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Breaking the Barriers: Making Digital Content Accessible to People with Special Needs

Explore the challenges and strategies for creating accessible digital content for individuals with special needs. Learn about text browsing for non-visual users, ensuring legibility for visually impaired, usability without mouse, and more. Discover issues like poor contrast, complex language, and the importance of simple structure. Delve into guidelines and tools, legal requirements, readability indexes, and participation of individuals with special needs in developing accessible content. Join the movement towards inclusive digital experiences!

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Breaking the Barriers: Making Digital Content Accessible to People with Special Needs

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  1. Breaking the Barriers Making digital content accessible topeople with special needsJukka K. Korpela

  2. OpenWWW? • small font size • text not resizable • poor contrast • several menus (confusion) • scrolling text (below “60” ) Text browsing: tragicomic

  3. Aspects of accessibility • Non-visual browsing • Legibility of text tovisually impaired • Simple structure forcognitively challenged • Usability without mouse • Simple language • Text-only versions: harmful

  4. Challenges • We don’t know enough • We need new techniques & methods • Goals and policies to be defined • Ensure implementation

  5. Approaches • Official recommendations • W3C (WAI), EU, … • public sites only • limited impact • partly out of date • credibility • Laws • US: Section 508 • federally funded sites only • “undue burden” exemption • Competitions • quality criteria • rewards • motivation? • Advice, support • attempts in EU (“centres of excellence”) • guidelines vs. consultation • new technologies (tools)

  6. Goals vs. tools • Guidelines (WAI) as goals • Checklists as goals • Accessibility checkers (e.g., Bobby) as goals • Lost focus: aiming at satisfying criteria, not helping people • Example: accesskeys (shortcuts) • Alt+F opens “File” menu • Alt+F has page-specific function • Send feedback, complain!

  7. Understandable texts • Key issue: affects most people • Some special needs: • language barriers • cognitive disabilities • elderly people (vocabulary) • Public sites use very complex language • Easy Language recommendations • Readability indexes (grade levels) – for English • Legal requirements on readability? • Spelling and grammar checks • Language-specific guidelines and tools

  8. Combined strategy • Create and maintain guidelines • universal • language and culture specific • topic-specific • Set up legal requirements when suitable • effective • enforceable • enforced • Organize support centres • tutorials • consultation • gathering user experience • Patience! We have a long way to go.

  9. Participation • People with special needscan make special contributions • complaints, critique • testing • new ideas • One man’s necessity ishis neighbors’ convenience • font size control • keyboard navigation • haptic mouse • Mainstreaming • Localization, customization, personalization

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