New Smartphone App helps People with Vision Disabilities take Notes on iOS Devices
For the millions of Americans with vision disabilities looking for a simple, convenient way to take notes at work, at school, or at home, the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) launched the AccessNote™, a specialized notetaker for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. “Apple products have earned high points from us for their out-of-the-box accessibility for users who are blind or vlow vision,” said Carl R. Augusto, AFB president and CEO. “We designed this app to complement the iPhone’s other popular features, like web browsing and email, so that users who are blind have all the tools they need in one, handy device.”
From http://globalaccessibilitynews.com/2013/02/05/new-smartphone-app-helps-people-with-vision-disabilities-take-notes-on-ios-devices/, February 11, 2013
Canada: Winnipeg-based Museum to set 'Global Standard' for Being Accessible to Visitors with Disabilities
Designers of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg say they are setting a new standard in making the building accessible to people with a wide range of disabilities. Eight disabled Canadians have had direct input into the design of the museum, which is being built near The Forks in the city's downtown. Designers are now working on implementing their recommendations.
From http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2013/01/28/mb-canadian-museum-human-rights-accessibility-standard.html, February 08, 2013
Resource: Accessible University 2.0
Accessible University (AU) is a fictional university home page designed to demonstrate a variety of common web design problems that result in visitors with disabilities being unable to access content or features. AU was originally developed by AccessIT and is maintained by AccessComputing, both projects based out of the University of Washington. Use the AU site to demonstrate common web accessibility principles at trainings, presentations, and workshops on accessible web design and learn common web accessibility problems and solutions in an easy-to-understand way.
From http://www.washington.edu/accesscomputing/AU/, February 07, 2013
U.K. Campaign to make Internet more Accessible to Disabled and Older People Gains Support
Two public sector bodies have been the first of their kind to join a national campaign which helps disabled and older people overcome the difficulties faced when using the Internet. Go ON Gold is a national campaign created to raise awareness and solve the barriers facing these groups in an increasingly digital society.
From http://www.carehome.co.uk/news/article.cfm/id/1558812/campaign-to-make-internet-more-accessible-to-disabled-and-older-people-gains-support, February 07, 2013
Resource: Making PIN Entry Devices (PED) Accessible for Persons with Disabilities
The features listed below would make a PED more accessible to partially sighted people:
1. Physical device
2. High contrast buttons - contrasting with the background (surface of the device)
3. High contrast numbers and symbols - contrasting with the surface of the button
4. Large numbers and letters (as large as the button allows for)
5. Sans serif typeface
6. Easy to see card slot (this could contrast from the surrounding area or have a prominent surround that make it easy to locate)
7. Back-lit buttons
From http://www.useraccess.org/2013/02/making-pin-entry-devices-peds-more_7.html, February 07, 2013
SSB Bart Group's Interview with Adobe on PDF Document Accessibility
Our joint webinar with Adobe in January on PDF document accessibility was a great success! There were so many good questions, but unfortunately only a short period of time to address them. This blog is the first of a two-part series that will address those questions. Many thanks to Andrew Kirkpatrick from Adobe and our own Jonathan Avila for answering the participants’ questions.
From https://www.ssbbartgroup.com/blog/2013/02/06/pdf-document-accessibility-q-a/, February 07, 2013
AppleTV 5.2 Update brings Accessibility Changes
Today, Apple released an update for the AppleTV set-top box, bringing the software up to version 5.2. Among the changes are support for Bluetooth keyboards, iTunes in the Cloud, Up Next, and some tweaks to accessibility. When browsing the AppleTV interface with VoiceOver users will find that the grid layout of icons is better represented. VoiceOver navigation will stop at the far left or right ends of a row of icons, clearly delineating between rows. This should eliminate some of the confusion navigating experienced by some users.
From http://maccessibility.net/2013/01/28/appletv-5-2-update-brings-accessibility-changes/, February 07, 2013
USA: Mitsubishi Foundation Calls for Grant Applications for Disability Programs
MEAF provides National Grants for innovative model projects of national scope focused on its mission of empowering youth with disabilities to lead productive lives through increased employment. Nonprofit organizations can review MEAF’s priorities & guidelines and take an eligibility quiz to see if they qualify to apply for a MEAF National Grant. Visit What We Do to learn more about the impact of these grants.
From http://www.meaf.org/how_to_apply/, February 06, 2013
Amara Launches Free Version of its Crowdsourced Subtitling Platform for YouTube Users
Channel owners simply visit Amara.org and connect their YouTube account from the homepage. All of the videos in your account are then added to Amara – along with any existing subtitles – and a link is then added in the video description, inviting viewers to subtitle your work.
Once the subtitles are finished, they’re then automatically sent from Amara back to YouTube, thereby updating the language options on any website where the video is embedded.
From http://thenextweb.com/2013/02/06/amara-launches-a-free-version-of-its-crowdsourced-subtitling-platform-for-youtube-users/, February 06, 2013
Resource: Making Powerpoint Presentations Accessible to Visually Impaired and Dyslexic Users
The DAISY Consortium has been in the front line of accessibility and assistive technology for years, pushing the development and implementation of new formats like DAISY and EPUB3 for ebooks, with the goal of publishing ebooks in a way that is convenient to anyone, independently if the user is a seeing person or a visually impaired, or if the user is suffering from a reading impairments as dyslexia. A truly inclusive concept. SlideTalk is a recent service that makes it easy to add a voiceover to PowerPoint presentations by using text-to-speech, and it can certainly be used to increase accessibility of PowerPoint presentations, very often published without any comment and therefore inaccessible for Visually Impaired and Dyslexic users. Now SlideTalk is being used to give a voice to the presentations made by the Daisy Consortium.
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JTbqIr1x1Uw, February 06, 2013
