by Marshall L. Smith, Ph.D., MSW, CSW, ACSW, and Elizabeth Coombs
Note: A table of links to resources mentioned in this article and related Web pages is at http://www.socialworker.com/accesslinks.htm.
Accessibility: A Value of Social Work
Technology has opened doors for people who previously were denied access. It is now possible to bank, pay one’s mortgage, and shop without leaving home. Computers have made it possible for a person to pursue an education without being physically on campus. Some say that technological advances could negatively affect our society by causing it to become more impersonal. However, others believe that technology can provide unprecedented freedom. Historically, persons with disabilities have often been forced to rely on family, neighbors, friends, and paid helpers to perform services such as banking and shopping or to equalize communication. The Internet offers independence to persons with disabilities. Independence promotes dignity and self-worth.
Independence, dignity, and self-worth, as well as the championing of these causes, are integral to the foundation of social work. Knowledge of new technology can enable social workers to be in contact with numerous populations and to provide informed guidance to their clients.
With so much criticism of the Internet, it is refreshing to learn about developments that provide services that enhance people’s lives. However, problems can arise for people with disabilities (such as the blind, deaf, and people of limited mobility) when Web pages are developed without careful attention to standards of accessibility.
The ethical principle of “Social Workers Challenge Social Injustice” in the NASW Code of Ethics, states:
Social workers pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of people. Social workers’ social change efforts are focused primarily on issues of poverty, unemployment, discrimination, and other forms of social injustice. These activities seek to promote sensitivity to and knowledge about oppression and cultural and ethnic diversity. Social workers strive to ensure access to needed information, services, and resources; equality of opportunity; and meaningful participation in decision making for all people.
Social workers need to become more vigilant in relation to equal access to information on the Internet. With increasing information being provided via the World Wide Web, clients are turning to this source for self-advocacy purposes. As social workers, we must concern ourselves with the information we and our agencies provide, to insure that it is accessible to all people.
Quick Course in Internet Accessibility
While technology has opened doors, it can also close them. This is the dilemma currently experienced by many persons with disabilities when it comes to navigating the World Wide Web. There are numerous ways to make information technology accessible to all, and navigating the Internet doesn’t have to leave a person feeling like a fly caught in the spider’s web. All that is needed is the ability to adequately access the computer’s input and output. With the proper tools, a person can produce just about anything with a computer. For example, speech or screen readers, such as Jaws®, allow the blind to navigate Web pages. Low vision persons can use screen magnification software such as ZoomText®. Persons with learning disabilities can be provided with the ability to change background colors, or the ability to simplify the display by enlarging it. Persons with mobility impairments can use voice recognition software, an onscreen keyboard, various alternatives to the mouse, or use keystrokes instead of the mouse. These various technological aids have been instrumental in providing persons with disabilities the power to transcend the barriers previously considered major stumbling blocks for them.
There are tricks that good Web designers use to reach a wider audience of people. For example, all information presented auditorially should also be available in a text transcript file. All video information should be described and available in an auditory form, as well as a text transcript file. If frames are used, there should also be a NOFRAME option. A phone number, e-mail address, postal mail address, or fax number should be provided for submitting information, even if an online form is also provided. These and other tricks are easy to learn and very important in order to facilitate access by all people.
Providing Internet-accessible information is becoming increasingly easier. For example, a common problem is the browsing software version used by people. Some Web page content looks great in the latest version of Netscape® or Internet Explorer®, but not in an earlier version. It is possible to test the viewability of your Web page by using the Web Page Backward Compatability Viewer. This site on the Internet allows you to look at your own site “through the eyes” of various versions of browser software to insure that it is accessible to as wide an audience as possible.
Not all Internet users have graphical user interface browsers like Netscape® or Internet Explorer®. Some users use an early browser, which can only view text and not graphics. This browser is called LYNX®, and there is a Lynx Viewer on the Internet that permits you to test your site for accessibility by Lynx®.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) works to “lead the Web to its full potential including promoting a high degree of usability for people with disabilities.” They pursue “accessibility of the Web through five primary areas of work: technology, guidelines, tools, education & outreach, and research & development.” Understanding the technical jargon might be difficult, so the W3C has printed Quick Tips* for the beginning Web page designer:
Organizations like W3C support the goal of economic and social justice by aspiring to equal access to all information on the Internet. (See the Accessibility Links Table at the end of this article for “Quick Tips” URL.)
Another important resource is Bobby®, after the British name for a law officer. Bobby® will scan an entire Web site, review the presentation of information, and evaluate the site against principles of approved access. The user will receive a complete report on how the Web site is or is not able to be viewed by people with various disabilities. Bobby® provides links to tips for correcting errors and problems. Check out Bobby® at the location in the table on the next page.
In summary, the Internet can contribute to the isolation and division of people, or it can serve to bring people together with a greater sense of community. We, as social workers, need to understand the Web in order to provide access to those who might not otherwise be included.
Marshall L. Smith is a newly appointed member of the Council on Social Work Education Commission on Disability and Persons with Disabilities. Elizabeth Coombs is a non-traditional BSW student at Rochester Institute of Technology and works part-time for Equal Access to Software and Information, helping to disseminate information to persons with disabilities.
*(Quick Tips © 2000 World Wide Web Consortium, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique, Keio University). All Rights Reserved. http://www.w3.org/WAI)
Note: The table of links referred to in this article is at http://www.socialworker.com/accesslinks.htm.
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