Workshop 5
Disabilities & Assistive
Technology for the Web
Web Content Accessibility Project
Funded by BCcampus
Natasha Boskic, Kirsten Bole, Nathan Hapke
University of British Columbia
Workshop schedule
• Monday August 21
Basics of Web Accessibility
• Tuesday August 22
Coding an Accessible Website
• Wednesday August 23
Accessible Multimedia
• Thursday August 24
Creating Usable Content
• Friday August 25
Disabilities & Assistive Technology
The Plan
• Overview
• Types of disabilities
• Technologies that address them
What you’ll get out of this
• Understanding of disabilities and how
they affect computer use
• Learn what technologies can be used to
get around these obstacles
• Can take this knowledge into
consideration when planning an online
course or website…
• …and when accommodating a disabled
student in a classroom course.
Types of disabilities
•
•
•
•
Learning/Cognitive
Visual
Physical/Motor
Hearing
Learning/Cognitive
• Learning & emotional disorders most
common disability at UBC
• Learning disorders: dyslexia,
dysgraphia, ADHD
• Cognitive disorders: brain injury, autism,
dementia
• Most difficult to adapt for since there is
so much variation
Difficulties experienced
•
•
•
•
•
Attention & concentration
Resolving written words
Comprehension of written text
Planning and time management
Problem-solving
Everyday items
•
•
•
•
•
Not all AT has to be high-tech
Day planners
Calculators
Sticky notes & highlighters
Spelling & grammar checkers
Assistive technology
• Similar to low-vision AT
• Screen reader reads text aloud
• Literacy software aids with pronunciation,
highlights current line being read
• Predictive typing helps choose right word
• Time management software, palmtops
• Academic advice & consultation
Vision
• Most profoundly affected by Web
• Web is extremely visual
• Web developers need to accommodate
needs more than for any other group
Vision
•
Screen reader
(JAWS)
• Screen magnifier
(Zoomtext)
• Braille displays
Physical/motor
•
•
•
•
Little or no control of hands
Injury or condition
Adaptive keyboards & pointing devices
Built-in accessibility features for
Windows and Mac
• Additional software
Adaptive keyboards
• Keyguards allow hands to rest on keys
• Mini-keyboards minimize hand motion
• Datahand uses finger
movement only…
• orbitTouch needs
no fine movement
at all.
Adaptive pointing devices
•
•
•
•
•
Many alternatives to the standard mouse
Also can help prevent RSI
Trackball
Trackpad
Graphics tablet
Hands-free computing
•
•
•
•
Voice recognition software
On-screen keyboard
Head-tracking mouse
Foot mouse
Accessibility features in OS
• Windows & Mac
–
–
–
–
–
Sticky keys / filter keys
Screen magnifiers
Mouse & cursor control
Keyboard navigation
Visual alert
• Windows
– On-screen keyboard
• Mac
– Speech recognition for specific commands
Hearing
•
•
•
•
•
Web most beneficial to hearing-impaired
Obstacles include videos, mp3s, podcasts
Often not essential to course material
Closed-captioning, transcripts
Hearing aids
Try it yourself…
• Change the accessibility options in your
OS.
• Can you navigate a web site by
keyboard alone?
• Download & try a trial version of a
screenreader. Can you understand a
site read aloud without looking at the
screen?
Thank you for coming!
• Natasha Boskic (natasha.boskic@ubc.ca)
• Kirsten Bole (kirsten.bole@ubc.ca)
• Nathan Hapke (nhapke@interchange.ubc.ca)
• Thanks to the Neil Squire Foundation for introducing
us to different types of assistive technology.