Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt

One perk of being a blogger is that readers often email me with interesting information and tidbits. Today, my loyal reader Lori-ann emailed me about a speech-to-speech relay service that enables individuals with speech impairments to make phone calls.

The phone is definitely not my best friend. I’ve had callers hang up on me, swear at me; my husband warns his contacts that I might answer the phone and to be patient. As for me calling someone unfamiliar with Glenda-ish, forget it!

So, I was definitely intrigued by the service. This fully captioned video explains how the process works:

I am somewhat skeptical that a complete stranger would understand me, particularly on the phone, perhaps because, in 42 years, it has yet to happen. Unfortunately, I may never know if this service may be a viable option for me because it isn’t available in Canada. It is, however, available other countries, such as the United States, Australia, Sweden and Puerto Rico.

Wouldn’t it be ironic if, through using this new social media, we convinced the powers-that-be to make one of oldest form of communication accessible to Canadians with speech impairments?

Liz Strauss challenges us to write 25 words on social media advice or wisdom,  which she will then compile into an amazingly creative blog post.

Here’s my contribution:

Social media gives voices to individuals marginalized and ignored by traditional media, enabling the world to hear these voices for the first time in history.

What would be your contribution?  Share your thoughts in the comments below or in a post on your own blog with a link back to Liz’s post.

Copying an idea from Chris Brogan, who copied from Copyblogger Brian Clark, I’d like to invite you to connect with me on Twitter, if you use that social media tool.

On Twitter, I share links related to accessibility and such,  thoughts and ponderings in the moment they occur, whatever else I feel like sharing in 140 characters or less. In other words, the stuff that happens in between blog posts.

Check out my Twitter profile and you’ll discover the special landing page I’ve created especially for fellow tweeters – an idea I copied from the brilliant social media diva Laura Fitton (@Pistachio on Twitter).

Hope see you in Twitterville!

When my parents bought my first electric scooter way back in Grade 8, the world that I could explore on my own grew significantly. That world soon included Beth’s house.

Beth was my first friend in high school and she lived around the corner and up a short block from us. Once I  had my scooter, I was able to go independently to Beth’s house, although Mom did do the “Mom-thing” the first time by watching from the corner to make sure I got there okay.

Other than our own house, which was a rancher, Beth’s house was the only house I didn’t need to be carried into. There was a door from the carport into the family room. There was even a small bathroom on the ground flour.

Beth’s house was ahead of its time. Now there is “visitability”:

…a movement to change home construction practices so that virtually all new single-family homes offer a few specific features that make the home easier for people who develop a mobility impairment to live in and visit. Visitability ensures that everyone, regardless of mobility, will be able to at least visit someone else’s home, use the washroom and exit the home.

(From Visitability: Moving Towards Livable, Sustainable Housing and Communities in Canada – PDF document)

According to the article, the technical requirements include:

• a zero step entrance,
• at least 32-inch clear opening width of main floor doorways, and
• at least a half bath on the main floor.

Visitability practices benefits people with limited mobility and enables seniors to “age in place” with minimal renovations needed. Visitability increases opportunities for social interaction and inclusive, livable communities.

Why is visitability being included in Accessibility 100 – a series focusing on easy-to-implement, free and inexpensive tips for improving accessibility for people with disabilities?

The way for the visitability movement to gain momentum is by first increasing the awareness and interest in the need for this housing construction practice.

From increased awareness and understanding comes increased support:

• for visitability initiatives,
• for changes to bylaws requiring visitable and adaptable housing, such as the bylaws adopted by the District of Saanich, and
• for favouring visitability practices when buying a home.

What opportunities exist to support visitability or to initiate such a practice to increase inclusion in your community?

Accessibility 100 is a series of 100 easy-to-implement, free and inexpensive tips for improving accessibility for people with disabilities. This is a community project. Feel free to leave your comments, questions and ideas for future Accessibility 100 posts.

Get the entire series by subscribing to this blog by filling in the form in the upper right corner or by subscribing to the RSS feed.

Recently I came across NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) – a free and open source screen reader compatible with Microsoft Windows. Not only does NVDA give individuals with visual impairments an alternative to the ridiculously over-priced screen readers, it also provides the rest of us the opportunity to experience screen readers. 

WebAIM provides a quick start guide for using NVDA to evaluate web accessibility. Of course, using NVDA on your own shouldn’t replace including proficient screen reader users from your usability and accessibility testing. But, NVDA does finally give sighted individuals a way to experience what individuals with visual impairments deal with every time they use the computer. For more insights into how individuals with visual impairments use screen readers, check out WebAIM’s comprehensive screen reader survey results.

If you’re up for a challenge, install NVDA and have a listen to your favourite blogs or websites. Feel free to share what you discover in the comments below.