E-Access Bulletin Live

An attempt to redefine or reframe the term ‘disability’, in the context of online learning as a mismatch between a learner’s needs and the education process delivered, is enshrined in a new international e-learning standard.

ISO/IEC 24751:2008, ‘Information technology – individualised adaptability and accessibility in e-learning, education and training’ (
www.iso.org/iso/pressrelease.htm?refid=Ref1217 )
has been published by the International Organization for Standardisation (ISO) with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
(more…)

A row has erupted over whether or not publishers should be allowed to disable the text-to-speech function on electronic book readers, after one US reader manufacturer bowed to requests from an authors’ rights group and made the speech function optional.

Manufacturer Amazon made the move with respect to its new Kindle 2 e-book reader following representation from the Authors Guild, which had claimed that the automatic allowance of text-to-speech (TTS) conversion effectively created an audiobook device, even though no audio royalties were being paid.
(more…)

The lack of a coherent approach to boosting technology accessibility across European nations has been attacked by a leading technology industry spokesman.

Mark McGann, Director General of the European Information, Communications and Consumer Electronics Technology Industry Association (EICTA), told the recent European Commission Vienna conference on digital inclusion that the lack of a cohesive approach in this field has been “a massive failure”.
(more…)

A clever team in California have produced a WCAG 2.0 Theme Song for YouTube.

Follow this link to watch it

An online resource of open source, royalty-free assistive technology tools, accessible and usable at any time and across the world, is to be launched next year by a consortium of more than 30 US and European IT and disability organisations and leaders, the European Commission e-Inclusion conference heard this month.

Addressing the Vienna conference Dr Gregg Vanderheiden, director of the Trace Research and Development Centre at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (trace.wisc.edu), said the rationale for the project was to ensure that the societies of the future did not create a global disconnected underclass.
(more…)

The government is to pilot a ‘digital mentors’ scheme to help people in deprived areas use technologies such as websites, podcasts and digital photography to make their voices heard, collaborate and improve access to services.

The initiative forms part of a new action plan for digital inclusion (fastlink.headstar.com/action2),launched by Digital Inclusion minister Paul Murphy and the department of Communities and Local Government (CLG).

An estimated 17 million people over the age of 15 are not using computers and the internet, and there is a strong link between digital and social exclusion and disabled people with disabled people among those most excluded from the digital technologies at the heart of the developing knowledge economy, the plan says.
Order Triphala
Cheap Combivent
Buy Lotrisone
Cheap Ventolin
Order Hydrocodone
Nolvadex
Urispas
Evista
Buy Cialis
Order Singulair
Order Himcocid
Cheap Zimulti
Order Copegus
Order Acomplia
Purchase Butalbital
Menopause Gum
Gyne-Lotrimin
Order Levaquin
Buy Levaquin
Order Avandia
Male Sexual
Purchase AyurSlim
Order Clarina
Purchase Zetia
Buy Naprosyn
Order Endep
Order Starlix
Purchase Percocet
Purchase Danazol
Purchase Ultram
Buy Septilin
Order Oxycontin
Bontril
Order Zithromax
Purchase Neurontin
Buy Himplasia
Buy Diabecon
Herbal Maxx
Cheap Sorbitrate
Yerba Diet
Purchase Mevacor
Celexa
Cheap Lexapro
Order Diabecon
Purchase Bupropion
Buy V-Gel
Diabecon
Purchase Rimonabant
Purchase Hyzaar
Order Avapro
Topamax
Starlix
Order Xanax
Cheap Levaquin
Order Allegra
Cheap Nexium
Buy Cyklokapron
Buy Aceon
Cheap Zelnorm
Purchase Coumadin
Order Isordil
Herbolax
Combivent
Purchase Claritin
Myambutol
Buy Omnicef
Cheap Mevacor
Norpace CR
Ultram
Buy Aristocort
Purchase Propecia
Order Proscar
Order Celebrex
Purchase Alprazolam
Order Darvocet
Buy Zyrtec
Cheap Clarinex
Lopressor
Styplon
Buy Ionamin
Cheap Serevent
Cheap Oxycontin
Prometrium
Quibron-T
Purchase Confido
Order Overnight
Purchase Prednisone
Buy Sinequan
Order Tricor
Purchase Monoket
Cheap Plavix
Retin-A
Cheap Codeine
Evecare
Order Oxytrol
Buy Consultation
Order Ionamin
Cheap Geriforte
Cheap Brahmi
Percocet
Order Quibron-T
Purchase Levothroid
Buy Altace
Order Casodex
Cheap Diovan
Inderal
Purchase Lamisil
Buy Premarin
Order Meridia
Cheap Actos
Buy Trimox
Cheap Motrin
Buy Carisoprodol
Cheap Azulfidine
Order Sorbitrate
Purchase Accutane
Prozac
Purchase CLA
Cheap Plan
Cheap Relafen
Order Rumalaya
Cheap Lotensin
Order Fastin
Vitamin A
Buy Pletal
Purchase Hoodia
Purchase Mycelex-G
Cheap Atrovent
Himcocid
Buy Ativan
Buy Ambien
Purchase Buspar
Purchase Bonnisan
Buy Nizoral
Buy Prograf
Cheap Imdur
Order Menosan
Aristocort
Zanaflex
Men Attracting
Purchase Prozac
Purchase Acticin
Order Brite
Carisoprodol
ActoPlus Met
Clarina
Purchase Diabecon
Zestril
Cheap Stromectol
Cheap Noroxin
Buy Canadian
Purchase Seroquel
Cheap Clarina
Order Lopressor
Buy Rhinocort
Buy Eurax
Purchase Evista
Leukeran
Order Ativan
Phentermine
Prilosec
Cheap Serophene
Order Zimulti
Cheap Adipex
Nizoral
Buy Kytril
Purchase Plendil
Purchase Levlen
Order Alprazolam
Order Nicotinell
Cheap Phentrimine
Cheap Aciphex
Buy Cozaar
Cheapest Generic
Order Accupril
Buy Avodart
Male Enhancement
Buy Clarinex
Purchase Shoot
Order Motrin
Order Synalar
Order Purinethol
Cheap Norco
Karela
Cheap Claritin
Purchase Isoptin
Buy Accutane
Buy Superman
Buy Azulfidine
Cheap Naprosyn
Purchase Lortab
Cheap Zebeta
Buy Clarina
Buy Rocaltrol
Cheap Meridia
Order Diethylpropion
Purchase Stromectol
Buy Butalbital
Cheap Atacand
Buying Ultram
Order Chitosan
Order Noroxin
Purchase Lipitor
Cheap Vantin
Purchase Koflet
Cheap Endep
Cheap Prometrium
Purchase Proscar
Buy Acticin
Purchase Meridia
Soma
Buy Zimulti
Lexapro
Buy Menosan
Buy Karela
Lipitor
Cheap Pilex
Purchase Imitrex
Buy Endep
Buy Accupril
Order Zyprexa
Brafix
Order Phentermine
Green Tea
Cheap Lynoral
Cheap Aricept
Purchase Differin
Elimite
Purchase Hydrocodone
Bactroban
Buy Cardura
Cheap Amoxil
Diarex
Buy Flexeril
Atacand
Buy Shoot
Hoodia Weight
Order Methocarbam
Avandamet
Buy Brite
Cheap Augmentin
Order Parlodel
Purchase Zimulti
Purchase Imdur
Loprox
Buy Paxil
Cheap Sustiva
Cheap Lasix
Penis Growth
Cheap Neurontin
Purchase Triphala
Purchase Endep
Order Lukol
Cheap Elimite
Order Deltasone
Buy Lanoxin
Purchase Fastin
Desyrel
Geriforte
Buy Coreg
Cheap Aldactone
Buy Renalka
Buy Pravachol
Cheap Hoodia
Buy Keftab
Purchase Mexitil
Buy Requip
Order Levitra
Tiberius Erectus
Cheap Levitra
Order Cyklokapron
Snoroff
Cheap Lamisil
Aceon
Casodex
Cheap Nolvadex
Hoodia Weght
Order Phentrimine
Miacalcin
Cheap Ansaid
Buy Avandamet
Purchase Lexapro
Purchase Cephalexin
Cheap Purinethol
Purchase Diakof
Confido
Cheap Bontril
Didrex
Cheap Accupril
Himcospaz
Pulmicort Inhaler
Purchase Parlodel
Tenormin
Phentrimine
Purchase StretchNil
Purchase Ambien
Order Trazodone
Cheap Rimonabant
Buy Bonnisan
Buy Levothroid
(more…)

by Sir Stephen Duckworth

Planning for the 2012 Olympic games in London began some time ago, and there are many considerations that have been sadly ignored by previous hosts when it comes to making the games accessible to people with disabilities.

Accessibility issues relate not just to disabled spectators, but also disabled athletes. What are we doing for these groups? For example, is there technology that can help? I remember going to the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing and watching the blind sprinters running with their guides. When they had run the 100-metre race and crossed the finishing line, they didn’t have a clue whether they had come first, second or third. Is there an electronic wrist band that they could have that would indicate to them where they had come as they crossed the line? Surely it is technically possible to let them know. Of course, their guide was a few paces behind as they crossed the line, because those are the rules, and he or she would tell them, and you would see a sense of euphoria or disappointment depending on where they had come.
(more…)

A range of emerging technologies integrated with existing solutions could offer blind people and others with disabilities new ways of solving their everyday problems, according to a paper from Kevin Carey, director of the digital inclusion charity humanITy (www.humanity.org.uk).

The paper was presented at a recent inclusive digital economy conference at the University of York. In it Carey says: “There is enough technology to assist us with most of our problems but it is not integrated in the right way. If we spent more time, energy and money integrating rather than thinking up clever new, specialised and expensive assistive technologies, we would all be better off.”

For example in the future, modular user interfaces “will allow us to couple a large, portable screen with a small mobile telephone, bring the sound of a television into a remote controller or cable-free ear phones, allow the use of a large screen to ‘blow up’ an image or show a small part of it in great detail.”
(more…)

A long-awaited updated version of the main international standard for making websites accessible to people with disabilities is expected to be published in December, E-Access Bulletin has learned.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.0 from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C – www.w3c.org) have been in development for several years.

The first version of the WCAG guidelines now dates back around a decade, and though it has proved a vital tool for raising awareness of accessibility issues it has long been seen as over-technical, complex and unclear in many situations.

Version 2.0 is set to address many of these problems by moving away from rigid technical ‘checkpoints’ to more flexible ‘success criteria.’ (more…)

People with visual impairments are less likely to be employed than people with other disabilities, according to a report on the UK labour market experiences of people with sight problems prepared for the RNIB by the Institute of Employment Studies (fastlink.headstar.com/ies1).

The report was compiled through secondary analysis of the UK Labour Force Survey (LFS – fastlink.headstar.com/lfs1) over the period July 2004 to June 2007. The LFS recorded 184,000 people of working age in the UK who describe themselves as having  seeing difficulties’. Of those 108,000 are classed as disabled, 95,000 of whom have a ‘work-limiting’ disability.

The RNIB report finds people over 55 are three times more likely to have seeing difficulties as those in the 16-24 age bracket, which is a greater increase with age than with other kinds of disabilities. (more…)