Unplugged Lesson Plan
Materials
Accessibility Worksheet
Accessible Technology for Persons with Disabilities Kahoot game (https://play.kahoot.it/#/?quizId=2db00341-b517-48c7-a0b9-8d862ffdbad1)
Two Web sites will be the resources for this exercise, as they offer practical information on the many assistive devices that help those with disabilities use telecommunications technology.
- The first resource, at http://developer.gnome.org/projeccts/gap/AT/at-types.html, is only three pages, which either the teacher or students can print.
- The second, at http://utoronto.ca/atrc/reference/tech/techgloss.html, has pictures of many devices. Each picture, when clicked, goes to a page with information about each device. The answers for this exercise are provided for teachers.
Procedure
Break the class into small groups.
Ask the groups to use the Tech Lab Accessibility Unit and the two Web sites listed above (and provided on the worksheet) to research and report on the concepts below.
Give the groups at least 24 hours to find the answers and complete the worksheet.
- People with certain disabilities may benefit greatly from use of voice recognition software. List three disabilities where this is the case. Answer: A person who cannot use a keyboard. Such persons could include those with multiple sclerosis, other mobility impairments, carpal tunnel syndrome, and impaired use of hands. http://www.utoronto.ca/atrc/education/workshops/ws_VoiceRec.html
- Suzie’s mother is deaf, but she communicates with her family by phone. How does she make a phone call to a hearing person using the Telecommunications Relay Service? Explain how the TRS operator makes the connection. Answer: Suzie’s mother uses her TTY to dial 711. The operator relays the message to a hearing person who is using a PSTS telephone while the deaf person is using a TTY. The operator relays the messages using both voice to the hearing and a keyboard to “relay” the voice message to the deaf person using the TTY.
- Is the VOIP version of the Telecommunications Relay Service as reliable as the PSTS version? Answer: No, because the VOIP sometimes garbles messages.
- Name three assistive technologies that can help a blind or vision-impaired person use the Internet. Answer: They are a screen magnifier, a screen reader and a talking browser. Explain how they work. A refreshable Braille display is also a correct answer. http://www.utoronto.ca/atrc/reference/tech/scread.html#browsers
- Identify the way that two deaf people can communicate by phone. Answer: Both deaf persons communicate with a TTY.
- Identify the technology assistance that can help a student with dyslexia. Answer: Text to speech software, websites with many graphics, ability to freeze the animated graphics. www.w3.org/WAI/EO/Drafts/PWD-Use-Web/
- Identify three telephone designs that use universal design and are useful to everyone but also assist people with disabilities. (Students must figure this out for themselves.) Answer: Phones with large touch tone keys; telephones with speaker buttons; large screens for Caller ID; cell phones with larger keyboards; and cell phones that are well-lit at night.
- Why is this statement correct? “The closer companies and other organizations design their sites to HTML standards, the more accessible they are to people with disabilities and everyone else.” Answer: HTML standards require a text that is the easiest for many to read and understand. www.icdri.org/CynthiaW/is_%20yoursite_ada_compliant.htm
- Identify “an open standard” method of checking the accessibility of Web sites. Answer: DAISY
- Identify three low-cost accommodations for people with disabilities who want to use the Web and email. Answer: Larger font size for those who are vision-impaired, Web sites that provide captions for those who cannot hear, use of HTML standard.
Open-Ended Discussion Questions
- Why is it so important for people who have disabilities to have access to telecommunications technologies?
- What other universal design features can you think of that would make cell phones more accessible to those with disabilities and everyone else? What about computers? Web sites?