In 1987 faxes were new and we’d never heard of emails, the internet or blogging.
When we got the diagnosis our son had a degenerative brain disorder we spread the word by phone to family and friends in New Zealand and letter to those abroad.
Two years later when we got a similar diagnosis for our second son technology hadn’t moved much further and communicating with family and friends, and making contact with other parents whose children had similar problems, had to be by old fashioned means.
A couple of decades on, the difference the internet has made was brought home to me by the success of Blogging Against Disabilsm Day .
Hundreds of people posted on various aspects and issues which affect people with disabilities and their families including access, art, education, healthcare, language, parenting and politics.
Diary of a Goldfish has created a wonderful resource which will enable people who are dealing with disabilities to share expereiences and learn from each other.
Hotkeys also help people with disabilities. If you hit the SHIFT key five times, it will turn HotKeys on. If you press SHIFT, CTRL, or ALT after that, then it will hold it down until you hit another key; great invention for people with disabilities.
It’s also great for those of us who are web designers committed to accessible sites to hear stories of those who rely on the web, or find accessible sites useful, because this reminds us why we build accessible sites in the first place, and why – even when it’s a battle to persuade people that they need an accessible site – it’s worthwhile.
For me, this story is the one that I keep coming back to when I feel I’m fighting a losing battle with web accessibility…