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Most of us are familiar with the provisions businesses make to accommodate employees and customers with disabilities; wheelchair ramps, accessible restrooms, and Braille products are just a few examples. However, many of us have never considered how someone with a visual disability would be able check their email, conduct a Google search, or find directions on Mapquest. Freedom Scientific offers a solution with JAWS (Job Access With Speech) screen reader, which allows users with blindness or low-vision to output the content of the web page to a speech synthesizer. JAWS can read content in a variety of languages, and it will also output refreshable Braille displays, making it one of the most popular accessibility tools. Other leading applications include Window-Eyes, compatible with all Windows 9x and ME versions, and Hal from Dolphin Computer Access.

More and more businesses and web designers are taking accessibility into account due to the recent guidelines requiring all U.S. federal web sites to be accessible to the disabled. Careful web design can maximize the accessibility of your web page and allow screen readers to function at their peak. Some usability checkpoints to consider include:

• keyboard equivalents for mouse-driven commands
• captioned audio portions of multimedia files
• clear and simple language and images
• synchronization of visual, speech, and Braille display
• user control of style sheets (i.e., for color-blindness)

The U.S. government’s Access Board guidelines for web accessibility can be found by visiting http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/guide/1194.22.htm.

Even users without visual impairments or other disabilities may soon benefit from screen reading applications. Think about the commuter who wants to check email while driving, for example. A program like JAWS would enable a user to access the web without the distraction of handling a PDA or physically reading a computer screen. Voice recognition software could be integrated into car computer systems, allowing a user to “search” Google maps for a nearby restaurant while keep their hands and focus on the wheel. While traveling to a meeting, the organizer could review his/her PowerPoint presentation one last time, and hearing it spoken, may find ways to improve it. The possibilities are exciting, and they are closer to implementation than you might think.

Friday, October 19th, 2007 Both comments and pings are currently closed.

By Haley January Eckels