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Barriers
Barriers for disabled people are not only caused by insurmountable stairway steps or narrow doors, but there are also limitations in using the Internet. Barriers lead to the fact that disabled people can only obtain the desired information with great effort and lots of time. Access to information can sometimes be completely blocked. A site, for example, which consists only of graphics without alternative descriptions, is not usable for blind people.
Pictures as seen by people who suffer from different visual impairments.
There are approximately 6.7 Million people registered in Germany who suffer from different visual impairments.
People who have a degree of disability of over 50 % are considered as severely disabled. With a degree of disability up to 30% a disabled badge can be issued this can be necessary for keeping employment.
With each type of disability other difficulties exist. Therefore a website which has been adapted for blind people is not necessarily suitable for people with less serious visual disabilities. We list some of the common barriers on our website.
Not every severely disabled person has a disabled badge. Many severely disabled people do not apply for a disabled badge because they are aware of negative consequences regarding job-seeking. Therefore, the number of the disabled people is estimated at far more than seven million.
Not only disabled people meet barriers on the internet. Many users have problems with reading if the fonts are very small or the colour contrasts are too weak. Every 10th person has partial red-green colour blindness.
Accidents or temporary diseases can make the use of internet difficult. It is difficult to use the mouse with an arm in plaster or with a tendonitis. Older users can face the same barriers as disabled people. With increasing age the fine motor skills connected to hearing and sight are often restricted. Reduction of the abilities can begin a long time before pension age. According to experts, 8 % of internet users are facing barriers in internet.
Barriers in Internet are not only caused by disabilities or learning difficulties. Missing hardware, computer and browser settings can affect someone while using the internet. The content of audio files or videos cannot be transmitted without a soundcard, headset or loudspeakers. Furthermore no music can be heard if there are no music programs installed. Older people, who are new to using the internet, may not know how to install missing programs. Many inexperienced users are afraid of downloading files from the internet.
For safety reasons only the system administrator may install new programs on the computers in some enterprises. Due to security issues Javascript, applet and other programs may be prohibited. Navigation, which works only with Javascript, cannot be used then.
The download time is longer if a website consists of nested tables. Sites are slowly downloaded if you are using a 56k-modem. In 2006 20 % of the users in Germany used a modem in order to use the internet.
With the modem on-line are more frequent (according to Nonliner-Atlas von 2006, www.nonliner-atlas.de ):
Reading can be difficult in particular situations. If sunlight gleams directly on the monitor, the text may not be readable if the colour contrasts are low. Ambient noise may decrease the concentration during reading. Loud office equipment or colleagues speaking loudly may make it difficult to understand texts that contain a lot of foreign words.