accessibility

In most electronic devices today, sound is included as a primary or secondary feature. This provides a good deal of convenience for users as it enables them to be aware of certain events without looking at the device.

However, sound may not be that useful for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. So to solve this issue, providers of electronic devices have thought of an ingenious feature that can be used when sound is not a good option. This feature incorporates vibration which is activated during specific events.

Imagine yourself without the ability to hear, not even the slightest sound. How would you carry out your daily tasks and activities? What would you do to complete them properly?

We’ll try to answer these questions and much more by following a person with a hearing disability for one day. We will focus on how he uses technology in his daily life.

In part 1, we saw how Marvin, a guy with low vision, starts his day, goes to school and does the typical tasks of a student. We saw how he uses technologies to help him do the stuff he would otherwise find very difficult due to his low vision.

Let’s now follow him as he continues his day at the university.

Vancouver's hosting of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games is benefitting one very deserving group of travellers: Those with disabilities.

"The Games are a catalyst for change of the very best kind," says Bruce Dewar, CEO of a Vancouver not-for-profit society called 2010 Legacies Now. "We are
using the Games as a driver to get people thinking about how to make (Vancouver) one of the most accessible places in the world."

With an estimated one in eight people worldwide living with a disability, and $13 billion being spent annually in North America by travellers with disabilities,
Vancouver has tagged the group as one of the fastest growing market opportunities in the world.

Through the last three weeks, we followed Lisa, who is a blind woman, and examined how she uses technology to help her. Today, we will start talking about people with low vision.

When talking about sight-related disabilities, most people would quickly think of blind individuals. There is, however, another similar disability, and it involves limited or low vision. A low vision individual does not have perfect eyesight, but at the same time, he cannot be considered as totally blind.

We’ll find out more about this disability by following a person having this visual impairment. Here, we will take a look at the disability-related issues he encounters and how he uses mainstream and assistive technologies to solve these issues.

In part 2, we followed Lisa, a blind woman and examined what kind of challenges she faces using everyday technologies, such as the computer, a mobile phone, the internet, or just reading the menu in a restaurant. In this part, we will see how Lisa does her groceries, reads the mail, or watches movies.

Before you pay for a movie ticket or for a new pair of shoes, you would always make sure you’re handing the seller the right amount. This is really simple, you just have to give a quick look at your money, take out the right amount, and that's it.

But for people who cannot see, this becomes a difficult task. Here, we will talk about the problem faced by blind people, and discuss the possible solutions for this issue.

Access to government buildings remains the biggest problem people with a disability face and in fact was at the centre of 55 per cent of complaints filed
last year with the National Commission For Persons With A Disability.

Complaints over lack of accessibility in government departments filed with the commission in 2009 increased by 20 per cent over the previous year, according
to the commission's annual report on the implementation of the Equal Opportunities Act that was released yesterday.

We just looked at what is Braille, and how it is used in modern technologies. Now, let's see if Braille is in practice a good idea, or worth using for blind people.

Recently, we have seen a significant decline in Braille literacy among blind people in the U.S, and also in some other countries. At the same time, we have seen instances wherein blind people attain success in education and employment. This led to the belief that blind persons can now do without Braille.

Let us find out if Braille is indeed something which the blind can live without.

After taking a look at what Braille is, let us find out its current status and the interesting innovations related to this reading and writing system for the blind.