Blogger and Screen Reader Accessibility

So, while I'm all fever insomnia-ed, (**sigh,** AGAIN,) I've been working on auditing les blogs for compatibility with ARIA standards, using FAE and WAVE- and man, this stuff is tough. While Blogger defaults for the most part are pretty ok, a lot of the templates and widgets need some cleaning up. For the templates, it's mostly just the small matter of adding a lang="en" tag and replacing the odd spacer image with CSS, but a lot of the widgets in particular generate images without explanatory alts, and I can't get at the code to add them.

The mobile version might be a bit better, as all the widgets are stripped out. FAE doesn't like it much, WAVE rates it more or less alright. I haven't tried actually navigating it with a screen reader yet, so I couldn't say for sure. If it works out, great- we'll just link it at the top. Otherwise, I may just ditch the widgets for a bunch of hand-coded sidebar, instead.

In the mean time, in the interest of at least making our RSS feed more screen reader friendly, I'm making a few Best Blogging Practices resolutions:

1. Stop abusing the alt tag for mouseover text, and use title, like we were supposed to all along, people.
2. Replace italics with <em></em> tags. Because man, if there is one thing I love, it is being emphatic.
3. Use the /emote convention instead of bracketing with asterisks, (e.g. /sigh instead of the **sigh** above, so that it reads "slash sigh" instead of "asterisk asterisk sigh asterisk asterisk".) 
4. Try to cut down on the emoticons. (Maybe I can put these in ARIA labelled blocks, so that ^_^; reads "awkward smile" or something? I'll download a JAWS demo and play around with this a bit later.)

Anyway, I've only just begun to skim the documentation on WIA-ARIA standards and markup, so I'm sure I'll find lots of room for improvement, here and elsewhere.

It Really IS Okay to Use the Store's Scooter

As a cane-walker, I have long been leery of using the little scooters in the store. For groceries, I actually prefer to order them delivered instead, but not every slow-walker has that choice. Today I went to a HUGE hardware store, wanting very much to see samples of carpet with my own two eyes before ordering something that expensive. But on top of being a slow-walker, I have recently had a painful surgery that doubles the burden of walking. Then I was struck by the recommendation of a well-bodied young friend, that I had rejected over and over...use the scooter!

I had avoided this because it seemed like cheating. What if someone in a wheelchair came along and there were no scooters left, because of me? But then I noticed that unlike disabled parking, scooters never seem to run out. I had also been afraid that if I stood up in order to get a better look at a sample posted too high on the wall for me to examine seated, I would get dirty looks (horrors!). I could already feel the accusations. Hey, you! Why are you in the scooter when you can stand? You're just fat and lazy, aren't you?

Nothing of the sort happened. People were very solicitous, actually, and we (my son was with me) had to go back and forth between two departments that were NOT close together. This would have just done me in on foot, but with the scooter, it was just dandy.

So get out of your house if all that is holding you back is the size of a store or other facility that provides scooters. No one stares, they just step aside and get out of your way! I wish I had listened to my friend years ago. What a difference!

So What Makes For A Hall of Fame Venue? Wheelchair Perspective

Earlier, I was watching this video on art and architecture, and it got me thinking about the design of spaces and our interactions with them. A lot of the time, accessibility features are an awkward, tacked on afterthought, rather than an integral part of the design process. And when interacting with spaces like these, I feel just like that- awkward, out-of-place, an afterthought.

Often overlooked are issues of scale and flow. There will be beautiful panoramic views from windows whose sills are at the height of my shoulder. Elegant paintings and photos will adorn the walls over my head. Chairs and sofas will be drawn together in cozy conversational groups- with no room for me to draw my chair up next to them. Narrow hallways with sharp corners have more than once lead to someone running straight into my lap! Even the acoustics of PA systems are always subtly blurred by the time they reach my ears. And if it's this bad at wheelchair height, I can only imagine what it must be like for people with dwarfism or other restricted height disorders.

A personal case in point: the apartment I lived in previous to my current one was a unit in a modern building that had been designed specifically for ADA access. When I moved to my current apartment, in a much older (historic!) building, even though we had to jury rig a few things to make it work, I felt oddly far more comfortable and "in place" here than I ever did in my old apartment. It took me a whole month to realize that it was the windows that made the difference- my old apartment had high sills, and I had to crane my neck to look out them, much less open them. My new apartment, on the other hand, has lovely vintage French windows, and I can gaze to my heart's content.

It's no small feat to find a design style that seamlessly incorporates wheelchair height design scale with the more standard scale- which is why it's all the more impressive when I've seen it done. And, by fluke or by deliberate design, I have seen it done. Unfortunately, most of the examples that come to mind at the moment were from my time in Tokyo, (not the most accessible place on Earth, but when they design for access, they really design for access!) but I'm going to make it a personal mission to hunt down some in Seattle to post here!

Riverview Plaza Medical Complex: Thumbs Up, With Reservations !

I take one of my children (not my blog partner, LOL) to see a doctor in the Riverview Plaza. This is a large, multi-building complex near the Southcenter Mall in Tukwila. When we pulled up for a first visit, I drew in my breath. Boy, that's a big building! Here goes nothing! I parked in one of the two handicapped spots and hopped out.

My daughter and I entered two large, heavy doors there's no auto-open; my kid opened the door but a lone slow-walker with weak arms might be challenged here-, followed a curving hallway, and it took us straight to an elevator. Up. Down the hall. There we were.

Although I am writing from the perspective of a cane/slow-walker, I will note that this one office would not have accommodated a wheelchair (but then, you'd still be trying to get into the building). From my own perspective, I was happy. The chairs were high enough to accommodate my knees, and the doctor gave me his own chair when I went into the inner office with my daughter, rather than leave me with a choice of low seats. For slow-walkers, this building may take you awhile...hey, it's a big building...but they have located the elevator in the center of the building to give everyone an even shot at reaching their location. I think they did a great job!

hello world

**sidles in, waves**

"So, I suppose you're wondering why I called you all here today..."

**crickets**

"ahem"

I guess I'll start off by introducing myself. I'm the aforementioned daughter of the dynamic duo, (**points to sidebar**) and I'll be mostly blogging about wheelchair access issues. For details, check out this post on my other blog, So What's Up With The Wheelchair? A Quick Reference

Both my mom and I have primarily mobility and health related impairments, but we'd love to recruit some contributors from the local community with sensory or learning impairments. Of course, more contributors with mobility and health impairments are also welcome! Our hope is for this to become a community resource.

Seattle has a lot of excellent neighborhood blogs, but when I tried Googling "seattle disability blog" the results were, for the most part, depressingly sparse- a couple of government resource pages, a couple attorneys, one or two newspaper articles, the usual assortment of spam squatters... So hopefully, we can help fill that gap!