We present to you a menu of tidbits collected in recent days that are too short for blog posts and sometimes too long for a tweet (when we want to add clarifying comments). Headings provide a light grouping to help you skim the offerings. Bon appétit!
Employment
By the way, you can now monitor our Twitter stream for job openings related to accessibility, thanks to the efforts of Web Diva Cyn, who followed a great tip from the webmaster of the STC Technical Editing SIG.
Did you know that some people view autism as an asset, not a liability, in some jobs? The topic of this article is just that — Autism Seen as Asset, Not Liability, in Some Jobs Dec. 8, 2009, 8:27 AM EST, Source: msnbc.com contributor, by Chris Tachibana, NBC Health News.
The Rise blog asks the question: Why Don't Employers Hire People With Disabilities? by Catherine Gordon, CPHR, June 5, 2018.
On the other hand, maybe those people with disabilities are too good for some employers?!
Cloud Computing
Is your head in a cloud with the talk about cloud computing? T. V. Raman of Google gave a talk at the Accessing Higher Ground conference "Access To Cloud Computing Challenge And Opportunity" in November 2009 and made his slides (in PDF (.pdf) and HTML format) and talk (MP3 format) available to everyone. Check out the highlights of the challenges and opportunities of accessibility in the clouds.
Captioning
Before you say "I'm not deaf, so I really don't want to hear about captioning anymore", read "How Captions Benefit more than the Deaf and Hard of Hearing," by Austin Dillman, Jun 21, 2017. This article is about the benefits of captions for people without hearing issues. As a person without hearing issues, I am grateful for the subtitles on my TV. It gets me safely through parts of shows where some technician went a bit crazy with the background sounds or music, disrupting the flow of speech in the process.
In the U.S., there is a petition to support a move to make telecommunications accessible for and usable by people with disabilities. The petition was created by the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT) to support "The Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009", also known as H.R.3101. COAT made a one-page summary of H.R.3101. From that page, you can also navigate to the petition site and follow the progress of the bill through the United States Congress. See the "Captions For Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Viewers," from the NIH National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders for the requirements.
More awareness about captioning is coming March 2, on Dr. Seuss' birthday. That is when the Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) holds its Read Captions Across America (RCAA) campaign, held in conjunction with the National Education Association's (NEA) Read Across America event every year. RCAA wants to "raise awareness—particularly among children and their parents and teachers—that video-based media can be just as effective at encouraging and fostering reading skills as books, as long as captions are always turned on!"
Excellent information from the University of Washington's DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) serves to increase the successful participation of individuals with disabilities in challenging academic programs and careers, such as those in science, engineering, mathematics, and technology: Creating Video and Multimedia Products That Are Accessible to People with Sensory Impairments, by Sheryl Burgstahler, Ph.D. "And How Universal Design Features Benefit Everyone". PDF version.
Social Media
Does Twitter need a wake-up call? This article says that user "accessibility is crucial for social media sites that want to stay successful. Now Twitter is risking its future by not taking accessibility seriously".
With that in mind, read this review of Twitter.com versus AccessibleTwitter.com!
For those who still find social media boring, here's a great "matchmaking" story from the Twitter community.
On Jan 20, 2009, @scenariogirl writes "@briankelly Fantastic talk this morning, I will come up and say hi at lunch". On Jan 23, 2009, @scenariogirl writes "massive thanks and kudos to @briankelly for adding context & purpose to my accessibility methodology i.e. Accessibility isn't binary." Later that month, a talk is born: "From Web Accessibility 2.0 to Web Adaptability". Finally, six months later, a paper is published.
Rather sweet, don't you think? It's also proof that Twitter isn't just vapid chatter! That paper is pretty amazing as discussed in our Toward Web Adaptability blog post back in July.
Web Accessibility
Have you been told to investigate the Web Accessibility Accessibility Guidelines? Tom Babinszki set up a nice WCAG 2.0 tutorial that is a very user-friendly introduction to the large body of W3C documents.
If you struggle with the alt and title attributes in HTML, you may enjoy an interesting study of how different browsers handle the alt text alt and title content display in popular browsers, 5 January 2010 by Steve Faulkner of The Paciello Group. The problem is often due to different ways of rendering the information depending on the browser, so Steve did some testing, which may improve your understanding.
Gaming
The National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled administers a free national library program that provides braille and recorded materials to people who cannot see regular print or handle print materials. Established by an Act of Congress in 1931 to serve blind adults, the program was expanded in 1952 to include children, in 1962 to provide music materials, in 1966 to include individuals with other physical disabilities that prevent reading regular print, and in 2016 to permit NLS to provide refreshable braille displays. The NLS program is funded annually by Congress, and books and materials are mailed as "Free Matter for the Blind or Handicapped" through a separate appropriation to the United States Postal Service. Cooperating network libraries are funded through a combination of state, local, and/or federal sources. Updated
- Informational Publications. Explore the variety of NLS publications on issues related to blindness, visual impairment, or physical disabilities, as well as compilations of current resources on many topics of interest to NLS patrons and those who provide services to them. Ask a Librarian can help answer questions related to these NLS publication as well as NLS service.
- Video Gaming Accessibility Updated
Able Gamers "gets" the concept of accessible games. They review games to determine how playable the games are for gamers with disabilities. It's a good site for game developers to monitor. An interview with Able Gamers' Mark Barlet explains why.
What happens when a person who is not a gamer-with-a-disability starts thinking about video game accessibility? Read the article in that hyperlink to find out!
Conferences
What conference to attend? Where to go?
Our first recommendation is – of course! – the STC Technical Communication Summit.
For other conference resources, try our own page for Upcoming Accessibility and UI/UX Conferences. Other resources are
- Web Design Events and Conferences All 2020 Conferences compiled by the University of Minnesota.
- KeyContent.org Calendar Events for the Year where your event submissions are welcome. KeyContent.org is an idea space where you can express your insights about your profession. Think of this site as a white board with a brain. You create and edit articles or portals to other sites and share your insights… maintained by Rick Sapir of STC
- Biological, chemical, and physical scientific meetings: Gordon Research Conferences
- Ergonomics & Human Factors Calendar
- The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Conferences and Events
Exhibits
From the comfort of your home, wherever you are in the world, you can explore the Smithsonian's Disability Rights Movement online exhibit. It shows information about with disabilities and the Disability Rights Movement.
eBooks
Did you know that Baen Books Offers Free eBooks For People With Disabilities? There have been some sign-in difficulties, as @vavroom writes. However, when you do gain access, their entire catalogue of e-books is available "to people who have a reading disability. This can be visual impairment or physical inability to hold a book."
Boomers/Silver Surfers
You may not have a disability yourself, but there is a good chance that you will grow older! That means you can't avoid discussion about baby boomers, senior citizens, the elderly, silver surfers – or whatever you want to call the older/oldest generation using the web and technology.
Some Senior citizens are becoming more comfortable with using Internet. However, AARP and Microsoft held a series of focus group discussions with baby boomers in May 2009 to find out how the "boomers" use technology, and what can we learn from their attitudes? The report, "Boomers and Technology: An Extended Conversation" shows developers shouldn't ignore the potential of their appetites for technology and their increasing use of technology in the future. The report is available in PDF format (.pdf).
Another resource is Microsoft's free, online "Computer Guide for Boomers" [no longer available as of 24 March 2020.]
Showcase
Recently, @vick08 tweeted that "this is the web I'd like it to be." He was talking about the BBC's approach to accessibility – "my web, my way". Take a moment to explore what BBC has done with accessibility on their (massive) site. Get inspired for your work and learn along the way.
In contrast, we have the government site for New York City. Jim Thatcher reviews the site and gives his verdict about the accessibility of NYC.org (once available on dotgov.com). Oh dear, get inspired about what you should not do for your work!
Quotes
We close this week's gazette with some food for thought.
"Society is disabled in its inability to include the diversity of human experience equitably. Society needs an inclusion prostheses." – @jasonnolan
"The only disability in life is a bad attitude" – Scott Hamilton
Link Contributors
This post was glued together with links or inspiration from many people. They are listed with their Twitter names.
@mpaciello
@TVRaman
@AbilityNet
@AccessibleTwitr
@webaxe
@Twitter_Tips
@LinkAbilities
@tbabinszki
@stevefaulkner
@jfc3
@aebsr
@raspberryfrog
@jebswebs
@NCTI2
@michaeljanger
@Disabilitygov
@vick08
@Jennison
@briankelly
@justfordeaf
@DeafnessGuide
@ablegamers
@AquinasWI
@ESCrossroads
@IBMAccess
@GlendaWH
@BethAARP
@NADtweets
@grwebguy
@anikto
@vavroom
Thanks to all of you!