“Social media has the potential to provide an array of new opportunities to people with disabilties. But when it comes to sites such as Twitter, more needs to be done…”
“On the street I saw a small girl cold and shivering in a thin dress, with little hope of a decent meal. I became angry and said to God; ‘Why did you permit this? Why don’t you do something about it?’ For a while God said nothing. That night he replied, quite suddenly: ‘I certainly did something about it. I made you.’”
—Quoting Sarah Steinberg’s review in the Dec. 2009 issue of Quill & Quire
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A screengrab from Anna Quon’s Twitter page:
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Have a copy of Migration Songs delivered to your doorstep >>
Then…
Read Irked posts tagged “Anna Quon”
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T-Mobile has added new features to its latest Sidekick, the Sidekick LX 2009 which is attracting attention from consumers who are deaf or hard of hearing. The new features build on Sidekick’s reputation of meeting and exceeding the needs of deaf consumers in providing a deaf-friendly product. Among the notable deaf-friendly features mentioned in a Deaf411 video announcement is a larger 3.2 inch display screen and a trackball navigator that lights up to alert you of not only just email and instant messaging (IM) messages, but also alerts from any one of the three social network sites: Twitter, MySpace and Facebook. This new Sidekick model continues its reputable messaging capabilities with multiple email and instant messaging (IM) service options, and a spacious keyboard. An upgraded 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus and flash, YouTube Mobile access, Flash video support and the 3G network capability are now incorporated in this new model.
[Via houstondeafnetwork.com]
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Read Irked posts tagged “deaf”
Read Irked posts tagged “technology”
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Remember TiLite Wheelchairs, the awesome Kennewick, Washington-based company we profiled last month (”designed by engineers who use wheelchairs”)?
Well…we were thrilled to come across this November 4th message on TiLite’s official Twitter page:
If you’re the parent of a daughter between the ages of 8 and 12, chances are you’ve heard of a wonderful and empowering magazine called “New Moon Girls” (and its sister website newmoon.com, where girls can ask questions and share experiences with their peers in a safe, adult-monitored environment). The magazine, a “champion of girl-centered media” that features writing and art by and for “tweenagers,” is in its 16th year of continuous publication—a HUGE accomplishment in the world of grassroots publishing.
That’s why we were SHOCKED (and very saddened) to read this recent announcement on LunaNewMoon’s Twitter account:
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Then, practically simultaneously, we received this email from our good friend Julia Barry:
According to John Elder Robison’s official Twitter account, the title of his next book is called “Geeks Rule”, and it should be available in the fall of 2010.
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BUY John’s best-selling first book
And visit…
johnrobison.com
robisonservice.com
jerobison.blogspot.com
twitter.com/johnrobison
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Read Irked posts tagged “asperger’s syndrome”
Read Irked posts tagged “writing”
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Thanks to a tip-off from Karen Putz’s frequently-updated Twitter feed, we recently stumbled upon this fascinating article written by Lizz Carroll, (published on diversityinc.com):
If you’re someone with a non-visible disability, you are entitled to your privacy and are under no obligation to bring it up in the workplace. But are there times when you should tell your employer—particularly if you need an accommodation such as flex time or a specific work environment? DiversityInc spoke to several experts to help you weigh your options and guide you through the process of disclosing a non-visible illness in the workplace.
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Accessible Twitter is essentially an alternative to using the main Twitter site. You go along to the homepage, log in with your usual Twitter account details, and use it in exactly the same way as you would the regular site. All the functionality that you’d expect is there – the Tweet roll, your status, mentions & messages, plus access to search, trending topics and popular links. In addition, Accessible Twitter is fully keyboard accessible; marked up semantically with headings optimised for screen reader users, and; fully functional with javascript disabled. There are also some really nice touches that go the extra mile, such as audio cues when the tweet character limit is almost reached (as well as the visual counter), and feedback after Ajax actions so unsighted users know what’s happened. [via]
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Quoting Dennis Lembree, founder of Accessible Twitter:
An excellent example of where a popular “Web 2.0″ site has gone wrong, and right, is Twitter. It’s a fun, social, micro-blogging service which has grown tremendously in the past year. Where it goes wrong is how the front-end is coded. (Yes, the API service has been terribly unreliable, which is somewhat excused by the exponential increased usage.) The code was built poorly from the start. And once you start, it’s more difficult to go back and retrofit the code for accessibility, especially when additional features and UI enhancements are being implemented at the same time. So to be more specific, the actual problem is not that Twitter’s code doesn’t come close to validating, or that it doesn’t pass any type of automated accessibility test, but that not all users can access the interface—some not very easily, and some not at all. The savior and model web site is Accessible Twitter, a web-based Twitter client which is tailored towards disabled users, but great for any Tweep. Accessible Twitter is an example of how Twitter should have been built from the start—with XHTML Strict, semantic markup, and progressive enhancement—or in other words, web standards and web accessibility. The site works with or without JavaScript, without the use of a mouse, and it even works in a Lynx text browser!
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To read a truly beautiful excerpt from Migration Songs, a new novel by Anna Quon, click here (PDF).
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According to Anna’s official website:
It’s well and truly September and the world is starting to show its straggly side, as though it’s been turned inside out. Lots of goldenrod, cicadas and leaves falling. The world is going beautifully bald. I’m getting ready for my poetry workshops for women with disabilities, for the book tour, and trying to start another novel… which is about like I imagine breastfeeding to be…at times lovely, at others painful, unending and occassionally mind numbing. Let me know if there is another, better way…
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And according to her official Twitter account…
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