Solutions

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US cable company launches talking TV guide

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The cable television company Comcast has added a ‘talking guide’ to its new X1 set-top box, allowing blind and vision impaired viewers to easily find content.

"A" hot button highlighted on X1 remote. Image credit: Comcast

The ‘talking guide’, which features a female voice, reads out program titles and other information, network names, time slots and settings. It will be made available to all Comcast customers in the next few weeks.


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Affordable access opportunities for Australia

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At the ACCAN National Conference on 2 September, Media Access Australia CEO Alex Varley joined a panel to discuss challenges for the telecommunications industry around affordability.

Mature man using a smartphone outdoors

According to Varley, the opportunities are waiting to be tapped in servicing the almost 20% of the population with a disability who have mainstream needs. He outlined five key issues to consider:


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Accessible Document Service

Media Access Australia’s Accessible Document Service is a simple, convenient service helping organisations to make their documents accessible for web and digital environments.

Depending on complexity, almost any type of document can be made accessible according to applicable standards like WCAG 2.0 and PDF/UA.

Most common source software formats that can be made accessible and converted into accessible PDFs are:


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Dr Scott Hollier talks affordable access at ACCAN 2015 National Conference

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Media Access Australia’s Dr Scott Hollier will be presenting at next week’s Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) National Conference, Dollars and Bytes: Communications affordability now and tomorrow.

ACCAN Dollars and Bytes: Communications affordability now and tomorrow. National Conference: 1st & 2nd Sept 2015


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Including captioning for excursions

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The principles of CAP THAT! don’t have to stop at the school gate. There are options for including captioning as part of an excursion; it just requires a little research and planning beforehand.

Teacher and six primary school students standing outside a building


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Transport for NSW releases app to help the blind navigate

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Transport for NSW (TfNSW) has announced the release of an app, Stop Announcer, which will help blind or vision impaired people to find their way around the public transport system across NSW.

Stop Announcer (NSW) app icon


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Petition started to bring audio description to TV

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Stephen Jolley, who has been blind since birth, has started a petition on Change.org, asking the Minister for Communications, Malcolm Turnbull, to change the broadcasting laws so that free-to-air television channels must provide audio description for blind and vision impaired people.

Girl wearing headphones, pointing a remote control with her right hand


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How does captioning help with inclusive education?

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Inclusive education is an expectation for any student enrolled in a mainstream school, which is the case for the vast majority of Australian school students who have a disability.

Teacher and four primary school students using a laptop


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Making access work in the New World

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Access to media through audio description and captioning is well established through most of Europe, North America and the English-speaking world. However, the situation in other parts of the globe is very mixed. Reporting in Australia is, not suprisingly, biased towards English language developments and advances. What is happening in other parts of the world, especially in Asia?

Globe of the world with Asia in focus

Digital media and technology: 

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Windows 10 Home and Pro – hands-on accessibility test

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Shortly after the launch of Windows 10 on July 29th, Dr Scott Hollier put together his thoughts, findings and hands-on impressions regarding the accessibility of Microsoft's latest operating system.

Windows 10 desktop with the Start menu expanded


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