iOS 8 hit the street with accessibility bugs that severely impact bluetooth keyboards, Braille support, screen scrolling and other critical areas of the operating system on which blind VoiceOver users rely in order to effectively use iOS devices. A list of The Accessibility Bugs in iOS 8: From Serious To Minor effectively describes the situation… Finish Reading iOS 8 Accessibility Call to Action
In this approximately 26-minute podcast, Darrell Shandrow demonstrates some of the VoiceOver accessibility concerns found in the latest Foursquare 5.0 iOS app update. Listen or Pause – Foursquare 5.0 Accessibility Report Download – Foursquare 5.0 Accessibility Report On the heels of its Wednesday update, Foursquare posted a brief article on its support website stating that… Finish Reading Accessibility Report on Foursquare 5.0 for iOS
This approximately 18-minute podcast represents a brief run-through of the new Blio ebook reading app for iOS developed by KNFB Reading Technology, Inc. While the Blio app is VoiceOver accessible, I have reached the following observations, which are clearly demonstrated in the podcast: The app is sloppy and clearly not ready for primetime. I’m surprised… Finish Reading New Blio for iOS app: A Brief Demo
SoundHound restored VoiceOver accessibility for its blind customers in the app’s June 16 version 3.6.3 update. This approximately 14-minute podcast demonstrates the improved navigation and reading of music identification results. The update represents a significant move in the right direction. While all information is now available by flicking through the results window, its unstructured layout… Finish Reading Updated SoundHound App Restores VoiceOver Accessibility
Dear students, Pearson, one of the leading college textbook publishers, has set up a special session at the NFB national convention to get feedback from blind students regarding the accessibility of a new math workbook they are developing. They would like to get 15 students to meet with them during this session, and so far,… Finish Reading Important: Blind Students Needed to Test E-Books at the 2011 NFB Convention!
This is a collaboration effort between No Eyes Needed and Blind Access Journal, two leaders in blindness advocacy and the mobilization of efforts to improve accessibility in mainstream products, services and resources. Our goal today is to share insight on the current state of accessibility within the popular iOS music identification app, Soundhound. We will… Finish Reading SoundHound Asked to Roll Back Accessibility Declines and Open the App’s Ears to Blind VoiceOver Users
I had an enlightening conversation with Dr. Robert Stepp, where I learned that the Braille 2000 translation software for transcribers is accidentally accessible but not marketed for use by blind people. I think we ended on a positive note, and I hope many of you will find this an interesting look at how some small companies in our own field employ many of the same arguments as the mainstream technology industry to explain why they are not fully accessible.
Finish Reading CSUN: Braille 2000 and Accidental Accessibility
Benetech is looking to fill four Bookshare positions with highly-qualified professionals who know how to lead teams, manage projects, plan products, write grant proposals and much more.
If you’re blind and you believe you’ve got what it takes, please check out these position postings and apply as soon as possible.
Through the employment of a representative number of blind people and others with print-reading disabilities in decision-making positions, we can restore the heart of Bookshare and guide it to a more accessible, responsive future. Let’s all get out there and fill the inboxes of Benetech’s human-resources team with awesome cover letters and resumes that will get their attention and get our people in the door!
Finish Reading Seeking Qualified Blind People to Apply for Bookshare Job Openings
The Phoenix iOS Developer Group (PI) will be holding its February meeting on the topic of accessibility. Justin Mann, a blind iPhone user, will be presenting on the use of Apple’s built-in VoiceOver screen reader with several innovative iOS apps that enable business productivity, social-media participation, identification of items in the surrounding environment and much more.
Anybody is welcome to attend. This is an excelent opportunity to show some app developers that accessibility matters and that blind people are using iOS devices in number. Let’s fill the room with as many Phoenix-area blind people and their talking iPads, iPhones and iPod Touches as we possibly can!
The meeting will be held at the University of Advancing Technology from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 2.
We look forward to seeing all of you there. Â
On Nov. 14, Karen and I met with Chronicle of Higher Education reporter Marc Parry for an initial in-person interview as part of a story he was writing about technology accessibility for blind college students. Over the following Monday and Tuesday, Marc and I spent a great deal of time reviewing and testing the accessibility or inaccessibility of a number of college-related websites.
On Dec. 12, 2010, the Chronicle published an article entitled Blind Students Demand Access to Online Course Materials, in which my contributions were prominent.
The article highlighted significant accessibility barriers with ASU on Facebook, an application designed to help Arizona State University students connect in a virtual community. The app, developed by San Francisco-based Inigral, Inc., featured controls that couldn’t be accessed by keyboard navigation and images lacking text descriptions.
An Inigral representative contacted me within a few days of the publication of the article, saying she would be in the Phoenix area and asking if we could meet in person to discuss the situation. I agreed, a lunch meeting was scheduled then postponed that very morning till January due to family circumstances.
On Friday, Marc published After Chronicle Story, a Tech Company Improves Accessibility for Blind Users – Wired Campus – The Chronicle of Higher Education on the publication’s Wired Campus blog, stating that Inigral representatives met with the university’s Disability Resource Center and work is underway to improve the app’s accessibility.
After briefly reviewing the ASU on Facebook app as of Friday, Jan. 7, I can report that significant improvements have already been achieved. The “Go to App” link can now be followed using keyboard navigation, the website is more usable and I notice fewer images lacking descriptions.
Inigral’s co-founder, Joseph Sofaer, posted an accurate Jan. 4 article about the key elements of good website accessibility on the company’s blog.
The important point I hope readers will take away is that advocating for accessibility does make a difference. One more web-based application is now going to be accessible because a blind person agreed to be part of an article published in a widely-reade higher-education publication. It is critical for us to continue going after what we know is right: the equal accessibility that affords us the full participation we must have in order to learn, live and work in society as productive members alongside our sighted peers. This means we absolutely must pound the pavement. When we encounter an inaccessible app, piece of software or website, we *MUST* contact the company about it right away asking that it be corrected. If we don’t get timely responses, we need to follow up, escalating communications as far and as high in a company’s chain of command as they must go in order to get results. It’s a lot of hard work that can’t be done by one person, so I urge each and every one of you out there, whether you are a blind person or a sighted one who cares about us, to do your part by taking each and every possible opportunity to advocate, kick the ball out of the stadium, score the touchdown and win the game for the pro-accessibility team!
Finish Reading Making a Difference by Thrusting Accessibility into the Public Sphere