Very early in this course I read an article in the September 1999 issue of Electronic School  called “Opening Doors.”  Its main topic was illustrating ways in which assistive technology has contributed to the success of special education students in schools.  While supporting the theory of this technology,  it was also quick to emphasize that such products are sometimes difficult to learn and use.  The support system is crucial in guaranteeing the success.  The students would need to try out the products on a trial basis and a follow-up procedure created to make sure the products were being used correctly.  In addition, training was necessary for teachers, parents and students.

The previous statements reminded me that our district recently ordered an Intellikeys, the keyboard for students with physical, visual, cognitive or learning disabilities.  In this case, our district has a student with CP and very little fine motor control, needing a less complicated way in which to interact with a computer.  My question would be when and how will both the teachers and that student be trained on this piece of equipment?

In the "Opening Doors" article, J. Emmett Gardener, an education professor at the University of Oklahoma states, “Having the devices does not translate into learning more.  The student, the teacher, and the parents need to understand how the student can best use the devices.  To spend X amount of dollars to equip a computer with devices is a disservice if the student doesn’t know how to use the devices.”  Again, it seems that schools fall into the old trap of getting the hardware (or software) but not putting training into the picture.

With the article as a jumping off point, I explored a website from New York’s Institute for Special Education, the Blindness Resource Center.  Not only was I interested in what the site had to offer but I was also curious to know how it would look.  Dealing with the after effects of eye surgeries, I still experience eye fatigue.  I was interested to see the recommendations offered by the experts and what I might do to improve my situation.

Near the top of the Blindness Resource Center's site, a “disclaimer” stated it was available in a text version, large print format or Netscape frames format.  At a glance, the large print format provided the viewer with a black background and yellow text.  The choice of viewing the site in frames format would support Amy Fahey's tips from the National Federation for the Blind for making the page more easily read by the visually challenged.  I was also curious to note that at the bottom of the home page was the friendly Bobby “sticker” proclaiming it Bobby Approved!

One of the links, “Universal Access: Lynx, Windows,” outlined making the Internet, Web and Windows more accessible to the visually impaired.  Numerous links from “Hints for Designing Accessible Websites” to “Windows 95 Tips for Users with Low Vision” to IBM’s Home Page Reader are included.  I was amazed at the amount of information!

The following hints appeared in the "Hints for Designing Accessible Websites" sponsored by Great Britain’s Royal National Institute for the Blind:

The above tips are some of  the very same that are the golden rules for desktop publishing, so again the aim is to make the reading easy on the eye!  Further categories of tips include: Images, Links, Frames, Javascript, PDF, Plugins, and Tables.  Under Images, there was further clarification on what Bobby was so critical of….”All image tags should contain succinct alternative text (ALT-TEXT) attributes. Such attributes contain a one-phrase description of the image, which gives people using Braille or speech software, or those who are not able to access images for other reasons, a brief description of what the image is. Ensure the alt-text is sensible - don't use files names! It is very irritating to know that an image is on the screen, but not to know what it is or why it is there.”

In addition, information about IBM’s Home Page Reader  was listed at the Blindness Resource Center’s site. The description reads like a commercial but fills in all the missing blanks that might materialize when one tries to imagine such a product!  “By teaming up the tremendous capabilities of IBM's ViaVoicetm Outloud text-to-speech, SAPI-compliant speech synthesizer and Netscape®Navigator®, Home Page Reader speaks web-based information just as it is presented on the computer screen. From graphics descriptions and text in column format to tables and data input fields, Home Page Reader audibly provides the complete information the user needs Quickly. Easily. And efficiently. There's no extra hardware synthesizer to buy. The user simply interacts with the computer using a basic numeric keypad in a Microsoft® Windows® environment. Home Page Reader opens exciting new doors of opportunity to independently access the vast resources available on the Internet.”  The implications of such an aid are remarkable and certainly encouraging to those visually impaired computer users.

Stopping by the IBM Special Needs Systems-Guidelines again touches on the topics of accessibility in the areas of software, the web, Java, Lotus Notes and hardware.  This site provides an excellent definition of accessibility: "successful access to information and use of information technology by people who have disabilities."    Particularly noteworthy are the checklists and guidelines provided under each topic.

While I stated earlier in the week that I would skip this assignment, the more I read my classmates' observations, the more my interest was piqued and I felt I wanted to explore the topic, especially in the area of visual difficulties.  I have learned so much and have bookmarked several sites.  In addition, the possibility of vision "challenges" in the future is not quite so terrifying, knowing there are  so many assistive technologies available.