E-Access Bulletin Live

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

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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 ( 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.
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