In a large corporation a visually impaired female programmer, Jill Hunt, is having difficulty doing payroll and education because these software applications aren't accessible. She wants to give her boss an easily understood source for the benefits of making the corporation internal web sites accessible.
In a city government Mike Friend, is leading the Deaf members of the Mayor's disability task force is trying to get more media access for the deaf community. This is especially important because many city events are now disseminated using Pod Casting resources. They need a place to go on the web that supports the needs for Deaf access to audio output.
A mid aged well/high educated blind person, Bendt Bjorner, needs these materials to influence and inform the decision makers and members in his own organization. This would also help him communicate with other disability organizations to get better understanding of other disability groups' needs and requirements in web accessibility. Another important purpose is to gain an understanding and awareness of where to find information which can be used in negotiation with government regarding national legislation and/or requirements for public web resources. This is very important with all the new e-government and digital self-service applications being established.
Gideon McMasters is the leading spokesman for an organization of blind computer users. He designs/hosts Web sites and participates in several online forums
He seeks better means of getting WCAG implemented throughout the Web and is in constant correspondence with organizations who fail to comply with the W3C recommendations.
His natural tendency is to use the carrot instead of the stick but he needs to stay abreast of regulatory progress so that when necessary he can play his "It's the law!" card.
Janet Mortimer directs a national effort to make all new construction "visitable" by people in wheel chairs and almost incidentally must use the Web as her main medium of disseminating information.
She is more activist than mere advocate so she stops buses without lifts from proceeding and generally tends to take prominent actions in her cause.
Her goal is to use the Web as a means of reaching out for allies in her decades-long struggle but she finds that many of the tools suitable for that purpose present functional barriers for her Disability Rights Movement colleagues. Solidarity with those who cannot use the Web as easily as she does dictates that she be pro-active in demanding ATAG support from the vendors of authoring tools.
She needs help in hastening tool compliance.
Martina Prado
Age: 32
Position: Web site developer
Organization: Small Web design company
She needs guidance for standards to follow. Martina understands the difficulties of navigating graphical user interfaces without a mouse because life long cerebral palsy inhibits her use of a mouse. She feels like a survivor, and she realizes that a solution that works for her may not work for someone with a different disability.
Chandra Weesaw
Age: 52
Position: executive assistant
Organization: university executive office
She needs to come up to speed on accessibility standards quickly to prepare her manager for a meeting. Chandra has a recent vision loss. It is not severe enough to qualify as low vision, but it has turned much of her reading into a chore. Right now the largest text setting on Internet Explorer works for her, but she is concerned and she considers this assignment to be very important. She is glad she can do so much of her research on the web.
Marc Blake
Age: 26
Position: graphic designer
Organization: Small Web design company
Graphic art is his focus. He wants to provide accessibility but values graphics first. Much of Marc’s self esteem is tied to his artistic ability. He is an undiagnosed individual with moderate dyslexia. He could scramble enough to survive his other college courses outside but his art made him a star. Marc would benefit professionally and personally from understanding how the Web can help to remove barriers for individuals with print disabilities.
William Travis
Age: 47
Position: Web accessibility and usability consultant
Organization: Independent
He is technically competent, does accessibility audits and advises. William has no disability himself, but his youngest son Adam is deaf. He is interested in how current standards and laws will help his son.
Jessica Pratner
Age: 28
Position: Manager
Organization: Large enterprise industrial company
She is the ambitious director of risk management, and she wants to be prepared quickly about accessibility. In college, Jessica was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, a fact that she keeps secret. She did not seek help from any agency, but was mentored by two people who showed her methods to cope with ADD. Jessica is committed to understanding web accessibility to protect her organization from legal exposure, and to make it easier for undeclared individuals with disabilities to function and maintain their privacy.
Dr. Su Sathianathan
Age: 61
Position: professor, and industry policy consultant for education, research, and business
Organization: university, and various businesses
He keeps
up accessibility compliance on his own sites, but he needs help for his
clients. Su was recently diagnosed with
macular degeneration.
Brad Fletcher
Age: 24
Position: Legislative Assistant
Organization:
State legislature,
harmonization for
pending legislation on accessibility. Brad
loves this part of the job because as a