Skype Sliding Further Backward on Accessibility

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Despite numerous contacts with Skype staff, we in the blind community continue to observe not only a lack of forward movement on accessibility, but actually a backward slide. It has come to our attention that the latest version 1.3.0.29 beta of Skype for Windows has removed the Call > Call Contacts submenu upon which many of us have relied as an effective, accessible way to call our online Skype contacts. The needless removal of this option forces blind users into the rather inaccessible Call Contacts panel, which works reasonably well only for users of a specific screen reader for which a group of volunteers have written customized scripts. Even these special scripts are often subject to breaking as Skype makes changes to user interface elements.

I have created a support request asking Skype to fix this problem and provide information on its intentions toward the blind community. Please compose an online reply to my existing support request ticket and create a problem report of your own to insure this matter gets clearly placed on Skype’s radar screen of issues to be resolved before releasing a new mainstream public version of the software.

Possible Opportunity to Make an Accessibility Difference at Google: Blogger User Testing

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If you are located in the Bay Area near Google headquarters, I strongly urge you to sign up for this Blogger Usability Testing opportunity right away! Time is of the essence here as the testing is being conducted in late May and early June. Let’s get a few blind people in there to show them, first hand, how the creation of a blog has been made inaccessible due to visual verification! During sign up or if contacted by Google staff, do not mention your blindness. Give Google no possible excuse for your exclusion from their usability testing. Let’s do everything we can to make ourselves count!

Do we count? – Part 1

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There has been an absolute lack of media coverage of yesterday’s rally at the Department of Education in Washington D.C. to stop the downsizing of the Rehabilitation Services Administration. This begs the question, do we count? Of course, sadly, the answer seems to be a resounding “no”. Has anyone located any media coverage? If so, please comment.

this is an audio post - click to play

Screencasting: Does it represent yet another threat to the blind?

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Screencasting is a way to quickly and easily distribute short video presentations. Jon Udell, a blogger and columnist at the IT publication InfoWorld, advocates the widespread use of screencasting as a means of providing effective training materials in the form of brief combined audio and video presentations. As the focus of screencasting appears to be on the video aspects of the technology, the concern is that the blind will be left out of the process entirely. Imagine what could happen if an employer provides the bulk of its training in the form of inaccessible screencasts and the employer doesn’t want to take the time or expend the resources necessary to make it available to a blind employee in an accessible format. This is an old story we hear over and over. When will the big players in the mainstream technology industry learn to understand that it is vital to insure reasonable accessibility to as many potential users as possible so as to avoid denying equal participation to everyone? This is new technology. There is no time like the present to insure that accessibility measures are built into its design now. Anyone have any thoughts? What has been your experience with screencasting technology and the accessibility of the resulting presentations?

New Start.com RSS Aggregator: Microsoft’s Innovative Experimental Approach to Web Accessibility

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It appears that Microsoft is entering the field of RSS aggregator web sites with its Start.com incubation experiment. RSS aggregators allow Internet users to collect and quickly stay current with blogs, Podcasts and all other web sites that provide their information in the form of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds. In this arena, Microsoft will be competing with such currently established web based RSS aggregation sites as BlogLines for an increasing usage share of those learning to take maximum advantage of all that RSS has to offer. If successful, it can be safely assumed that the service provided by the Start.com experiment would be integrated into those already provided by Microsoft’s free and premium MSN portfolio of web based offerings. Microsoft’s approach to providing equal accessibility to Start.com is unique. Rather than providing a separate accessibility site or potentially limiting the visual appeal of the primary site, Microsoft has chosen to add a clearly defined link at the bottom of the page that enables the user to turn on and off “accessibility mode” on the fly. Preliminary test show that, once activated, “accessibility mode” does enable a blind person to use the site effectively.

Please feel free to comment on this unique approach. Let’s make sure to provide feedback to Microsoft on the effectiveness of this “accessibility mode” scheme as it will probably start popping up on other Microsoft web sites in the near future. Have you seen it implemented elsewhere on the Internet? How is it working for you?