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"assistive technology" screenreader survey webaim

Assistive Technology Surveys

Digital accessibility experts are often asked about the usage of screen readers and assistive technologies. For example, one will often ask “What’s the most popular screen reader?” This is difficult (if not impossible) to determine technically, but also has privacy implications and other problems.

The following two surveys provide great data and are provided by very reputable organizations. Keep in mind though that the respondents were not controlled and the sample sizes are relatively low.

Are you aware of any other recent surveys?

Related:

A person using a laptop computer wearing headphones and touching a braille output device.
A person using assistive technology.
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"assistive technology" jobs

Accessibility Jobs, March 2016

Wow, plenty of great open positions!

For updates, follow me (@WebAxe) and @a11yJobs on Twitter!

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"assistive technology" video youtube

Accessibility Videos

Here’s a great list of videos and YouTube channels about web accessibility, assistive technology, and more. And from some excellent sources!

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"assistive technology" articles

Types of Assistive Technology

Here is an excellent resource from Usability First on types of disabilities and corresponding assistive technologies:

Accessibility: Types of Accessibility Aids

Many devices are described, organized by the following types of disabilities:

  • Visual impairments
  • Hearing loss and impairments
  • Speech impairments
  • Motor impairments
  • Cognitive impairments
  • Repetitive stress
  • Color blindness

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"assistive technology" apple book

iPad Is Assisitive Technology But No Killer

One may plainly say that Apple’s new iPad is an assistive technology device. Like the iPhone, it includes many accessibility features such as:

  • VoiceOver
  • screen zoom
  • white-on-black display
  • mono audio
  • closed-captioned content

But as pointed out in the article Accessibility and the iPad: First Impressions, it additionally has the following helpful features:

  • Large size (for visually impairments)
  • External Keyboard (for mobile impairments)
  • Speakers (for visually impairments)
  • Simple Interface (for cognitive impairments)

Although I feel that the iPad is certainly better than Amazons’ Kindle, I believe that the iPad will not “kill” the Kindle, mostly because of the price difference. The iPad is much more expensive ranging from $499 to $699 while the Kindle is $259. For more on this, check out Apple Tablet Could Be A Kindle Killer.

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