Recently in able-ness Category

Have mercy, been waitin' for the bus all day.
Have mercy, been waitin' for the bus all day. - "Waitin' for the Bus", Gibbons, Hill

In the Chicago area, riders may be waiting a bit longer for the bus. In fact, depending on where they're waiting, it could be months... or years. Deep service cuts are about to take effect due to a lack of funding for public transportation.

     A young man of only thirteen years wrote an amazing essay, entitled "An Experience that Changed Me". I will just quote the closing paragraph:

I know people from lots of different kinds of families. Some families are divorced, so some of my friends only live with one parent at a time. Other families have someone who is mentally challenged in their family. But no matter how different they are, they are all people. My goal is that some day everybody will be treated with love.

     No wonder Jesus said "suffer the little children to come unto me". The openness of this young man shows great promise. I pray he does not lose sight of his goal.

The World Wide Web is Wonderful!

It provides access to information for many people.
It can be read by the hearing impaired.
It is within the reach of those who cannot easily leave their homes.
It can be navigated (with the correct equipment) by people with paralysis.
It can be read by the visually impaired.
Sometimes.

When I designed my first web page, it was simple.
Even so, I worked on making it attractive.
I used a tool that helped me do this, without learning HTML.
I thought I had done a decent job.

I stumbled upon the Campaign for a Non Browser Specific WWW.
I learned about creating Web pages.
And I finally viewed my page with a browser that did not support graphics.
What a revelation!

My page was vaguely readable, but there were links I couldn't read.
I turned this browser on other Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgendered pages.
Some could be read, others could not.
One of the local Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgendered newspapers could not even be navigated with this browser.
Even one of my providers had pages that were practically WORTHLESS with this browser.
It looked like this:
[LINK] [LINK] [LINK]
[LINK] [LINK] [LINK]
You'd think an internet provider would know better.

So what?

Well, with a mild visual impairment, a person might set their font size a little larger.
Where I had preset the font size, they had no control.
Where I had used graphics to get a "LOOK" for my text, there was no way to adjust it.

With a more severe visual impairment, a person may be using a voice synthesizer to "speak" the page.
Graphics are NOT "speakable". Alternate text (the ALT= keyword in the IMG tag) can work around this.
Frames are not often supported by text-only browsers used with the speech programs.

These web pages are off-limits to these people.
Why?
Is it a lack of caring? I hope not!
Is it appearance over content? That would be sad.
Is it laziness? That's not a good reason.
Or is it just that these sites don't know?
Here's an idea.
Try viewing your page with lynx.
See your page through other peoples' eyes.
Then go to the Campaign for a Non Browser Specific WWW.
to see how you can make your page more accessible.