FIVE REASONS WHY BLIND BLOGGERS UNLIKELY TO WIN BLOGGING CONTEST

FIVE REASONS WHY

BLIND BLOGGERS UNLIKELY TO

WIN BLOGGING CONTESTS

I am new to the blogosphere and I have a lot to learn.  One thing  I have seen in my perusing of the blogosphere so far is that there are a few things that put people who are blind (not visually impaired) at a disadvantage.

First let me define the group I am referring to-people who are blind.  These are people who can't see there monitors, or if they can they only see the light eminiating from the monitor but can't make out any images.  This doesn't apply to people who are legally blind or visually impaired and who have enough vision (or can use assistive technology) to see what's on their screen. 

1. Formatting: a. Formatting is a buggaboo for people who are blind whether it be in a blog or in a school paper.  Screen readers do give users ways to make choices about formatting.  The problem is sometimes they execute the operations properly, and sometimes they don't.  They can even falsely report they have completed the operation correctly.  The only way to know for sure is to have a sighted proof reader look through the document.  Many of  us don't have a sighted person just hanging around waiting to proof our writing.

This includes things like; indents, bold, italics, font size and color etc.

b. bulleted lists.  They are very useful, but again difficult to do with a screen reader.  A blind writer may not know if the bullets are in the right places, or may not be able to accurately choose the type of the bullets.

2. Graphics: Choosing a graphic for a blog is a challenge when you can't see the graphics.  I often go to "insert smily face," on the "write a blog, " page and choose the one I think is the safest.  The graphics don't have descriptive labels, so there is no way for blind bloggers to know which image they are selecting for their blog.

3. Writing in HTML: This can be tricky because to do this a blind blogger has to be in "Forms Mode," when using their screen reader.  Editing in HTML using a screen reader can be challenging because one can get popped out of "Forms Mode," (which permits the writer to write in the edit field) and then one has to go back in and find the place to resume editing.  Often this results in writing over text that has already been written causing great confusion.

For this reason I choose to paste my entries from Word.  Pasting from Word to HTML can mess up the formatting the writer has attempted to apply.

4. Inserting hyper links: This may be operator error.  I tried following the instructions on how to do this, and was unsuccessful.  This is an extremely useful tool, and if anyone has tips I would appreciate getting them.  Obviously, this is one of the best ways to promote one's blog.

5. Uploading images: Photography isn't something I engage in since I can't see what I'm photographing, and I can't see the outcome of the photograph.  So, using this tool is challenging, and in my mind frustrating.  I realize how much images can add to a blog.  I'm not apposed to doing this if folks can offer suggestions on how to do this without having to jump through too many hoops.

I have a wonderful sighted coworker who edits my material at work.  She gives me useful tips, and gives me helpful feedback (kindly) that has helped me grow as a writer.

I'm interested in finding ways to solve some of these dilemmas.  Some of the solutions may not be straight on, but rather parallel alternatives to what works for sighted folks. 

I also believe that some the standards set may need to be adapted to be more inclusive. 

I'm all about finding solutions, so if you have ideas, let me know.  I'm particularly interested in hearing from other experienced blind bloggers.  I'm a JAWS user.

P.S.

Helium has offered an alternative to accessing the registration to their site.  I'm proceeding down that road.