Since the adoption of the UN convention on the rights of people with disabilities, accessibility of information has increasingly appeared on the policy agendas worldwide. Information accessibility in general, and web accessibility in particular, by nature also encompasses interoperability issues between IT systems and Assistive Technologies (AT).
This has led in the past to the predominance of a primarily technical view of accessibility in terms of presentation, navigation and interaction techniques (see W3C/WAI).
Yet, for people with various learning difficulties the key challenges in using the Web are not only of a technical nature, but often a result of insufficient information design and the lack of suitable approaches to build up media competence .
Today, many people use digital access devices. In this context accessibility means much more than the ability to read and understand written texts. It is also about the handling of digital devices in typical life situations, the adaptation of these devices to one’s own changing needs and preferences, about the design of information accessed via these digital devices, and about the critical and responsible use of the technology and contents, whether self produced or through web-based access. Many questions in this context still require answers, e.g.: how to introduce new technologies to people with different kinds of learning disabilities, how to find a good balance between trust in and protection of users, which level of media competence can be achieved, and where restrictions or protective measures are still necessary in order to include people with learning disabilities.
This session will explore new and innovative ways to e-include people with intellectual and learning disabilities. We invite researchers and practitioners to report on ongoing research, approaches and concepts, to identify key outcomes and lessons learned.
We also welcome contributions that focus on innovative features for mobile devices and tablet computers.
Chairs
Cordular Edler, i n b u t, Germany
Harald Weber , ITA, University of Technology Kaiserslautern, Germany
Kerstin Matausch, Competence network information technology to support the integration of people with disabilities, (KI-I), Austria