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Accessibility is making the Web work for people with a diverse range of abilities. Accessibility is essential for developers and organizations that want to create high quality websites and web tools, and not exclude people from using their products and services. Accessibility is vital to enable people with disabilities to participate equally on the Web.

"The Internet's potential helps eliminate discrimination that exists in the context of a real-world social environment in which discrimination still prevails. Therefore, the disabled are more likely to achieve equality. Moreover, the idea that identity can be constructed according to the demands of the situation is a powerful framework for disabled people, because it permits a creative space for developing ideas about the self (Bowker & Tuffin, 2003)." "A good design can not only make visualization accessible, but can also make the information more accessible. Web 2.0 is available to be used by people in their everyday lives. It also has the potential to open up the world to people with disabilities, and is often presented as a way to eradicate disability as it is socially constructed."  If either of these two quotes strikes your interest please read this article. I know it was written in 2008 and some of the statistics are going to be off. Also, I'm sure that some of the issues that are being discussed have been resolved or updated. Some might even still be in the works to resolve them for people with disabilities, but I loved the article and it was an easy interesting read. It opened my eyes to how people saw Web 2.0 five years ago and how it is or is not  accessible to people with disabilities. 

I chose this site because it lists a lot of different disabilities with access to statistics and further information on each disability by clicking on the name. Not only that, but it give a description of what actual challenges that specific disability might face when attempting to access Web 2.0. A few sites I have visited mention aging difficulties and I never thought much about this being or causing barriers. This article touches on that topic along with other issues such as internet speed, age of equipment and location of your home. I thought it was a very good article that touched on a lot of 

Paula, Thanks for the website. I found it very interesting to learn about the different disabilities listed and how much information it had on each. I was not aware of the some of the different challenges someone with a disability faces in light of web 2.0 tools. I think I was in the dark way to long. Thanks for opening my eyes. Mel

Hi Paula, This was an interesting website that brought up a lot of valid points for website developers. I liked how it stated the economic and workplace benefits, as well as the legal requirements for websites being accessible for all. The latest statistics mentioned were from 2008. I'm sure that the numbers have increased a lot more since then. The common problems for disabled users mentioned were good as well. I didn't even think about problems like older technologies or location. I think those are still around today. Web site developers have to keep a lot in mind when designing their websites. They want to reach everyone so every problem that comes up needs to have a solution. Good website!

I chose this site because of the abundance of information on how to check if a site is accessible to all. More and more teachers have their own website and it is fundamental that their website is accessible to all of their students, parents, administrators and possibly the community depending on the privacy level of the website,

This is a great website. It is very comprehensive on its step by step process to check and enable web accessibility for all.

This site is too cool!  I have thought about You Tube as being difficult to manipulate, but to someone with certain disabilities, they may not be able to use You Tube at all.  This site has a link to a version of "ACCESS: You Tube."  I typed in deaf, and the first video was all caption.  I only watched one and was so excited about this site that I wanted to go ahead and bookmark it.  I'm going to check it out even more.

This is a website done by San Francisco State University that explains the common problems disabled users run into when accessing websites. This site also gives solutions for these problems. A list is provided for popular Web 2.0 websites (Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn) and links to their accessibility reports. It also gives resources for disabled users to use while on those sites.

Information on how to make your website more accessible.

This website reviews Web 2.0 products and websites and rates them on accessibility. According to the website, "This resource aims to help those making decisions about their use of freely available 'Web 2.0' interactive and collaborate e-learning tools." The website is organized by type of disability. It lists what tests were performed on the Web 2.0 product and also the results of the test.

Hi Marianne, This is a great resource for users (disabled or non) to use to see which websites are accessible. I liked how you could browse by disability and then see how the different products, or websites, scored based on Web2Access's tests. Thanks for highlighting this site!

I think this is a great site, glad you found it and shared it. It is an awesome resource to check the accessability of websites. I plan to use this site to research websites suitable for the learning disabled students in my classes to improve my instruction for them.

I chose to bookmark this webpage as it really made me think about the topic at hand. The internet offers opportunities to people with disabilities that were once unavailable. However, if a website is not created with web accessibility in mind, it really limits the users who could benefit the most. It is easy to understand as it provides great examples with links to more inforamtion as well as videos to watch on the topic. Great resource!

Kathy, Great minds think alike! I'm glad you enjoyed it too. :)

Lauren, This is a great site. I learned a lot navigating through it. I was especially touch by the two videos on the site. I sometimes get so closed off to what is around me and sometimes I need to take a god look around me to see what is going on. I liked how the site questioned why certain things are not offered all the time like captions on video and how they would not only be helpful to people that are hearing impaired by to everyone. Thanks for your research.

Deque university is a website that offers two products WordSpace 5 and FireEyes. The website also offer several courses such as web 2.0 accessability which teaches students about websites that make uses of JavaScript and AJAX

This looks like a good site to help you learn about web 2.0 accessibility. I see the FireEyes is free for non-commercial use.

This is a web-based platform to help meet web accessibility needs. Some of the services it provides include auditing for ADA compliance, detailed reports of the findings, training courses and more to help ensure your website is in compliance. There is a free trial available. I first came across AMP Express which is part of the SSB Bart platform. You type your URL into the space provided and it will test your site for accessibility.

article about web 2.0 accessibility for visually impaired

I bookmarked this page as it really made me think about using websites in my classroom. It points out that the best test of any website is human interaction and judgement. As an educator, it is probably best for me to try a website out before expecting my students to use it...especially those with certain barriers. I don't want students becoming discouraged in their learning because of the tools I am expecting them to use. This blog goes on to give examples of what to test when using a website as well as evaluation tools.

This discribes in detail the negative side of Web 2.0 for the disabled. I book marked this material because it seemed to give a striaght forward view of the negative side. It went into detail about how the web2.0 was moving to fast to keep up with being accessible.

I choose to bookmark this page as it did a nice job defining assistive technologies and web 2.0 accessibility. It provided examples of different assistive technologies, as well as discussed how website developers need to keep the "disabled" in mind so their product can meet the needs of all people.

Before this week's reading, I never considered color-blindness as a physical disability. I don't know why - my father-in-law is color-blind so I am very aware of the problem. I chose this bookmark because it contains some simple steps that can be used to make your website easier to read for someone with color-blindness. Since the very definition of Web 2.0 involves user created content, blogs, website, etc. - I feel that it is very easy to follow the simple steps described in this blog posting when participating in Web 2.0 techniques.

Marianne, I have a brother that is color blind. I have always known about this, but never have I heard him ever complain about it in any way except that he doesn't match his socks very well. He says that he really never pays attention to it and just deals with it. I don't know that I know anyone else that is color blind. I read that there are different levels of severity to color blindness, so maybe my brother is very mild. Like you, I really have never considered this as a physical disability. I do on the other hand have a cousin that is totally blind, which I know is not anything to do with this, except, that is what I guess I consider a physcial disability. Interesting blog. Made me think a little! :)

Marianne, This website is so extremely useful. Thank you for finding, bookmarking and sharing. The site did an excellent job of listing and analyzing various Web 2.0 technolgies and I thought it was really beneficial to see how they rated them, Once that stuck out at me that I have never heard of was Access Menu. This Web 2.0 seemed to be rated extremely high for nearly every disability. Have you ever heard or used Access Menu before? I am going to do a bit of exploring, but it interested me to know if you or anyone for that matter has used Access Menu. Once again thanks for researching and sharing this site. I am going to share it with staff members in my building as well as our Special Services/Needs/Ed Departments. Awesome resource. Jeff

I choose to bookmark this page due it addresses how individuals with hearing impairments can access and overcome their disibiliites using web 2.0 technologies in the classroom. I bookmarked it as it introduced a new concept called vodcasting. Vodcasting is lessons recorded as video. It is similar to podcasting, but it is purely video with no sound. A teacher could create a podcast for their students from a lecture, and a vodcast for hearing impaired students using a similar web 2.0 technology. The vodcast would be in sign language and the podcast would be sound.

Jeff, Great site you found. I think that it is amazing that Vodcasting is proven in teaching a foreign language to hearing impaired students and just think that could not be done 10 years ago. We have come a long way with technology that it can be used for a multitude of people and can be an effective way to help bridge the gap for educators to reach more students. I also like that you can pause or reply the Vodcast making it so user friendly for students to use.

Nice use of Diigo deeplinks! I think it is interesting that you bookmarked the original Web for All Learners wiki that I created for a former 6019 classes! lol!

This article does speak about assistive technology a lot, but I enjoyed reading it and I loved that it touched on why Web 2.0 is important for everyone. It also talks about the Disability Discrimination Act and how people with those type barriers are still in need of the same web access that people that do not have a disability have.