Access This!

In my job as a web developer/administrator, I am often in the position of having to explain to customers and coworkers and sometimes superiors our need to meet our mandate to produce accessible information on our web site. I cannot count how many times I have heard the question, "How or why would blind people need to use the internet". Of course, the visually disabled are not the only group that we need to consider when producing material, but they tend to get the most attention since the web is such a visual medium. Fact is, for those with disabilities, their need to use the internet is even more essential than most of us who are not disabled. To answer the quesion, blind people use the internet for the same reasons that sighted people do, to get information and communicate. Assistive technology is available, that allows blind users to "hear" the information on a given web page, so long as the site is designed with all users in mind.

There are over 50 million Americans with disabilities. Ignorance and lack of awareness of those with disabilities is no longer acceptable in a global environment where technology can be the great equalizer - so long as those who create content and services via the internet consider those with diabilities when they approach their design decisions. Not all disabilites are apparent. In other words, you might not realize someone has a disability just by looking at them. I believe that discrimination against those with disabilities stems mostly from ignorance and laziness rather than malice. But the internets are for everyone and there are tools and training and people with experience that can be tapped to assist anyone in making their information on the web accessible.

Today is Blog Against Disablism Day and here are some resource links:

• Understanding Disabilities - Types of Disabilities

• Access and Opportunity - A guide to Disability Awareness

• Hiring People with Disabilities Blog

• Gnome AccessibilityDeveloper Information - (Geek Info)

• Knowbility - Accessibility Consulting, Training and Advocacy to Support the Independence of People with Disabilities

Comments

[Rete]

My friend Skye at http://www.lizardkingdom.org/ has several good articles on accessibility as well.

[Lisa]

Hi, I came over here from "Goldfish."

I just wanted to tell you, and you can tell your co-workers this, that I am blind and the internet has become absolutely essential to me. The internet, in many ways, has been a breakthrough for the blind. Just to give you a small list:
I can't read the phone book, but I can look up any number online.
I can't read menus at restuarants, but I can look up the menu beforehand and decide what I want.
I have difficulty grocery shopping because I can't drive, and taking the bus with loads of groceries is not fun, so I shop on line using grocery delivery services.
I can't look up words in a dictionary or thesaurus, but I can online.
I can't see what is on TV in the paper, but I can online.
I can't read the paper, but I can get news from all over the world online.
I sometimes get library books for my kids. I will look the titles that interest them up online and then go to the library with a list ready rather than wasting the librarians time having to browse with me.
Lots of people don't know whether to send me snail mail cards or letters, but they all usually email me birthday or christmas greetings online.
I can't just read the signs about town to know where the nearest hair salon, drugstore, etc. is so I can look it up online.
I can (sometimes this works and sometimes not) look up directions of places I'm going to walk to online.
I can look up bus schedules online.

The internet is probably one of the best inventions to help blind people access information since Braille. And yes, it is a lot easier when web designers can make a few simple changes to make their site read more smoothly for us. I will keep going back again and again to sites that I know I can get through fast. I shop a lot for all of my needs online. So, it is good business to make the site accessible. If I can't access it, or I can't access it without getting a splitting headache, I will not return.

Sorry to ramble on, but "Why would blind people use the internet?" kind of had me astounded with the stupidity of it. Thanks for sticking up for us!

[Connie]

Great post Julia. Next time someone asks "how or why would blind people need to use the internet" you've now got Lisa, above to reference. And feel free to send them to www.planet-of-the-blind.com as well. Steve, a writer and a professor, is blind and much appreciative of the work you and others do to make the internet accessible to all.