[tabi] Fw: [VICUG-L] Let's Give the Blind Better Access to On-Line Learning
- From: "Lynn Evans" <evans-lynn@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 16 May 2011 22:36:05 -0400
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From: "peter altschul" <paltschul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <VICUG-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, May 16, 2011 9:33 AM
Subject: [VICUG-L] Let's Give the Blind Better Access to On-Line Learning
Let's Give the Blind Better Access to Online Learning
James Yang for The Chronicle
By Virginia A. Jacko
It is ironic that in an age when technology could erase so many
barriers for blind students, colleges and universities are not
paying enough attention to accessibility in their online
services. Online learning should be a significant advantage for
blind and visually impaired students because of the absence of
physical barriers--there is no struggle to locate classrooms,
deal with elevators, or walk between buildings on a large campus.
While most colleges attempt to comply reasonably with the
Americans With Disabilities Act, all too often the developers and
publishers of software and online course-management systems,
digital textbooks, and other course materials--as well as the
colleges that buy their products--ignore the needs of blind and
visually impaired students.
I first expressed concern about digital accessibility more than
10 years ago, when I was a financial executive at Purdue
University. When Purdue launched its distance-learning
initiative, like many universities it did not see accessibility
as a priority. I was then losing my eyesight to retinitis
pigmentosa, a hereditary eye disease that causes gradual vision
loss leading to total blindness, and I was becoming aware of how
technology can both help and hinder the disabled. Purdue adopted
an online-purchasing system that shut out the visually impaired.
When I alerted the software designers and the company's
president, they were unaware of the problem. At the time, we had
several older employees, and this oversight caused some people to
leave their positions prematurely, a blow to the university's
human-resources pool. People often assume that virtual
technology, that world-at-your-fingertips magic that has been so
entrancing and useful to almost everyone in the developed world
for the past 15 years, erases barriers for the blind. After all,
we hear all the time about how anyone with Internet access can
find out practically anything. But it just isn't true: I have
been totally blind for almost 10 years, and without my
screen-reading software the world my computer offers is nothing
but a smooth pane of glass. The intricacies of digital forms and
Web-page interfaces may not seem formidable at first glance
(although heaven knows enough of my sighted friends complain
about Web sites). But as The Chronicle has reported ("Colleges
Lock Out Blind Students Online," December 12, 2010), these
barriers are just as real as any physical barrier. My guide dog,
Kieran, helps me negotiate physical barriers, but he certainly
can't do anything for me online! Colleges must press software
designers to make their online applications accessible.
Screen-reading software, which responds to computer keystrokes by
reading out loud the text displayed on the monitor, is one
solution. If every component of a Web site has a text element,
the screen-reading software should work. I use JAWS (Job Access
With Speech) software, which works extremely well with Microsoft
software. I am able to use Outlook, Word, and Excel by running
JAWS simultaneously. Federal standards on access to electronic
and information technology (referred to as Section 508) require
keyboard-enabled interfaces. The technical standards for
software are clear: "When software is designed to run on a system
that has a keyboard, product functions shall be executable from a
keyboard where the function itself or the result of performing a
function can be discerned textually?--in other words, it should
be readable by screen-reading software like JAWS. In addition,
all graphic elements on Web pages must have a textual
description. The federal regulations also are clear about
accessibility of online forms. You would think this one would be
a no-brainer, but look at all the trouble caused by online-course
software that would not allow students using assistive technology
to submit their assignments online the way other students could,
as described in the December article in The Chronicle. Our
computer instructors at Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and
Visually Impaired Inc., of which I am president, have heard
complaints about online accessibility from blind and visually
impaired students attending colleges in Florida, but such
complaints are not unique to our state. I have also heard
success stories, especially in cases where students used
distance-learning course software developed by Angel Learning
Inc. With the acquisition of the company by Blackboard Inc., a
more flexible environment for teaching and learning should
develop, which may begin to resolve accessibility problems with
screen-reading software. The most frequent issue involves Web
sites that are not accessible or are very difficult to use. The
screen-reading software is unable to read graphics that do not
include a text component. Other complaints we hear involve
professors who send e-mails with attachments that are scanned
documents, rather than text that can be rendered by
screen-reading software. A scanned document is just like a
picture as far as screen-reading software is concerned, and
therefore reads as "blank." Another issue is that some Web sites
have automatic, continuous instant-messaging updates or
continuous chats, which need to have a link to disable them,
because JAWS frequently garbles the constantly changing text.
Miami Lighthouse has formed partnerships with software companies
as a test site for other kinds of accessible technology, and we
would welcome the opportunity to work with developers on
accessible courseware and other learning technology--but no one
has asked! It isn't enough anymore for a university to have an
office of disability services that provides course assistants and
a place for students to complain. We are living in a world that
has fully embraced digital technology and media, and the blind
and other disabled people have the right to participate in it
fully. It is not an impossible or even a difficult task to make
sure all graphic elements are keyboard-enabled. Software
designers for colleges and other institutions will make
accessibility automatic when they realize their market demands
it. It would also help for faculty members to keep accessibility
in mind and think twice before, say, attaching scanned course
material to an e-mail or requiring participation in a live chat,
which is a big challenge for JAWS software. Many universities
are expanding their distance-learning curricula, which can be
very lucrative. But if that expansion includes the large-scale
use of Web-based materials that shut out blind students,
universities will eventually have to account for that failure.
Accessibility affects everyone in the long run. It is perplexing
that colleges and universities spend significant amounts of money
on diversity initiatives aimed at promoting ethnic and
socioeconomic diversity but fail to consider curriculum access
for the visually impaired. It is especially perplexing when you
consider that the software to solve accessibility problems
already exists, and federal regulations are in place that require
access to online information. We know that better online access
for the blind is possible because we have seen it happening at
Miami Lighthouse. Our vision-rehabilitation program has an
extensive assistive-technology component. It is vital for our
clients to know they can regain the ability to use computers,
phones, and other electronic devices for work, education,
socializing--everything the sighted world uses technology for.
Our vocational-rehabilitation clients make extensive use of
accessibility software for business and music applications, which
has helped many of them find or keep rewarding, mainstream
employment. Colleges must provide better accessibility for the
blind and visually impaired, especially as the colleges
vigorously embrace diversity.
Virginia A. Jacko is president and chief executive of Miami
Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired Inc. She is
co-author of The Blind Visionary (Governance Edge Press, 2010).
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