Web Guru for the Blind
From: IEEE Spectrum - 02/2012 - page 55
By: Eliza Strickland

Chieko Asakawa has just given the IEEE Spectrum website a once-over, and the
verdict isn't good. Her software program has declared that the site is
neither operable nor understandable, and it has decorated Spectrum's home
page with a series of red frowny faces. "I'm afraid it's pretty bad," she
says regretfully, smiling to soften the blow. 

Asakawa isn't talking about what the site looks like — for someone who
navigates the site visually, it's a nicely organized wealth of information.
But for Asakawa, who is blind, it's a mess. 

She uses an audio Web browser that reads content aloud, and on Spectrum's
home page it bogs down in category headings and subheadings, taking minutes
before it finally gets to an actual article headline.  

Read the entire article at:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/profiles/dream-job-2012-web-guru-for-the-blind/0

Links:
Chieko Asakawa
http://www.research.ibm.com/trl/people/chie/index_e.htm

Tokyo branch of IBM Research
http://www.research.ibm.com/trl/extfnt_e.htm

IBM's Home Page Reader
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Page_Reader

aDesigner
http://www.eclipse.org/actf/downloads/tools/aDesigner/index.php

aiBrowser
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/21230.wss

Accessibility Tools Framework
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/22777.wss

Social Accessibility project
http://sa.watson.ibm.com/

IBM Accessibility
http://www-03.ibm.com/able/