Web based and
e-learning materials and then highlights those
considered particularly pertinent to students
with dyslexia. It then focuses in on specific
issues associated with computer programming and
dyslexia. In order to do this, first the features
of dyslexia, both negative and positive, are outlined.
A model of the processes involved in computer
programming is then proposed. This allows an interaction
matrix of the features of dyslexia and the process
stages of computer programming to be developed.
Preliminary evidence is then presented from correspondents
of a Dyslexia e-mail forum, which supports the
interaction matrix and raises additional issues.
Your Website either enables or disables the visually
impaired worker who's trying to read the beautifully
detailed bar graph on your homepage. Considering
that there are approximately 1.5 million visually
disabled computer users in the United States--a
conservative estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau--
making the Web more accessible is not just the
right thing to do, but also makes good business
sense.
Visually impaired workers represent only one
group of disabled users. Consider how people who
are hearing impaired, dyslexic, or paralyzed use
the Web--or in many cases, can't use it because
of technology or design limitations. Accessibility
touches everyone. Who among our aging workforce,
for example, can claim that he or she will never
need help reading, hearing, or navigating the
Web?
Here's a snapshot of Web accessibility resources,
tips, and views.
If you're not a person with a disability-- such
as loss of vision, hearing, or mobility--then
it's likely that you're not familiar with the
needs of disabled Web surfers. Says Michael G.
Paciello, author of Web Accessibility for People
with Disabilities (CMP Books, 2000), "It's
much easier to explain what you need to do to
make your Website more accessible when administrators,
designers, and engineers understand the user characteristics
of the disabled."
People with visual disabilities may be concerned
about Web accessibility, Paciello says, because
of the graphical nature of the Web. But it's important
to remember the needs raised by other disabilities.
People with dyslexia, for example, benefit from
brief, easily digestible text. Captioning helps
people who are hard of hearing.
The 508 News:All new information
technology products acquired or developed by U.S.
government agencies and departments must be accessible
by people with disabilities, according to standards
established by Section 508 of the 1973 Rehabilitation
Act.
New Federal Websites are covered by Section 508
standards, but existing sites don't have to comply
with them. Many governments IT staffs, however,
are voluntarily redesigning their Web sites to
accommodate disabled users and such assistive
technology as screen readers and Braille displays.
Indications are that Section 508 standards, which
have been in effect since June, may ripple out
to the private sector to become the norm. * www.section508.gov
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Hit and Myth:
A common misunderstanding about workers with disabilities
is that it costs big bucks to accommodate them.
That, according to the U.S. Department of Labor
Website, is a myth. In fact, DOL claims, most
workers with disabilities require little or no
special accommodations or assistive technology,
and the cost for those who do is lower than many
employers believe.
Studies by the Office of Disability Employment
Policy's Job Accommodation Network have shown
that 15 percent of accommodations cost nothing,
51 percent cost US$1 to $500, 12 percent cost
$501 to $1,000, and 22 percent cost more than
$1,000.
Diverse E-Learning:
E-learning for disabled learners is the topic
of a 2001 Brandon Hall report that identifies
some key catalysts accelerating this growing market.
In "Accessible E-Learning: 2001 Market Trends
and Evaluation Tips," Hall points to the
following:
* Aggressive corporate and government diversity
initiatives, internal mandates to increase e-learning
use, and far-reaching government accessibility
regulations and policies
* A rapidly aging workforce characterized by a
sharp rise in disabilities
* The growing economic and political power of
persons with disabilities.
* brandon-hall.com/acel.htm
So Many Suppliers, So Little Time
The Information Technology Industry Council of
Washington, D.C., has developed a free online
assessment tool that helps determine whether IT
products are Section 508 compliant.
The Voluntary Product Accessibility Template should
be of particular interest to Federal contractors
that need to assess how well commercial electronic
and IT products and services--such as software,
desktop computers, and multimedia--support disabled
accessibility.
A Little Alt Tag Goes a Long Way:
Here's a sampling of user-friendly design tips
for Web managers and developers.
* Provide alternate text links (alt tags) for
all Web images.
* Avoid scrolling marquees.
* Provide closed captions for audio content. *
microsoft.com/enable/dev/web.
Our understanding of dyslexia, as outlined above,
enables us to consider how the task of software
design is affected by the features of dyslexia.
It is useful to break down this activity to the
series of sub-tasks that are required to write
a computer program. The view of the activity of
programming used here is based a general model
of the process of design. The steps involved in
the design or problem-solving cycle can be summarized
as follows:
• recognition of a need;
• problem definition;
• synthesis;
• analysis;
• implementation;
• evaluation
The curved arrows indicate possible routes of
iteration throughout the process, two are indicated,
but many others are possible
These general steps in generating a design have
specific connotations when applied to the specific
task of programming:
• ‘synthesis’ involves conceiving
what is required of the whole program, class,
method, at different levels of abstraction;
• ‘analysis’ involves what individual
classes, methods or code will be required to create
the whole functionality, again at different levels
of abstraction;
• ‘implementation’ involves
coding, testing and correction until the program
both compiles and functions in the expected manner;
• ‘Evaluation’ involves user
trialling of the program and may engender further
refinements or even a re conceptualization of
the problem.
There are many alternative perspectives and methodologies
for generating a computer program or system, for
example the System Development Life Cycle (SLDC)
models such as the waterfall, fountain, spiral
and rapid prototyping. It was considered that
all of these methodologies are generally substantiations
of the generic design methodology described above,
and that the generic model would therefore be
appropriate to use in this research.
As this model of the process makes clear, the
generation of a computer program and its subsequent
correcting and testing require a great many logical
and organizational skills combined with a precise
expression of syntax and variable names.
From the above model it may be seen that the general
design and problem-solving tasks involved in programming
require the skills that may be strong in dyslexic
programmers. This may also be true of synthesis,
looking at the program as a whole and how the
elements interact seems a holistic activity; since
people with dyslexia tend to think holistically.
However, the skills required in analysis, breaking
down the problem or system into its component
parts and viewing them in a systematic logical
sequence are processes that people with dyslexia
may tend to find more difficult. Further, the
more specific programming tasks, especially those
associated with generating and correcting computer
code, are more adversely affected by the negative
features of dyslexia. For example misspelling
variable names and syntax terms are obviously
detrimental to the process of programming. In
addition, remembering the minutiae of details
involved in the program, such as the name and
purpose of variables declared, what changes have
been implemented to the code and what has yet
to be implemented, places a considerable load
on the short term memory, and hence could prove
to be additionally taxing to a programmer with
dyslexia.
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