Dennis Hong: Making a car for blind drivers | Video on TED.com

Dennis Hong: Making a car for blind drivers | Video on TED.com

Why Accessibility?

1. Steve, CEO, said: If my Web site is made with the standards, it will be unexciting and I will lose customers.
With W3C standards, you'll be able to have very exciting Web sites. Creating a Web site which respects the standards has nothing to do with generating text-only Web pages.
The W3C is currently proposing a set of very cool integrated technologies. You can experience a full multimedia Web site with existing W3C interoperable technologies using XHTML (Structured XML markup), CSS (Style sheets), SVG (2D vector animated graphics), and SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia). These technologies have been built on a consensus by the different players of the Web market.
2. Alan, Technical Director, said: I don't have the finances to care about standards in my Web site. It will cost too much!
Designing with standards will simplify Web site code maintenance because you will not have multiple versions for different browsers. Your pages will have a longer life and will not be dependant upon vaporous technologies. So designing with Web standards will cost you less in fact.
3. Dean, Artistic Director, said: if I respect the standards, it will infringe upon my creativity.
Technical constraints exist with any artistic medium, whether you are drawing, sculpting, or designing Web pages. Watercolors or oil paintings have their own constraints, but these techniques do not to block creativity, rather they provide structure for creative expression.
Creating with Web standards will open a new world with techniques particular to the media, the technology, and the audience. There is still a lot to explore in this domain. We are only beginning to explore the benefits of standards-based multimedia experiences.
4. Claudia, Graphic Designer, said: I don't care about accessibility. People with disabilities are not in my target audience.
You'll benefit by designing with respect to accessibility. People with disabilities represents 8% to 10% of the total population. It's easier to maintain a Web site that follows accessibility guidelines (and therefore Web standards). Your Web site traffic will increase, and a wider variety of browsers will have access to site content.
Some countries require accessibility by law such as Australia (Disability Discrimination Act Advisory Notes Version 3.1 May 1999) or USA (Section 508 - Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications) or Europe which is working on a similar plan (e-accessibility).
5. Aminata, Web Programmer, said: Why I should respect standards? The Web is a free place.
The Web is a free place shared by many users whose needs you don't necessarily know. The standards have been designed to keep in mind all potential audiences. There's a challenge to the Web community to create with Web standards. You will not be attached to any company or proprietary technology. You can use technologies that are independent of platforms requirements.
6. Karl, Web Developer, said: I have simply followed instructions in books.
Unfortunately, many books do not teach good Web programming. When you are creating a Web site, you should check the correctness of your markup. If you are a Web developer, be careful using books to develop your application and read the particular specifications which you are trying to implement.
Some Web sites are gathering good materials to help people design in accordance with W3C standards. On the W3C Web site, you will find a growing list of tutorials promoting good practices.
Some people at W3C have developed freely accessible software for your own use. We encourage you to use them when it's possible. These software packages implement W3C technologies.
7. Tim, Accountant, said: My Web editor generates non-valid markup.
Many authoring tools do not generate valid markup. Some have syntax checkers embedded into them, others do the right thing, and many do not generate valid markup. As an intermediate solution, you have to check your Web page with anHTML validator. At the same time, contact the software manufacturer (by mail, phone, letter) and let them know. Companies will do the right thing if you ask them to.
8. Valérie, Web Content Developer, said: It's not my fault. It's the way the engine for templates has been designed. (Often a system with a Web-based interface).
You're right. It's often not your fault. If it's a simple form where you never write HTML by hand, write the developer of your interface or your site maintainer until the problem is solved. If you are not sure if the produced content respects W3C standards, validate the content with the HTML validator, and submit the report to your Web master, or the person in charge of the content management system.
9. Ning, Software Developer, said: There is no information to help me. All of the materials I have found are in English.
Some people have translated documents and specifications to other languages. The W3C maintains a list of translations.

Web Accessibility I Centrum

Web Accessibility for the Blind: Corporate Social Responsibility or Litigation Avoidance

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Web Accessibility for the Blind: Corporate Social Responsibility or Litigation Avoidance

View more OpenOffice presentations from Jonathan Frank.

Accessibility for blind people: Japan

For most of us, using a computer and surfing the web is an almost entirely visual experience. We move cursors around the screen, click buttons and menus, read text and look at pictures. But although most of us rely on monitors to use computers, blind and visually impaired users haven’t been left out. James and Uleshka talked to blind programmer Masafumi “Max” Nakane to find out more about usability both on and offline for those who can’t see.
Max, how does a blind person use a computer differently to a sighted user?

It’s not much different, you use the regular keyboard you simply know the keys by heart. For the output, you’ve got to use some kind of software that either reads things and speaks them to you or describes things using Braille.

Could you describe a Braille display for us?

It’s a box that connects to the PC, usually through USB, though in the old days it was either serial or parallel. I think some of the latest devices have a Bluetooth connection. Depending on how much money you want to spend, it has between 40 and 80 Braille cells, and one Braille cell contains either 6 or 8 dots to represent one Braille character.
You have a few buttons on the device itself that you can use to send commands to the screen reader software on the PC. At one time you can only display forty characters, which is obviously not enough for viewing the entire display. So you use the buttons on these devices to move the focus around the screen, as if you’re looking through a straw, and you have to put the fragments together in your brain to make up the entire image.

When do you decide to use the screen reader and when do you prefer the Braille reader?

Well, it depends. For programming and such I would use Braille mostly, as it is more accurate. If I want to read a book though, I don’t use Braille, as it’s slow. The speech software has a very high speed-reading mode; one volume of a book could be read within 3 hours, so it’s quite fast. When I have to proofread I use both; I listen to the speech to see if it sounds ok, and at the same time I’ll check with Braille.

Max, you used to do a lot of accessibility research for the W3C and now work as a researcher for Auto-ID Lab. Japan at Keio University. Now more than ever accessibility has received a lot of press - but do you actually find that things are improving? Are most blogs easy for you to navigate through?

Well, yes and no. First you have to understand a few basics:

A screen reader tries to steal information from the web browser. Internet Explorer parses the HTML and the screen reader simply accesses the information from memory. My screen reader lets you jump from one heading to the next, so you can quickly move through the page. But without the appropriate heading tags, the screen reader doesn’t know where to jump. Using proper heading tags in HTML to define a line of text as a heading is much better than using font tags to just make the text look like a heading, which is still quite a common thing to do.


Max in our meeting room chatting about accessibility issues
Many blog templates, such as those in Movabletype make extensive use of heading tags, so it’s actually quite easy to jump through the page and to a beginning of an article. But the blogger has to have a great understanding of how HTML pages are made, and if you get someone who’s not really interested, who’s not really a geek, you can’t really expect them to know what’s behind it.

Another thing is that that this kind of functionality isn’t available in every screen reader. So people using a simple screen reader still have to still listen to the whole thing before getting to the real content. You’ve got to overcome all this to make it really accessible for everyone.

Here are 3 things you can easily do to make your website more accessible for everyone:

1: Use the “alt” attribute to describe images Providing alternative text descriptions of images on your site will allow visually impaired visitors to understand what is being shown, even if they are accessing the site via screen or Braille readers. But don’t add “alt” descriptions to spacer images (the invisible images that are sometimes used to control a page’s layout) as screen and Braille readers will read these out too!

2: Write meaningful links Making links understandable out of context helps users who might not have read the whole sentence, or are scanning the page for links. So instead of an ambiguous “To see my birthday photos, click here”, try “Have a look at my birthday photos”. You can also add a “title” attribute to the link to provide more information when the user hovers over (or focuses on) it.

3: Use effective page titles and headings Your page title will be the first thing a screen reader tells the user – so it should be as informative as possible without getting too long. Many visually impaired users will then listen to the headings within the page to help them get to the part they want. If you haven’t added heading tags correctly, this can’t be done!

Simple and effective! Thank you for the advice.

How do you actually find portable electronic devices? Let’s say MP3 players. Are they difficult for you to use?

Oh, some of them, yeah. I haven’t really used an iPod, because its inevitable software iTunes is almost impossible to use on a PC with a screen reader. I have a player that can also be used as USB storage, so I don’t need any special software to transfer my stuff into the player. I don’t really use many of the functions, which probably aren’t needed anyway.
You mentioned that you are using a PC – is that because you like using PCs, or is it that most speech software is only made for PC and not for Mac?

There is nothing useful available for Macs really. I think Apple is now trying to develop some accessibility solutions for blind people, but I’m not sure how far they have gone, and also I don’t think they are doing it in any other language besides English.

Interesting… How about using mobile phones?

About four years ago Docomo made the first cell phone that had a speech output. Their priority target was senior citizens, but they also added some features which were useful for blind users, too. The first model only read out menus and emails and it let you browse through your phone book using speech output.

The second model also reads web content using speech output. AU has two models that speak, as far as I know. Before these phones, I simply remembered the sequences that you have to use in order to store and retrieve that number.

Are there any products that are specifically designed for blind people that you use?

There are a few things that talk in my house, like a clock, a remote control for the air conditioning, and some talking scales, things like that. But they’re not really designed for blind people, because you can buy them from regular stores.

But I don’t think my watch is made for anyone else but blind people: you can touch it to tell the time.

When I first came to Tokyo, I was really surprised by all the things that were talking, the musical pedestrian crossings and train stations with different melodies, baths that tell you when they’re hot… Do these things help you, or irritate you?

Well, mostly they’re helpful. Sometimes things get a bit too much, but you can ignore it if you want. It’s not loud enough to be a problem yet.

Finally, if I can ask one more question; I noticed some Braille on a drink the other day. What does it tell you?

Those labels can only be found on alcoholic drinks so that blind individuals who don’t want to drink alcohol can safely take out what they want from the fridge. But it’s different depending on the company; most cans just say alcohol, but on cans by the “Kirin” brewery, one side says “Kirin” and the other side says “beer”. The space on the can is too small for more than three or four characters of Braille so you don’t really have much choice as to what you can put there.



Those labels can only be found on alcoholic drinks so that blind individuals who don’t want to drink alcohol can safely take out what they want from the fridge. But it’s different depending on the company; most cans just say alcohol, but on cans by the “Kirin” brewery, one side says “Kirin” and the other side says “beer”. The space on the can is too small for more than three or four characters of Braille so you don’t really have much choice as to what you can put there.

The Dream ...

The Dream ...
Meet Matt Johnston, explorer, pioneer, and inspiration to many. He is a man who has set out not to push limits, but to define them.

At age 29, after a near three year pursuit of his dream, Matt became the FIRST ventilator dependent individual IN THE WORLD to go scuba diving. Since a young age, Matt has defied the odds of muscular dystrophy with more than a will to live...as he pursued a dream to one day experience a world that many take for granted.

In November 2006, Matt achieved a HUGE first for the adaptive scuba community, being the first with his condition to dive in the ocean.

Matt's vision has inspired many. In collaboration with Ocean Opportunity, the 'Diving a Dream' project has been created as a focal point to motivate others in their pursuit to realize their own dreams, and demonstrate the unprecedented accomplishments that are made possible when a personal obsession to maximize one's potential, unselfishly, become realized.

What's next...
Matt continues to live life to the fullest, taking steps to create new opportunities for the adaptive scuba community. Diving a Dream is seeking continued support and marquee partners to keep Matt's dream alive. Contact us to get involved! http://www.divingadream.org/

Famous Deaf Actress 3

Biography
Name: Deanne Bray

Hometown: Bray was born in Canoga Park, Calif. She lived in Seattle, Wash., for a few years with her mom, but most of her life Bray spent in southern California with dad.

Family: Bray is married to Troy Kotsur who is also deaf. He is also an actor and a great one in a lot of people's opinion! Deanne and Troy have worked in several productions for the last 12 years (starting in 1995). The couple has been married since 2001. Bray said, "My husband has been supportive with anything I do with my teaching and acting career." Bray continued by describing how other people were instrumental in her life. Her mother was her teacher and helped her develop academic skills. Her father showed her the world and taught her different cultures and how to reach out to all kinds of people. According to Bray, "Most of my friends from the Deaf community, along with my hearing family, shaped me into who I am today."

How Deaf is She?: Culturally, she is a fluent signer. She was born deaf and has been exposed to ASL since the age of 2.5 with Lil Skinner as her first Deaf teacher. Deanne has been exposed to the world of sound at age 2 with a hearing aid. Deanne calls herself bilingual: ASL and Spoken/written English. She also mentioned how she always have been a proud member of the Deaf community. Thanks to her neighbor, a Deaf family, who lived 2 blocks down the street, for being role models. They subtly led her to find her identity as a Deaf individual. She often hung out with them and naturally developed American Sign Language while growing up from age 4 to 12.

Scientific Point of View: she has a 86 dB hearing loss in her left ear and is profoundly deaf in her right ear. She wears one hearing aid in her left ear. Without her hearing aid, she cannot hear people's voices and prefers not to even try reading lips. With her hearing aid on, she can hear many sounds which helps her read lips quite well. She was was trained to hear with her left ear and to read lips (trained to be hard of hearing). At age 6 to 9, Deanne also read a book aloud everyday after school for 20-30 minutes with her step mother listening while preparing dinner to make sure her pronunciation is correct.

Employment: Bray first became involved with acting as a young adult when she was discovered performing with a dance group, called, "Prism West." Among her acting credits are guest appearances on "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "Ellen" and "Diagnosis Murder," and more.

She starred in a PAX series "Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye" for 3 seasons. Before Sue Thomas: FBeye, Bray taught deaf and hard of hearing high school students during the school year and taught dhh in elementary in the summer for 4 years. She is pursuing for her masters in education.

Deanne co-produced an educational/documentary dvd, "You're Pregnant: What to Expect," that is all in American Sign Language and Voiceover for almost 3 years and got the dvds released on December 1, 2007.

At last, when her daughter, Kyra, was born, she decided to be a full time mom. She did some odd jobs but for short periods at a time. Kyra had traveled everywhere with her.

Hobbies: Bray enjoys reading, reading with deaf children, as well as going to Deaf community functions, like interacting with deaf senior citizens and listening to their stories.

Favorite quote: Bray enjoys reading, reading, reading with Deaf/hearing children, as well as going to Deaf community functions, like interacting with deaf senior citizens and listening to their stories.

Favorite Quotes: "It takes a village to raise a child." An African preverb
"If you judge people, you have no time to love them." Mother Theresa
My bestfriend brings out the best in me." Henry Ford
"What is a friend? A single soul in two bodies" Aristotle

Greatest Accomplishment In Life: As a teacher, Bray said, it has always been rewarding to guide students to become independent learners. She explained that she also considered that the Sue Thomas series to be a teaching assignment for the hearing/Deaf community in a lot of ways. It was her biggest classroom. Her work with veteran deaf actresses at Deaf West Theatre in California and National Theatre of the Deaf (NTD) in Connecticut has been a rich experience which she believed that helped her grow into the kind of actress she became today.

Role models: Phyllis Frelich, Linda Bove and Freda Norman are the veteran deaf actresses Bray said she respects. Her family members are people she considers role models. Sue Thomas, the FBI agent who inspired the PAX series, is someone she described as a "spiritual mentor who has a bold relationship with God."


Finding her identity
Deanne Bray said she has never in her life been sad or embarrassed that she has hearing loss. Still, dealing with people who feel sorry for her because she is deaf has been a challenge. Bray credited her parents for being open to the idea of taking her to deaf events and exposing her to Deaf culture as a child, so she was able to find her identity at a young age.

Some members of the Deaf community (not knowing her background, seeing her speak and wearing a hearing aid) question whether she embraces Deaf culture, and people with hearing question why others who are deaf do not speak as fluent as Bray. She resolves the conflict for herself by recognizing, "I have the worst in both worlds, and I have the best in both worlds."

Growing as an actress
Most of Bray's growth in acting with Deaf West Theatre has been through American Sign Language since 1991. In year 2000, the artistic director, Ed Waterstreet, encouraged her to audition for a role where she could use spoken English. Bray hired a voice coach to help her say her lines fluently. She learned to find areas in the script of where to naturally breathe and how to deliver her lines emotionally through her voice. "I gained confidence after doing the role, Gerri, with Phyllis Frelich as my mother in 'Road to Revolution,'" Bray said. "Doing this broadened my abilities in what I can do in my acting career." She emphasized that "speaking do not lead to success" since there are many actresses who are Deaf and choose not to speak and yet are successful. It's a positive discovery for Deanne to be focusing on her skills and not being afraid or ashamed to use it.

In the new PAX series, "Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye," Bray appreciates that her character, the FBI's first female special investigative assistant who was deaf, Sue Thomas, embraces both hearing and Deaf cultures. She explained, "Sue Thomas is a deaf individual who is a good advocate for herself and knows her needs and yet can work in a hearing environment." Bray continued: "She is a person who lives her life to the fullest. I find her a phenomenal human being."

Appreciating people's differences
Bray tries to constantly remind and teach the writers, crew and cast what it is like to work with someone who is deaf. "I am hoping and encouraging that other deaf and hard of hearing characters will be in the show every now and then, so the hearing viewers will understand that there are different kinds of deaf individuals," she said. Some read lips, some choose to speak verbally and some do neither and prefer to sign ASL, but Bray pointed out that people who are deaf and hard of hearing have different backgrounds.

She may be acting in Sue Thomas's story, but according to Bray, the dramatic show depicts many areas where she feels she can relate to Sue. "This series focuses more on what the deaf individual CAN do, rather than cannot do," she said. "I am a proud member of the Deaf community. I am learning every day from the character and the real Sue Thomas how to reach out and open my heart more to the hearing community."
By Bethany Broadwell
iCan News Service, staff writer