Myths and Facts About Disabilities
Many myths exist that keep people with disabilities from entering the
workforce. Yet the fact is that people with disabilities are no less
reliable, talented or productive than their peers. Often, they do not
require customized work arrangements. The following is an eye-opening
exploration of myths and facts from credible sources and studies.
Did you know?
A screen reader is a software application that enables people with severe visual
impairments to use a computer.
Screen readers work closely with the computer’s Operating System (OS) to
provide information about icons, menus, dialogue boxes, files and folders.
A screen reader provides access to the entire OS that it works with, including
many common applications.
By Jonathan Snook
2007 Nov 27
If you were to ask people that question, I suspect most would say that accessibility
is about making sure something – in our context, a web site or web
application – that works for those who are physically disabled. Maybe they’re
blind or maybe they’re a quadriplegic and unable to use a keyboard or mouse
in the traditional sense.
The needs of screen magnifier users are overlooked when implementing web accessibility
on to a website. Screen magnifiers are used by partially sighted
web users to increase the size of on-screen elements. Some users will magnify
the screen so that only three to four words are able to appear on the screen
at any one time.
