Web Access for the Blind: Freedom, Frustrations, and Fixes

Professor Norman Coombs is one of more than a million visually impaired computer users who have found new freedom through the Internet. Thousands of newspapers, magazines, and books on the World Wide Web allow access to visually impaired users. One site that Professor Coombs found had all of the works of William Shakespeare. He downloaded all of Shakespeare’s works and saved them to disks. "I finally have books of my own," said Coombs.

Many blind users use software called screen readers to access computers. The software audibly reads the text that is on the computer screen. This is the method Professor Coombs used to "read" Shakespeare.

Because of this technology, visually impaired users can finally do things that sited users take for granted. They now have the ability to communicate through e-mail, conduct research on the Internet, shop for themselves at e-commerce sites, keep informed about current events by reading magazine and newspapers, and much more.

In an interview for the New York Times, Kelly Ford, who runs an accessibility discussion group on the Internet said, "Sighted people don’t know how difficult it is for a blind person to use services that everyone else takes for granted, like looking up a phone directory. Now that a lot of this is on line, I feel so liberated" (http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/1202blind.html) - external link.

Unfortunately, the World Wide Web is not the nirvana it appears to be for the visually impaired. Because of the way many web sites are designed, their content is completely inaccessible to screen readers. Professor Coombs, who has co-authored a book entitled "Information Access and Adaptive Technology" with Carmela Cunningham (Oryx Press, 1997), says that there are two major problems with many web sites. The first is the organization of the site and the second is the use of images without some form of alternative text.

A good, clean, simple design goes a long way in helping visually impaired users access a site’s content. Sites with clear navigation links and a consistent look are easier to use. Although the time required to design the site might increase, all of the site’s visitors will appreciate the ability to easily find the information they are looking for.

The World Wide Web has become a very visual, graphic-oriented environment. Many designers in an attempt to entice more visitors use many graphics and colors to make the site exciting to look at. Unfortunately, these flashy sites are often totally inaccessible to blind users. As you might imagine, blind users have no use for pretty images or colors. What they are after is content. When a screen reader comes across a graphic, it says "image". If a page uses many images for it’s content, all the blind user would hear would be "image, image, image, image…" The problem is especially bad if the web site designer uses images for links. For example, if an image of a house were used to link to the site's home page, sited users would have no problem figuring out where the link goes. Visually impaired users would only hear "link".

"It’s like shooting in the dark", said Professor Coombs, "I never know if the page I’m linking to has the information I want." He often gets so frustrated that he gives up on the site and goes somewhere else.

Fortunately there is a simple solution to the problem of images. HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), the language web designers used to make web pages, has a feature that can make all images accessible to visually impaired users. Designers can put an "alt" tag in every image used to provide a text alternative to the image. In the alt tag, the designer can provide a brief description of the image. If the image is used as a link, the designer can specify in the alt tag where the link goes. Then instead of hearing "image" or "link" a blind user would hear "picture of a blue shirt" or "link to home page". Coombs said that the simple act of adding alt tags to images would make a huge difference for blind users. The addition of an alt tag only takes about 10 seconds and most web design software makes it easy to add the tags.

But is the extra time really worth it? After all, visually impaired users only make up a small percentage of Internet users. Professor Coombs explained a theory that sheds a little light on this question. He called it "Electronic Curbcuts". Curbcuts are the ramps placed in sidewalks at corners to allow people to get up to the sidewalk without stepping up. They were originally put in so that people with disabilities (wheelchair users, etc.) could easily get onto the sidewalk. But today people with strollers, bicycles, and skateboards use them too. Curbcuts have benefited the lives of people with disabilities as well as those without them. The same is true for the Internet. If web designers make their sites accessible to people with disabilities, others will benefit as well. As people are beginning to access the World Wide Web with cell phone, in cars and on personal digital assistants (Palm Pilot, etc.), sites that are accessible to the blind will also be accessible to them. In the end, accessible sites will meet everyone’s needs not just those with disabilities.