[nabs-l] Using BlackBoard

[Ashley Bramlett]

Chris,
Um, I do not believe we sued blackboard. We worked with them and 
aggressively pushed for access.
BB 9 was supposedly fully accessible, but if you used it, its frames, and 
way its set up is still a bit user unfriendly; still much better than it 
used to be.

-----Original Message----- 
From: Chris Nusbaum
Sent: Friday, December 23, 2011 6:01 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Using BlackBoard

Hi Dave and everyone,

If I'm right, I think the first Blackboard version which was made
fully accessible was version 9.  There might be earlier versions
that are accessible, but this was the first one that was made
fully accessible and certified by the NFB as such after we won
that lawsuit against them.

Chris

Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous new year!

"The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight.  The
real problem is the misunderstanding and lack of education that
exists.  If a blind person has the proper training and
opportunity, blindness can be reduced to a mere physical
nuisance."
-- Kenneth Jernigan (President, National Federation of the Blind,
1968-1986

The I C.A.N.  Foundation helps blind and visually impaired youth
in Maryland say "I can," by empowering them through providing
assistive technology and scholarships to camps and conventions
which help them be equal with their sighted peers.  For more
information about the Foundation and to support our work, visit
us online at www.icanfoundation.info!

----- Original Message -----
From: David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com
To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:25:12 -0600
Subject: [nabs-l] Using BlackBoard

There has been some discussion of BlackBoard here, and the
possible
need to move from Vista to Windows 7.  First let me say that for
the
most part, the operating system shouldn't matter, unless it
doesn't
support a browser and version of that browser you want to run.

Different people are saying that this works for me, or this
doesn't
etc.  I am sure that this is true.  However, I would caution
anybody
on making sweeping generalizations or conclusions on partial
information.

There are various versions of Black Board out there, some more
accessible than others.  Accessibility may also depend on how it
is
set up, how it is configured, and what specific features are
being
used.  Further the browser employed to access it, version of that
browser, screen reader, and version of that screen reader may all
matter.

This stuff is complicated and there are lots of variables.  In
general it is generally best to run a recent version of a widely
used
browser, Internet explorer or Firefox for example, which also
means
running a relatively recent screen reader.  New technologies are
used
on the web, and in applications all the time, and more recent
assistive technology generally handles them better.

Many sites have started phasing out Internet Explorer 6 support,
so
if you are still running it, it is probably time to think
seriously
about updating.

David Andrews

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