ICT-related skills and needs of blind and visually impaired people

This study focuses on the relationship between the ICT-related training offered to blind and\ud visually impaired people and their actual, self-reported and demonstrated, competencies\ud for online activities and information processing. The findings of the study can shed light on\ud how people with severe visual disabilities are prepared to access the web for educational,\ud institutional and social participation. The study also gives insight in the validity of instruments\ud to measure ICT-linked skills for the target group and creates an empirical foundation for\ud improvements of ICT-related training. The first phase of the study investigated how blind\ud and visually impaired people perceive their participation in society through ICT. An\ud extensive interview showed how this audience perceives the frequency and quality of their\ud Internet use (or absence thereof) and how they acquired these skills

CAPTCHA Accessibility Study of Online Forums

The rise of online forums has benefited disabled users, who take advantage of better communications and more inclusion into society. However, even with accessibility laws that are supposed to provide disabled people the same equal access as non-disabled users, sites have erected technical barriers, such as CAPTCHAs, that prevent users from taking full advantage of site capability. This study analyzes 150 online forums to determine if sites use CAPTCHAs, and what types are used. Each variety presents accessibility problems to disabled users and the results of the research show that most sites use text-based CAPTCHAs, but rarely provide alternatives that would help users with visual disabilities. The research presents alternatives that site designers may wish to consider in order to allow more disabled users to access their sites

Using remote vision: The effects of video image frame rate on visual object recognition performance

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2010 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works.The process of using remote vision was simulated in order to determine the effects of video image frame rate on the performance in visual recognition of stationary environmental hazards in the dynamic video footage of the pedestrian travel environment. The recognition performance was assessed against two different video image frame rate variations: 25 and 2 fps. The assessment included a range of objective and subjective criteria. The obtained results show that the effects of the frame rate variations on the performance are statistically insignificant. This paper belongs to the process of development of a novel system for navigation of visually impaired pedestrians. The navigation system includes a remote vision facility, and the visual recognition of the environmental hazards by the sighted human guide is a basic activity in aiding the visually impaired user of the system in mobility

Analyzing the efficacy of accessibility features in user-generated content platforms for visually impaired persons

Traditionally, the internet has been viewed as a societal equalizer. With the advent of online businesses and technologies that have advanced education, commerce, entertainment, and most things in between, the impact of the internet as we know it has empowered users across the world to achieve beyond measure using the power of the world wide web. Yet, for visually impaired users, the ever-widening scope of content within information channels leaves key information inaccessible, excluding these users from important conversations and interactions online. This study sought to address accessibility for the visually impaired through the lens of user-generated content: a largely overlooked sphere of online content regarding accessibility. It examined four major user-generated content platforms — Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok — explaining their strengths and weaknesses in providing accessible user experiences for the visually impaired. This study framed the issue of web accessibility in user-generated content platforms through research of online accessibility standards and best practices and explained how interviews with visually impaired users informed a cohesive accessibility analysis and recommendation guide for the four chosen user-generated content platforms.Thesis (B.?)Honors Colleg

Surveying Persons with Disabilities: A Source Guide (Version 1)

As a collaborator with the Cornell Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Demographics and Statistics, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. has been working on a project that identifies the strengths and limitations in existing disability data collection in both content and data collection methodology. The intended outcomes of this project include expanding and synthesizing knowledge of best practices and the extent existing data use those practices, informing the development of data enhancement options, and contributing to a more informed use of existing data. In an effort to provide the public with an up-to-date and easily accessible source of research on the methodological issues associated with surveying persons with disabilities, MPR has prepared a Source Guide of material related to this topic. The Source Guide contains 150 abstracts, summaries, and references, followed by a Subject Index, which cross references the sources from the Reference List under various subjects. The Source Guide is viewed as a “living document,” and will be periodically updated

Electronic Library Collections and Users with Visual Impairments: Challenges, Developments, and the State of Collections Policies in Academic and Public Libraries

Academic and public library collections are developed based on the needs of the communities that surround them. Technology has increased the way users access information, and the way libraries offer information to their users. However, the accessibility of electronic resources for users with print disabilities remains an issue that has yet to have an equitable remedy. This paper identifies the challenges of visually impaired users, the developments in law, the current state of accessibility in academic and public library collections policies, and the current formats and products that are leading the way