The game features adjustable colour contrast, spoken feedback, zoom, as well as easily recognisable sounds and images. It requires no assistive technology and is described on the Ballyland website to help young children “develop essential foundation keyboarding and keyboard ‘mapping’ skills that will benefit their future use of computer technology”.
Apps For All challenges developers to create mobile or tablet apps which can be accessed by as many people as possible, including people with disabilities.
Announced by Johanna Plante, Chairperson of ACCAN, and Graeme Innes, Disability Discrimination Commissioner, the focus of the challenge is to raise awareness about the universal benefits of accessible apps.
“The Apps For All challenge will not only highlight why accessibility is so important, but trigger a flood of innovative and groundbreaking ideas around how apps and technologies can truly benefit all,” saidPlante.
The new legislation would be based America’s 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), which was passed in 2010. The most comprehensive access legislation in the world, it makes it mandatory for programs captioned for television broadcast to be captioned when distributed over the internet. Digital television receivers, smartphones, tablets and other devices must also be able to receive captions and play audio description.
Screen readers are pieces of software which enable people who are blind to use computers, smartphones and tablets. They work by converting text and other information into synthetic speech. There are many different screen readers available. Some come installed already on devices, others are free to download, while some are costly.
