Web Survey Findings From Communities With Visual Impairments

Date & Time

Thursday, March 16, 2023 - 2:20 PM PST  

Location

Grand GH  

Description

In the past decade the internet has come up with new and exciting improvements for the accessibility community. Norbert Rum setup and built out one of the largest blind communities on the internet using reddit called /r/blind, which has over 18,000 users and over 400,000 impressions a month. The community provides many examples of what the visually impaired have to deal with on a daily basis. When WebAIM started providing surveys from screen-reader communities covering web use and technology, it helped build awareness to the advocates and developers trying to improve accessibility. During the last couple years, the reddit community noticed that the reports have a smaller sample size, which creates potential result biases towards advanced users and select geolocations. This is not to diminish the work done, because it still provides light to a generally unrecognized population. After discussion with the reddit community and various leaders in the accessibility space, we are expanding surveys to a larger audience with a wider level of visual impairments. We are tapping into the expansive reddit user base and further connections into other digital communities. The survey’s flow paths help better account for the different scenarios and combinations of users and impairments, such as levels of magnification and devices used. This session will cover the survey findings that can better help specialists and developers account for wider ranges of web users.  

Audience

• Higher Education
• Information & Communications Technology
• Research & Development
• Marketing

Audience Level

Intermediate  

Session Summary (Abstract)

Come and dive deep into the results of an extensive and nuanced survey of online visually impared user communities. Utilizing reddit /r/blind and more, we will cover a large data set across many demographics to determine how we can improve the web.  

Primary Topic

Digital Accessibility  

Secondary Topics

• Blind/Low Vision
• Information & Communications Technology (ICT)
• Mobile Technology
• Web

 

Session Type

General Track  

Presenters

• Norbert Rum
  Americaneagle.com
• Nick Goodrum
  Americaneagle.com
• Charlie Beach
  Americaneagle.com

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