse.
A standard trackball is often easier to control than a mouse. Some students use a standard graphics tablet since touching locations directly with a pen is easier for him than sliding a mouse.
Alternative keyboards allow users to position their hands more comfortably, or to press keys more accurately.
For people who cannot use their hands at all, headtracking allows the user to control the pointer through head movements. Mouse clicks can be replaced with a breath-controlled sip/puff switch or tappable headswitch.
Learning and Cognitive
While visual, hearing and physical disabilities are the most familiar forms of disability, the majority of students you may encounter who have a registered disability may in fact be learning disabled. Learning disability or “learning difficulty” is a broad term that includes dyslexia, brain injury, and aphasia.
“Dyslexia is the most commonly registered disability within the University and always features in the most commonly asked questions on accessibility issues by staff.” (Jeffels & Marston, 2003)
Students affected by learning disabilities may encounter difficulties with some of the following activities, among others:
spelling
reading aloud; stuttering
mathematical calculations
comprehension of large passages of text
effective time management or organization
rote memorization
concentration and focus
Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Dancing letters
Try to read the passage in Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\). It may give you an idea of the difficulty and frustration experienced by many dyslexic readers, as seemingly normal text requires extra effort and concentration to parse.
Learning and cognitive disabilities are a challenging group to address, as there is no one approach that will suit everyone. Some students may learn just as quickly or more quickly than typical students when information is presented in a different medium. Some use the same technologies used by the visually impaired, such as screen readers and speech recognition software. Nevertheless, clear presentation and good navigation is critical. A variety of multimedia options will apply to different visual, auditory and learning skills.
Table \(\PageIndex{1}\): Content developed using traditional approach and suggestions for adaptations
Traditional approach
Adapted
Lecture type content
Chunks, include questions, statements of clarification and key points
Text-based content
Alternative presentation: audio, video, hands-on interaction; scaffold for various resources (preselect them)
Reading from a textbook
Offer vocabulary, issues to discuss in the forum, encourage note-taking, using graphic organizers, offer information prompts (selft-ests with open ended questions)
Assignments: written essay
Offer a choice: written, oral, video or visual presentation
Assessment Offer variety in responses: open-ended questions, oral response
Give clear scoring rubrics, be prompt and detailed in giving feedback
Aging Users
When considering accessibility in education, most people assume they will need to prepare for a few isolated examples of students with disabilities: one blind student in a class, or a handful of young students with learning issues. As we age, we may be affected by any of these types of disabilities to various degrees. Instructors should be aware that some of their older students may also have problems such as fading eyesight, or difficulty with fine mouse movements.
Assistive Technology
We have touched briefly on the idea of assistive technology, which is essentially any software or hardware that can be used to help overcome a disability.
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A pair of glasses could be considered assistive technology, as it helps the user overcome poor vision.
Instead of thinking about assistive technology in terms of types of disabilities it assists, let’s look at it from the point of view what kind of help it offers. Assistive technology could provide:
