Ways+to+make+Web+2.0+Accessible

Technology can be beneficial to students and adults who have disabilities but unfortunately sometimes technology developers fail to consider the needs of students or adults with disabilities and how they are going to access certain aspects of the web without some sort of assistance. There are different ways in which technology can be centered on students and adults that have disabilities and the advantages in which they can benefit the learner. To begin with,  Web 2.0 technology offers potential for many people with disabilities. Web 2.0 communication technologies present viable opportunities for disabled persons to collaborate online, but despite these new opportunities there are significant technological barriers for those who may not be able to see, hear, move, or process some types of information, have difficulty reading or comprehending text, may not be able to use a keyboard or mouse, have a text-only screen, a small screen, or a slow Internet connection or may not be able to speak or understand the language in which the document was written. Fortunately, there are ways to open new doors to persons with disabilities and barriers such as these with technology. Assistive technology which is anything that can help someone do something better such as read or write, has made a huge impact on Web 2.0 and the opportunities it has brought to people with disabilities. Some examples of Assistive Technology are screen readers that can only read and navigate basic ASCII and HTML text, not images, alternative keyboards or switches, screen magnification which enlarges all or part of the screen, Braille Bars which represent six-dot tactile code of Braille electronically and respond to the text presented on screen, talking web browsers which convert web pages directly into speech, speech input, which allows the user to speak commands or to dictate to the computer rather than using the mouse and keyboard, and visual notification. Assistive technology or AT for short doesn’t stop there though! Other forms of AT are guides on the home page informing people about the site's contents, less cluttered pages, fewer graphics and advertising, links to be clearer and fewer and print size and colors to be easily changeable.  By including these different types of Assistive Technology’s to be a part technological tools it allows for all types of learning styles and disabilities to be accommodated and Web 2.0 is made more accessible and everyone can start to see the endless opportunities that the web can offer regardless of having a limiting disability. Resources Making Web 2.0 Accessibility Mainstream []
 * Making Web 2.0 Accessible with Assistive Technology **