E-Access Bulletin Live

A method for presenting Braille characters as a sequence of strong and weak pulses on the touch-screen of a mobile device has been developed by a research team at the University of Tampere in Finland.

The most successful method tested by the team involved sending sequences of pulses about a third of a second apart to a single point of the screen of a Nokia 770 Internet Tablet. Almost all participants could accurately recognise individual characters sent in this way, though faster speeds reduced the recognition rate.
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Two new draft documents relating to accessibility and the future of the web have been published in the past month the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C – www.w3.org).

The first, ‘Shared web experiences: barriers common to mobile device users and people with disabilities’, notes that many of the barriers faced by internet browsers on mobile devices are the same as those experienced by people with disabilities. The document provides examples of the barriers of access to web content for both sets of users (www.w3.org/WAI/mobile/experiences). (more…)

The smallest ever portable device allowing users to scan printed text and convert it to speech has been unveiled by KNFB Reading Technology. The KNFB Reader uses software installed on a Nokia N82 multi-function mobile phone handset weighing only 114 grams
(www.knfbreader.com).
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From PC World see: www.pcworld.com/article/id,137433-c,iphone/article.html

A group representing people with a hearing loss filed complaints with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last month, accusing Apple Inc. of not making its iPhone compatible with hearing aids.

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A campaign has been launched to support vision impaired Americans who have problems accessing mobile phone services. The campaign, co-ordinated by the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), will raise awareness of Section 255, a part of the Federal Communications Act that requires all phones to be made usable by people with disabilities.

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Have just read this post on the hotels.com case and comment on what might constitute a reasonable adjustment when a company offers both a highstreet and online service. The message that lawyers are shying away from bringing Web access cases under the ADA is worrying.