Internet+Users+with+Disabilities

There are many different types of users who uses the Internet. The disability population should not be excluded from the Internet. There are many companies who assist users with disabilities. Disabilities ranges from all sorts. They include people who are colour blind, the aging population etc. Here are some common quick fix-ups to adapt and include the disability population.

1.Personal impairment: This person is colour blind. Problem using the web: The user is online shopping but cannot distinguish between colours because the websites have poor colour contrast. Technological solution: Colour controlled by style sheets. This way, the shopping can turn the styles sheets off with his browser or he can also override them using his style sheets.

2.Personal impairment: This person has repetitive stress injury. He is a reporter. Problem using the web: It is painful for him to type and there is a sound card problem when he tries to use speech recognition on web sites that has audio. He also doesn’t have a mouse to use. Technological solution: There is a full keyboard support. The access key also allows him to shortcut a long list of links.

3. Personal impairment: This person is retiree with aging disabilities. They are central-field vision loss, hand tremor and short term memory loss. Problem using the web: The scrolling stocktickers are distracting and they move too fast. Some pages cannot back up and he is stuck. Technological solution: A screen magnifier can help with his vision and hand tremor. Pages with style sheets also help. Making websites that do not have movable text and do not auto-refresh helps.

An access key provides keyboard shortcuts to important links, form controls and groups of form controls. They are shortcuts to long lists of links. It may be used by a business or agency to increase accessibility because users can fill out forms much faster and efficient.

A personal style sheet overrides the font and background colour choices of the website with their own. The use can configure the colour of the text and background. A person with impairment (colour blindness) can use it to their advantage because they are able to see the text in websites which may use contrasting colours.

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Accessibility