RE: Web accessibility for people with dyslexia

Juliette,

I’m no expert on the needs of those with dyslexia but a short success story may be of interest.

I have a family member who is a teacher in rural Alaska where many children are born with dyslexia issues due to a history of alcoholic additions in their families. Her specific students where failing due to not being able to read and study. I introduced her to simply using Narrator on the school supplied laptops to announce and read lessons and web articles and within a few months they were studying, getting great grades and even participating in a NASA project for schools. The school system is looking at broadening the adoption of this simple – already on each students laptop – technology. None of this would have been possible if she had not inquired about how to use AT when she heard that is what my career focus has been.

I hope that is an encouragement to you, as it was to me.

Alan Smith

From: Lars Ballieu Christensen
Sent: Tuesday, May 2, 2017 2:43 PM
To: Juliette
Cc: WAI IG
Subject: Re: Web accessibility for people with dyslexia

Hi Juliette

I would still argue that the best approach would be to follow the general accessibility guidelines (WCAG 2) – that would address the needs most users (not all, I know). In my opinion, the alternative is problematic … having to explicitly decide which users you would want to accommodate. The visually impaired? The dyslexic? Those with motor deficiencies? … the list goes on. Why and how would you want to do that rather than just subscribing to a well-defined set of universal design criteria?

Venligst/Kind regards

Lars
----
Lars Ballieu Christensen 
Rådgiver/Adviser, Ph.D., M.Sc., Sensus ApS
Specialister i tilgængelighed/Accessibility Consultants 
Tel: +45 48 22 10 03 – Mobil: +45 40 32 68 23 - Skype: Ballieu
Mail: lbc@sensus.dk – Web: www.sensus.dk <http://www.sensus.dk/> & 
www.robobraille.org <http://www.robobraille.org/>

Vi arbejder for et tilgængeligt og rummeligt informationssamfund
Working for an accessible and inclusive information society

Fra: Juliette <piazza.juliette@gmail.com>
Dato: tirsdag den 2. maj 2017 kl. 18.54
Til: Lars Ballieu Christensen <lbc@sensus.dk>
Cc: WAI IG <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Emne: Re: Web accessibility for people with dyslexia
Sendt igen fra: <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Dato for sendt igen: Tue, 02 May 2017 16:56:05 +0000

Hi Lars,

I really agree with you. The thing is I know a few companies who either want to show to the world that they are 'accessible for people with visual impairment' or 'accessible for people with dyslexia' or whatever the impairment. They think, providing a guidelines on how to make a website accessible for people with dyslexia for example will give them good publicity.. I tend to explain them that such people will all have their own way to use websites so at the end, if they really want to be 'accessible for people with dyslexia', they simply need to be accessible and following the W3C guidelines is probably the best way to do that.
Thanks for you feedback!
Best,
Juliette


On 2 May 2017 at 17:47, Lars Ballieu Christensen <lbc@sensus.dk> wrote:
Hi Juliette,
 
Accessibility as a term is usually not used to describe accommodations for particular user groups, e.g., people with dyslexia. Rather, accessibility refers to a set of universal design principles that aim to ensure that digital solutions can be used as widely as possible, irrespective of disabilities, situations and technologies. 
 
I’m sure you can find design recommendations for people with dyslexia, but in my opinion that has nothing to do with accessibility. It’s actually quite the opposite.
 
Venligst/Kind regards
 
Lars
----
Lars Ballieu Christensen 
Rådgiver/Adviser, Ph.D., M.Sc., Sensus ApS
Specialister i tilgængelighed/Accessibility Consultants 
Tel: +45 48 22 10 03 – Mobil: +45 40 32 68 23 - Skype: Ballieu
Mail: lbc@sensus.dk – Web: www.sensus.dk <http://www.sensus.dk/> & 
www.robobraille.org <http://www.robobraille.org/>
 
Vi arbejder for et tilgængeligt og rummeligt informationssamfund
Working for an accessible and inclusive information society
 
Fra: Juliette <piazza.juliette@gmail.com>
Dato: tirsdag den 2. maj 2017 kl. 18.13
Til: <undisclosed-recipients:;>
Emne: Web accessibility for people with dyslexia
Sendt igen fra: <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Dato for sendt igen: Tue, 02 May 2017 16:14:46 +0000
 
Hello,
 
Is there any guidelines to make a website accessible for people with dyslexia?
My thoughts are that people with dyslexia can use a wide range of assistive technologies or no assistive technology at all. For this reason, making a website accessible for people with dyslexia leads to entirely follow the W3C guidelines. But, is there any specific standards or criteria for people with dyslexia?
Thanks a lot.

 
-- 
Juliette




-- 
Juliette