Abstract:

Over the past few years there has been a significant change in relation to universal accessibility, both in terms of legislation, guidelines and requirements of people with disabilities and their organizations. Universal design means briefly that as far as possible, products, buildings and outdoor areas that are in general use are designed so that they can be used by anyone without special arrangements. In connection with ICT solutions, guidelines from World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) have set the tone, some of which are specified in the specifications and regulations in several countries. Web sites are often characterized by a minimum of solutions in terms of universal design that will give everyone access, particularly people with large sensory loss may have difficulty getting the necessary access.
We have over the past ten years developed different web-based learning and information environments with rich audio-visual content. In two of these solutions, we have placed particular emphasis on ensuring that hard of hearing - deaf, and hard of sight - blind, receive good opportunity to use the material. Development of a media player with the option of extended audio descriptions, sign language interpretation and implementation of the W3C recommendations has been important in this work. In this paper we want to discuss experiences from production-based research, the design considerations, data from the trials and the final design. Through the presentation we hope our solutions can inspire others to promote extended universal design.

Keywords:

ICT, universal design, accessibility, learning environment.