Re: Comments from Arkenstone on the User Agent guidelines

Thanks for your comments.  I think users with learning disabilities is an
important group and your comments will be used in the guidelines.
Jon



At 06:04 PM 1/9/99 -0800, Jim Fruchterman wrote:
>
>     Version commented on: 19981112
>     
>     We were asked to comment especially on LD issues.
>     
>     Learning disability feedback from one of our educational specialists:
>     
>     "The features that are imperative for the LD user are bi-modal 
>     (obviously) and ALL the items beginning on page 9 under: section 4 - 
>     The user agent must render information accessibly.  This document 
>     fails to include Learning Disabled, specifically the dyslexic in their 
>     initial summary at the beginning of the section, when indeed all of 
>     these are issues for LD individuals. Although LD is included in the 
>     following sections, I would suggest you add this population, under 
>     Section 4 on page 9." 
>     
>     Suggested language, appended to the first paragraph of Section 4:
>     
>     "Learning disabled users, such as people with dyslexia, may prefer 
>     bi-modal presentation of information in both text and auditory form."
>     
>     
>     Other Comments from Jim Fruchterman:
>     
>     Section 2.5: "... rely on the visual output of another user agent."
>     
>     I recommend dropping the "visual." With respect to screen readers, 
>     this perpetuates the view that disabled people only want access to the 
>     visual information on the screen.  That's often not correct, although 
>     in the case of screen magnifiers I'll concede the point.  For example, 
>     MSAA with IE is reasonably useless to Arkenstone because our lower 
>     functioning clients would be totally boggled by getting access to the 
>     visual information.  They want access to the information itself.  
>     Often giving access to what a sighted person would see is partial 
>     access, such as when the window cuts off information that isn't known 
>     to be off to the "right" of the visible screen.
>     
>     Section 4.2
>     
>     What about providing access to the links underlying image map pages? 
>     
>     Section 5.2
>     
>     5.1.1, .2, .3 etc.  The list of information provided could go on, such 
>     as the number of images, headings, etc. This subset seems like a good 
>     starting point, but I wasn't sure why they were cut off after only 
>     three priority 1s?
>     
>     Good luck with this important work!  I think we had few comments 
>     because the document is in admirable shape.
>     
>     Jim
>     
>        Jim Fruchterman                      jim@arkenstone.org 
>        President                            Arkenstone, Inc. 
>        NASA Ames Moffett Complex, Bldg 23   1-800-444-4443 
>        P.O. Box 215                         1-650-603-8880   
>        Moffett Field, CA 94035-0215 USA     Fax: 1-650-603-8887
>        http://www.arkenstone.org            TDD: 1-800-833-2753 
>        Arkenstone is a nonprofit organization with the motto:   
>                   "Information Access for Everyone!"
>     
>     
> 
Jon Gunderson, Ph.D., ATP
Coordinator of Assistive Communication and Information Technology
Division of Rehabilitation - Education Services
University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign
1207 S. Oak Street
Champaign, IL 61820

Voice: 217-244-5870
Fax: 217-333-0248
E-mail: jongund@uiuc.edu
WWW:	http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~jongund
	http://www.als.uiuc.edu/InfoTechAccess

Received on Monday, 11 January 1999 10:01:47 UTC