An AT Holiday Story

Bells with Holly

"Abe" is a grade school student who hasn't been able to independently use his Dynavox alternative and augmentative communication device. His mom contacted WATAP to borrow the Head Mouse Extreme so her son could access his Dynavox. At the end of the borrow period she called one of our AT Specialists, Maria Kelley, OTR/L, ATP to tell her that the Head Mouse worked great and that Abe was able to use his communication device independently. She then asked Maria if there was any way they could keep the Head Mouse Extreme while they secured funding to purchase one. However, more than holding onto it until Abe got one of his own, they were hoping to have the loaner through Christmas so that Abe could have a voice for the Holidays. Maria had to conduct two demonstrations for other participants but was able to return the Head Mouse to Abe so that a little boy could communicate with his family at Christmas.

Last Minute AT Holiday Gift Ideas

Iris 9000 Voice Control Unit 

Looking for last minute ideas for the holiday season? Check out WATAP's past webinars including the AT Holiday Gift Buying Guide for lots of cool ideas for people with varying abilities and varying interests. Great AT accessory ideas as well as products for everything from gardening to gaming to modifying your home environment. Get simple, low cost, low tech ideas or explore ideas for the techies in your life.  

Happy Holidays from WATAP!

Web Accessibility: Contrast

This is part of a continuing series of web accessibility tips for IT personnel, web managers and web development groups. These tips can be used to review current website accessibility and to utilize in developing new websites with the hope of improving web accessibility for everyone.

Determining whether there is enough color contrast between text and background can be difficult. WCAG 2.0 has contrast guidelines at both level AA and level AAA and a complex formula for determining a contrast ratio. Large text (over 14 point bold) requires slightly less contrast than 'normal' text.There are many tools, such as WebAIM's color contrast checker that can generate this contrast ratio and give immediate feedback whether the contrast is sufficient. Simply enter a foreground and background color to see the results. Users of the Firefox web browser can use the Colorzilla add-on too easily select color values from within the web page.

Web Accessibility: Text Size and Zoom

This is part of a continuing series of web accessibility tips for IT personnel, web managers and web development groups. These tips can be used to review current website accessibility and to utilize in developing new websites with the hope of improving web accessibility for everyone.

Content must remain readable and understandable when text size or page zoom is set to at least 200% or twice the default size. While it is optimal to decrease the likelihood of horizontal scrollbars or changes in visual design or document layout at these settings, readability and understandability are most critical to accessibility. This can be tested by selecting Control + (or Command + on a Mac) in your web browser or by increasing the text size under the View menu.

Web Accessibility: Robustness

This is part of a continuing series of web accessibility tips for IT personnel, web managers and web development groups. These tips can be used to review current website accessibility and to utilize in developing new websites with the hope of improving web accessibility for everyone.

Robustness addresses the technology implications of accessibility. It requires following web standards (e.g., valid HTML and CSS), creating content/functionality that works across various user agents (web browsers and assistive technologies), ensuring compatibility with various hardware (such as mobile devices), and considering present, future, and older technologies. While it does not mean that a web site must be compatible with all present, future, or former technologies, it does suggest that consideration be given to ensure accessibility to the broadest range of technologies feasible.

Free Webinar: A Holiday AT Buying Guide

Register now and join us Nov. 17th to learn about adaptive gizmos, gadgets and practical ideas that make great gifts for people of all ages this holiday season. We will be going over both low-tech, less expensive devices to more high-tech and expensive gadgets. The webinar will include a range of mainstream devices (items that may not be specifically designed as AT) and others will be actual AT products. WATAP's AT Specialists will explore devices for people with a range of functional needs and abilities that will make great small gift ideas to fabulously wrapped presents with a bow. Please join WATAP and the Washington Access Fund on November 17th, from 10:00am-11:15am for a gift guide webinar on assistive technology. To register for this free webinar, please send an email to Leann at leann@washingtonaccessfund.org, or by phone at (206) 328-5116 or TTY (888) 494-4775.

Web Accessibility: Cognitive Disabilities

This is part of a continuing series of web accessibility tips for IT personnel, web managers and web development groups. These tips can be used to review current website accessibility and to utilize in developing new websites with the hope of improving web accessibility for everyone.

The number of people with cognitive disabilities is greater than the number people with all other disabilities combined. Cognitive disabilities are complex and vary greatly. Recommendations for those with cognitive disabilities share much overlap with general usability recommendations, however, the impact of poor usability and understandability can have a much more significant impact on those with cognitive disabilities. Care should be taken to ensure optimal functionality and understandability of web content by those with cognitive or learning disabilities.