The presentation was “Accessible Computing for the Blind” by Paul Schmidt of the Center for the Blind & Visually Impaired and Bert Borja of the Foundation for the Junior Blind. This was a meeting of the Los Angeles Chapter of ACM.

The meeting began with the presentation of LA ACM Chapter Awards for the year by Awards Chair John Halbur. Outstanding member awards were presented to Paul Cudney and Arnold Goodman. Chapter Chair Elizabeth Manderfield received an award for her excellent service as Chapter Chair during the year. All of them have been active in an attempt to revitalize the LA Chapter with emphasis this year on deciding there is a problem and trying to identify it. Whether or not the Chapter can do something about it will be a subject for the future.

Paul Schmidt and Bert Borja, who is blind and a teacher for the Foundation for the Junior Blind, described some major problems for blind users. They can’t use a mouse and see its position on the screen and they can’t see graphics or pictures. There are tools available such as screen readers, screen magnifiers for people with some sight and Braille displays. There is scanner/reader software and text messaging that provides voice output and there are cell phones that use talking commands. There are Braille note-takers.

There is a program called JAWS (Job Access With Speech) that provides major advantages. Other programs are Window Eyes, Hal, Copernicus, and Windows XP Navigation. The programs read where the cursor is and describe it vocally. Mr. Borja provided a demo of the use of JAWS and Windows Eyes and the program gave vocal messages. The blind user is required to memorize many things in order to successfully use the software. There is a project called the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). He demonstrated software used on Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 including Power Point. Much of the presentation involved actually using the various pieces of software and producing outputs. This is very impressive to the audience but hard to describe in this meeting report.

There is scanner-reader software (Kurzweil 1000 or OpenBook) available that can scan bills, books, and other printed documents. It reads the documents and speaks them back to the user. There are organizations that provide scanned books over the internet. One of these is Bookshare.org. It takes training to use JAWS with Microsoft Word and other business applications. Many of the blind, who learn to use screen readers have a very good work ethics and can be very productive in spite of their handicap. Blind persons get very proficient at using the tools they need to do their required work.

The presenters were asked about voice recognition software. Paul pointed out that there are problems with voice recognition software, because the software requires training, and the blind can’t read the usual training tools provided. They need to have the training tools produce vocal outputs that they can talk back as inputs to the voice recognition equipment, or have someone help them with the training.

The Internet can be a problem for people who cannot see the screen. Web developers need to be aware of the elements already in HTML that can assist in making their web page more accessible. The first being well labeled links. Descriptive labels are needed, no “Click Here”.

Graphics should also be labeled. This is definitely needed if the graphic is also a link. The more descriptive the links and graphics on the website the better. The blind need controls that can be recognized and can’t use unlabeled graphics.

You can use Hotmail with a screen reader. Graphic images used for authentication can also have an audio file that can be used by the visually impaired to enter an authentication code. Adobe 7 is much more accessible to screen readers than most software.

Labels for links should have enough information to make them easily usable. A label “Click here to register” is much more usable than a simple “Click here” link imbedded in text outside the label that informs you that this is needed to register. Because screen readers can extract links out of the web pages context, the links should use a wider and more informative set of labels.

Labeled images are very helpful and applets and objects can use labeling for ease of use. There are now laws that require that websites be accessible by handicapped persons which can be provided by following appropriate standards.

Accessible Java makes a site easier to use. There is an automated web service that can check your website to determine how accessible it is for use by the blind -- webxact.watchfire.com.

This will give you a list of areas you will need to look at to make sure you meet accessibility standards.

The presenters also mentioned that the use of heading tags is important because screen readers have the ability to jump to headings. This will speed navigation. Navigation speed is important when someone is searching for information.

A Braille display was available as a static display. It works line by line off a text page. Bert gave individual demonstrations to a few curious attendees.

The program was excellent and demonstrated that the blind can be very productive using software. It isn’t easy and requires training, but those who make the effort to try are highly motivated to succeed.