Technology plays an important role in providing handicapped individuals with opportunities to increase their independence and become active members of the community. Computer technology allows blind and visually impaired individuals the opportunity to access the vast array of information on the Internet. This is an important step for a population that traditionally was restricted in accessing information. For instance, in the past, a blind person could not access current journals unless they were read aloud or translated into braille for the individual. Today, a blind person is able to independently and instantaneously locate current journal articles on-line with the aide of a relatively inexpensive screen reader or braille translator connected to a computer.
However, the advances in technology also creates many challenges for persons with visual handicaps. The design or format of a webpage, for instance, may determine whether this resource can be conveniently accessed by a blind person or be an exercise in frustration.
The handicapped population, therefore, must gain an understanding of technology so that they can contribute to the development strategies and propose solutions which will allow this population to use technology effectively.
This unit that will allow blind and visually impaired students and their sighted classmates to:
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1. increase awareness of the development of technology
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2. to gain knowledge and experience in using websites
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3. to develop basic knowledge and use of HTML
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4. to gain skill in understanding equal access issues for individuals with physical, cognitive, or sensory disabilities
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5. to investigate various websites to determine how user friendly a site is for the visually handicapped user
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6. to design an accessible website
The goals of this project include:
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l. To make visually handicapped students and their sighted peers aware of the problems blind and visually impaired have accessing websites
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2. To educate present and future web masters and web-designers regarding the needs of people with disabilities
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3. To design a website that is accessible to the blind and visually impaired by creating an accessible website entitled "Homework Helper."
