REQUIRED DISCUSSION: Increasing Awareness about Web Access Barriers - 47 views
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#11 Cindy Rotolo on 25 Mar 12Tracy: Sad that as a special ed teacher, I never thought about web accessibility until one of our previous Lesley classes. I would just tell the students to go on the computer and I never thought about how their disability might be a barrier. In this article researchers at the City University in the UK surveyed 196 people with disabilities and asked them what they would like the Web sites to have. I found it interesting that some of the same things they wanted for the web, are things we already do with their worksheets such as less cluttered pages, fewer graphics, and larger print. Since we are using more technology in our classrooms, it's about time we have accommodations and modifications not only for their paper and pencil work, but also for technology.
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#12 Cindy Rotolo on 25 Mar 12Deanna: Your article stated that although "There is plenty of guidance available, from legislation such as the Disability Discrimination Act and the Disability Equality Duty and specific recommendations in the form of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 and even an enforcing body, the Equality and Human Rights Commission" the majority of websites are not accessible to everyone with disabilities. I wonder at what point more laws will be made to make sure they are accessible especially with more and more technology being used in the classroom. My concerns are who will be responsible to make everything accessible? The gen ed teacher, special ed teacher, school district? Someday, a parent will sue, because her child was not able to have access to the same technology as everyone else.