Presented at 8:00am in Westminster IV on Wednesday, November 14, 2018.
#17765Speaker(s)
- Richard Orme, Mr, DAISY Consortium
Session Details
- Length of Session: 1-hr
- Format: Lecture
- Expertise Level: Beginner
- Type of session: General Conference
Summary
An app or browser extension is needed to read EPUB titles, but they vary a lot in their functionality. When it comes to learners with disabilities, which apps will enable them to excel at their studies? This session presents an initiative that aims to answer that question.
Abstract
There are many ways to read an EPUB, so how do advise your learners? Extensive testing of Reading Apps and browser implementations have been conducted at by our volunteers team of more than 50 persons with disabilities using assistive technology. We will explain the rigorous methodology, the interactions with app developers, and the latest test results. This will lead to a discussion of how a DSO office can help a student with a disability pick the right app or device for them to effectively study, take notes, and enjoy reading.
Keypoints
- Apps offer different levels of accessibility provisions
- A test framework has been developed and has been extensively used by a large team of crowd source volunteers
- The results can help you and your learners choose, and the app developers are improving continuously
Disability Areas
Cognitive/Learning, Mobility, Vision
Topic Areas
Administrative/Campus Policy, Alternate Format, Assistive Technology, EPUB Track, Other, Teaching about Accessibility in Curriculum, Uncategorized, Web/Media/App Access
Speaker Bio(s)
Richard Orme
When teaching in a college in rural England more than 30 years ago, Richard encountered his first blind student, beginning a career in what we now refer to as accessibility. He has worked for local, national and international organizations, with young, old, and very old people, with visual, physical, dual sensory and cognitive disabilities. Having identified a critical lack of accessible curriculum materials in the UK, Richard led an initiative for a national database of accessible textbooks, now grown to become the national Education Collection operating as RNIB Bookshare.
Richard is Chief Executive of the DAISY Consortium, the global organization whose mission is to develop standards and solutions for accessible publishing and reading.He volunteers in his community as a home visitor, providing technology support for people with disabilities. Richard’s brother James has a profound learning disability, and his son Jim has dyslexia and is currently studying aerospace engineering at university.