Recent Posts

A Blind Trek Through Android – Part 1: Unwrapping the Ice cream sandwich (Getting Started)

by Jeffrey Stark

May 4th, 2012

There are a lot of conflicting opinions about the relative accessibility or inaccessibility to blind consumers of the Android platform from Google.  I have been involved in the testing, development and evaluation of accessible mobile devices for well over 10 years.  I have used some of the very early proprietary devices, the phones running Microsoft’s [...]

CNIB Library – Iguana

by Jeffrey Stark

April 18th, 2012

This information is being shared because I was seeing so many posts on the various blindness related mailing lists and such a large number of my friends who are blind were expressing challenges they were having on the site but lacked the technical background to identify the programming and development issues that were causing inconsistencies [...]

Android and external keyboards

by Jeffrey Stark

April 5th, 2012

I have seen a lot of requests for QWERTY or external keyboard recommendations for android phones. This post will share my experience while experimenting with QWERTY keyboards on android. I have a Samsung galaxy nexus running ice cream sandwich (ICS). I have gotten 3 separate keyboards to work with ICS. 1) RII 66-key Mini Bluetooth [...]

A crisis of literacy for blind children

by Jeffrey Stark

February 11th, 2012

Today, I was reading a friend’s profile and had a little moment of reflection. It reminded me of just how important braille is for younger kids. The note in the profile read: So, get off your butt and above all else LEARN BRAILLE!!! If you can’t read then you are missing skills such as sentance [...]

Concrete Steps towards Improving Accessibility & large organizations and service areas – Part 2

by Jeffrey Stark

January 16th, 2012

I often get asked about what organizations should be doing to improve their service and the accessibility of their communications for people with disabilities. It can often be difficult to figure out what tangible activities should be looked at and where to focus one’s initial energy. I’ve written this article to try and provide a [...]

Concrete Steps towards Improving Accessibility & large organizations and service areas – Part 1

by Jeffrey Stark

January 5th, 2012

I often get asked about what organizations should be doing to improve their service and the accessibility of their communications for people with disabilities.  It can often be difficult to figure out what tangible activities should be looked at and where to focus one’s initial energy.  I’ve written this article to try and provide a [...]

Should Blind Canadians Not Be Able To Vote independently?

by Jeffrey Stark

April 19th, 2011

I ask why Blind Canadians are not afforded the same right to vote independently?  The recent Ontario provincial Elections showed that it can be done.   For the first time this year, during the provincial elections, I had the opportunity to cast my vote without anyone else knowing who I voted for.   This is a simple [...]

10 Windows Keyboard Shortcuts Everyone Should Know

by Jeffrey Stark

December 23rd, 2010

There are 1,000s of keyboard shortcuts that can be used when using Windows to do a lot of very cool things. Lots of people use keyboard keystrokes for a variety of reasons. People who are blind use these keystrokes to use the computer completely without a mouse. People with repetitive strain injuries use keyboard keystrokes [...]

Picking an accessible cell phone in Canada

by Jeffrey Stark

November 6th, 2010

What provider are youlooking to use ? That dictates the options. Telus and Rogers have the most options for accessible phones The next question is: how much are you willing to pay? The least expensive & easiest option is from Rogers who offer the E71-RVI; which is a symbian phone from nokia. It comes with [...]

The epidemic of inaccessible Touch Screen Point Of Sale Devices to blind consumers

by Jeffrey Stark

September 25th, 2010

Blind consumers may soon no longer be able to do many tasks and activities that they currently perform. Simple tasks like going shopping for groceries, clothing, paying for lodging or travelling may soon be a task that is more difficult or may times impossible unless they are willing to put themselves at a far greater [...]

Screen-reader access to SharePoint

by Jeffrey Stark

May 29th, 2010

  As many screen reader users have found out the hard way; Microsoft’s SharePoint service is not very screen reader friendly. It can be navigated, but is clearly not understandable for your average user. Microsoft’s apparent lack of interest in adhering to w3c standards further complicates the situation. Despite this, many of us have to [...]

Lack of equitable way finding information at conference on technology & persons with disabilities #csun10

by Jeffrey Stark

March 4th, 2010

Sighted visitors are provided with maps in their conference booklet that allow them to plan their routes through the exhibit hall and figure out where each booth is located. This is information that is deemed so important that It is even posted on the conference website. When you call the conference information # and ask [...]

Lack of accessibility of web presence for conference on technology & persons with disabilities – #CSUN10

by Jeffrey Stark

March 3rd, 2010

Updated: 2010-03-08: A call to action met: Proving their willingness to address issues brought forward, CSUN has shocked many (including this reader) by their responsiveness in addressing the accessibility issues identified on the page below.   Having fixed up the link issues on the page itself, fixed heading issues, cleaned up some of the code, provided [...]

Don’t Forget The Blind at The 25th Annual International Conference On Technology & Persons With Disabilities (#CSUN10)

by Jeffrey Stark

February 17th, 2010

  Every year, the California state university’s annual conference on technology & persons with disabilities brings thousands of people together who have an interest in disability. This conference is widely viewed as the premier event in North America in this field. Some are coming for a professional reason, some for a personal one, some to [...]

ZBA Bluetooth Broadcaster can Increase The Accessibility Of Your facility

by Jeffrey Stark

January 16th, 2010

ZBA Bluetooth Media System   This device scans its surroundings and finds Bluetooth enabled devices. When it discovers a device it offers it 1 or more files. It uses the standard Bluetooth file sending protocol to send the file and thus no additional software is required on the device. With the proliferation of mobile devices [...]

Tomorrow marks the deadline for meeting AODA Service Standards

by Jeffrey Stark

December 31st, 2009

January 1st, 2010 marks the deadline that public sector service providers operating in Ontario . have to meet the Customer Service standard under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), January 1st, 2012 marks the deadline for all other service providers. If you operate a business within Ontario you should have already: Establish policies, [...]

A letter from the chair of the CWDO Technical Resources Committee (TEC)

by Jeffrey Stark

December 19th, 2009

    As the newly appointed chair of the TEC committee, I want to first express that I am honored and encouraged by the large amount of excitement and interest I have been hearing within both the TEC committee & within CWDO as a whole. I am hoping that we can put together something extremely [...]

CWDO Website Changes

by Jeffrey Stark

November 23rd, 2009

Executive Summary   Moving to an open source content management system such as Drupal would allow more capability, quicker page updates, multiple authors, multiple revisions, better integration with social media such as twitter, and a more standard compliant site.     Current Situation   Currently the CWDO.org web pages are manually entered using a Microsoft [...]

Live Online Consultation on the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Oct 22 from 7-9pm

by Jeffrey Stark

October 11th, 2009

  I just wanted to extend an invite to anyone who would be interested in participating in an on-line public consultation with Charles Beer October 22, 2009 from 7-9pm EST The provincial government has hired Charles Beer to do an independent review of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). The AODA calls for [...]

Rogers Cable caught with their pants down, not passing DVS

by Jeffrey Stark

October 9th, 2009

This week, my father confirmed with Rogers that they were not passing through the DVS signal on an American station where it was available, despite Roger’s commitment to already having done so in a public forum with the CRTC.   For those who are not familiar with DVS, the Described Video Service is an extra [...]

Ottawa Transit System For Stop Annuncements

by Jeffrey Stark

September 10th, 2009

It has already been shown to be unlawful for OC Transpo to not have an accessible system in place for announcing stops for passengers. For those of us who live in Ottawa. It would be in our best interest as a community, to individually write something to the various councilors on this new stop announcement [...]

Why Serotek?

by Jeffrey Stark

July 25th, 2009

  The Top Five Reasons Why System Access (SA), System Access Mobile Network (SAM Net) and Serotek are leading the industry in innovation: Community : Serotek unlike many of the AT manufacturers are working to build more than just a basic screen reader (something in my opinion the market is already flooded with); it is [...]

Modern Multiple Format Production and the role of Daisy

by Jeffrey Stark

July 10th, 2009

  Who needs alternate formats?   While a bit general in nature, here are some examples: Readers who are blind or have low vision, require one or more of the following formats depending on their needs & the usage of the material, may require: Braille, electronic text, audio or large print   Readers with various [...]

Canadian ATMs not required to be accessible?!

by Jeffrey Stark

July 4th, 2009

Canadian ATMs that are not run by the banks not required to be accessible? They are installing an ATM machine at my building at work. It’s run by one of these “non-bank” service providers. These types of ATMs are called “white label ATMs” because they are independently operated and not run by a bank. We [...]

5 days of technology training for business professionals using adaptive technology on how to leverage technology and IT systems in the workplace – hosted at Lake Joe

by Jeffrey Stark

July 1st, 2009

On September 14, 2009, the CNIB Lake Joseph Centre will be hosting five days of technology training for users of adaptive technology This training is open to all Canadians. There are few opportunities to learn to leverage technology for use in the workplace as a blind or low vision user. This training is not on [...]