RE: ISSUE: ARIA Draft: definition of AT

> often provide universal design benefit to users without disabilities.
I suppose you mean universal access and not 'universal design'.

Also do screen readers not get covered by  the more generic "text to speech"
category?

>Hardware and/or software that acts as a user agent, or along with a
>mainstream user agent, to provide services to meet the requirements of
>users with disabilities that go beyond those offered by the mainstream
>user agents.
>The distinction between mainstream user agents and assistive technologies
>is not absolute. Many mainstream user agents provide some features to
>assist individuals with disabilities. The basic difference is that
>mainstream user agents target broad and diverse audiences that usually
>include people with  and without ...

Are all ATs listed there  being labeled as user agents? That is the
impression I got.
I agree that screen reading software for instance  is able to interpret HTML
elements / attributes and render them in a manner that is amenable to an
audio interface. So it can be regarded as a user agent. The talking browser
HPR (which used to be available from IBM)  is also a user agent. But do all
other  AT listed there have that ability or function? So is it correct to
label all the listed ATs as user agents?   
Thanks,
Sailesh Panchang
Accessibility Services Manager (Web and Software)
Deque Systems Inc. (www.deque.com)
11130 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite #140,
Reston VA 20191
Phone: 703-225-0380 (ext 105)
E-mail: sailesh.panchang@deque.com

Received on Monday, 30 June 2008 17:01:25 UTC