Assistive technology is software that individuals with a mental, cognitive or physical disability use to access content on the web. Some examples include:

  • Voice Recognition Programs
  • Screen Readers
  • Applications for screen enlargement



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solidbase Premium
Stephanie,
As a half blind person myself, I want to thank you for this post.
It is testimony of your sincerity and empathy with disabled people.
Thank you !!
-Theuns
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stephhill Premium Plus
Hi Theuns!

As far as my empathy and sincerity with disabled people, I have ADHD myself and my son has Asperger's Syndrome and my father was blind in one eye and I worked for in the field of special education for many years, so I tend to always think of those with different needs.

Steph
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solidbase Premium
Sorry to hear about your own problems.
We will hold hands and walk the road together.
Stay safe.
-Theuns
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BasW Premium
Thank you for the information. Now I realize why the alt text is so important. And what a nice thing this colorwheel is, I realize this could be useful for other presentations like from Powerpoint.
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stephhill Premium Plus
Hi Bas!

Oh Absolutely! There is a whole thing on how to make your PPT accessible as well. Many people with color blindness cannot see colors the way others do.

I just scratched the surface with the training. There is much more I plan on creating training on.

Steph
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kannchia Premium
Thanks for reminding us.
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stephhill Premium Plus
Awww. You bet!
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RaphyAbano Premium
Hey Steph, nice article on accessibility. I'm with you on this one, and it's definitely something I've encountered at my work (I do e-learning courses) - although I know I should be doing this to my own niche site.

I'd like to share a couple of things I learned as well in my attempts to adhere to both Section 508 and WCAG Compliance:

- Most browsers (and operating systems) carry a "focus box" function which can be enabled using the Tab Key. This will either appear as a bright colored box or as a thin, broken line. Screen readers will recognize this as the viewer's "focal point", and will read out any text on screen or alt-text that has been included in any image.

- I'm sure this isn't applicable to our sites, but as much as possible, avoid any "drag-and-drop" functions on sites as accessibility tools do not provide any means of emulating this.

- Animated content is challenging to view when it comes to accessibility. As much as possible, keep content static, but if it is needed, ensure that there is an alt-text implemented.

- If you're using video, be sure to check if the media you're using has a separate channel for "described audio" as well as an option for closed captioning. This way you are able to accommodate users with your rich media content.

These are just some of the ones I've come to learn about, and so I felt that it should be shared to everyone here. Hope it helps!

- Raphy
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stephhill Premium Plus
Hi Raphy!

Those are all awesome points too when considering accessibility and I cannot thank you enough for adding to the discussion on it. As I mentioned in the training and earlier in these comments, I only scratched the surface when it comes to creating accessible content for our websites and images. I appreciate all of those added tools. I sometimes have cautioned folks about using the drag and drop because of the reason you stated above.

You are fabulous for providing these added suggestions when taking into the consideration individuals with varying abilities.

Steph
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RaphyAbano Premium
Thanks Steph, I'm glad to help any way I can. Thanks as well for bringing this up.

Accessibility is definitely something that can be tricky to pull off, yet the important thing is to have it in mind during any part of web development. There's no umbrella solution for all disabilities as there are plenty of known and unknown ones out there, and each of them have different needs. But the best we can do is to accommodate them as best as possible with the tools that we have.

Best,
Raphy
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stephhill Premium Plus
Hi Raphy!

Well said. It is impossible to cover all the bases for all types of disabilities like you said, but as long as we are making a good faith effort to accommodate those that we can, we are a million steps ahead of so many other web developers out there.

Steph
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edtay78 Premium
Thanks for sharing. Good information and will keep in mind the few pointers you mentioned here. :)
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stephhill Premium Plus
Hi Edmund!

Thank you for visiting and reading my training. Keep in touch! :)

Steph
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