>From Mike Zarro > > Nicholas makes a great point. The best (and only?) way to ensure > accessibility is to test with users who make use of assistive > technologies > (not just screen readers).
It is essential to take this a step further: The best (and only?) way to ensure accessibility is to test with users who have disabilities. Reason: lots of people with disabilities (the majority, even?) don't have any assistive technologies. Example: the very large numbers of people with age-related eyesight problems. Example: the people with cognitive disabilities. There are very few assistive technologies that will help with text that's too difficult to understand. Possibly none. And it's also important to understand that people with disabilities who use assistive technologies may use those technologies in a different way to people without disabilities who use them. Example: many people with disabilities who use a screen reader 'speed hear' in a way that the casual user of a screen reader wouldn't be able to emulate. Longer article on the topic of working with assistive technologies as a non-disabled person: http://www.usabilitynews.com/news/article1773.asp best Caroline ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
