Blind or vision impaired

While Google has made significant steps to improve the accessibility of some of its applications, including Gmail and Chrome, Shandra says that the company fails to integrate the needs of disabled users into its product development.

Shandra identifies the social network Google+ as an example of a product which has been released to the public with inaccessible buttons and form fields.

Someone with a print disability is defined as a person without sight, a person whose sight is severely impaired, a person unable to hold or manipulate books or to focus or move his or her eyes, or a person with a perceptual disability, such as dyslexia.

Organisations with speakers at the conference include Vision Australia, the Australian law Reform Commission, Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind. Media Access Australia has two speakers: CEO, Alex Varley, and project manager, Dr Scott Hollier.

Along with funding for DisabilityCare and education reform, funding to the ABC was boosted by $109.4 million. This money is allocated to news and current affairs and digital delivery of programming. What is noticeably absent is funding for an audio description service. Audio description is essential for providing equal access to television for people who are blind and vision impaired.

Designed by India-based Sumit Dagar, the braille smartphone uses haptic technology (communication through touch) with a grid of pins that elevate to form shapes, braille characters and buttons on the phone’s mouldable metal alloy coating.

The public service announcement, which can be viewed on YouTube, depicts two scenarios which would only be comprehensible to a blind or vision impaired person with audio description (called ‘described video’ in Canada).

I want you to sit back and imagine something if you will. Imagine coming home from a long day and settling down in front of the TV like everyone else does of an evening.  You switch on the set and find that The Big Bang Theory is on. Sheldon has just done something crazy as always and the results are causing the audience to laugh hard and clap loudly. But you have no idea what is happening and it is never explained in a way that will allow you to enjoy the wonderful visual comedy that others are able to view. 

The HTC First Accessibility Guide (PDF, 129KB) was recently published on the HTC website to coincide with the release of the smartphone. It provides step-by-step instructions on how to enable accessibility features. The accessibility features includes Android's screen reader, TalkBack, and Explore by Touch. Both of these provide audible feedback for items on the screen. These features help people who are blind or vision impaired navigate Android-run devices through audible feedback.

An ongoing service trial would provide viewers who are blind and vision impaired with a similar service to the 2012 technical trial, while allowing the ABC to resolve any issues involved in delivering AD nationally.

The ‘It’s as easy as ABC’ campaign is calling on supporters to write to Senator Stephen Conroy, the Minister for Communications, and Mark Scott, the ABC’s Managing Director, asking them to proceed with the service trial this year.

Voice Guidance was developed by Panasonic in conjunction with the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) in the UK, and was first included in a range of models released to the UK and Irish markets in 2012.

Included in the list of winners are AT&T, Best Buy, Panasonic, Regal Entertainment Group and the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB). Recognition was given to their products and services that showed innovation in order to cater to the needs of people with disabilities.

Winners of the 2013 Access Awards are: