Re: 28 March 2001 working draft

>Wendy, In the "Presentation and Interaction"  section of the introduction,
>you listed a few scenarios of how disabled people use the web, but the last
>one is very wrong and misleading.
> >Someone who does not read well may want to hear the information and >see
>words highlighted as they are read.

Anne,

Have you ever heard of WYNN [1]?  It's a tool created by AccessAbility, 
Inc. to help people who have difficulties reading.  It provides a variety 
of cues and configurations to help people read text.  For example, for some 
people the letters might bleed together if the letters are too close 
together, so with WYNN you can configure how much space appears between 
each letter.  It will also highlight words as it reads them outloud to you.

CAST has a similar tool called "eReader" [2]. Here is a statement on their 
product web page, "CAST eReader is a software tool designed to support 
learners of all ages who may lack the skills needed to read materials 
independently. The software can take electronic text content from any 
source and read it using synthesized speech and visual highlighting. The 
program's universal design features allow it to meet a wide range of needs, 
abilities and interests, supporting those who have difficulty reading. "

Therefore, I don't think it is "wrong." There are a variety of reading 
difficulties that one can experience and there are a variety of strategies 
to make reading easier or possible depending on the needs of the reader.

--wendy

[1] http://www.4access.com/products/wyr.htm
[2] http://www.cast.org/udl/index.cfm?i=197
--
wendy a chisholm
world wide web consortium
web accessibility initiative
madison, wi usa
tel: +1 608 663 6346
/--

Received on Thursday, 29 March 2001 10:28:54 UTC