Blind or vision impaired

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PCWA online course aims to promote accessibility

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Inclusion and accessibility are hot topics that impact on the daily lives of around 25% of the population who have a disability or impairment. And now web professionals can improve their levels of expertise in web and digital accessibility to make a positive difference by enrolling in Australia’s only university-accredited online access course.

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How the blind experience the internet

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What is the internet like when you have a vision impairment? Chris Moury, who has rapidly declining vision, speaks about this topic on Control Z, a new ABC podcast by Yasmin Parry and Will Ockenden.

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A demo of Microsoft Office 365’s new accessibility features

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Microsoft has recently updated Office 365 with three main new features that enhance accessibility for users with vision impairments. We provide an overview and share a video demo of the new updates.

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Audio description trial on iview ending soon

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The trial of audio description on the ABC’s online iview service, which commenced in April 2015, will soon be drawing to a close.

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Transcript of: Election websites accessibility report

Philip: I’m speaking with Dr Scott Hollier, the Digital Accessibility Director for Media Access Australia, and author of an investigation into the state of accessibility of websites related to the last federal election in 2013. Well, he’s done it again and has put the major parties, along with the Australian Electoral Commission and the ABC’s Vote Compass, under the accessibility spotlight. Scott, what is the state of play in terms of digital access this time around?


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Election websites accessibility report – improving but still difficult to use

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Media Access Australia’s Director of Digital Accessibility, Dr Scott Hollier, recently tested a number of websites related to the upcoming Federal Election to determine their accessibility. When compared with similar tests he did in 2013, improvements have been made. Yet people with disabilities or impairments still face challenges to determine their voting preferences based on online information, as Dr Hollier explains in an informative article and podcast.

Image of the words: why, where, what, how, when, who, in voice bubbles


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Vivid Sydney includes AD at the festival

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Last week Sydney saw the launch of Vivid, which is claimed to be the largest Winter festival of light, music and creativity in the country. Although Vivid is a typically visual festival, this year the organisers have made sure that individuals with a disability, including those who are blind or vision-impaired, can still be involved and enjoy the festival through audio description (AD).

Image of Vivid Sydney Festival logo

This new offering is in-line with the Sydney Opera House recent accessibility 3-year strategy plan which covers all elements of disability access for the venue, its productions and experiences.


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“Okay Google, turn on Voice Access”

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As part of its focus to make Android devices more accessible to people with disabilities, Google has launched Voice Access Beta, a new accessibility service that allows Android users to control all of the functionality of their device by voice alone.

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The new app allows users to change settings, writing texts, scrolling to the end of a page, using the camera, contacts and more.  This will allow a greater inclusion to users unable to operate the touchscreen due to a disability.


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5 ways to experience digital accessibility on Global Accessibility Awareness Day

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As today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), we thought that we would encourage some involvement amongst the community so that you can gain a first-hand awareness of accessibility.  We hope this is an eye-opener and maybe a little bit of a mid-week challenge.

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VoiceView improves vision-impaired access on budget-priced Kindles

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Earlier this week Amazon introduced text-to-voice accessory ‘VoiceView‘ to its more affordable Kindle models, starting with the Kindle Paperwhite (7th gen). Up until now, this feature was only available on the company’s more expensive Kindle Fire tablets.

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