Study: Social networks exclude users with disabilities
February 3rd, 2008From the [UK] Guardian:
Social networking sites MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Yahoo and Bebo exclude disabled users, according to AbilityNet, a UK charity bringing the benefits of computer technology to people with disabilities.
In its State of the eNation report, it accuses those sites of “locking out” disabled visitors - for instance, by using Captcha visual verification code images to log in. Many users with disabilities are unable to use Captcha because of compatibility issues with, for instance, screen reading software used by blind visitors.
“With a disabled population of some 10 million potential users, these sites are inadvertently imposing a ‘technological lock-out’ on those who have most to gain from social networking - arguably, the most socially excluded members of the community,” says Kath Moonan, AbilityNet’s senior accessibility and usability consultant, and author of the survey.
This entry was posted
on Sunday, February 3rd, 2008 at 12:36 pm and is filed under accessibility, technology.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Email This Post
Our RSS Feed