Re: A joint seminar with the usability community and the blind community

Hi, Larry

What do you think is some of the usability research and/or development
that blind people could benefit from learning about?  Do you have
any thoughts on how that could be included in this seminar?

Scott

> Scott,
> 
> As a usability (early) and accessibility (later) person, I like this 
> idea of a joint seminar. I keep running across instances where a new 
> facet of a disability surprises me, whether that disability is sight, 
> hearing, or mobility.
> 
> You are correct that it works both ways. I've found people with (and 
> for that matter without) disabilities often are not aware of 
> usability research and developments that could benefit them. People 
> doing usability research and development may not fully consider the 
> impact on and potential benefits (perhaps with only a bit of 
> tweaking) for people with disabilities.
> 
> I perhaps should mention that I've seen a few usability efforts that 
> despite the best of intentions were less than fully beneficial due to 
> misapprehension on the part of the usability developers and the 
> absence of input from people, particularly people with disabilities. 
> No, I don't want to point fingers. Yes, most developers are aware of 
> the (general) problem and do include users in their projects -- at 
> least when it comes to testing.
> 
> I regret I would not be able to attend the proposed seminar. I hope 
> the event happens as it could be very beneficial. I would like to see 
> the lessons learned be made widely available.
> 
> Larry