Many of us who strive to create accessible Web sites can't fully appreciate how helpful these
efforts can be. Often we use examples like "try navigating without your mouse" or "turn off
your images and explore a Web page without alternative text". But one of the best ways to
discover how beneficial accessible Web sites can be is to learn from someone who uses and
depends on them. At the University of Wisconsin, we have been fortunate to work with Neal
Ewers of the Trace Research Center. Neal is featured on a video that is available on the Web.
It's enjoyable, easy to understand, and is itself a demonstration of how to make multimedia
accessible. A quote of Neal's from the video:

"If I were able to see the screen, I would know that there were a couple of titles on the screen
that are in bold letters, they are centered and they are in larger text. I can't see that, so the
problem a blind user has is that one begins to read, not knowing anything about the layout of
the page. The only way you know what's on the page is when you get to it. Greg
Vanderheiden, our Director of the Trace Center, has often referred to it as the soda straw
approach. You are looking through this small hole. You're reading one word at a time, and
that's all you see, and that's all I hear, until I get to the next word. I have no clue that down
half way down the page is a bold heading." - 'Introduction to the Screen Reader' is available
from the University of Wisconsin-Madison at:http://www.doit.wisc.edu/accessibility/video/

(Michele Jacques, Instructional Communications Systems, University of Wisconsin-Extension,
Distance Education Clearinghouse Web Master.)