Website Design & SEO Tips

By Guest Author: David Reynolds, software engineer for over 30 years.

Back in the Eighties, scanning and document recognition was the buzz word. The vision was for all Visually Impaired people to be equipped with scanners and OCR software, and I remember vividly training blind people to read recipe books, album covers, training materials, etc.

With the advent of the web, the emphasis has changed, and most Visually Impaired people now have computers, and access to the internet. This, in many respects, is so much better. Scanning was always a bit hit and miss, and you only had to get something written in a weird font for everything to go wrong. Currently, I do most (about 99 per cent) of my shopping on-line. I’m a musician, and very fussy about recordings of classical works. I like to read reviews before I buy. Sometimes, I’ll reject an idea and start again. All this boils down to the fact that I now have independence. My computer is infinitely patient, and I can change my mind, re-read a review, go to another shop, or simply get fed up and go and have some more caffeine. Expecting a partner or friend to help me in such a venture would, in my opinion, be way and above the call of duty. My wife says she wouldn’t mind, but I reckon that if she’d read me the backs of 15 CDs standing in the middle of a shop for an hour or more, and I finally decided I didn’t want any of them, she’d be pretty miffed!

I’m obviously keen to learn. I pick up tutorials on the internet (of variable quality), and I’m able to work through them at my own pace, re-reading, starting from the beginning where necessary. Imagine if you were my reader, and had to go through it with me. You’d have to wait whilst I typed example code, got it wrong, read through it again, etc, etc.

In a nutshell, it is important to stress that making pages accessible can be literally life changing for some people. It isn’t just about the law, or marketing. It is making a fundamental difference in a person’s independence.

The web and its accompanying facets such as E-mail are a huge asset. You send me an email, I can read it, and react immediately.

I worked for a large company a while back, and dealt with people in another factory on the phone. They all treated me with respect, and always (sometimes to their detriment) did what I told them to do. The crunch came when we ran a training course at head office. I presented the course. Imagine their shock seeing me using a Braille display with a speech system. They knew my capability by then, and if anything, meeting me increased their respect.

Related posts:

1. Making Accessible Websites
2. Internet Explorer IE – Microsoft
3. The Liberal Democrat Party Website
4. Who Wins the Accessibility Election?
5. The Labour Party Website

Tags: accessibility, disability accessibility, independence, website