Web+2.0+for+the+Visually+Impaired

Web 2.0 for the Visually Impaired Submitted by Angela Rogers

According the American Foundation for the Blind “an estimated 25 million Americans experience vision loss, a number that is expected to rise as the population ages.” For young children, adolescents, and young adults, being in a regular classroom setting can be a challenge both academically and socially. Much of our learning is done through observation and imitation. Students coming into our classroom with a visual impairment are at a disadvantage, making learning content and social behaviors more of a challenge. It is our job as educators to make sure these students have the same learning opportunities as their classmates. Students with visual impairments rely on magnification aids,enlarged print, Braille, computer generated speech devices, and so forth. Since Many Web 2.0 and social networking sites do not provide a screen reader or a way to enlarge the print, accessing and utilizing the site prove to be a challenge for visually impaired students. However, many efforts are being made in order to make the web more accessible for the visually impaired. Synthetic speech systems and screen magnification software programs can be loaded onto a computer and set to remain active. Specialized equipment can be purchased for the computer such as Braille displays, Braille printers, and electronic Braille note takers. The specialized equipment can be costly but highly effective in the learning process. One easy change teachers can make in the classroom is to create a blog that is accessible for the visually impaired. Begin by being empathetic to the needs of your student; try to imagine the difficulties they may face. When choosing the theme a black and white layout might be the best choice but, it might be helpful to see what other visually impaired people might say. This information can be obtained by reading reviews and blog posts. Attach Atl Tags so that the reader can move the mouse over an image and hear a description. Increase the font size and use more space between the letters can also be helpful. Adding a speech system to your blog is an important step in making your classroom blog accessible.



AFB American Foundation for the Blind []

Angela, I am glad you chose this topic. Web 2.0 is opening up a whole new world to many visually impaired and blind people. Two years age, a colleague of mine had girl in his class who was completely blind. The Braille books he provided for her were huge and took several volumes to make up one of our texts. They were also incredibly expensive. With the advent of the 2.0 applications you discussed in your article and more and more websites being made accessible, these students will be able to learn so much more. Job opportunities will also open up that could never before have been possible. Melanie

__**The use of online videos as instructional tools - barriers to the visually impaired**__ Submitted by Greg Robb

Many educational institutions are using online videos for instruction in an attempt to service more off-campus students. Unfortunately, for those students that are visually impaired, those videos are not rendered by the screen readers employed by those students. Unless the audio portion of the video accurately and totally describes what is being shown, there is no way that the student can receive the instruction needed. Screen readers have a problem with java based applets such as embedded video players rendering the controls unable to be read by the reader. In addition the controls cannot be activated using keyboard commands, they must be activated by a mouse, making it impossible for a blind student to start, rewind, pause, or stop a video.

Many institutions will provide a sighted aide to help the visually impaired, but that doesn't really address the accessibility issue. The makers of the videos will need to take pains to ensure that their product is accessible to all students, not just the sighted. Future generations of screen readers may be able to overcome these limitations, but it will still be up to the content provider to make sure that their product is compatible with those readers. Instructors will have to vear in mind that they may have visually impaired students when they make assignments that use embedded videos and provide either a written or audio version of that same video to the students.

Web 2.0 tools have had a tremendous impact on education and will continue to do so in the future, but we must all be aware of their limitations as well. I myself struggle at times with some of these tools as I have a visual impairment that makes it difficult to see some content on a computer, so I am aware of problems that may arise in the use of these tools.