Spring12T2 Web 2.0 Access Barriers

This article is about how Web 2.0 accessibility must be mainstreamed for people with disabilities. I chose this site because it talks about mainstreaming accessibility to ALL people with disabilities. This site is through in defining web accessibility, its barriers, and its solutions.

This informative article was written by a librarian in Florida. It contains information about different barriers faced by those with disabilities, examples of different types of assistive technologies, and gives guidelines for anyone considering becoming a web author. All of this relates to how Web 2.0 accessibility must be mainstreamed for those with disabilities.

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.

This is a good video that gives people an idea of why accessibility is so important and ways that it can be, and is, tested by others.

I think most educators want to provide the best possible environment, materials, and services for everyone and every need, but without complete awareness and leadership, we can either be oblivious to what we are lacking or overwhelmed at the gap that we need to fill. One of the speakers even said that her imagination can put herself in another person's shoes only so far because it is so hard to completely know what someone else's life experience is like.

This is a true problem. Our interpreter for our hearing impaired student is hearing impaired as well and she has challenges using the net. I work nexts to an older teacher who asks me quite often how to find things because he does not have a computer at home and does not use it often unless he is at school. Maybe if sites were more accessible and friendly he would be more proficient.

The reason why I pick this article is because it gave excellent ways to develop and share students works of all abilities. From LIS5313 Course Wiki By Cathy Felty The American Association of School Librarians' guide Standards for the 21st Century Learner states , "Learning is enhanced by opportunities to share and learn with others. Students need to develop skills in sharing knowledge and learning with others, both in face-to-face situations and through technology."

Mark, I like the concept of a "participatory culture" The web 2.0 tools you describe are creative and from what the article explains , accessible to students with special needs. I think it's great when ALL students, regardless of ability level, feel their contribution is equally important. In my full inclusion classroom, I notice some of my special needs students are very confident and comfortable with the computer but not in group discussions, this article offers suggestions for ways that EVERYONE can equally participate.

Thanks Laurie: I picked this article because it had different 2.0 tools like Animoto and Voice Thread. This article gave excellent ways to develop and to share knowledge of student's works using technology.

A Community based application including exclusive games, activities and videos suited for people with autism. The latest version of Zac Browser offers the power to manage categories and content. It is now possible to set a time limit for the use of Zac Browser v3.0 Zac Browser 3.0 is now powered by an Intuitive Browser Framework providing even more power and flexibility.

I wish I had known about this last year. I had an autistic student for a year and a half (he moved after Christmas break) and this would have been amazing for him. If I get another one, I have a new resource, wahoo!

This seems like a great resource. I was unaware of this site as well.

This video is in a collection of four videos from City University London. This specific video is an interview with an accessibility expert at AbilityNet. She discusses common problems with individuals with disabilities, social networking and how they are excluded from social networking. All four videos are very interesting.

This video made me think about accessibility from a different perspective. Before, I always thought of accessiblity on the web as dealing with screen readers and maybe adaptive devices so a disabled person could use a keyboard. Not having acces to social networking is a new thought to me. As the lady said, the Ajax program (used by google apps) and facebook are not accessible to the disabled. If the most popular social networking site and google are not worried about accessibilty issues how will change come for the disabled. It seems that web design outpaces web accessibilty technology so the diabled will always be behind. Sad.

Like Laurie, this video made me think about accessibility from a different perspective. Before, I always thought of accessiblity on the web as dealing with screen readers and maybe adaptive devices so a disabled person could use a keyboard. Not having acces to social networking is a new thought to me. As the lady said, the Ajax program (used by google apps) and facebook are not accessible to the disabled. If the most popular social networking site and google are not worried about accessibilty issues how will change come for the disabled. It seems that web design outpaces web accessibilty technology so the diabled will always be behind. Sad.

Hearing loss affects more than 28 million Americans. Captions and transcripts allow the content of web audio and video to be accessible to those who are aurally impaired, and more broadly, to those who do not have access to audio, or who are in a quiet setting. I liked that this site was more of a how to as well. I also found it really interesting that adding captions to videos made people, with or without hearing difficulties, much more likely to watch the entire video.

Thanks to Lesley, I have made improvements in adding a variety of ways students can access contnent in my gym classes. The next step I want to take is accomodating students with language barriers. It has been a lot of work so far, but it has been very rewarding.

I have a hearing impaired student in my classroom and we have made enormous changes with the class and the cottage in order to accommodate his learning and living environment. It has been challenging and surprising at how many of the residents have embrassed ASL with zeal.

I really try to look for things that pertain to high school math. In this article (which was just released) they writer harps on the fact that math is really lacking these days. There has to be better ways that students can utilize technology with math problems. There are reading programs but most do not have math symbols wrote in the program and cannot recognize the text.

I am with you when it comes to finding things that pertain to your area of expertise. I do not teach math currently, but I do know how much of a struggle it is for my partner teacher. Kids these days have terrible number sense, it's unreal. It blows my mind that they can multiple two, two digit numbers together and get a 4 or 5 digit number...and see nothing wrong with it. This goes for students of all ability levels. It's nuts. And those with learning disabilities are no different. It's the saddest part of our job when those students get overlooked.

I agree Tori, so many of our kids come in with so much deficit. Many of the years of deficit are the result of environmental influence, but how is it that so many of us older students still know our facts while skill and drill is not considered a method that is viable anymore. Many as Laurie has said, have given up and don't even try anymore.

I chose this site because it gives stories and scenarios on how people with different disabilities use the web. It gives the barriers they face, and most importantly, ways to make the web more accessible for each disability. Rather than just tell us "what" or "why", this site actually tells us "how".

I thought that addressing Accessibility with Cloud Computing would be a good topic to address, since most technology is making its way tot the cloud. This video is 2 of 4 that are titled Will Accessibility Raid on Your Cloud Computing. All of the videos are great. This particular video discusses cloud computing and how it is addressing accessibility in a positive way. It discusses the growing impact of accessibility. One Project they talked about is called Lucy that is being piloted in Northern Italy. It provides a way for all people to access cloud features and applications for free. It is open source software. It will be able to help people through screen readers, text zoom, etc. Since this is open source, people express their needs to help enhance the system. Since this is cloud based they can login to their Lucy account and provides them with the tools they need from any location. It also talks about GPII andt technologies delivered to cloud services. That is working on a global system that addresses all users personal preferences when using technology. An example is text to speech that you use on your phone. This type of service was developed to meet accessibility needs, but is now a personal preference for all users. Thanks, Krystal

As I watched this video that Krystal posted, I realized how much I have personally benefitted from technology that was most likely originally designed for people with disabilities. I really hadn't thought of how the need for hands-free components in cars could be likened to having a visual disability. Clearly, people who fail to use such new technologies are not using their eyes, ears, and brain to focus on driving and are thus impaired. I sure am glad to have benefitted so much personally! The video also referred to translation apps and resources for times when we are "disabled" by not having language skills in a foreign region. While I haven't traveled to foreign countries where the masses don't speak English, I am reminded how little Spanish I know every time I have parent-teacher conferences with Spanish-speaking parents. Translation resources are more and more valuable the more that we are exposed to people who speak different languages. We surely have come a long way in this society from excluding people with disabilities from the routines of everyday life.

I highlighted parts of an article that others have already mentioned. I was interested in the aspect of web design and how new programs are not necessarily better as far as accessiblity. The program Ajax used by google apps and gmail is not good for accessibility. If one of the giants on the internet is using a program that is faulty in accessibility that is not a good trend. Also an issue I never thought about was the fact that high-speed internet is needed for readers. Many older people need readers but do not have access to high-speed internet. Finally, as web pages become more dynamic, interactive, more videos and images, the less effective the screen readers are.

I'm glad you tried the highligher. It works well to take us directly to the section of the article that you want us to notice.

On this site Our toolkit The analysis steps on this page require no knowledge of programming languages, and use only two tools to assist the analyst-both of which may be downloaded for free. The Firefox browser, (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/) for which many other free tools have been developed both to assist in accessibility analysis and to directly assist persons with disabilities. I chose this site because it is very thorough on how to make sure your site is accessible to everyone. It is also user firendly. I think this is a great resource to become familiar with before building a website.

I chose this article because it encompassed the importance of the growing consortium of groups to encourage web designers to embed assistive technologies within the site. To use a "universal design" theory for the development of websites for ease of use to everyone. I liked this quote: "Just enhancing the computer that older people and people with disabilities use through Assistive Technology products is not enough for tomorrow's fully interactive web content, we must make accessibility tools available everywhere, all the time. By making these available by default, it will become possible to provide more efficient, inclusive and cost-effective access, to allow productive participation and greater independence."

Some sixteen million Americans have eye conditions that glasses cannot correct. There are many programs and technologies available to aid visually impaired individuals. This video demonstrates one technology called LowBrowse. This helps people with low vision to be able to browse the internet. Whatever the cursor is hovering over will be blown up at the top of the screen. Other programs can be difficult to navigate because they only magnify one portion of the screen. LowBrowse allows the lower portion of the screen to remain at normal size and displays the magnified portion at the top. This technology is completely free and once you set your preferences they will automatically appear wherever you go on the internet. It can also read text out loud.

I read this article in our local paper and thought of this class. A quick Internet search led me to this online version. The article discusses how some blind students are able to participate in an Easter egg hunt with special tech-eggs.

Yes, I am one of the declining number who subscribe to a print newspaper. Ours is now only printed three days a week to compensate for lower subscription levels.

This article discusses the need for accessibility for the disabled when using internet resources, particularly government resources and forms. Since such ones may have disabilities and may be older and potentially less familiar with the internet, extra effort must be given to ensure their access. While modifications to meet these needs are important, I was struck by the responsibility to ensure human support to such ones.

I found this article interesting because it addresses that although there are many resources available to web designers, people still aren't making their websites accessible to everybody. The one thing that caught my was about the WebVisum that allows the captcha images to be read. However, what really stood out to me was the captcha farms" where workers are paid to break the captcha code so that spammers can get past that. I know I find those captchas really annoying, so to think that people have found a way to break that, what are we going to have to do next to prove that it is a human trying to access it. Whatever might come next will make it even more difficult for people with disabilities to access the information they need.

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.

There are billions of people who face problems in accessing webpages, including people with disabilities, elderly people, and illiterate people in developing countries. The needs for accessible webpages have become too broad to be left only to Web developers. The wisdom of crowds has become part of a key strategy to combine various skills and knowledge into a community that can address the needs for accessibility. Social Accessibility is one such project for visually impaired people, which has been operating for more than a year, producing findings and new challenges. The collaborative approach can work well and be expanded for people with other problems such as poor hearing, aged eyes, and reading problems. I chose this site because it includes the elderly and the illiterate when talking about web accessibility.

I agree Tracy, the collaborative approach, consortiums and communities working together for a better web for all is a growing movement that will enhance not only people with disabilities but it will streamline the web for all of us.

Technology and Design Offered Equal Opportunities for Success The NIMAS legislation signaled the beginning of important policy changes regarding literacy and disabilities. But those policy changes would not have been possible were it not for advances in the underlying technologies of learning and literacy that were becoming apparent in 2010.

I chose to research web 2.0 accessibility for non readers at a high school level. This is an issue I struggle with at my school. We are not offering these assistive technologies......YET, but I hope we do soon. Since I teach a studio Art class, there are many ways students can be successful in my class, but it always upsets me when I create a webquest, or website or I assign something that requires reading and I watch a few of my student just "check out" because they will not participate if there is any reading involved.

I would like to utilize tablets in the same sense. I have several learning disabled students that could totally benefit if someone assisted in reading problems out as they went along in their book, homework, and any other work.