This is a really interesting thread and I have to say I've been waiting
years for something solid on deafness and accessibility and usability to
show it's pretty face here :)
I'd like to expand on something Andreas wrote about deafness and content
length. I completely agree with your comments and would like to say that as
much as Content Length is a usability issue for all users, it is definitely
an accessibility issue for many Deaf and hearing impaired (HI) users (as
well as other groups).
I am not speaking on behalf of any deaf users nor am I generalising that
this applies to all deaf/HI users; the following is just based on my
experience working in the deaf community.
The link between deafness/usability/accessibility/content length is (as
Andreas wrote) largely based on educational experiences. This is for two
reasons:
1) Sign language is not a gestural version of English. The grammar and
syntax is completely different. Native Auslan (Australian sign language)
users have English as a second Language.
This is one reason why lengthy content is a usability/accessibility issue;
Users have to wade through content presented in their second language and
pick out key words.
2) For a long time, many deaf students were removed from class to attend
speech classes. This meant that they often missed fundemental lessons on
English, math, science, etc while being 'taught' how to say something they
couldn't hear. Another reason why content may be difficult to comprehend in
lengthy passages, and why point form is excellent.
3) Sign language does not contain any where near as many synonyms as
english, so often the same sign will be used for many different english
words.
There are other reasons too, but I think this will give you some idea.
I guess the main point to get from this is that Sign language (Auslan, not
signed English, is not based on English and does not follow the same grammar
as English.
So while content length is a usability issue for a broad range of users, it
can be an accessibility issue for Deaf/HI users for a similar though
different reason.
Hope that has been of some interest ;)
lisa
-Original Message-
From: Donna Maurer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, 4 August 2005 2:15 PM
To: wsg@webstandardsgroup.org
Subject: RE: [WSG] New front page for http://abc.net.au/
On 4 Aug 2005 at 13:55, Andreas Boehmer [Addictive Me wrote:
But the users that did request
the dropdowns mentioned following reasons:
- Reduce mouse-clicks (especially on machines with slow Internet
connection) - Get a quick, detailed overview of the content in all
sections - Less content to read through
The last point was in particular valuable for deaf users and users
with reading impairment. As the website we tested had a lot of content
on it, some users felt uncomortable with pages of long content.
That's interesting. Except for the example you gave (in a later post about
deafness
and the resulting learning difficulties) I wouldn't like to infer a general
link between
hearing impairment and content length.
Your learnings entirely reflect my experiences usability testing with people
without an
impairment, so I'd take the comments as general usability issues, not
particular issues
for people with a hearing impairment.
Donna
--
Donna Maurer
Maadmob Interaction Design
e: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
work: http://maadmob.com.au/
blog: http://maadmob.net/donna/blog/
AOL IM: maadmob
**
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list getting help
**
**
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list getting help
**
