Some of you may have friends, family members or co-workers who are visually impaired or blind and leverage assistive technology such as screen readers which are critical to access a broad range of digital technology in their professional or personal life and want to learn about the tools they use to help increase inclusion for all. Others may want to further their education on inclusion for digital technology and may find this blog post educational.
Some people may wonder how screen reader users who rely only on their sense of sounds from their screen reader speaking and other computer or mobile device alerts and notifications occurring at the same time participate or lead meetings and engage in chatting in video conferencing software. To participate screen reader users are required to chat while concentrating on reviewing slides, taking notes as needed and holding conversations with others. I am sometimes asked the question of how chatting works for me being a completely blind screen reader user. When someone asks me this question, they may be thinking that I might say that it is due to an accessibility issue that chatting during meetings is an accessibility issue. Although in most cases, it is not a technical accessibility issue. In my opinion it is more of a usability issue. I have outlined some of the reasons why below:
Although I focus on chatting in this blog post these challenges are identical to interacting with any user interface option using a screen reader in video conferencing software while in meetings. Despite these inclusion issues for participants who use screen readers, which some can be reduced as I described chatting is a very useful tool to be leveraged.
You can instantly share information including files and links. Chatting history is generally stored for participants to refer to later. This not only helps people in live meetings, referring to chat history also helps people who were not able to attend the live meetings. Chatting also helps to increase inclusion since it helps people with speech disabilities and other disabilities. Besides turning on the captioning during the meeting for people who are hard of hearing or deaf chatting allows those same participants with hearing difficulties to hold conversations during the meeting.
Participants need to be aware of the audience in the meetings and use inclusive practices so screen reader users can participate.
Questions to consider to help one learn about inclusive chatting:
Have you personally experienced these chatting challenges, or have you talked to others who have and how did they get around these chatting obstacles? Can you provide any examples of when you have seen the issues I have described? Do you have an example you can share of an application that may make this experience more usable and efficient for screen reader users?
I look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments. If you have any comments or feedback, please send an email to Bill Tipton since unfortunately the comments are closed to my blog site.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
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My wife and I enjoy celebrating Christmas and traditions such as putting up Christmas decorations during this enjoyable season. We also like to share our joy with others and create cherished memories with family and friends while we still have the opportunity to do so.
One part of our yearly celebration is putting up and decorating a Christmas tree. Prior to 1999 my wife and I would go to the local Christmas tree farms in the Santa Cruz mountains and cut down our live tree either by ourselves or with my wife's family. When we cut down Christmas trees with my wife’s family we would bring coffee, hot chocolate and doughnuts for breakfast and make a day of it. I enjoyed going through the Christmas tree farm looking for the perfect tree and appreciated this outdoor experience with family. We would drive a couple of vehicles to take us all to the mountains where the tree farms were. Plus, we needed to bring four trees home in our vehicles so we could have one in each one of our homes. As part of this family tradition, we would get together when we were done cutting down our trees and have a fun dinner celebrating the day and holding cheerful conversations.
When we stopped getting together as a family group to cut down our Christmas trees Kathy and I would still go on our own and cut down our tree. We always had an enjoyable time. Once it was very cold and a heavy mist/ rain was falling, however, the weather did not stop Kathy and I. Fortunately I had a four-wheel drive truck which made driving up and down the steep narrow muddy (when weather was bad) winding dirt roads easier to find a good spot to get out and walk around in search of our perfect tree. Walking through a forest of trees and breathing fresh air with Kathy was always a pleasant experience for both of us. One rainy and cold day on our way home from the tree farm Kathy and I noticed a small school in the mountains near where we cut down our tree that was having a Christmas holiday boutique. Kathy and I stopped to check it out and get warm. We had some hot chocolate and hot apple cider as we looked around. While looking around at all the beautiful things the vendors had we found an old-fashioned hand-made muslin cloth Christmas angel tree topper which we still have and use to this day on our “Kitchen” Christmas tree.
Unfortunately, in May 1999 I suddenly went completely blind and cutting down a Christmas tree in the Santa Cruz mountains, and getting there, since I also was no longer able to drive anymore, was not possible. Therefore my wife and I decided it was time to start decorating an artificial Christmas tree. At that time the artificial Christmas trees felt mor like a real tree and were more of a natural green color. We did find a nice artificial Christmas tree relatively easy at our first store we went to which you can read about me decorating it at “Decorating a Christmas Tree with a Disability”.
We have had this artificial Christmas tree for many years and it was starting to show its age with most of the lights no longer working. Therefore, it was time to go out and select a new tree. Since my wife and I enjoy creating a special Christmas experience in our home with many decorations, we are particular about the artificial Christmas tree we select. Therefore, we went to eight different stores in our area this year that sold artificial Christmas trees in an attempt to find one we liked. Once we looked at our local stores we knew what was available to choose from. Now it was time to make a decision on a tree which involved going back to a select few of those eight stores. After revisiting those stores we finally selected our favorite one we both liked the best.
You might wonder how a person who is completely blind like me is able to pick out a Christmas tree? What I do is my wife sight guides me to where the Christmas trees are on display to allow me to feel the tree for the height, put my hands and fingers on the branches to feel the needles. As I feel all around the branches and needles I am trying to make sure they are not too plastic or stiff feeling since I like realistic looking and feeling artificial Christmas trees.
I take a branch and with my index fingertip move the needles back and forth between my thumb and finger to feel how stiff or soft the needles are looking for natural feeling needles. Although I know some people might like artificial Christmas trees with a variety of tree needles from a few species of tree needles on the same tree, Kathy and I personally do not care for this since trees in the wild do not have multiple species of tree needles on the same tree. We also both prefer an artificial Christmas tree with a more natural looking green color therefore we also looked for one that had natural green colors and not the ones that had an unnatural green color.
I also gauge how large the tree base is by stretching my arms out to feel the width and stretching one hand up to the top to see how tall it is. We have always purchased our artificial Christmas tree with the multi-colored mini lights already on the branches. These lights are small and difficult for me to find therefore, my wife guides my fingers to the individual light so I can feel the different sized lights on each tree since there are a variety of sizes of lights these days on the trees. From talking with the employees at the different stores we were told they have a micro light, standard mini light as well as other sized lights. They started this micro light prior to this year but since I had not been looking for a Christmas tree this was the first I heard about this kind of light on Christmas trees. After my wife told me how the micro light looked visually when lit and I felt them we decided to get a tree with the standard multi colored mini tree lights.
Since each store we visited had many Christmas trees this method of feeling each tree to select one took some time although my wife and I have been partnering with each other when we go shopping and strategizing how I can select things by touch for years. Therefore this technique of selecting things by touch wasn’t a problem at all. What was a little more difficult for us was being able to physically get me in between the trees, since some of the stores had them crowded together which made it difficult to get to each tree type and feel each one of them that were on display. Besides enjoying the experience of selecting a Christmas tree I like the atmosphere of listening to the joy in other peoples’ voices as they were selecting their Christmas trees. I do not think anybody noticed that I did not have any eyesight as I was using this method of shopping by feel to select my Christmas tree. I did not know this at first, but one of the employees at one of the stores was particularly helpful in answering our questions. Later, my wife told me this employee was in a wheelchair. Although I was not using my white canes to walk and navigate, he probably noticed I had a long white cane folded up in a pouch attached to my belt, and I was using my white support cane while feeling the trees. Therefore, he probably realized that I was blind. As he was answering my wife’s and my questions I let him know that I was blind and what I was looking for when feeling the Christmas tree. He was extremely helpful and patient with us. I was also happy that this store hired a person with a disability who used a wheelchair. This has nothing to do with the person being in a wheelchair although this person was more helpful and courteous and spent the extra time we needed to select a Christmas tree than some of the other employees. I believe that this employee with a disability was even more valuable to the store than the other employees in this department who did not have a disability.
I am happy to say that we did select a new artificial Christmas tree that we will decorate and add it to our Christmas wonderland for my wife and I to experience to bring us Christmas joy. Also, as part of the Christmas season, my wife and I will enjoy the visitors who visit our home as we hear their joy and happiness in their voices that our Christmas wonderland brings to them that Kathy has lovingly created for everyone.
These Christmas traditions I describe are an easy way to create positive memories with family and friends. Since we never know when one of our family or friends may unfortunately pass away or something may happen to us, we may never have the opportunity to create loving memories with them again. Because life is short and we never know what will happen like me suddenly going blind and sadly losing a few family members and friends, do not pass up on being a part of traditions when you can like my Christmas traditions I am describing here in this blog story.
Does anybody else enjoy picking out Christmas trees? Do you create a Christmas wonderland of your own including decorations and a Christmas tree? Does anybody have any comments about how I select a Christmas tree without eyesight? The easiest way to experience what I experienced is to imagine if the store you are shopping in lost electricity, and you need to find and select a Christmas tree in complete darkness.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments. If you have any comments or feedback, please send an email to Bill Tipton since unfortunately the comments are closed to my blog site.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
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If you have been in the accessibility digital profession for a while, I am assuming you have heard that we are making positive progress in digital accessibility. Despite this encouraging news there is still a lot that needs to be accomplished to increase accessibility and create an equitable experience for all without causing unneeded stress and medical issues for the people doing this valuable work. If a person attempts to do everything to help increase this goal by themselves, they could work 24/7 which could lead to serious health conditions .
Some people may have even said directly that these practices of pursuing digital accessibility and equity may cause serious medical conditions or even worse death by attempting to do everything themselves.
I have been told this by one person and have heard it from several others. Unfortunately, I have even witnessed a person dying from this work/life imbalance issue (although this cannot be proven).
I will not give up educating others and pursuing digital accessibility for all. When a person thinks about it, changing technology to increase equity and inclusion in concept is much easier than changing people’s thoughts and feelings about it. However in the real world we live with little time and being pressured to do more with less people unfortunately the first thing that sometimes gets lowered on the list of priorities is accessibility for digital technology. Accessibility professionals like me understand that this only compounds the problem because digital accessibility was not planned. This causes accessibility issues which the owner of the technology has to resolve and are much more complicated, time consuming and costly than If properly planned and accessibility was baked into the design and development process.
When procuring accessibility services from vendors a well-documented statement of work with a list of requirements is needed. Without these procurement requirements, goals and deliverables, whoever is managing the project of rolling out these services will more than likely have difficulty delivering services that will be beneficial to the stakeholders. The upfront work of documenting what is required needs to be done before talking with the vendor. If one does not find out what they are going to deliver, more than likely it will not turn out the way it is expected to solve the issue one is procuring the services for.
Tips To Assist at Reducing Stress and Promote Health:
I am not a medical expert therefore my recommendations are from my own personal experience. I do, however, recommend seeing a professional if medical assistance is needed.
Does anyone have any tips to help us regarding this topic or any success stories to share? Do you have any other additional ideas regarding the critical project management skill I discussed in this area around procurement?
I look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments. If you do have any comments, please send an email to Bill Tipton since unfortunately the comments are closed to my blog site.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
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I recently heard the term causing or making good trouble and the explanation around those words. I encourage you to learn about the value and necessity to cause good trouble in these two You Tube videos John Lewis and Drew Gilpin speaking: Fmr. Harvard president on how ‘Necessary Trouble’ brings change - YouTube and Congressman John Lewis Address-Harvard Commencement 2018 – YouTube.
I even noticed that tag on one of my accessibility contacts in their LinkedIn profile which I can relate to. That term highly resonates for me in a couple of ways since in my profession in accessibility I often cause good trouble by educating others on the reasoning for developing and designing accessible digital technology and techniques to accomplish this goal. Sometimes others receiving my message do not have time or do not know how to incorporate accessibility. Therefore, someone may believe it is easier to put off creating accessible digital technology. This only causes more problems when someone reports the issue. Sometimes the issue is escalated and then the owner of the digital technology needs to retrofit it for accessibility which is far more time-consuming and costly than if accessibility was incorporated into the planning stages. Developing and designing accessible digital technology also creates an equitable experience and environment for all people with hidden or visible disabilities.
I also cause good trouble when I report digital accessibility issues since I require the use of a screen reader to interact with digital technology in my personal and professional life after going completely blind in 1999.
Another outcome of causing good trouble for me besides increasing digital accessibility is the ability to affect other lives for the positive. By being asked to and having participated on the Board of Directors for a few organizations and was on the Business Advisory Council of another organization I was able to help others. I was asked to give keynote speeches, to participate in panels and webinars and to teach the participants in the meetings/webinars the value of accessible and usable digital technology and how accessible digital technology by default increases inclusion and equity. A potential benefit of educating others is that you may ignite a fire in someone to also go out and cause some good trouble to help others achieve equitable participation in life.
In addition causing good trouble to break the silence could assist others directly or indirectly by the skills and connections you may have to drive positive change. Also some individuals are overwhelmed with other higher priorities and do not have the time to participate in causing good trouble.
I also do not mind causing good trouble, when necessary since the trouble not only assists me at being included, it also assists everyone else who might experience the same inclusion and digital technology accessibility issues.
We must be leaders who speak out, love,care and assist others.
Do any of you believe you cause good trouble or have caused good trouble in the past? Have you noticed positive changes because of your willingness to cause good trouble instead of being quiet and allowing others to be excluded? Do any of you have any tips to encourage others to cause good trouble to increase inclusion, equity and accessible digital technology for all to experience a happy and healthy life with less stress due to exclusions?
In closing I encourage you to go out and cause some good trouble to assist others however please do not cause any physical trouble.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments. If you do have any comments please send an email to Bill Tipton since unfortunately the comments are closed to my blog site.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
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There are times when people may need an assertive advocate to assist them. Not every person you observe with challenges requires assistance, however you should ask politely if they do regarding any of the issues I note below. Do not think that the person experiencing issues, exclusions or difficulties has the time to advocate and resolve the issues themselves. For example, they may be experiencing other challenges in their professional or personal life such as taking care of friends or family and do not have time to prioritize or resolve issues. Therefore, to be a valued advocate, please take the time to help other people.
If you see people experiencing difficulties with any of the points below with recommended best practices to a solution, be an advocate for them by taking action. However do not include their names unless you get their permission.
This is only a partial list of things to consider when helping to create a more inclusive environment for all. These best practices will lead to success in one’s personal and professional life. All the bullet points I noted should be done by default and not just when you may think a person with a disability may be participating. If you know someone who has not completed any disability etiquette and awareness or digital accessibility training, please educate them and share the two resources with them I have below.
Learn more at Disability Etiquette - A Starting Guide - Disability: IN and Introduction to Web Accessibility-Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)-W3C.
I have been working in the accessibility and inclusion area since 2000, and I have learned from my experiences that most things do not come to you. You need to be politely assertive and make positive changes yourself instead of waiting for others to make the changes.
Just think of the day when we will not need to educate people of the benefits and the reasons for the bullet points above and there is no need to be an assertive advocate for others.
Let us all have the desire, discipline, and dedication to assist others to have a more joyful life.
Do you have any other suggestions or comments regarding this topic? Have you experienced challenges where you were grateful somebody had the courage to speak up and assist you? Were there any issues regarding digital accessibility, physical accessibility, inclusion or other issues that were resolved based on somebody taking positive action.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments. If you have any comments or feedback, please send an email to Bill Tipton since unfortunately the comments are closed to my blog site.
Bill
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39
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Healing technique of Reiki may reduce stress and anxiety, improve sleep, and lessen pain through light (or no) touch.
When I left O’Conner hospital in December 1999 after a seven-month hospitalization I was now a person who is completely blind. In early 2000 during my rehabilitation, I talked with a few people researching different methods of healing, reskilling myself and reducing stress. Reiki was introduced to me as an option to help with some of my goals.
During my research I learned that the Center for Integrated Medicine which was directly across the street from O’Conner Hospital at the time offered Reiki level 1 and Reiki level 2 classes. I was not sure how I could learn Reiki as a person who is completely blind, although I was willing to try it. Therefore, I signed up for Reiki level 1 and Reiki level 2 classes and mailed in my enrollment fees.
After paying my fees and being enrolled in both Reiki classes I found a ride to and from the classes for each one of the days the classes were held.
Since I am completely blind and have mobility issues I walk with the aid of two canes. One long white cane and one support cane. After my driver brought me to the building the driver would site guide me inside since I was unfamiliar with the building. I remember no students questioning my being able to participate in the training. I was included just like everyone else.
When I started the class there was a small group of men and women who sat around listening to the Reiki Master instructor as she introduced the two courses to us. If you are not familiar with Reiki, and Reiki 1, there is one Reiki 1 symbol that you project when healing. The instructor was easily able to verbalize this symbol to me because it was relatively simple for me to imagine it in my mind’s eye. I could then project this symbol during my Reiki 1 training. For Reiki 2 the symbol is far more complicated and has different 3-dimensional levels to it. The instructor felt like she could not verbalize it well enough to me. She then thoughtfully built a 3D heavy cardboard model of the symbol for me. I could then feel all three dimensions of the symbol so I could project the Reiki 2 image during my training.
As you may or may not imagine performing Reiki on other people without eyesight is difficult. A Reiki practitioner (me) gently moves their hands just above the person’s body on which you are performing Reiki with the intention of reducing the person’s stress and promoting healing by encouraging a healthy flow of energy. Placing my hands in an appropriate location just above their body was challenging for me being completely blind. Fortunately, I did not have this challenge with level 3 which is generally used for remote healing. Obviously some of the classes were challenging without any eyesight due to not being able to see any person or the instructor and following her directions.
Doing some of the Reiki training was a little bit difficult with my stability issues and holding my support cane with my long white cane folded up and in a holder attached to my belt. Nevertheless, I was able to complete every class lesson.
Unfortunately, a day prior to the Reiki 2 class I got a seriously painful sciatica attack. I could barely move because of the pain and definitely was difficult to get out of the car after arriving at my class. Since I had already paid registration fees for these two classes and had already completed Reiki 1, I was not going to skip my Reiki 2 class. During the class when I had the sciatica I fought through the pain and did everything I was supposed to do as instructed by my Reiki Master instructor.
I am very happy to say I was able to complete and pass both Reiki 1 and 2 classes and had an enjoyable time with everyone despite some pain from my sciatica in the second class. I was also happy to see that a few doctors, nurses, and other people who worked at O’ Conner hospital were attending these Reiki classes to put these valuable skills in their toolbox for alternative ways of healing their patients.
Learn more about Reiki at: Reiki: How This Energy Healing Works and Its Health Benefits-Everyday Health
Have you ever heard of Reiki before? Have any of you ever taken Reiki classes and practiced it? If you are trained in Reiki, how does it work for you and the ones you are attempting to heal.
I look forward to hearing all of your valuable thoughts and comments.
If you have any comments or feedback, can you please send an email to Bill Tipton since unfortunately the comments are closed to my blog site.
Bill
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
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Does anybody have any difficulties concentrating on multiple things at once? What about when there are various distractions going on all at the same time including things flashing on the computer or mobile screen from applications or sound alerts from applications? These kinds of distractions might not only affect people with hidden or visible disabilities they could also affect people without a disability. I have learned to suppress audio alerts from chats by pressing the control key or any key while I am typing otherwise the alerts/messages will negatively affect me as described below.
I attended an excellent presentation, Microsoft Inclusive Design: The Cognitive Model at axe-con 2023 where the presenter played the video at the link below. This described some of what it is like for screen reader users who are blind or have low vision to try to remain focused on multiple sound sources at once. Example are people speaking in conference calls , the screen reader participant having conversations, listening to their screen reader read parts of chats automatically , listening to their screen reader read the notes from the meeting as they review them, their screen reader reading to them as they type notes, and other sounds all at the same time. As you might realize this could be challenging to focus on all of these sounds coming from a variety of sources all at once.
A feature in JAWS screen reader which could either help or hurt in this experience is anytime the user presses a keystroke when typing it silences the external chats and alerts. By silencing alerts it allows JAWS to echo back the pressed keystroke for that moment therefore depending on how much the user is typing the user might miss a lot of chats and alerts. In addition to the concept of keeping focused this video also has other valuable inclusive design techniques and learning opportunities.
How do you achieve focus? | Microsoft Inclusive Design – YouTube
Does anybody have any related stories or examples to share? Do you have any suggestions to help alleviate these distractions? Any other thoughts or ideas to add to this discussion? I look forward to hearing from you.
If you have any comments or feedback, can you please send an email to Bill Tipton since unfortunately the comments are closed to my blog site.
Bill
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton
My Early Days of Music
Since I was young I have always enjoyed listening to music and the enjoyment and relaxation good music gives me. This could be because I was brought up with music around me since I was 5 or 6 years old. I would often listen to music at my parents’ house, at my cousins or my aunts and uncles usually with the volume turned up very loud on quality speakers. Sometimes if we stayed late at my relatives house while they were listening to music I would fall asleep to that music somewhere in their house.
Listening to albums in my bedroom on my plastic record player that my parents gave me as a present growing up also allowed me to spend many hours listening to music. After getting a job as soon as I was old enough I was then able to afford a better stereo system which enhanced my musical experiences listening to musicians perform their music with better sound quality. Also, enjoying music on my portable transistor battery powered AM/FM radio was a nice convenience in those days.
Growing up when visiting friends at their homes there was always music involved as we sat around and talked while listening to music in the background. I would try to have quality audio systems in my vehicles growing up to allow me to enjoy my music while traveling.
My Early Days of Working
In one of my early jobs I worked at Gemco department store in many departments including the automotive department. This job allowed me to continue my music enjoyment. After the store would close for the day we would turn up the best quality car stereo we had as loud as we could and played it through the best equalizer and speakers. This allowed the side of the store I worked in to enjoy the music while we all worked after hours.
How Music Can Reduce Stress and Possibly Heal
Like most people I am extremely busy with my professional career and my personal life and taking a break to listen to music dissolves the stress from my body. I can actually feel the stress leaving my body instantly as I am listening to music. When I am listening my eyes open wider and my perpetual darkness (black) from my blindness turns to a light shade of gray. My smile grows with joy as well. This occurs when I am listening to recorded or live music. When I am able to experience live music this stress reduction is amplified. However these days I do not get the chance to listen to live music much due to the traveling obstacles I have and my busy work schedule. Even though experiencing live music does not happen often I am grateful I was able to attend a few excellent free concerts with my wife that were relatively close to where we live. I was also happy to attend a concert with one of my friends. Attending live concerts while completely blind is as joyful as when when I could see, although it is nice to see the performers on stage. At one of the free concerts I attended the female singer from the band came out and was walking around the crowd with a wireless microphone and was directly in front of me singing to me. Since her voice was coming from the amplifiers on the stage in another location from where she was, I had no idea she was directly in front of me singing to me until after she went back to join the band on stage and my wife told me about her singing in front of me. When we got home from the concert that evening I felt bad and looked up the singer on the Internet. I then sent her a message to explain why I had no reaction to her standing directly in front of me singing to me since I am completely blind and I could not see her.
Fortunately, before I went completely blind and lost my eyesight I was able to drive and had more time so I was able to attend many live concerts by well-known bands at numerous venues in the Bay Area. To ensure I can take advantage of the positive effects of music in our home I have a few sources of music available so I can listen to music wherever I might be.
Music could even possibly have healing properties. For example, when I was in the hospital for seven months occasionally musicians would come in and play musical instruments for the patients or sing to us which I always enjoyed. I longed with joy for the next chance to listen to their relaxing and healing music.
How Music Could possibly Help A Person’s Professional Career
I enjoy listening to a broad range of music, especially on the weekends and before starting work each weekday.
When I have time before critical meetings at my place of employment I listen to music to refocus and drain some stress from my body so I can be more focused in the meetings. Depending on the type of energy I am looking for when going into a meeting, I would adjust my music style. For instance, if I need high energy, I would listen to loud high energy music. If I want to be more relaxed, I would listen to music with lower level energy at a lower volume level.
If you have not already tried listening to music to reduce stress and add to your enjoyment I highly recommend it.
If you have any comments or feedback, can you please send an email to Bill Tipton since unfortunately the comments are closed to my blog site.
Bill
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton
Empathy Can Be Defined As:
The ability to understand a diverse group of people by taking time to listen and learn to help create an equitable experience for everyone.
Empathy can also be described like “the base of scaffolding” added to a person’s education that can be incorporated along with inclusion and accessibility for digital technology to also help create an equitable experience for all.
Inclusion Can Be Defined As:
The ability to unconditionally include everyone with or without a disability. This includes people with a visible, invisible or temporary disability as well as people with diverse ethnic backgrounds and gender differences.
Examples of a Visible Disability:
Example of an Invisible Disability:
Examples of a Temporary Disability:
Example of a Usability Issue:
A user interface with a non-intuitive design impacts people with disabilities who use assistive technology as well as people without a disability who are first time users to the application. For example, a person without a disability attempts to find one part of a user interface and locate information on it or a person who is blind and uses a screen reader also attempts to locate information in that same application and both give up after trying unsuccessfully.
Therefore, even though the user interface does not have technical accessibility issues as described in Success Criteria in Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, it clearly has usability design issues thus preventing certain users from locating information successfully and efficiently.
Example of an Accessibility Issue:
An email publication application did not generate keyboard accessible hyperlinks in email messages. This prevented keyboard only users from activating the links. Therefore they could not locate the website to participate in the activities that were available on the webpage. This simple user interface accessibility issue impacted both keyboard only users and screen reader users and took a couple of years to resolve. This simple user interface accessibility issue could have been avoided if designers and developers were more educated in accessibility and making resolutions to these accessibility issues a priority.
To gain an understanding of what it is like for people who use assistive technology with digital technology a person needs to try out the built-in assistive technologies that are available in the different operating systems.
Examples of Built-In Assistive Technologies:
In order to better emulate how a person who is blind or has low vision uses their computer or mobile device a person needs to learn how to interact with digital technology using some form of assistive technology only. For instance, while your screen reader is running attempt to interact with the digital technology you are using by having your monitor turned off and using your keyboard only. This will give you a better understanding of what a person who is blind experiences using assistive technology with digital technology for their job or in their personal life.
However, screen readers only represent one of the many types of assistive technologies that help people with blindness or low vision. There are other types of assistive technologies that assist people who have other forms of disabilities. Since there are numerous types of assistive technologies, I encourage people to try out and experience these different assistive technologies for themselves.
Learning about empathy and inclusion may help to avoid getting into uncomfortable situations such as having to tell a customer or employee with a disability that modifications to digital technologies are not worth the effort it will take to enhance equality for people with disabilities. This reason may be given because it is assumed that making these needed modifications is a waste of other peoples’ time to do this work. They would rather not do the modifications thus causing the people with disabilities to be excluded instead of being included and making it an equitable experience for them also. In reality accessible, usable and intuitive digital technology is a valuable and beneficial investment for everyone. It is definitely not charity to enable a person who is disabled to be productive and contribute to the success for all. However, if people are constantly excluded this continued exclusion can lead to mental or physical health issues for them. In addition, the outcome of this exclusion can negatively affect family and friends of the person being excluded due to the added stress of the situation placed on everyone involved and concerned.
Therefore, in order to decrease exclusion and increase inclusion for all people with a disability let’s practice empathy and inclusion in our daily lives to promote equitable experiences. This can be easily accomplished by increasing accessibility and usability in digital technology when planned early in the design and development phase instead of retrofitting the accessibility issue later on after it has been reported and causes frustration for the users. This includes performing the required and necessary automated accessibility evaluations as well as manual testing by people with a variety of disabilities using a range of assistive technologies with different operating systems and a variety of web browsers.
For instance, some accessibility issues are simple to resolve such as adding a missing quote in the code for certain accessibility attributes like HTML IMG alt and Grommet a11yTitle.
I believe people should not be discouraged by others from participating in digital technology simply because there are accessibility/usability issues preventing them from equally participating and contributing. If a person has the mindset of attempting to compare the cost of remediating an accessibility/usability issue compared to the perceived value of a person experiencing the issue, then they should consider that the person experiencing these issues is not being given an equal chance to demonstrate their complete abilities and skills. This makes that person feel they are not worth the effort and their contributions are not valued.
Actually in order for a person to not be put in the situation of excluding others they should make an effort to design, develop, purchase and deploy accessible and usable digital technology for everyone.
Let’s demonstrate empathy by educating people on the topic of empathy and help reduce accessibility, usability and non-intuitive digital technology user interfaces. This will help to create an equitable environment for all to flourish in their personal and professional lives.
In closing I chose a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that, I believe, aligns with this particular topic.
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is what are you doing for others?”
If you have any comments or feedback, can you please send an email to Bill Tipton since unfortunately the comments are closed to my blog site.
Bill
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton
As one year comes to closure and another is about to blossom into new opportunities and experiences it provides me reason to reflect on what I have., Unfortunately there are less fortunate and others who may have to deal with serious medical conditions. I also think about the people who may not have friends or family to be with to help start the new year with companionship and gratitude.
Our global world has many unique people with a broad range of cultural differences and a variety of visible and invisible disabilities. Our unique differences enhance the enjoyment and educational opportunities of every interaction we have if one is observant. Because of the large variety of differences one may observe some people have different opportunities than others. To keep ones focus on goals you should not be discouraged if you are not getting the same assistance or opportunities other people may appear to have. Just try to stay positive, healthy, and do what is under your own control and do not rely on others to accomplish ones goals and happiness.
Do not let what seems like unsurmountable challenges or set backs stop one from pursuing ones goals. Since with perseverance and determination one can accomplish almost anything.
I am grateful for many things during the holidays some of which I have listed below.
Does anybody want to share any comments about what makes the holidays special for you? Do you have examples of how people have made you feel less lonely during the holidays? How can you assist the disabled, people who are alone or others who need extra help? Any other thoughts about what I have written? I look forward to hearing from you and I wish you an enjoyable holiday season.
If you have any comments or feedback can you please send an email to Bill Tipton since unfortunately the comments are closed to my blog site.
Bill
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton
Hello all,
As some of you are aware from following my blog post one of my passions is to increase creating an equitable experience for all by helping developers and designers to create accessible digital technology. Therefore, I am very happy to share Accessibility — HPE Design System video I did at the request of my employer to help with this very important goal.
Some designers and developers may believe that making digital technology accessible and usable is difficult are just not familiar with creating experiences that are satisfying to all. Although in reality it is far easier to develop accessible and usable digital technology in the early phases of design and development instead of waiting for customers to report issues which requires costly renovations possibly causing delays and software release schedules and add unnecessary additional costs.
Unfortunately, the comments to my blog site are closed although if you have any feedback my email address is on my blog site.
Please keep up your efforts to create a more equitable experience for everyone including people with disabilities who use assistive technology or do not.
I look forward to hearing your comments and feedback.
Bill
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton
As a person who is blind I am grateful I have the ability to leverage assistive technology to access and interact with digital technology (software, webpages& documents). When I experience digital technology that is accessible to people who are disabled including those who use assistive technology following the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 it makes me very happy.
It is encouraging that some organizations have realized in order to compete successfully in the competitive global marketplace, accessibility for digital technology is becoming more critical as just one of many components in creating an equitable and inclusive environment for everyone.
Digital technology with accessibility issues not only creates barriers to equal participation for some users it also causes added stress and frustration. Accessibility issues also have these same effects on everyone who is in contact with the person who experiences these barriers such as co-workers, spouses, family, friends and others.
To heighten these accessibility issues not everyone may believe the user when they say that the issue they experience is a technical accessibility issue. One misunderstanding for example is when someone who is not knowledgeable in the technical aspects of accessibility and not knowing any better may tell a user who is experiencing an accessibility issue that their issue is not a technical accessibility issue. They may believe the issue is due to lack of training. They may also tell the same user that they are not experiencing a technical accessibility issue since they may be able to get past the issue by counting keystrokes. For example the user is told to attempt to get to a particular location in the digital technology and type or interact with it with little or no awareness of where they are. Or someone might say the user should attempt to activate hyperlinks on words or sentences that are not coded correctly for assistive technology users to know that they are hyperlinks until the user finds an active hyperlink that works.
This extremely challenging experience of hunting around and interacting with user interactions that do not work is like using a computer or mobile device with a shattered display or one that is extremely dim preventing someone from seeing the complete screen. Also it is like using a keyboard with some of the keys broken causing errors in typing.
Fortunately I have been working in the accessibility field for many years and have been using assistive technology for over 20 years. I am also a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies by IAAP. I can explain and demonstrate the technical accessibility issues with the application or web page owner. However for those who have similar skills as I do certain application or web page owners might think it is too time consuming and not worth the effort to make a needed accessibility enhancement .
When someone is being excluded due to accessibility issues because no one has the time or wants to prioritize resolving the issues, it makes the person feel like they have two disabilities.
Creating an equitable environment for all requires passion, empathy and a willingness to take the time needed to learn and understand everyone’s unique and beautiful differences .
This is just one reason why solving one aspect of inequalities of people in the world is more difficult than creating accessible digital technology. This reason is because we cannot force people to change attitudes or influence people to take needed time to understand people with disabilities using technology like we can do for solving the digital technology accessibility issues.
When we think about disabilities we need to be sure to include people with a broad range of visible disabilities as well as hidden disabilities.
This attitude or lack of knowledge regarding the people side of how and why to create equitable environments may be a result of the times we live in today such as the need to complete things more quickly with fewer people and less support. Also, another issue in today’s world there is very little or a complete lack of verbal communication between real people and doing more online without any verbal communication. However I know that on-line communication is extremely beneficial for people who may have voice disabilities, hearing disabilities, other disabilities or challenges.
Also unfortunately to save time I’ve noticed that people do not take as much time to talk on the phone and prefer to send instant messages. Not holding personal two way conversations does not have the same person to person interaction requiring interpersonal communication skills which can lead to solid friendships, partnerships or productive collaboration.
These exclusions can easily be overcome with consideration. I feel if everybody had the option to slow down, listen to others and care about what might be preventing every person from participating and having a happy and fulfilling life we would all be better off. I believe this kind of attitude would go further for making positive progress in this fast-paced world we live in today when peoples’ first thoughts are of how to cut corners, which can exclude certain people.
Although there could be many solutions to some of the equity issues one thought that comes to mind to help would be to get a Chief Accessibility Officer to oversee everything regarding accessibility if these issues were within a organization or company. Also if these issues were within an organization or company people would need to be trained on the technical aspects of digital accessibility so people experiencing accessibility barriers would not be falsely accused of doing something wrong when in reality the issue is actually a technical accessibility issue. Also if this is in a controlled environment such as an organization or a company providing detailed training on a broad range of disabilities and empathy is another solution to some of these equity issues.
If you are experiencing any of these obstacles in your career aspirations or personal life try to stay positive and assist where you can with improving equality issues for the disabled.
Does anybody have any thoughts or comments about how we can slow down and not exclude people because of time constraints or misunderstandings? Has anyone experienced similar interactions? Any recommendations on how to resolve exclusions for people with disabilities which is a problem that I believe goes far beyond accessibility issues with digital technology.
Thank you and stay positive, keep a smile on your face, slow down, talk to others, leverage accessible digital technology and most important utilize all peoples’ unique skills. Together we will spread happiness and understanding.
If you have any comments or feedback can you please send an email to Bill Tipton since unfortunately the comments are closed to my blog site.
Bill
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton
Since October 10 was World Mental Health Day I hope this blog post can bring some awareness to the seriousness of those who are affected with any mental health condition.
Although I am no expert in mental health I feel people with mental health issues experience unique challenges. I have some thoughts that in my opinion may negatively impact mental health below that in some cases can be reduced or removed to help promote a healthier life.
I believe that experiencing digital technology usability/accessibility issues and inclusion barriers in general can contribute to mental health issues. The usability/accessibility issues regarding accessing digital technology could be if a person has a disability and they use a form of assistive technology such as a screen reader and the application they are attempting to use does not conform to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. Therefore, the application may have accessibility issues preventing people with disabilities or other unique challenges from using the application at all, effectively or efficiently causing stress and exclusions. If this happens frequently in my opinion it would lead to mental health issues. If these inclusion barriers occur over an extended period such as years, the negative impact on mental health I feel would be even greater. This would not only impact the person who is directly being excluded due to usability and accessibility issues it would also affect the family who lives with the person. This is because the added stress would be carried over to family life thus expanding the scope of the mental health issues to family members.
Since we are in a unique time in the world today where we are coping/fighting a global pandemic (Covid - 19) which could also cause additional stress perpetuating mental health issues that would compound these issues caused by lack of usability/accessibility and inclusion in the world.
In addition to those two challenges that could lead to mental health issues just by themselves if someone already has a mental health issue caused by a medical condition their mental health issue would be even worse.
Besides those three stressful situations if someone added an additional stressful situation such as a family member experiencing a long-term medical condition it can compound the stress level and could lead to a mental health issue.
On top of these challenges if someone has a disability and during normal times they are able to function without limitations although with the four other challenges I mentioned I feel most people may be overwhelmed with added stress. They may even feel the loss of control of the situation especially if they are alone trying to navigate through the maze of challenges which can lead to mental health issues .
Although others have more challenging experiences of mental health issues to get us thinking and raise awareness I have noted some challenges my wife and I have experienced over the past year or so that could possibly lead to mental health issues.
Some questions to consider and think about when it comes to your own experience and others:
Do you have a mental health issue brought on by a medical condition or brought on by external sources like I mentioned above? How do you help your mental health issue either get better, be stable or not get worse? Have any ideas/suggestions on how to avoid causing mental health issues for others?
Although as I mentioned I am no expert one goal for family and friends affected with mental health issues I feel should be feeling included, happiness, love , well-being and practicing resilience.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39
Twitter: http://intercoms/wdtipton
After listening to Gustavo Dudamel, who is a conductor of orchestras interview “Harmony In Times Of Crisis” on a local radio station, caused me to think about how his ideas could also positively assist with leveraging collective intelligence, accessibility and inclusion. Gustavo talked about how a person needs to utilize everybody’s unique skills and talents to get the best results. If you left any section or person out of the orchestra or anything you do it would result in a poor performance which would show up in the quality of the work and more than likely the customer may not be happy.
When listening to the interview it reminded me of my blog post I wrote “Collective Intelligence: Include The Disabled for Success” that talks about digital technology (which is anything accessed by a computer or mobile device). If a person does not utilize and leverage everybody’s unique skills and differences the result will be a poor performance in any project they are doing. This is because the people you are working with do not truly represent your customers in the world that are a diverse population including people with disabilities. The result of your work would be as if an essential section was left out of an orchestra such as the violin, flute, piccolo, English horn, clarinet, bass clarinet, trumpet, French horn, Trombone, keyboard and others. Therefore, it would result in an orchestra that would not sound pleasant and the concert would be a failure instead of a widely diverse group of people working gracefully together to create astonishing results.
If you are a designer or developer of digital technology you could be preventing some people from being able to participate in the orchestra of life if you do not incorporate accessibility and usability into the digital technology you are developing like I describe in my Collective Intelligence blog post.
During these times in our world we have plenty of things to be discouraged about therefor let us all be happy and make a beautiful world for all people as we harmonize and combine all peoples unique and different skills to create a loving orchestra of people with fewer barriers to inclusion.
Do you have any stories or examples to share regarding the benefits of allowing all people to equitably participate without accessibility barriers? Does anyone have any suggestions regarding how to educate people on the benefits of utilizing collective intelligence of people to resolve complicated issues or how to work better as a team? Our world is an orchestra of diverse people including those with disabilities who participate in the orchestra to deliver beautiful music and create a happy and a beautiful world. Do not place false barriers such as inaccessible digital technology in the way of creating joy and causing sadness and exclusions.
I look forward to hearing your comments to help us increase happiness in the world and not leave any instruments (people) out of the orchestra of life.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39
Twitter: http://intercoms/wdtipton
When we were not experiencing a Covid-19 pandemic and did not have certain restrictions in place to help keep us safe I used to enjoy going on hikes with a friend. I am completely blind and walk with the aid of one long white cane and one white support cane. Depending on the trail I am on there may be dangerous obstacles I need to maneuver around such as large branches crossing the trail, large rocks on the trail, very steep drop offs on the side of the trail or deep ruts crossing the trail. If I tripped on a large rock or branch, stepped in one of the ruts or fell off a ledge next to the trail this could cause serious injuries. There could be a low hanging branch I may hit my head on. Since I cannot see I may also not be able to move out of the way in time if a mountain biker comes up too fast and collides with me which could possibly cause injury. These are just a variety of some of the obstacles I have to maneuver around in order to experience fun and relaxation while hiking/walking in nature.
If you are a person who is deaf or hard of hearing you may not be able to hear any wildlife that may be nearby on your hike preventing you from enjoying the full experience of nature. For example the sounds of birds chirping, hawks screeching in the sky above and deer leaping as they scurry to hide as you approach them. Or you would not be able to hear a mountain biker as they approached from behind allowing you to move to the side to avoid being hit and injured. You may not even know you are passing a nice bubbling creek because it is mostly hidden by trees and bushes and you cannot hear it.
This combination of a person who is blind and a person who is hard of hearing like one of my friends is an excellent example of how someone can enjoy nature by combining different abilities to enhance the experience for all.
There are many ways we complement our abilities. If I hear a mountain biker coming up from behind us I can warn my friend by turning my head to face him so he can read my lips while attempting to hear me with his specialized hearing aids. This lets him know to move to the left or right based on where I hear the sound of where the bicycle is coming from. After I alert him he can turn his head to get the exact location of the bicycle and then verbally guide me on where I should move to and be sure I do not get hit by the bicyclist. If I hear a bird chirping in a nearby bush or tree or hawks screeching above I can alert my friend and point in the direction of the sound from the bird allowing him to locate it. After he does he can then describe the bird to me and let me know the species if he knows it. If I hear some rustling in the bushes as we pass them on the trail I can point in the location I hear the sound so he is able to see what kind of wildlife maybe near us. This sound could be a deer running away from us, a ground squirrel searching for food or a lizard maneuvering through grass. If the trail has a dangerous steep drop off on one side my friend will guide me to the other side so I stay on the safe side of the trail to prevent me from stepping off the side. If there is a steep rut crossing the trail my friend will guide me away from it so I can bypass the rut safely without stepping into it and getting injured. Also if my friend feels the trail is too hazardous I can reach out and hold his arm so he can sight guide me safely.
If I hear the sound of babbling running water possibly from a creek I can point to the area where I hear the sound coming from. My friend can then locate the creek he may have missed since he cannot hear it. Also without my assistance he might miss the creek because he would not have seen it since most of the view of it could be covered by bushes and trees.
These are just a few of many examples of how partnering equally can assist all involved to enhance the joy and experience for everyone.
Do you have any examples of how partnering can increase the enjoyment for all? Can you share any examples of people with different challenges like I describe assisting each other to help make activities such as the hiking experience I described more enjoyable and safer? Do you have any additional tips for us to leverage partnerships to achieve more than we can on our own? Lastly can you share any stories regarding this topic of using your senses to enhance the other person’s experience who may be lacking an ability you may have?
We all look forward to hearing your valuable comments.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39
Twitter: http://intercoms/wdtipton
Like myself some of you add photos / images to your social media posts with a goal that these images will provide enjoyment, attract or keep the attention of your followers or friends. One thing you may not be aware of if you do not take one extra relatively simple step to make the images you share accessible by adding alternative text some of your followers or friends will not know what the photo or image is. Alternative text provides a textual alternative to non-text content such as photos and images. Without taking the step of adding alternative text to your images people who are blind or visually impaired who use screen readers may feel left out since they will have no idea of what the image is.
Also finding an image without alternative text may cause your followers or friends who use screen readers to pause and wonder what they are missing in the image, thus distracting them from the desired text in the social media post. Sometimes the screen reader user even has to go back and attempt to reread the text understanding that on their second attempt they will need to skip through some images without alternative text while concentrating on the text they can read in-between the inaccessible content. Or even worse, some readers may give up attempting to read the message due to the accessibility issues in the content.
Fortunately, in most cases it only takes a few extra steps to add alternative text descriptions to make your photos and images accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired and use screen readers.
Alternative text descriptions should describe the image in as much detail as possible. However, they should also be concise to reduce the amount of text read by the screen reader. To best determine what alternative text description to use, just close your eyes and think about what you would want somebody to tell you to describe any image you cannot see enabling you to clearly visualize what the image looks like in your mind.
If your publishing software does not allow for adding alternative text directly in your publishing user interface it is possible you can incorporate HTML or ARIA directly in the code your publishing software published. For some suggestions refer to my two HTML examples below and for more details see the resource section.
If you are able to edit and view the HTML code, look for a line that says something similar to the example below:
<img src="filename.gif" alt="filename">
Replace the text in between the quotes after alt="with the alternative text description you want. For example, for the photo below I used “Bill wearing blue jeans, a red, black and gray flannel shirt, blue vest, sunglasses with support cane extended and long cane in pouch clipped to belt standing by lake at Grant Ranch Park with green rolling hills, trees, shrubs and a gray cloudy sky overhead”.
If the image or photo is decorative and adds no meaningful content add “” after alt =“”.
Although the suggestion described above is focused on HTML, these alternative text description concepts can assist for Facebook, Twitter and Yammer as well.
Below are some resources with details to help you add alternative text to images in Yammer, Twitter and Facebook. Also, there are tips to leverage HTML and ARIA if your publishing interface does not allow adding alternative text directly. Lastly, I have additional resources to help you learn more about alternative text and why it is so critical to help increase inclusion and decrease exclusion.
On the topic of alternative text descriptions does anyone have any other recommendations to help create a more inclusive environment for people who are unable to see the photos / images shared in social media?
Do any of you have suggestions on how to include everybody equally in our social media posts? Does anyone have tips to help increase inclusion for people with other disabilities besides blindness or low vision?
We all look forward to hearing your valuable comments and suggestions.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton
As the world we live in changes sometimes the pressures to accomplish more with less resources provides opportunities to practice leadership. Sometimes time constraints also create opportunities to practice leadership. On top of these time challenges if additional requests for our time are unclear this also adds to unneeded stress and confusion. Similarly, if a person has rare and unique skills and perspectives that are needed for success they may be asked to help with a project or special request. When a person has a disability or other challenges in which skills acquired by these experience’s are critical to projects or personal requests this person might also receive requests to help.
In the event a person receives a request to assist in delivering projects in which there are multiple leaders asking for assistance with different ideas on deliverables this can lead to confusion and wasted time and effort.
These additional requests could compound the person’s workload leaving little time for family or friends. Also, by possibly over committing themselves a person may make mistakes, have poor performance accomplishing projects or give improper guidance.
I for one, as others, enjoy my profession and am passionate about the quality of my work and my plans for success. Continuous education to increase my skills and values is a lifelong goal for me, as it is for other people. Along with getting additional education and adding more skills to their portfolio it is possible for a person to receive additional requests to do more projects because of your newly acquired skills. With projects or special requests coming from a variety of people it is possible for a person to attempt to accomplish everything asked of them with their lifelong goal of providing excellent deliverables as they have always done.
During extremely busy times and projects coming from all directions it is even more critical that a person step back, take a leadership role and refocus, and realign their goals since it is impossible to accomplish everything everybody would like or need without proper resources and active sponsorship. Also keep in mind if you over work yourself it could lead to medical conditions, poor family life and in the long run will prevent you from accomplishing your long-term professional and personal goals.
If requests are too much and one may not have proper support, keep focused on the overall goals despite distractions and confusion and do not forget how important family, friends and community are as you are striving to accomplish all of your life-long goals Do not forget to complete them as if you are nourishing the act of completion. Be sure to take time to complete them with happiness and a caring attitude. If one finds oneself overwhelmed by the quantity or lack of clarity of request this provides an excellent opportunity to demonstrate leadership to prioritize what requests are critical and what ones have enough information to take accurate action.
If one does not allow oneself to have a healthy work life balance it is possible this lifestyle may lead to medical conditions which may result in one not being able to provide quality skills to your employer and be a loving family member. Even worse it is possible too much stress can cause hidden serious medical conditions which could lead to one leaving this world prematurely.
As we move into this wonderful new year, I hope we can keep our goals and priorities in perspective in our daily lives.
Does anybody have any thoughts or comments about achieving any of the topics I discussed above? Do you have tips to help us to not leave our family, friends and community behind as we pursue our goals? Do you have any examples of any of the topics I discussed with suggestions on how to make any course corrections if possible? Lastly do you have any tips on how to educate others regarding these valuable topics to help with time constraint sometimes caused by poor planning, distractions and confusion?
We all look forward to hearing your valuable thoughts and comments.
I also want to wish you and your family a happy, healthy, prosperous, contented and blessed new year as you allow your dreams to blossom into reality like when a bulb grows into a plant and eventually into a lovely beautiful flower if properly cared for.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton
Do you enjoy the fall season like I do? Since I am very busy most days like others I do understand if we do not slow down and prioritize our values this joyful season can pass us by like the leaves fluttering by us on a windy day. Life passes by so quickly therefore I believe we should not waste any time being preoccupied by non-critical tasks and take the time to enjoy very precious moments. Also this time of year I feel we should be spending more time with family or friends if we are fortunate enough to have them in our lives.
Below I have listed a few of the many reasons why I enjoy fall. Some of them you may be able to relate to.
Do you have any fall traditions you would like to share? Perhaps you have suggestions to help us slow down and prioritize our values to enable us to enjoy fall before it passes by. How can we help others who are less fortunate than us and may not be able to get out to enjoy fall? Does anyone have tips to encourage the joy of unselfish behavior?
We look forward to hearing your valuable thoughts and comments to help us enjoy the fall season so it does not pass us by like leaves fluttering by on a windy day.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton
Are you responsible for the application or web page development cycle? Is one of your goals for it to be intuitive and accessible for everyone to use efficiently? You could be designing or developing an enterprise application installed on a server accessed by a browser by anyone over the internet. Maybe you are designing or developing a consumer or an enterprise application installed on a computer, mobile device, or a web page. Or you may be deploying a digital service and have these same goals of equal access.
As part of your careful design and development process you may have implemented user interface (UI), User Experience design (UX), accessibility and usability techniques to help with this goal.
One valuable resource you may have overlooked to assist is getting some guidance from people with disabilities. Since they may use a variety of assistive technologies, they could provide excellent feedback on User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), usability as well as accessibility. To be sure you are evaluating for a broad range of assistive technology (AT) I suggest you at least have people evaluate with screen magnification, screen readers and voice recognition AT. Also people with disabilities have other unique and valuable skills that could be beneficial to your design.
Although other people with disabilities or challenges can assist just as well as I can, I will explain some skills a person who is blind may have that can relate to assisting with developing an organized and accessible user interface with some added accessibility tips.
Since I am completely blind it is helpful to keep track of things around the house and in my office. To assist with this goal I attempt to keep things in a familiar and organized location. This organization allows me to easily and quickly locate what I am looking for by utilizing landmarks by touch alone.
The way I locate things and get around in my physical world could be compared to designing a user interface in the digital world where all aspects of the application or web page are usable and accessible. This includes all user elements in the application or web page.
Some examples of user elements are hyperlinks, buttons, radio buttons, check boxes, drop down lists, form fields, navigational elements and additional user elements. This design includes insuring text and all user elements has sufficient contrast in an organized well-designed user interface where all actions can be performed by a keyboard. This user experience design and development attention along with accessibility techniques will aid in creating a positive user experience to help prevent frustration and unintentionally excluding some users.
One example from the physical world might be how some people who are completely blind walk down a hallway. They could know when they reach the fifth doorway on the right side of the hallway from cane tapping, sound differences as they pass doors or if they use a guide dog. If they have been in the room before they may know what the layout of the room is based on past experience. If you translate that to user interface design in the digital world you could think of each doorway as navigating down to the third heading level and know what is within that heading based on the text of that heading and the text of the second level heading.
Another way you can think about designing an effective user interface and creating a positive user experience is by being able to find your way around no matter where you are located within the application or webpage. For example from the physical world if I drop something on the floor and I hear it bounce or slide far away from where I am located I listen for it hit the floor. As it either bounces or slides across the floor I focus on where it stops making the noise to give me an idea of where it might be. I can then locate it by feeling navigational landmarks on the floor such as furniture to help me avoid obstacles and guide me to what I have dropped. This is similar to designing an effective user interface with key landmarks on it that will guide the user to sections, user controls, form fields or other user interaction types. This design will help the user to intuitively use the application or web page successfully.
Another example from the physical world. Just think of a completely blind person attempting to walk alone without the aid of a long white cane or a guide dog in an unfamiliar area. Their chances of locating a glass of water they were told would be on one of the tall cabinets in one of the rooms could be difficult or time consuming.
If you label all like user element types the same throughout the application or webpage and have sufficient descriptive landmarks this will assist users in effectively knowing how to interact with the user elements and move around the user interface with ease.
In addition to the Design, Development and Accessibility Section further down I have a few accessibility and usability tips below. If I use HTML terminology please translate these to whatever coding language you are using.
After you complete your design and have a functioning product you are ready for your first pilot and to receive feedback. If you know of a person who uses assistive technology such as a screen reader, screen magnification or voice recognition ask them to try out your application or web page and provide their valuable feedback. If you do not know of anyone, contact a professional accessibility evaluation company to assist. You could also contact a non-profit organization related to people with disabilities and they may be able to get you connected with a person who can assist. In my opinion if they are located near you, you might even watch them use the application or web page in person over having them perform the evaluation remotely since this will benefit you in at least two ways.
To learn about how people who are blind access information on their PCs or mobile devices read Understanding Assistive Technology: How Does a Blind Person use the Internet and How People Who Are Blind Can Orientate Themselves Using a Screen Reader.
Resources to Assist with Design, Development and Accessibility
User Interface Design Basics-Usability.gov
A Beginner’s Guide to User Experience (UX) Fundamentals-General Assembly
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1
Does anyone have any tips for User Interface designers, User Experience designers and developers for applications and web pages to help us design more effective applications or webpages that will result in a user friendly experience instead of a user unfriendly experience? Do you have any resources to share that will help us all in designing more effective and accessible user interfaces or techniques to design more intuitive and less cluttered user interfaces?
We all look forward to hearing your valuable thoughts, resources and any other information you want to share to help everyone to showcase talents equally and effectively without artificial limits.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton
Are you older and have found using some technologies such as web pages, web applications, standalone applications on your mobile device or computer difficult to use if not impossible? Are you disabled and use assistive technology on your mobile device or computer and find using these same technologies not possible? Do they not react the way you believe they should compared to similar technologies you have successfully used? Are you disabled or have short- or long-term challenges and do not use assistive technology and find using these same technologies difficult?
Although you may have never heard of usability or accessibility, these issues you are experiencing could be related to accessibility or usability.
If the designers and developers leverage the accessibility recommendations documented in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) 2. and other guidelines/recommendations the accessibility issues you may have experienced could have been avoided.
If the technology owners are not aware of the positive Business Case for Digital Accessibility (Web Accessibility Initiative) WAI/W3C) they may find this resource beneficial to influence accessibility.
Have you experienced and reported accessibility obstacles and felt like you were working to resolve the issues in isolation? If you have felt or feel this way, I encourage you to never give up hope to not only to help yourself, but to assist the many other people who are experiencing the same barriers as you are. One or more of the many points below and others you find elsewhere may assist you at being successful at working on resolving accessibility issues with kindness.
Do you have any suggestions for people who are working on resolving accessibility issues in what seems like isolation? Do you have any tips for product managers, designers and developers to encourage them to work on accessibility in the design phase instead of waiting for users to become excluded from using the technology they develop? Do you have any tips to assist those who are new to accessibility so they feel more comfortable at providing accurate and actionable suggestions to developers in order to help them resolve any accessibility issue they report?
Also do you have any suggestions on how to help the user so they do not feel discouraged and frustrated when working on accessibility issues on what seems like their own?
We all look forward to hearing your valuable thoughts and comments to help increase accessibility thus enabling inclusion.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton
I am grateful I have been able to provide assistance to people in many ways since I went completely blind almost twenty years ago. One example is when I accepted a leadership role in an employee resource group a few years ago. I held this position for over five years. During this five-year time period until I decided to step down and turn over the leadership role to another person the membership grew from less than 10 employees from 1 country to more than 125 employees from over 17 countries. My action of stepping down allowed that other person to practice coaching and leadership. When in this leadership position along with my leadership team I was happy to help inspire leadership, educate and mentor people individually as well as in group settings.
I enjoy writing and publishing stories at my blog to hopefully help in educating and increasing self-confidence for my readers. Although at times I feel some people may get tired of reading the different stories or my experiences. I sense they might think that I am just talking about myself even though I am actually trying to offer assistance by providing examples of what a person can accomplish. In some of my blog posts I also attempt to inspire leadership and self-determination in others through what I write.
It is beneficial to coach or mentor others to assist them in discovering their leadership skills. I feel the more moral, ethical and compassionate leaders we have in the world the better we all are. Some people may only need a little gentle nudging or encouragement to enable them to demonstrate their ability and skills to blossom into a leader or mentor.
If you enjoy mentoring to develop leadership skills and self-confidence there are many places to locate people looking to increase these skills. For example, there are nonprofit organizations with clients that may be able to use your assistance. There could be a mentoring program within the company you work for. It is also possible you may meet a person at a local area event or a community function.
At the start of this blog post I stated that I have been assisting others for almost twenty years. I am not sure why I was not as involved with helping others prior to losing my eyesight? Maybe I thought I was too busy. I did not work hard or put enough hours or I did not properly prioritize helping others along with my own family.
I recently read an excellent blog post called Leadership is the Art of Releasing Greatness in Others - Leaders Blog that I believe you will enjoy and might be able to leverage some of the helpful hints from it.
Besides leveraging the excellent suggestions in the blog post “Leadership is the Art of Releasing Greatness in Others” below are a few additional points that may assist you.
Do you have any suggestions on how to coach and mentor others to help them improve their leadership skills and/or become coaches themselves? What examples can you share with us to help us coach or mentor others to be effective leaders or coaches with any tips? Do you have any tips for people with short or long term disabilities to harness their unique abilities and to increase their leadership skills?
We all look forward to hearing your valuable thoughts and comments to help us become better moral, ethical and compassionate leaders.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton
As a person who has been completely blind since May of 1999 I believe my senses have been enhanced in a variety of beneficial ways. I have found that my newly acquired skills and senses have helped me to be a better Program and Project Manager which I have been doing for nearly two decades.
After becoming blind my organizational, planning and interpersonal relationship skills have also been heightened. I found I now have enhanced abilities to sense a person’s feelings and trustworthiness which can assist in my leading projects. These enhanced abilities benefit in other professions as well.
Below are a few examples of the enhanced skills I gained after becoming blind that could assist in being an effective Program or Project Manager that other blind or visually impaired people may also have.
Although I explained some skills that I have these are not unique to me alone. I believe all people with disabilities harness similar skills who have a variety of disabilities that can be leveraged to help companies progress in their goals to assist their customers.
Does anyone want to share other examples of skills people who are disabled have that can aid in project or program management roles? Can you share other unique and valuable skills people with disabilities have, other than blindness or low vision, that can assist them in all professions?
We all look forward to hearing your valuable thoughts and comments.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton
During the holidays I enjoy participating in get togethers with family and friends. I am aware not everyone has family or friends nearby. Also, some people believe they are too busy to share time with others and prefer to be alone. I feel one should participate unselfishly with others if given the opportunity. Over the past few years I have lost many loved ones and am grateful I was able to be with them sharing memories when I had a chance to.
During this time of the year we have many opportunities to share our self with others. For example, for the people in the US we recently had Thanksgiving. We also have Christmas, Hanukkah and New Years among many other holidays.
If your special holiday traditions involve the purchase of gifts, I understand some wish to participate in such However I believe a gift of sharing yourself can be more valuable than any store purchased gift.
I am aware of the value of assistance and sharing because of the many challenges my wife, Kathy, and I attempt to overcome daily. I use to do all the driving when I had eyesight. Now that I am blind and can no longer drive and my wife does not feel comfortable driving on freeways traveling is difficult. Not having the option to drive introduces unique challenges when Kathy is sick and I need to bring her to the doctors, get medicine for us or do grocery shopping. Repairing/maintaining minor things around the house is challenging and extremely time consuming. Reading my postal mail and responding to correspondence is also difficult for me.
Why We Have New Obstacles We Are Grateful To Overcome:
On May 26, 1999 I had become critically ill and went into the hospital. I spent seven months in the hospital, in which three of the months I was in a coma. I returned home from the hospital on December 28, 1999. We received medical bills totaling over one million dollars which caused Kathy and I to address several challenges. When we received the medical bills at this stage in my recovery I was in bed and could not get out without assistance. Unfortunately at the same time the landlord raised our rent. Also we no longer had medical coverage due to exceeding the limits of the insurance policy. Therefor we were on our own to pay any remaining costs out of pocket.
Despite these difficulties, the alternative of my dying during my hospitalization would have been far worse.
I am grateful to be able to say I survived so I can share my time with others and enjoy life and all the difficulties it presents at times. Even though my life has changed forever when I hear the song by Barbra Streisand, “The Way We Were”, it reminds me of the way it used to be.
I am happy my wife Kathy and I were able to uphold our wedding vows we committed to each other on June 14, 1987 which are noted below and to continue to give each other the best gift of all.
I (name), take you (name), for my lawful wedded wife/husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.
I am grateful I have the opportunity to work in my profession long hours at times with little downtime even through some weekends. Despite the challenges my wife Kathy and I continually face and somehow overcome I still try to find time to provide my gift of helping others. Examples are being a mentor, helping to increase accessibility/usability in my workplace, helping drive inclusion and helping others in my community.
Below are some suggestions on how an individual can share time with others as well as demonstrate gratefulness.
Examples of Valuable Gifts from My Wife Kathy, Family and Others:
Other Examples of Valuable Gifts:
These gifts I have listed are equally reciprocal as gifts to yourself. When you give the gift of yourself there are others that receive your gifts through the people you touch. One other side benefit of providing such gifts is that you will never know who you may have helped from your generosity and caring.
Do you have any suggestions on how to share unselfishly and celebrate holidays while helping others? Can you provide ideas as to how to have time to help the less fortunate, the elderly or the disabled? Do you have any stories to share to help us all learn the benefits of providing the gift of assisting others in need while increasing happiness?
We all look forward to hearing your valuable thoughts and comments.
I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year and can find some time to create happiness for others!!
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton
Has anyone ever heard discussions about people with disabilities not necessarily needing or requiring access to particular applications, web pages or documentation because they assume people with disabilities will never use them?
Or, maybe you have experienced people displaying a lack of awareness of what skills disabled people have to offer? Others may not be willing to fully utilize the valuable and unique skills people with disabilities have. Maybe that is because they are unaware of how effective assistive technology can be at levelling the playing field and assisting employees to be as effective as anyone not using assistive technology. Some uninformed people may assume no disabled person could be a people manager or a leader of others. Therefore, their thought process is that applications needed to perform that job function is not required to be accessible since no disabled person will use those particular applications, web pages or documentation. This thought process unfairly restricts promotional opportunities for the disabled.
It is also possible you may have heard someone tell a person with a disability that they do not need to use that application therefore it does not need to be made accessible. Perhaps you have also overheard the excuse that it is not likely a person with a disability who uses assistive technology is going to become a system administrator, therefor that function of the software does not need to be made accessible.
I know of people who are disabled and use assistive technology successfully who perform very technical roles. For example, database administrators, system administrators managing systems locally or remotely using software, application developers and scientists as well as others working in many other highly successful professional roles including managers.
To increase accessibility/usability I feel it is not beneficial to make assumptions on who will use a product. It is far easier to design and develop all applications, web pages and documentation to be accessible and usable to all people. This best practice will also save valuable time and money if a person reports an accessibility issue that requires the developer to immediately drop everything and retrofit the product for usability/accessibility after the product has already been designed, developed and released to the public.
Has anyone ever experienced any of the awareness or stereotypical challenges I talk about above regarding accessibility? Does anyone have any ideas of how to break the assumptions that people with disabilities should not be restricted to certain jobs or professions despite their education and skills?
Does anyone have any thoughts on the value of accessibility and the benefits of demonstrating inclusion and valuing all people equally? Has anyone experienced any positive examples regarding this topic that you might want to share?
Lastly, does anyone have other tips or success stories to help educate us all on the benefits of fully utilizing the complete talents of people with disabilities instead of restricting their professional or personal progress?
We all look forward to hearing your valuable comments and tips.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
https://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wdtipton
Are you a developer or designer of software (standalone or web based) and would like to develop a product to enable as many people to effectively use it successfully?
To assist in increasing customer satisfaction do you develop your product to be as usable and accessible as possible? Do you follow and conform to such guidelines as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1) and the Revised Section 508 standards and Section 255 of the Communications Act?
You may also follow up by performing the necessary automated and manual accessibility evaluations enabling you to review the results of the evaluation reports and correct anything before going live. Since all accessibility evaluation reports you received were positive you felt comfortable everything was addressed to help insure your product was as accessible as possible. To help assure all users would be able to read your documentation you followed procedures on how to make your user documentation accessible such as the procedures in Make Your Word Documents Accessible - Office Support and Create and Verify PDF Accessibility - Adobe.
Since software may have many options and screens to interact with it and operate all controls, a clear, concise and accurate user documentation is required to learn the product. Also it may have a user interface that is not intuitive to a new user. Because of this complexity without clear and correct user documentation a new user may not be able to teach themselves all aspects of the product, preventing them from using the software.
After all of the careful planning and your software product went live you received some feedback from a customer stating they could not use the software with a screen reader (assistive technology). Receiving such a comment made you wonder what you may have missed in your vigilant plan to launch an accessible software product. Could it be the user documentation?
Although I talk a little bit about usability for software this blog post focuses on documentation.
A Few Tips to Assist in Developing More Usable User Documentation:
Although my short list is not inclusive, if one thinks about these tips they may assist in developing more usable and accessible user documentation. This will help users who use assistive technology to use the software effectively.
Since I am completely blind, use a screen reader plus have many years of experience in accessibility, often people ask my opinion on accessibility. When a person asks me if a certain software application I have used is accessible sometimes I'm reluctant to answer because I do not have enough information to tell if it is accessible. This may be because I do not know how to use the software well enough since the user interface is complicated and not intuitive allowing me to learn without accurate user documentation. In these instances the user documentation may be the problem and not the software unless I immediately find obvious accessibility issues which even excellent user documentation cannot overcome.
When developing software it is extremely beneficial to incorporate accessibility in the design and developmental phase due to the expense of going back and retrofitting accessibility after it is developed and launched to the public. Plus, if it is launched with accessibility issues a developer may receive negative customer feedback which impacts customer relations. Developing accurate, accessible and usable user documentation is critical in completing the accessibility experience.
If you develop accurate and accessible documentation it may also help you from receiving comments regarding users stating they cannot use the software due to accessibility issues when the issue could be with the user documentation and not with the software. As I stated in my introduction to this topic this could have been the case why a screen reader user reported an accessibility issue preventing them from using the software just after the product went live.
Do you have any tips to help develop more accurate and usable user documentation? Would you like to share any success stories? Any other thoughts that come to mind that may help our conversation after reading this?
We all look forward to hearing your valuable thoughts and comments.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton