Background information
Blind to it: opening our eyes to the blind community
by David Lee
This week is all about accessibility: Including everyone instead of most
21.1.2019
Translation: Eva Francis
During one week, we're writing about a topic that is unfortunately often ignored: accessibility in the digital world. We're investigating what products and services need to look like so that they’re available to as many people as possible.
Everyone in the digitec editorial team has their own expert areas: Phillip Rüegg is our expert for gaming; Luca Fontana knows about televisions and projectors and I'm into photography. But there are also topics that affect us all.
We've decided to spend a week taking a close look at a topic that has to do with high tech, but which we don't usually focus on . This week's topic is «accessibility». So for one week we'll be looking at the barriers which people with disabilities face in relation with digital technology – and how they can overcome them.
If you like the concept of a thematic week, we’ll repeat it regularly. About three or four times a year.
Why we’ve chosen to write about accessibility
We've hardly ever dealt with accessibility although it's related to a topic that affects people without disabilities, too: In the broadest sense, it's about usability. Which means it also involves product design. Great usability is only possible if the right product design decisions are made. To quote Steve Jobs: «It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.»
I’m the only editor at digitec who’s over 40 years old. I’m finding it harder and harder to read small writing. Which goes to show that accessibility concerns me, too. And it will do more and more the older I get. By the way, not only each one of us individually but the population as a whole is aging. Questions about ease of access to technology are therefore becoming increasingly important.
Our articles
We're publishing a new article about a topic related to accessibility every day. You can find all previously published articles here:
We've known for some time that our website isn’t disability-friendly. But watching a blind person trying out our shop really opened our eyes.
Gamepad, mouse or keyboard are great gaming tools. But using them requires a lot of skill. What if you can only use one hand or only your feet? People with disabilities depend on specially designed controllers and the right software. The gaming industry provides solutions, but in most cases, gaming is still a challenge for people with disabilities.
Colour vision deficiency is much more common with men that it is with women. Some probably don’t even know they’re affected. We talked to Nicolas Franken to find out what this phenomenon is all about, what it's like to live with it and in which ways it makes technical applications and gaming more challenging.
Imagine you’re deaf. Were you talking to other people in the hearing impaired community, you’d use sign language. But with hearing people? All you’ve got is lip-reading or scribbling things down on a bit of paper. Wouldn’t it be good if you could communicate with everyone in your own language? That’s exactly what SwissTXT wants to make happen with the help of new technology, such as subtitles and sign language interpreting.
Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant have been on the scene for around seven years, so they should have learned a lot. I asked myself: can I use my smartphone for a whole day with only voice commands?
Dyslexics have trouble interpreting letters and words correctly. This makes it difficult – if not impossible – to navigate the Internet. This is a situation I don’t find acceptable. That’s why I’ve developed a browser extension to tackle this problem.
What did you think?
Now that you’ve seen our first focus week, how did you like it? What did you enjoy most and least? Maybe you have ideas for future focus weeks? Thanks for voting and commenting!
Focus week
How did you like our focus week?
- Great stuff, keep it up!88%
- I could take it or leave it.4%
- Thanks, but no thanks.8%
The competition has ended.
David Lee
Senior Editor
David.Lee@digitecgalaxus.chMy interest in IT and writing landed me in tech journalism early on (2000). I want to know how we can use technology without being used. Outside of the office, I’m a keen musician who makes up for lacking talent with excessive enthusiasm.
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