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This study looks at the accessibility of websites belonging to 80 colleges of communications and schools of journalism in the US and Canada using a computer-generated test called the Bobby test. The article provides background on disabilities, the Web, as well as suggestions to improve accessibility to Web pages.

As an add-on to this, I got on CAST's website (http://www.cast.org/) and here is a bit more information about the Bobby test: Bobby In 1995, CAST launched Bobby as a free public service to make the burgeoning World Wide Web more accessible to individuals with disabilities. Over the next decade, Bobby helped novice and professional Web designers analyze and make improvements to millions of Web pages. This work won CAST numerous awards and international recognition. CAST no longer supports the Bobby accessiblity testing software. Bobby was sold to Watchfire in 2004 which, in turn, was acquired by IBM in 2007. Although Bobby is no longer available as a free service or standalone product, it is one of the tests included within the IBM Rational Policy Tester Accessibility Edition software, the comprehensive enterprise application for testing websites. References: http://www-306.ibm.com/software/rational/welcome/watchfire/press.html http://www.watchfire.com/products/webxm/bobby.aspx http://www-306.ibm.com/software/awdtools/tester/policy/accessibility/ Other options are listed on the W3C Website at: http://www.w3.org/WAI/eval/Overview.html

The article describes possible barriers in e-learning and educational technology for people with disabilities. It starts with an overview of the different ways disabled people work with computers and assistive technology. Then several examples of creating accessible content and communication are provided. (This article is helpful because it gives you great examples on making your content accessible for those with multiple disabilities. It also shares how to implement the technology into classroom.)

This article highlights many web tools used for disabled individuals. It focuses on web 2.0 tools in higher education, but as we all know, everything on the internet can be adjusted to fit the needs of our students.