[gui-talk] Fwd: E-Access Bulletin, February 2011: 'Fix the Web' progress; Transport access barriers.

[Steve Pattison]

From:    Dan Jellinek dan at headstar.com
To:      eaccess at headstar.com

++E-ACCESS BULLETIN
Access To Technology For All, Regardless Of Ability
- ISSUE 134, February 2011.

A Headstar Publication.
http://www.headstar.com/eab/ .

Please forward this free bulletin to others (subscription details
at the end). We conform to the accessible Text Email
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++Issue 134 Contents.

+01: ‘Fix the Web’ Project Makes Early Impact
- Volunteers help solve problems with 26 sites in 12 weeks.

+02: Canadian Coalition Pushes For TV Access Revolution
- Multi-million dollar accessibility fund could emerge next
month.

+03: Disability Severely Limits Net Access, US Survey Finds
- Just 54% of Americans with a disability going online.

News In Brief: 04: Knowledge Exchange – e-book, mobile and
internet guidance; 05: Diary Date – e-Access ’11 announced
for 28 June; 06: Accessibility Masterclass – free business
workshop.

Section Two: Inbox.
07: Sound Response – recommendations for tools to convert
Word to audio formats; 08: Future Imperfect – fears that UK
cutbacks will hit accessible software development.

Section Three: Conference report – Vision for Equality.
09: Mind the Gap: Many technologies already exist that could
greatly help blind and vision-impaired people travel on our
transport system, and most would help all other travellers get
around as well. So why aren’t they being fully implemented?
Tristan Parker reports.

[Contents ends].


++Section One: News.

+01: ‘Fix the Web’ Project Makes Early Impact.

A three-month-old project using ‘crowdsourcing’ to improve
the accessibility of websites for disabled people has already
helped to solve problems with 26 sites, including those of the
BBC and a large UK building society, E-Access Bulletin has
learned.

The Fix the Web project ( http://www.fixtheweb.net/ ), which
launched in November and was previewed in our September
issue ( http://bit.ly/eQDmpC ), recruits volunteers to contact
website owners on behalf of disabled internet users who
encounter access problems.

Users contact Fix the Web with complaints through the Fix the
Web site, email, Twitter or a new toolbar, developed by the
University of Southampton ( http://bit.ly/exuzAc ), and the
volunteers then take up the complaints on their behalf,
allowing people to report any problems in one simple step.

Coventry Building Society (CBS) was one company contacted
by Fix the Web after a disabled computer user experienced
problems logging into its online banking services using an
assistive technology head-operated mouse. The issue was
found to be related to a function of the Trusteer Rapport
security software recommended by CBS. Both CBS and
Trusteer worked with Fix the Web, and have agreed to update
their user instructions.

Other companies that have resolved website issues flagged up
by Fix the Web include several BBC sites, with work on
tagging of images and resizing of text, and Doodle (an online
scheduling service), which is currently working on making its
site more accessible to screen-readers.

“Website owners have responded well and have been keen to
resolve issues and work with us”, Fix the Web spokesperson
Nicky Ferry told E-Access Bulletin. “We’re not taking a name-
and-shame approach or trying to make people look bad. Our
work is much more collaborative”, she said.

Future plans for Fix the Web include looking at creating a ‘two-
tier’ system of volunteers (as some posses technical web
knowledge and can assist in fixing the flagged problems), and
also to take the project to an international level in the long-
term: “Once we feel that the system is robust enough, we will
look at taking it into a European context and then globally. For
it to be of real effect, it should be a global project”, said Ferry.

The project has also received celebrity endorsement, with the
actor, comedian and technology fan Stephen Fry publicly
backing the campaign this month.

And you can comment on this story now, on EAB Live:
http://www.headstar.com/eablive/?p=549


+02: Canadian Coalition Pushes For Broadcast Access
Revolution.

A coalition of Canadian disability organisations is set to hear if
it has been successful in obtaining funding to create one of the
world’s leading bodies promoting access to broadcasting
services.

The Access 2020 Coalition ( http://www.mediac.ca/proj-
Access2020.asp ), led by the non-profit body Media Access
Canada, has asked the Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to support the
proposal as part of the conditions the commission is set to
attach to its approval of a TV network takeover.

BCE (http://www.bce.ca/ ), owner of communications
company Bell, announced in September last year it is to
acquire Canada’s largest TV network, CTV. Any change in
control of a Canadian broadcaster must include a package of
benefits to the industry, and Access 2020 has asked the
commission to require BCE to allocate 1% of the value of its
purchase of CTV – around 13 Million Canadian dollars – to a
trust fund that would ensure 100% accessibility for all
Canadians across all digital platforms by the year 2020. The
proposed initiative, A Bridge to the Future (see
http://www.mediac.ca ), includes elements of technology,
research and education.

In response, BCE has offered to allocate a lesser sum – 5.7
million dollars – to set up a ‘Bell Broadcasting Accessibility
Fund’ with similar objectives, and in consultation with the
disability community. However, Media Access Canada
Executive Director Beverley Milligan told E-Access Bulletin
this week that BCE’s counter-proposal was unacceptable, as it
would not be fully independent or transparent. Disability
organisations would continue to press for funding for a fully
independent accessibility body, and were confident of winning
the day, she said.

“We are convinced that this issue is critical to the success of
the plan. Our goal of being empowered, will not be achieved if
[we must] wait to be consulted by broadcasters and
telecommunications companies, without resources of our own
to initiate required research, but with our names appended to
documents authored by broadcasters, telecommunications or
their agents, and over which we have had little, if any,
meaningful input.

“It is only through allowing accessibility organisations and
experts to take the lead in decision, research and technological
innovation that the real systemic barriers can be properly
addressed. The broadcasters will never act on what they see
only as a no-return expense line item.

“A ruling in our favour would mean we could get to work and
get the job done.”

The CRTC is expected to render its decision around 25 March.

And you can comment on this story now, on EAB Live:
http://www.headstar.com/eablive/?p=544


+03: Disability Severely Limits Net Access, US Survey Finds.

Two per cent of US adults – six million people – have a
disability that makes it difficult or impossible for them to use
the internet, according to new research on the technology
habits and abilities of disabled US citizens.

The survey by the Pew Research Center ( http://bit.ly/i0hWaq ),
a non-partisan body conducting social science research, also
found that Americans with a disability are less likely than other
adults to use the internet, with just 54% of US adults with a
disability (around 45 million people) reporting themselves as
going online, compared with 81% of non-disabled adults.

The quality of internet speed and access were also shown to
vary according to a person’s disability profile. “People living
with disability, once they are online, are also less likely than
other internet users to have high-speed access or wireless
access. For example, 41% of adults living with a disability
have broadband at home, compared with 69% of those without
a disability”, the survey found.

The survey ( http://bit.ly/hv0Hrh ) said all these factors could
impact negatively on an individual’s employment and life
opportunities.

The research for ‘Americans living with disability and their
technology profile’ was conducted using telephone interviews
with more than 3,000 people from the US, between August and
September 2010.

And you can comment on this story now, on EAB Live:
http://www.headstar.com/eablive/?p=541

++News in Brief:

+04: Knowledge Exchange: A collection of practical ‘skill
improvement forms’, to help blind and visually impaired
people use three types of modern technology – DAISY
electronic book readers, mobile phones and the internet – have
been published by the European Blind Union. The guidance
was produced by the union’s Intergenerational Knowledge
Exchange project (INTERGEN) to facilitate communication
and knowledge exchange between different generations of
visually impaired people:

http://www.intergenerations.eu/node/62
Short link: http://bit.ly/gHZ1Xp


+05: Diary Date: Ed Vaizey, the Government Minister for
Culture, Communication and Creative Industries, is to deliver
the opening keynote at E-Access ’11, the UK’s leading annual
event on access to technology for those with disabilities. The
conference is co-hosted by E-Access Bulletin publisher
Headstar with One Voice for Accessible ICT, and will take
place on 28 June in central London. More details to follow: for
now, everyone planning to attend should hold this date.


+06: Accessibility Masterclass: A free workshop on Accessible
Technology and Business Improvement is to be run next month
by the Business Taskforce on Accessible Technology – part of
the Employers’ Forum on Disability – with Microsoft. The
half-day masterclass will cover how to procure, commission
and deliver accessible technology products and services, and
will take place in London on Tuesday 22 March:

http://www.efd.org.uk/events/2011-03-business-taskforce-on-
accessible-technology-btat-and-microso
Short link: http://bit.ly/gjshVu

[Section One ends].


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++Section Two: 'The Inbox'
- Readers' Forum.

Please email all contributions or responses to:
inbox at headstar.com .

+07: Sound Response: Last issue, David Bates wrote in to ask
advice on free or open source software to convert Word files
to audio formats.

In the first of three responses, Daniele Marano of
Hilfsgemeinschaft, a support organisation for the visually
impaired in Austria, wrote: “The best open source [tool] to
convert audio into mp3 or DAISY is RoboBraille (
http://www.robobraille.org ).

“The service supports many languages and the text to speech
engine used is from Loquendo so that even an open source has
high quality. The service is free for non-commercial purposes.”

Daniele acts as the local co-ordinator for RoboBraille in
Austria.

Tavis Reddick, an ICT developer at Adam Smith College in
Fife, Scotland, writes in to recommend another tool, called
‘Create&Convert’:
http://www.rsc-ne-scotland.ac.uk/eduapps/createconvert.php
“I believe that would do the job,” he says. “I tried an earlier
version, and it worked quite well.”

Tavis says that Create&Convert is one of many free, often
open source educational tools known as ‘EduApps’ provided
by his local regional support centre for JISC, the higher
education IT agency:
http://www.rsc-ne-scotland.ac.uk/eduapps/

Finally, Adrian Isbrecht writes in to recommend the quick,
flexible ‘DSpeech’ tool created by the Italian-based
programmer Dimitrios Coutsoumbas, or ‘Dimio’, which offer
“a really good spoken version of any text copied in... any size
document can be converted easily.”

Find out more at:
http://dimio.altervista.org/

[Further responses please to inbox at headstar.com].


+08: Future Imperfect: In our last issue the Canadian
accessibility consultant Donna Jodhan set out her vision for a
more accessible future, expressing the hope that progress
would soon be made in many areas including more affordable
software through open source development.

However Brian Gaff, of Kingston upon Thames Talking
Newspaper, writes in to say that, at least as far as the UK is
concerned, “I suspect Donna may well be jumping the gun a
little.

“Far from there being a feeling of optimism here, most
companies and the government are back on access, indeed
actually cutting services for disabled people, cutting their
benefits and cutting investment in jobs and access technology
generally, as the second wave of the recession starts to bite.

“It seems that disabled people are only worth supporting in
times of plenty. Are we really such a shallow race that this is
the way people feel? I suspect if asked, the answer is no. The
problem is that accountants are paid be for saving money and
increasing profit at any ‘cost’ to the culture and society in
general.

“It’s notable that both the people at screenreader.net and nvda-
project.org [both creators of free or open source screen-reader
software] are talking about scaling back their development later
this year due to a shortage of money pledged by either
government in the first case or by the industry in the second.

“So unless something special happens, the fledgling open
source and free screen-reader could be killed off before it’s
reached its full potential due to over-zealous, short-term-vision
bean-counters.”

[Further comments please to inbox at headstar.com].

[Section Two ends].


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[Sponsored Notice ends]


++Section Two: Conference report
- Vision for Equality.

+09: Mind the Gap
by Tristan Parker.

The spectre of public spending cuts hovered darkly over last
month’s Vision for Equality Conference in London, organised
by the charity Guide Dogs ( http://www.guidedogs.org.uk ).

With much discussion on access to transport, delegates heard
that many positive changes have already taken place, such as
personal assistants being made available for visually impaired
people on London Underground Tube trains.

But Fazilet Hadi, Group Director for Inclusive Society at the
Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), warned that
ongoing government reforms and budget cuts “hold lots of
threats” in this area. Specifically, the 28% budget cuts to UK
local authorities would undoubtedly mean cuts to the
accessibility of transport services, as well as to the accessibility
of numerous other services such as social care and libraries,
Hadi said.

Independent transport consultant Anne Frye OBE said there
were three key elements needed for truly accessible transport:
independence; control; and choice. Pushing for all these
elements to be put in place is the UK Vision Strategy (
http://bit.ly/fCdSS4 ), a wide-ranging document developed by
the VISION 2020 UK umbrella group for vision-impairment
organisations and the RNIB. In the field of transport, the
strategy calls for transport providers to make their services
fully accessible and for the external environment to be made as
easy as possible to move around in, which includes clear
pavements, safe crossings and bold signage.

There is already a legal requirement to provide accessible
transport in the Equalities Act 2010, which sets out clear
technical standards both for transport vehicles and pedestrian
environments, said Frye.

However, “It is one thing to pass an act of Parliament, but
another to make sure it happens in trains and buses across the
country”, she said. As an example, audible announcement
technology on trains, which can assist both disabled and non-
disabled passengers, is already “required very clearly by law in
the Disability Discrimination Act, but more often than not is
switched off. If you speak to staff, they often don’t know why
the audible announcement facility is there, or have switched it
off because they think passengers find it irritating”, said Frye.

Even though it may remain frustratingly unused, this audible
announcement technology is at least a legal requirement on
trains, said Frye. The same is not yet true for buses, although
there are positive developments in this area, at least in the
capital, in the form of Transport for London’s ‘iBus’ project –
a radio and visual display and announcement system fitted on
every London bus which can assist visually or hearing
impaired passengers with journey information.

This system has “transformed the ability to travel around
London for many people, including those with visual
impairments,” said Frye. However, Transport for London’s
primary motive for investing in the system was to replace out-
of-date equipment, rather than to promote disability rights.
“They couldn’t have made a business case on that alone, and I
think that will increasingly be the case where budgets are cut”,
she said.

Looking outside the UK, one of the simplest and most
effective examples of accessible transport technology can be
found in Barcelona’s Metro system, said Frye, where the
transport authorities invited blind people to design ticket
machines for the stations. “The result has been startling,” she
said. “There used to be staff employed just to stand next to
machines and explain to travellers where to put your credit
card and where the ticket came out. They don’t need to do that
anymore because suddenly the machines are intuitive; so
there’s a clear economic benefit that comes from applying
universal design.”

Another innovative example of how technology can create a
more accessible transport system was described by Sandra
Gollan, manager of the Dundee Blind and Partially Sighted
Society. In Dundee, said Gollan, audio bus departure messages
are available at city centre bus stops, accessed by council-
issued travel ‘smart cards’. These cards contain specially fitted
microchips, enabling visually impaired passengers to swipe the
card and receive the live audible messages.

This kind of real-time information could also be used on
board the vehicles, Gollan said. A chipped card could allow
passengers in the seats put aside for disabled travellers to
access audible information during journeys, without it being
disruptive for other passengers, she said.

“The technology is out there, but we aren’t pushing it enough”
Gollan said. “It’s the same with consultations; a lot of visually
impaired people listen to [blind-specific] radio, so why not
allow them to hear the debate over the radio and phone-in, so
they don’t have to physically get to a destination and can just
pick up their telephone to explain what their problems are?
There’s a lot of technology out there that we could be using.”

NOTE: Presentations from Vision for Equality can be found at:
http://www.guidedogs.org.uk/news/national-events/vision-for-
equality-conference/ Short link: http://bit.ly/htoFmL

And you can comment on this story now, on EAB Live:
http://www.headstar.com/eablive/?p=539

[Section Three ends].


++End Notes.

+How to Receive the Bulletin.

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Please send comments on coverage or leads to Dan Jellinek at:
dan at headstar.com .

Copyright 2011 Headstar Ltd http://www.headstar.com .
The Bulletin may be reproduced as long as all parts including
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Please also inform the editor when you are reproducing our
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is also cited.

+Personnel:
Editor: Dan Jellinek.
Reporter: Tristan Parker.
Editorial advisor: Kevin Carey.

ISSN 1476-6337.

[Issue 134 ends.] 

Regards Steve
Email:  srp at internode.on.net
MSN Messenger:  internetuser383 at hotmail.com
Skype:  steve1963
Twitter:  steve9782