One of my favorite comic book heroes is Daredevil–The Man Without Fear. I am fascinated by the writers ability to tap into a basic sense and remove it–then work around it and make this a strength. I believe The Man Without Fear, is without fear because he has conquered one of the biggest fears…fear of the unknown. To have your vision impaired to such a degree that everything goes dark is, for me, the definition of fear and paralysis. It creates an atmosphere on confronting the unknown with every step and conquering it.
Can you imagine how much we function with our eyes?
Lorelle on WordPress writes;
There is a growing number of bloggers and blog readers who are reading your blog right now with a screen reader which reads your blog to them, or some other magnification or screen customization tool or device that enables the visually or physically impaired to read and communicate with their computers and the web.
Many times, we don’t seem to see these people–and we may not be able to tell who they are, if they are not totally vision impaired–but they are living in the world of the unknown and doing it fearlessly. Many of them are reading our blogs and comments. We need to make our blogs as accessible as possible.
I have black lettering on a white background–this was not the original intent to make it accessible, but I’ll think I’ll keep it that way. Who knows–maybe Matt Murdock will be able to read it.
Lorelle says
I have a friend who uses a magnifying machine to “read” the web with her one good eye through which she sees the world through an opening in the black the size of a quarter. She reads web pages one quarter-size at a time.
Or to be accessible to the international audiences, about the size of a five sheqel, 10 pence, or half euro. ๐
Other friends of mine are deaf so the web is a silence place. Others are legally blind, so the web is a “heard” place. But there are no limits to how a web page is viewed, which means accessibility covers cell phones, hand held computers, soon eInk and “digital” paper, and every way a web page could possibly be seen. Maybe even in holographic form like in the movies and comics. WEEE!
We need to make our sites accessible to all now, and prepare ourselves for accessibility in the future – to infinity and beyond. That’s good web design.