Web Site Accessibility Blog

Why don’t more people use assistive technology in their online research? Just because someone does not have a disability, does that mean that they cannot benefit from using assistive technology? Assistive technology, in my opinion, has the ability to help everyone.

The FireFox Browser has a free screen reader plug-in, Adobe now has screen reading technology, Jaws is somewhat affordable, but not without need. However, Jaws does offer a 20-minute demo version.

Educational research on reading comprehension research shows that people learn through a combination of three sensory factors: visual, auditory and kinesthetic. People tend to learn faster when exposed to more than a single factor, thus the curse of endless PowerPoint Presentations. Ideally, I suppose PowerPoint’s can assist learning when they are not combining charts and graphs with a droning speaker, but that’s just my opinion. People learn better when they can use all three sensory abilities, and the retention increases when they do. All people rely on these, and people largely rely on one more than the others, but can benefit from all.

So, why do people who do not need assistive technology take advantage of the assistance that is available? I wondered this the other day as I attempted to sit and read an on-line book. It was one of the most difficult experiences I have ever had, I couldn’t get past the first page. I can sit and read a book for hours, but yet I get distracted by the slightest agitation when reading online. I even realized that I really don’t fully read web pages – I skim.

However, the experience of reading the printed page is just that – an experience. The preparation and time spent reading a printed text is not the same as the reading online. For one, it is much easier for me to read a book than to read the same text online. The contrast of the text on the page is much easier to see, as well as the “horizontal� aspect of turning pages. People can see when the page ends in a book, as opposed to a web page.

So why do so many tests (Second Language education) (6th Grade reading assignment), seem to indicate the comprehension from using the web is better than the standard printed page? The results of both seem to indicate the hypertext environment, the use of images and multimedia as factors in better comprehension from web/computer learning.

In a Multimedia learning study, there is surprising results comparing reading combined with other auditory or sensory features.
When compared with the learning performance of the control group, the people in the different groups always demonstrated more learning:

• Hearing spoken text and looking at graphics – 91% more learning,
• Looking at graphics alone – 63% more,
• Reading printed text plus looking at graphics – 56% more,
• Listening to spoken text, reading text, and looking at graphics – 46% more,
• Hearing spoken text plus reading printed text – 32% more,
• Reading printed text alone – 12% more,
• Hearing spoken text alone – 7% more.

So, from looking at these results, we can see that websites can be powerful tools if they combine graphics, text and auditory assistance. People can rely on those additional factors which help them learn, but also learn from other factors, such as layout, deduction and reinforcement.

What I find interesting is that the group exposed to the spoken text and graphics had a significantly higher retention rate (91%) than those reading the text and seeing the same graphics (46%).

I think it is pretty obvious that anyone can benefit from assistive technology. Being aware of what it provides and sites can be improved to take advantage of these technologies can only help to provide a better experience for all users. Seemingly, integrating additional multimedia could also improve the sales and lead rate of a website – couldn’t it?

So, I’m going back to read this online book later today, and I’m going to use the Firefox plug in to speak the text. It’s not an official experiment or study, but I’ll let you know how it goes . . .