Special Needs Web Access

I have never felt comfortable trying to describe individuals who carry the burden of a physical or cognitive disadvantage. There is no real politically correct way to tag that reality without sounding too contrived. While I was teaching we steered a course to avoid the rocks and reefs of offense while trying to navigate a track of greater inclusion. Sometimes we did it well and at others we hoped a fog would roll in and our transgressions would not be noticed.  But it was obvious that no matter what we did we couldn’t erase the fact that it’s just a real burden not being able to do something that everyone else can in a world that was created to accommodate them. The articles in this week’s readings are an attempt to get at the heart of the matter by addressing some of the most common obstacles to those that don’t see and hear as well as the majority of the population. If the physical world is tough, just imagine how tougher it is to navigate in a virtual web world; the Web Aim screen reader simulation was a good example. Still no matter how many adaptive technologies are applied and how aware we are of the challenges, not all can be satisfactorily addressed. I thought about those visually impaired individuals who have difficulty with colors even before I read Mark Pilgrim’s piece, Dive into Accessibility. Granted, there are quick fixes for identifying links (underlining and bold) but can they really use programs like Photoshop, or appreciate the subtle hues of colors in a picture. Probably not, no matter how web designers attempt to ameliorate the shortcoming. Individuals like my daughter who carry the burden of cognitive learning disabilities really exist beyond the scope of most new media designers. True, some adaptations like more sound and pictures, and better navigation devices are a plus. But they don’t really address the myriad of mental processing shortfalls that are present. It is a wide field. Suffice to say that web designers are using tools at hand with some effect and they need to continue to explore possibilities. My severely dyslexic daughter learns things faster and has a greater comprehension rate when she uses on-line resources than if she sits in a straight lecture class with a monotonic professor. When I taught history at the college entry level I applied those devices that were effective with her to reach my students: more videos, more PowerPoint slides, music, guest speakers, and short YouTube clips. Student class reviews, participation, and grades reflected the effectiveness of those new media techniques. Any effort that amplifies the benefits of the web and includes individual users who are at a disadvantage should be encouraged. As scholars and historians we must learn how to increase accessibility to our sites lest we lose an audience that deserves to be included and who in their own right may lend a special creativity of their own.

                               

Comments

[Dan Gifford]

John, I share your discomfort in trying to come up with un-contrived categories or distinctions, particularly in the realm of learning. While blind people share the common experience of lacking sight, and deaf people share the experience of not hearing, I don't think there is a common experience relating to cognition and developmental learning. Even within the various diagnoses that help us categorize the myriad of "learning disabilities," I'd be hard-pressed to say that two people sharing a dyslexia diagnosis will necessarily learn the same way.

Which is why the digital world is so wonderful. I think the embarrassment of riches we find online frees us from trying to categorize and shoehorn learning into a particular mold. Learning history can occur through short text, long text, talking head lecture, re-enactments on video, documentaries, galleries, music archives...the list is endless. And thank God it is, because the permutations of how people learn are equally endless. It seems that the role of history teacher today is not to force students to learn the information in one, rote fashion. Rather, it is to instill a discerning sensibility in students to help them identify plausible, reliable information from the dreck that also exists online. We have become Virgil to a world full of Dantes---serving as guide, but allowing our charges to explore as well. Such freedom is both refreshing and somewhat scary (what about all those history standards we are always arguing about?!!), but I think is the way more and more history will (must?) be taught.