In a sentence…

How would you define ‘accessibility’?

Accessibility is all about interactive products being inclusive; flexible; useable;  easy to access and able to be adapted to meet the needs of any user’s special requirements

Who do you think is responsible for accessibility?

Everybody is responsible for accessibility.

What do you understand by accessibility in an educational context?

In an [...]

Issues in improving accessibility

Issue 1: Lack of staff awareness to what accessibility means and obligations
JISC TechDis provide excellent advice for staff training and makes it clear that accessibility awareness needs to be increased in all companies and that it is everybody’s responsibility. Staff require different advice, depending on their role and responsibilities. Problems also arise in the cost [...]

Sometimes I Feel As If I’m Just Banging My Head Against An OU Red Brick Wall

H810 website is down again!!!!!!!!!!!!! GRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Reflecting on Seale, 2006 on what is accessibility?

 

According to Seale, 2006, all the players in accessible e-learning have their own perspectives and their own stories to tell.

What is your perspective or story?
What events, people or objects have influenced your current perspective regarding accessibility?
How conscious are you of these factors when you are reading and thinking about accessibility issues?

I have [...]

Why we need to widen accessibility

Roughly one in five of the UK population is disabled – 18% – according to the 2001 census, so widening accessibility to include disabled people could result in a considerable increase in the number of people who can use a particular product.
In the UK, the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) in 1995, made it unlawful to [...]

Defining Accessibility

Defining Accessibility
Accessibility is all about interactive products being inclusive; flexible; useable;  easy to access and able to be adapted to meet the needs of any user’s special requirements  – for example, increasing the text size; adjusting the screen brightness and text-to-speech options.  
Accessibility refers to both physical barriers, such as, navigating web pages via keyboard [...]

The use of language

 
I’ve been thinking some more about this – in light of the reading on the models of disability and how words communicate much more than their literal meaning. Our words are part of the wider discourse, the process of social interaction, the ‘complex interaction between participatns, text and context’ (Graddol et al, 1994, p.191)
When we [...]

Communicating with disabled people

 
The course material of H810 advises that we need to feel comfortable discussing disabled people with colleagues and fellow students.
The following guidance is provided:-
http://jarmin.com/demos/course/awareness/terminology.html
I think the terminology we use to communicate about disability, influences how disabled people are treated by society as a whole and is very important.
I think it can be [...]

How my situation relates to accessibility

How my situation relates to accessibility
My background is working with adults in higher and further education and also vocational learning. I support students with disabilities in my teaching role and also work on technical aspects or online and distance education. I have an interest in accessibility and am continually reviewing how this can be improved. [...]

First Impressions of H810

Studying with the Open University, is not like it used to be. It used to be so exciting receiving a big box of course material. As soon as the course started, away you were with lovely shiny new books, dvds and materials to work through…. Now you sign up and are faced with days of printing [...]