Thanks to everyone who came out to the meeting last night. If you didn’t make it, you missed a great presentation on accessibility!
Watching how a screen reader user navigates a website was “eye opening”. Great discussion and lots of interaction by people who attended, including many “I didn’t know that” moments made this one of our best meetings ever.
Some highlights from the meeting:
- 85% of the population has a disability that affects computer use
- There is slow progress toward making sites accessible – Newspaper websites are “getting it”, laying out their sites in a more linear fashion
- When your website is not accessible, it’s not just affecting a blind user, it’s affecting a blind business person
- TEITAC recommendations for Section 508 (thanks to Mike Paciello of The Paciello Group)
- Google has accessible search, with no ads
- Web Accessibility Resource List (Word) from Cathy McAdam
- Web Accessibility Presentation Summary and Resources (Word) from Mary Donnelly
Thanks to Nick DeNardis and EduCheckUp for spreading the news about our meeting.
It was our first meeting at Washtenaw Community College, which meant we had plentiful, free parking, signage for the event, a fantastic meeting room, with projector and a computer. Small things, I know, but it meant I didn’t have to coordinate getting a laptop and projector or worry about other meeting logistics.
Video courtesy of VC Web Services
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Meeting: November 19, 2008 Website Accessibility in the Real World
November 6, 2008
Where: Washtenaw Community College, Ann Arbor, Michigan. We will be meeting in Room 103 at the Morris Lawrence Building (map). Plenty of free parking is available adjacent to the building.
When: Wednesday, November 19, 2008, 6:30pm – 8:00pm
Speaker: Mary Donnelly, Senior User Experience Consultant at Evantage Consulting and Cathy McAdam, ACSW
Abstract
Making the web usable for all visitors is the primary goal of creating an accessible website. The W3C estimates that close to 20% of all website visitors have some form of disability, whether cognitive, visual, hearing, or physical. These disabilities affect how visitors access a website, whether on a computer with assistive technology, laptop, or cell phone.
Learn what website accessibility is, why it is important, and what you as a web professional can do to provide a more accessible website for all website visitors. See how a screen reader views a web page and discover the different methods for testing website accessibility.
Mary Donnelly is a senior user experience consultant with Evantage Consulting. Her extensive experience includes user needs analysis, low and high fidelity prototyping, usability testing, research study design, and heuristic evaluation and assessment.
At the March 2008 EKU Web Accessibility Conference, Mary presented “An accessibility study of an online resource directory geared towards people with disabilities and seniors.”
Mary is an HFI Certified Usability Analyst, a member of the Usability Professionals’ Association, and the Society of Technical Communication.
Cathy McAdam, ACSW, has 20 years experience in rehabilitation medicine as a medical social worker at the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan.
In 1999, Cathy started her own company as a consultant focused on advocacy for assistive technology, and provision of career development services. She runs a tutor program for libraries for basic computer skills for Greater Detroit Agency For The Blind and Visually Impaired.
She leads grants focused on assistive technology for people with disabilities to drive systemic change that will permanently improve access to assistive technology devices and services, check out Cathy’s website.
Her focus on career development is closely linked to her drive to impact the availability and use of assistive technology to improve employment outcomes for people with disabilities. She is a primary consultant for DiverseAbility.
Please comment if you plan on attending. Thanks!
On Thursday evening, November 13, 2008, the Michigan Usability Professionals’ Association will host “Usability in Your Life and in the Products You Use”. The event is free, open to the public, and will be held in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
How well does your product or website meet your customers’ needs and expectations? Does your product simplify or complicate your client’s workday?
Using a combination of presentations and demonstrations with products ranging from alarm clocks to speeding cars to the high tech hands free voice activated SYNCH that was jointly developed by Ford and Microsoft, attendees will walk away with a clear understanding of the value of designing an excellent, compelling, and safe user experience into products. It will also drive home the point that usability is a rigorous design practice that is applied to much more than just web sites.
Usability in Your Life and in the Products You Use is one of many events around the world on World Usability Day, November 13, features speakers from the worlds of software development and technology integration.
This event will equip you with an overview of how to listen to your users and find out what they need. It is perfect for people and companies interested in making products that really work for users.
- Date: Thursday, November 13, 2008
- Time: 6:00pm – 9:00pm
- Cost: Free – refreshments included
- Location: Soar Technology, 3600 Green Ct #600, Ann Arbor, MI 48105 (map)
Although this event is free, please RSVP to events [at] miupa dot org to ensure that there are enough food and beverages for everyone.
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