Birkir Gunnarsson, Accessibility Subject Matter Expert, Deque Systems
Hlynur Hreinsson, Accessibility Trainer, Stockholm Low vision Center
Disability Area: Topic Area:
Length of Session (in hours): 1-hr
Format: Lecture
Expertise Level: All Levels
Type of session: Not provided
Summary of Session
The goal of this project is to create an open source, multi-lingual website that helps screen reader users understand how a webpage looks and how sighted people interact with it, helping them harness the power of their screen reader to explore a web page and teach them how to take advantage of pages that are developed using WCAG best practices, particularly goodheading structure, landmarks, good table markup, HTML5 and ARIA.
Abstract
While working together in Iceland on web accessibility testing and Assistive Technology training Birkir and Hinni quickly discovered
that the average user often lacked the necessary knowledge and training to take advantage of many of the more advanced features of an accessible website with their screen reader of choice, resulting in frustration by website admins and developers. A survey carried out in the spring of 2012 showed that only 20% of screen reader users receive formal training, only 40% know what landmarks are and use them, and less than 70% of users use headings for quickly locating items within a web page.
There clearly is a need to teach sR users to browse more effectively.
The idea behind the Cognosco project is to address this need by creating a free, multi-lingual resource that teaches SR users to take advantage of structural markup for a better browsing experience.
Kepoints
Screen reader users see web pages differently and need to understand structural markup to use it effectively.
Accessible pages use structural markup to help users quickly and conveniently locate the information they need
By using the Cognosco site, SR users can learn to enjoy accessible websites.
Speaker Bio(s)
Birkir Gunnarsson
Birkir R. Gunnarsson has been blind since age 5, a screen reader user since age 15, has a BS degree in Computer Science from yale University, 7 years of working as a software developer and financial analysts in the banking sector and, most recently, 4 years of web and document accessibility testing, accessibility training and working on accessibility policy and regulatory requirements for various disability interest groups and government resource centers in his native country of Iceland. Birkir has been protected from the actual end users by his colleague, Hinni hreinsson.
Hlynur Hreinsson
Hinni Hreinsson has over 8 years of experience teaching Assistive Technology, mostly screen reading and screen magnification, to users of all ages and abilities. After over 5 years working at the Iceland National Institute for the Visually Impaired he has set out to conquer the world and has worked for two years at the Stockholm Low Vision Center in Stockholm, Sweden, the largest low vision center in Europe.
He has taught users ages 5 to 85, worked with Assistive Technology on all the major technology platforms, both desktop and mobile, and is insatiably curious about all things technology and technology training.
He is certified as an Assistive Technology instructor by the RNIB.