How People with Disabilities Use Digital Technology.
Elias - retiree with low vision, hand tremor, and mild short-term memory loss.
Hello! I’m Elias.
I’m a retired architect.
Life moves slower now that I’m retired,
and I think my body does too [laughs]!
I see less
and hear less than in my younger days.
Also, my hands shake a little.
My children live far away, so we see each other online instead.
We also write to each other and send pictures.
It’s so much easier and quicker than going to the post office
every time
[chuckles].
My trouble is all this small text! Why do they write so small?
I know how to make the text size bigger but it doesn’t work with all websites.
Sometimes everything seems to break down – the text
overlaps or goes somewhere else or disappears completely.
Or, I have to scroll sideways to read – I don’t have the time and energy for that.
It’s the same with apps. I made the text bigger on my mobile phone.
I can’t see without doing that on such a small screen.
Most apps work well but not the banking app.
The text on that app is still small,
and I need to use it to log into my bank account.
I already called them
several times about this but nothing happens.
It’s not only reading, though.
When the text is small, all the buttons and links are also small.
Sometimes tiny. Especially on forms,
where you have to click and select all these things -
it’s hard with my hands,
they don’t behave like they used to.
Our grocery store now has an online shop, which is fantastic
because I don’t have to carry all the shopping any more.
The text is big and it has big links and buttons.
It just seems clearer and easier to find things –
everything is where it should be on every page.
Usually, I have trouble remembering things,
like the telephone number, address, and credit card details.
This store remembers from before, so I only need to select the right address
in the text field rather than needing to type it each time.
I wish all websites could be that easy.
You can help make technology accessible to me.
Accessibility: It's about people.
For more information from the Web Accessibility Initiative
on how people with Disabilities use Digital Technology
visit w3.org/WAI/people