BALANCE for Blind Adults

balancefba.org

“I must say I am very impressed. It is easy to navigate and packed full of useful information. I don’t believe a more useful web resource for persons who are blind or vision impaired exists in Canada where general knowledge and adaptive techniques come together in such an easy to understand format.”

DOUG POIRIER
Program Coordinator
BALANCE for Blind Adults

“Jaws users with virtually no computer experience only have to do as follows:

  • Press h for headings
  • Press l for list items
  • Press enter to pick one
  • Press h til you hear the title you chose
  • Press p (paragraph) to read the text.

That’s it for finding anything on the site once there’s been a quick lesson in navigating.”

TOM DEKKER
Daily Living Skills Instructor
BALANCE for Blind Adults

BALANCE for Blind Adults screen shot

BALANCE for Blind Adults is an organization that provides rehabilitation programs, employment services, and community access facilitation to blind and vision-impaired adults.

The goal was to make this a site where accessibility to blind users is the top priority, and people just learning to use a screen reader can practise on something that was designed with them in mind.

I collaborated with Alan Cantor, a specialist in accessible website design, Martin Courcelles, a consultant on web page accessibility for screen readers, and Daily Living Skills instructor Tom Dekker as well as the blind and low vision members of BALANCE for Blind Adults to make sure the site exceeded accessibility standards.