Blog

Please meet Makayla Lewis, researcher into social nerworking websites for people with cerebal palsy. Makayla is a PhD student in Human Computer Interaction Department at City University and a volunteer at Accessibility 2.0. Please do come and talk to her about this important contribution to the field of web accessibility.

Better inclusion for users with Cerebral Palsy in Social Networks, is this necessary?

Finding information about how people with Cerebral Palsy (CP) use social networks can be tricky. If you search ‘”cerebral palsy” AND “social networks”’ in Google Scholar you would get 1,580 returns, of those, most would be miscellaneous, others partly-relevant, but very few would be considered exciting. These exciting studies look at the accessibility of websites when using assistive technology to classify barriers, some identify the types of communication within social networks directed at and used by disabled users, while others look at improving computer and Internet use for users with physical disabilities by evaluating, examining and developing assistive technology. Noticeably you would find that these studies do not define what constitutes disability or focus solely on CP.

As a caregiver, friend and co-worker to several social network users with CP, my passion for research lies with understanding the needs of these users and their relationship with social networks. My research aims to “Examine how individuals with CP can be better involved in social networks”, to ultimately provide guidance for researchers, developers and professionals.

To do this, I have initially carried out an exploratory interview study investigating Computer, Internet and Social Network use within the adult CP population.

Some of my findings have included: CP users visit social network websites (favoring Facebook and Bebo) at least once per fortnight to find and communicate with existing and new friends (primarily to send ‘How are you?’ ‘What are you up to?’ messages, share photos and organize face-to-face meetings). I have also identified four key factors that prevent CP users from using social networks:

1. Time on and complexity of tasks
2. Abrupt or regular interface changes
3. Text-based help “It would be nice to have videos or photos… text is hard to read sometimes”
4. A reduction in perceived communication independence and privacy

I believe that the web especially social networks are valuable resources for people with CP, as they allow these users to maintain, discover and strengthen friendships from the comfort of their homes, as in some cases frequent Face-2-Face communication may not be possible.

I will be attending the Web 2.0 Accessibility Conference 2009 primarily to network and discuss my research with like-minded researchers and professionals in the area of accessible web design.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Makayla Lewis

PhD Student at City University London, Centre for HCI Design makayla.lewis.1@city.ac.uk
Follow Makayla Lewis on Twitter: @maccymacx

We’d like to introduce you to Lisa Herrod, Principal User experience Consultant at Scenario Seven and expert in UX for Deaf users. We hope that Lisa’s presence at the conference this year will draw more attention to the needs of Deaf web users who are often overlooked even by those us that understand accessibility. Here, Lisa sets the record straight. Lisa will be running a low cost workshop on the 21st September and presenting at Accessibility 2.0 on the 22nd September. Oh, and like Kath Moonan, she’s a keen whippet fancier!

How long have you been an interpreter and what made learn to sign?

Ironically, I was initially interested in becoming a speech pathologist!  Around ‘93 someone recommended I read Oliver Sacks‘ “Seeing Voices” an amazing book that anyone working in education, employment or accessibility should read. I started signing regularly around 1994 and moved into interpreting around the end of 1995. I haven ‘t worked in a professional capacity as an interpreter since about 2003, so my Auslan (Australian sign language) skills have really slipped from what they were when I was interpreting 40 hours a week, which really saddens me.

Why is there such a lack of information about Deaf and hard of hearing web users?

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that people tend to group deaf, Deaf and Hearing Impaired users into one big group of people who “just can’t hear. Most of us know someone that has diminished hearing through age or industrial damage, noise etc. But few of us understand Deafness from a cultural, linguistic perspective, i.e. from the perspective of those Deaf who use sign language as a first language and may not be fluent in English as a second language.

Is it true that If a website doesn’t have any rich media such as audio or video content then there’s no need to worry about access for Deaf and hard of hearing users?

No that’s only partly addressing the issue. Once you start to understand that we’re talking about providing content to an audience who speaks another language all together, then it starts to become a lot clearer. Because then you have to start thinking about how you write and how you present content to such an audience.

Can a technical approach to accessibility accommodate Deaf and hard of hearing users?

Look the thing is, when it comes to accessibility we’re talking about *people*. We’re talking about User Experience. We all need to remember that. So while there is definitely some work of a technical nature, I think it’s really important to understand *why* we’re doing these things. Who we are doing it for, and also the fact that there are so many different reasons and manifestations of deafness. Deafness is not a binary thing. People are not just Deaf or hearing. The most unrecognised attribute of Deafness is th fact that many native signers have English as a second language.

Why should web teams come to your workshop?

I think my last point above is the most compelling reason. We’re not just talking about people who can’t hear. We’re talking about people who speak a completely different language. One that is visual, spatial, grammatically different. It’s much more involved than simply captioning a video.

Anything else you’d like to add?

I’d really like to encourage people to come to the workshop. In the past ten years I’ve worked on the web, despite the number of really smart, engaged, interested people I’ve met working in web accessibility and user experience, I have never met a single person who actually understood the difference between deafness from a medical perspective and Deafness from a cultural perspective, the different approches required for each group and the reasons why. From an ethnographic perspective, Deaf culture and web accessibility really hasn’t been explored much. So if nothing else, come along and learn something new.

Follow Lisa on Twitter: @scenariogirl

We’d like you to meet Abdi Gas, a British Sign Language (BSL) user who is soon to graduate with an MSc in Human Computer Interaction with Ergonomics from University College London. Abdi’s research is about “The role of social networking in communication of the Deaf at work with hearing colleagues”. Abdi will be joining us at Accessibility 2.0.

Could you give us some background to your research?

Ben Fletcher from IBM recommended the topic because it hadn’t been covered before and I thought it would be good to see how we could improve the working lives of Deaf people and give Deaf professionals more access to information that they may otherwise miss out on. In the workplace, there is a lot of small talk going on during tea breaks or just in general when sitting at desks. I believe Twitter is an online version of small talk with users giving updates about themselves. I am a strong believer in accessibility and equality at work and see the use of Social Networks as an important part of the solution to the problem.

What have been your research objectives?

I researched the history of social networks and Deaf professionals in the workplace to get a good idea of the background to the problem. Before the industrial age, Deaf and hearing were equal in the workplace possibly due to the type of work available at that time, but have since become discriminated against. In recent years the balance has been restored.

What methods did you use to gather data?

To determine if using Social Networks is a good idea I developed questionnaires for Deaf professionals and hearing professionals to complete and also one for company managers to complete. I provided paper copies to be given out via centres that have contact with Deaf professionals and I also created online versions of the questionnaires.

And what have you found so far?

I limited myself to Deaf professionals in the UK and USA. Unfortunately many of the completed questionnaires from USA were lost in the post. This data would have been interesting to see because Deaf professionals in USA have more technology to assist them than in the UK. So far we’ve found similarities between Deaf and hearing professionals as to their choice of social network. This means there is common ground where both communities can meet and interact.

What are your personal frustrations with the Internet?

One of my frustrations with the Internet is the cluttered web sites that have too much on them. It’s difficult to know what to look at or where to find anything. I use the internet to get clear easy-to-access information. I don’t expect to feel lost or get confused with layouts or have to go from one page to another to find what I want. Just like badly designed objects, badly designed web sites are a barrier for disabled people.

What are the good things about the Internet?

One positive thing about the Internet is that many sites now have two versions of their web pages running. A full version is used for desktop computers and another “watered-down” version is used on mobile phones. I feel the mobile version is better as it can be accessed anywhere “on the go”. This could lead to a lot less internet access via desktop PCs, especially with the internet for mobiles quickly developing.

The introduction of social networks has removed barriers for the Deaf community giving them the opportunity to connect with others easier. In a very short space of time, Social Network use on mobiles has sky-rocketed with people accessing Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. It would be interesting to see the effect this has on text messaging. Technology should be used to remove barriers, not create them.

Why are you looking forward to meeting Lisa Herrod?

There are no current website guidelines for Deaf like there are for blind people. I’m interested in seeing such guidelines and would like to meet Lisa Herrod to discuss it with her.

Abdi Gas

Follow Abdi on Twitter @abdigas

We just don’t think there’s enough information out there about how Deaf and hard of hearing people use the web. Okay, many of us know about adding captions to video and providing audio transcripts but what about when we scratch under the surface and really try to understand the needs of this group?

It’s a bit of a problem in the field of web accessibility that there tends to be too much focus on screen reader users. This has come about because screen reader users can experience such a high level of frustration and difficulty when surfing the web and even more when using complex web applications. Accomodating screen reader users by Including alt text for graphics and buttons is the first checkpoint of the WCAG and often the first thing people discover when they first come across web accessibility. This primary position might also be what re-enforces a point of view that screen reader access needs are the only type of access needs site owners really need to worry about.

We’re not saying stop ensuring good usability for screen readers but we are saying let’s ensure other types of impairment are also considered. One of the most exciting things about taking a pan impairment approach to web accessibility is when a pattern emerges across groups with entirely different access needs. That means easy cherry picking of what might be a long and expensive bug list after a test with diverse users.

We’ve invited Lisa to host a workshop for us on Deaf Awareness for Web Teams on the 21st September as well as present at our main Accessibility 2.0 conference the next day. We hope that Lisa’s workshop will raise awareness across the industry and take the focus away from coding and the technical side of web accessibility.

We’ve kept the workshop as low cost as possible because we want as many web editors, designers, developers, user experience architects and information architects to attend.

It’s just a couple of hours out of your week and a few quid out of your pocket and it might be one of those precious moments that change the way you think about the web forever.

Be there!

Kath Moonan

Follow Kath on Twitter @ladymoonani

Follow Accessibility 2.0 on Twitter @millionflowers

This blog post is setting the scene for the forthcoming Mobile Accessibility panel. First of all, we’re looking at the statistics and trying to establish where the potential of the technology lies as far as diverse users are concerned. Our definition of a diverse user is not just someone with disability, but anyone whose needs are outstandingly different. At the panel we will revisit the most significant barriers to accessibility and look at how they can be tackled to improve the situation.

Let’s look at the stats

Mobile phones have become incredibly popular very quickly.

Globally, there are more than 4 billion mobile subscriptions, making this the most pervasive technology in the world. That’s right, ahead of television, computers, and even the internet! Mobile phone penetration in the UK is 121%! That means that there are more mobile phones in this country than people, other European countries have similar percentages of phones to people.

The true potential

The true potential of the technology, however, lies in it’s ability to reach and empower populations previously disconnected. Imagine, a person with a learning difficulty always being a phone call away from his or her concerned family. Text messaging removes the boundaries between hearing and Deaf or hard of hearing people. Accessible mapping software allows a blind person to tell the taxi driver to turn left at next traffic lights for the shorter route.  Mobile internet access allows people to gain instant access to information including those in countries or regions without a cable

Think what a financial worker in Central London has in common with an Indian farmer? They can both check share prices from their mobile to inform their business decisions.

What’s the situation now?

With these examples, I can say that some of it we’ve got right. But the purpose of our conference on the 22nd of September is to concentrate on what we’ve got wrong and how to improve it.

First of all, there’s the exclusion of some impairment groups. I’ve been contacted by a person paralysed from neck down, who told me that he would really love to have an iPhone, but he couldn’t find assistive technology to enble him to use it.

Then there are the high costs of accessing the technology. A blind person cannot access their phone without specialist voice output software, normally Talks, which costs £150 to buy (you also have to pay every time you change a phone).

There is also the lack of awareness. If a disabled person does venture into a shop, they will be faced with sales-oriented, pushy, and ‘distracting’ sales assistants, who want to sell a contract but are not sure how to meet the needs of a specialist group.

It’s not only the sales assistants who are not in the know. Many applications are created based on false assumptions that they shouldn’t or can’t be used by a disabled person. Would you think that a person with dyslexia would find a use for Nokia Bar Code reader (which she never managed to get working)?  Many people with dyslexia have difficulties with reading and organising, a bar code reader could really help the weekly shop.

Many non-disabled people still get very surprised when I tell them that yes, blind people do use the camera on their phones, once someone sighted helps them through the unlabelled camera buttons.

The mobile internet is lagging behind the accessibility of basic phone applications, such as calling and SMS. ‘Suprise charges’ and complicated billing conditions scare people off. And if the reward of effort is to access a page that is quite likely to be inadequtely formatted for a mobile device, most people will just ‘forget about it’. At least for now.

A final word

Finally, there is the complexity of the accessibility of mobile devices as a concept. Just as Shawn Henry talks about the multiple components web accessibility, there is a similar complexity for mobiles. When talking about the accessibility of mobiles, we should be taking into account many interconnected components including:

• Physical design of the device
• Software made by the phone manufacturer
• Software bundled by the telecom companies
• Browser accessibility
• Content accessibility
• Customer services

This lead me to believe that mobile web accessibility should be a part of a fully integrated accessible mobile service.

If you would like to ask the Mobile Accessibility panel a question Tweet us at @millionflowers. We will be accepting questions by tweet up to and during the panel which takes place at 11.30–12.30pm on 22nd September.

Veronika Jermolina, Consultant AbilityNet

Veronika twitters from @welikethis

This year we’ve brought together speakers and experts from a range of different disciplines from user experience to typography and graphic design.

Over the next few days and after the conference we’ll highlight and discuss some of the issues raised during the conference. Podcasts and transcripts (sponsored by Opera) will be available shortly after the event.

See you there!

Kath Moonan

Follow Kath on Twitter @ladymoonani

Follow Accessibility 2.0 on Twitter @millionflowers