Understanding Disabilities Sensory Topics: Hearing | Blindness | Low Vision | Color-Blindness | Deaf-Blindness

Students who are deaf and blind cannot hear sounds or see text, images, or colors.

Assistive Technologies

People who are deaf and blind typically use Braille translation software and a Braille refreshable display to access content presented on the Web. Translation software and refreshable displays produce Braille, one line at a time, by configuring small plastic pins in the form of Braille letters.

Students may also use a Braille printer, or embosser, to produce hard-copy Braille translations of an electronic document.

General Accommodations

• Accessible versions of textbooks must be provided. The university's disability services office usually coordinates with the student, faculty, and other offices on campus (for example, the textbook office) to obtain books in alternative formats.
  
  
• Students may require accommodations and alternate formats (for example, Braille) during testing.
  
  
• Assignments that involve visiting external sites (businesses, museums, etc.) may not be possible for some students.

Web Access Challenges

All visual and sound content must be made accessible. In general, access issues faced by individuals who are deaf or blind are also challenges for individuals who are deaf-blind.

• Because Braille software and displays can access only electronic text, content presented within images (including photographs, drawings, and image maps) is inaccessible unless a text description is provided.
  
  
• Video presentations and audio clips are inaccessible unless transcribed.
  
  
• Web site structure and navigation that is clear to a sighted person viewing the page might be confusing to a person reading Braille. The organization of a Web page should be clear so that students who cannot see the page can navigate it efficiently.
  
  

The How-To section of this Web site describes how to overcome many of these access challenges.

Scenario

The Situation: You have applied all the accessibility standards that your institution requires and, therefore, expect there will be no requests for accommodations from students with disabilities who might enroll.

The Challenge: Rebecca sends e-mail to inform you that she has enrolled in your Web-based class and is deaf and blind. She uses a standard keyboard and accesses Web content with a Braille refreshable display. You think your content will be accessible to her because it is designed to be accessible to individuals who are blind or deaf. She asks if you are using any video clips. You are. You suggest she can access the captioned text for video clips you plan to use. She asks if there is critical visual content that is not clear by just reading the captions. You realize there is.

One Solution: Since you did not receive notification that Rebecca has a disability, ask her if she has followed university procedures for registering and requesting accommodations through the disability office. Provide Rebecca with a complete transcript of the video presentation, including captions and descriptions of noises and visual content that are important to understand the content. The video publisher or your department or university's technical support staff may be able to help you develop the transcript. If you make this transcript available on the Web, it will also be available to future students who are deaf-blind or do not have access to technology that allows them to run the video presentation. 

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