Programming for All
From: IT World Canada - 09/29/2006
By: Jeff Jedras

IBM says programmers need to take accessibility technology into consideration
when they are developing software and Web sites. IBM sees college as a good
place to start teaching accessible design principles, and hopes computer
science programs will incorporate accessible design into their curricula. IBM
is even helping colleges and universities make the transition by offering
accessible design course exercises and materials online, and by sponsoring a
contest that requires students to use the Open Document Format to design
open-source software for people with disabilities. "We think the programmers
of the future, as they start learning about computer science in university,
need to understand some of the important basic principles," says Frances
West, director of the IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center. IBM's focus
on accessibility design comes at a time when up to one in every six people in
the world has a speech, vision, mobility, or cognitive disability, and the
number is expected to increase as baby boomers age. West adds that schools
are not keeping up, and that people with disabilities often rely more on
computers to obtain information. 

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Links:
IBM Accessibility ODF Coding Challenge
http://www-3.ibm.com/able/contest/index.html

IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center
http://www-306.ibm.com/able/index.html