Having
acquired a print disability at the age of 35 I was introduced to a world of
assistive technology and was trained in a technology called a screen reader.
This technology enabled me to access the digital world with the help of a text
to speech interface with destop/ smart phone applications/ websites navigation
aided by keyboard/ touch.
The screen
readers that I use are:
On my
desktop/ laptop: NVDA (Non Visual Desktop Access) and JAWS (Job Access With
Speech)
On my smart
phone: VoiceOver for IOS
However, to
enable complete accessibility of applications and websites the applications and
websites need to be WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) compliant;
otherwise I am introduced to barriers due to inaccessiblity. In this article I
am sharing with you accessibility barriers and nightmares I have using the many
digital resources with the help of my screen reader.
Image
Captcha: This one tops my list of nightmares. Since I cannot read the swiggly
letters/ numbers in the image Captcha I am unable to solve them and prove that
I am not a robot. Many a times I have completed a form online and in the end of
it found myself struggling to submit it due to this digital barrier called the
Image Captcha. The image Captcha is not only a barrier for those who use screen
readers but also for people with weak eye sight mainly the elderly. This
barrier can be eliminated by providing alternative ways to validate if you are
human; I discuss them below for your understanding.
Text
Captcha: This is one easy way to authenticate by providing a simple math
problem like 2+2 = and the user has to input the result in the edit box to
validate.
Email
Verification: This is another easy way to authenticate by asking the user to
enter their registered mail ID and getting a link in their mail to validate
OTP: This
is another accessible way to authenticate by sending a one time password which
is usually a 4 or 6 digit number to the users mobile phone and the user has to
input that number in the edit box provided in the application/ webpage
Audio
Captcha: This is a very common alternative way to validate the Captcha if you
are print disabled the user has to listen to an audio clip which has more than
3 words said and type them in the edit box on the webpage. For better
accessibility the words spoken should not be distorted and clear to the
listener and the user should have the ability to type in the words heard in no
particular order
References
for further reading:
Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Overview
https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/
NVDA Screen
Reader Overview
https://assistivlabs.com/assistive-tech/screen-readers/nvda
JAWS Screen
Reader Overview
https://assistivlabs.com/assistive-tech/screen-readers/jaws
More
interesting reads on the subject: https://www.digitala11y.com/the-captcha-conundrum-accessible-alternatives/
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