1 Introduction

We want to start with a framing story. It will weave its way through this resource and bring together a variety of topics and introduce you to a variety of people. Although this resource will focus on screen readers, we also wanted to address early on a misconception that screen readers make braille obsolete. This is not true. Braille celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2024 and is an important part of the post-secondary experience deserving recognition and support, as described in the 2023 panel discussion “Let’s Keep in Touch: Productive Allyship for Braille in Post-Secondary”^[3].

But this framing story also involves you. By reading this resource, you are demonstrating that a flame burns in you to remove obstacles for learners, including this young blind child who will go on to be an astronaut. You are part of this story too.

About your storytellers

About Ashley Shaw

Ashley is a blind graduate student, currently working on her Masters in Community Psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University. She is writing a thesis exploring the types of interventions that aim to improve employment outcomes for adults who are blind or visually impaired.  She is also the Clinical Performance and Evaluation Analyst at Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada, where she gets to support vision rehabilitation programs and services across the country. She is a board member of Braille Literacy Canada, which serves as Canada’s braille authority.

During 2021, she worked as Wilfrid Laurier University’s Library Web Accessibility Advisor. During that time she evaluated and supported accessibility improvements to a variety of resources and platforms used by faculty, staff and students. As a Research Associate with the CNIB Foundation, she got the chance to work on projects funded by Accessible Standards Canada, as part of an inter-abled team of researchers and students.

Ashley has used screen readers for over 20 years and has been a braille user for over 30 years. She started learning to use screen readers with the aid of braille manuals and tutorials on cassette, and she was hooked. She loves how quickly and efficiently she can access all sorts of printed information through the use of screen reading software and refreshable braille displays. She knows firsthand that the accessibility of educational and workplace materials and tools is critical to the success of people with disabilities.

This topic is important to Ashley because…

Blind people participate in post-secondary education as students, staff, and faculty. They also work in a variety of fields requiring post-secondary certificates and degrees. Inaccessible course content and learning technologies can often make degree completion take longer than is typical or anticipated. This can lead to mental health challenges and feelings that they don’t belong in academic settings.

Many of these challenges can be reduced or avoided when instructors, course developers, and other roles within colleges or universities take more responsibility for learning about assistive technologies, and learning how to make the content they generate accessible.

About Mark Weiler

Mark is a sighted Web & User Experience librarian at Wilfrid Laurier University. He also supports the Psychology department and User Experience Design program. He is certified as a Web Accessibility Specialist through the International Association of Accessibility Professionals and is also certified with the JAWS screen reader through Freedom Scientific.

As part of his job, he carefully studied the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The guidelines drew his attention to how content needs to work with screen readers. So, he thought he should know how to use one. He thought he could learn JAWS in an hour or two. But he was wrong! He thought He could read the instructions and get it in a day or two. But he was wrong again! But he thought knowing the basics is probably good enough, right?  He was wrong about that too.

After training, he now uses JAWS all the time, although usually with his sight. However, as part of his training, he has used JAWS for 3 hours with an eye mask. His goal is to use a computer one whole day without his sight.

For several years, he has been visiting the Waterloo Regional chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind. He attends monthly dinners, has learned to make braille and large print dinner sheets, and has gotten to know many of the club members.

This topic is important to Mark because…

The topic of accessibility is important to Mark because it aligns with his job as Web & User Experience Librarian. As a librarian at a university, he also recognizes the common good of society depends on the search for knowledge. This search is not reserved for a class of people – it is for everyone.

Overlapping paths: Opportunities for collaboration

But one day their paths crossed, which would create opportunities for collaboration…

The Laurier library had issued a survey to gather feedback from users. It was about a new library tool, Omni, which was about to be launched across Ontario universities. The same search platform is also being used by Ontario Colleges where it is called Page 1+.

Ashley came to the library with her guide dog and reported that Omni was causing problems for her screen reader, JAWS.  As the Web & User Experience Librarian, Mark arranged a meeting with Ashley and others from the library where she demonstrated the problem with Omni. Although Mark could reproduce the bugs she showed them, he struggled to keep up with her. Disappointed in himself, he decided to improve his JAWS skills.

He practiced daily but was struggling.  A friend from the Waterloo Regional Chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind, Abduke Melka, introduced him to Meared Reta. Meared was known in the blind Ethiopian diaspora as a technology wizard. After a lesson, Meared encouraged Mark to learn JAWS without sight. “Impossible”, Mark thought because he was struggling so much at that stage.  But with regular practice and study, he got better and eventually became JAWS certified.

Meanwhile, Ashley knew that one of the most significant current challenges faced by the blind community is low rates of competitive employment. She wanted to participate in the response to this challenge, so she designed a research proposal and applied and was accepted to the masters program in Community Psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Their paths would cross again when Ashley reached out to Mark about library research, as he was the Psychology librarian.  Because Mark now knew JAWS better, he was better able to keep up with Ashley, although he was no where nearly as proficient as her.  As Mark continued to practice, he reported accessibility issues to companies, organizations, and software developers. By his records, he has reported over 650 issues in university and library environments.

One day, Ashley reported an obstacle in a library database. Mark had examined the database earlier but had completely missed it.  Disappointed in himself, Mark realized that by using his sight while using JAWS, he was missing obstacles. So, Mark decided to take Meared up on his challenge of learning to use JAWS as it was designed: without sight. While he has a ways to go yet, it has helped him better reflect on and identify problems.

Their paths crossed again after the Laurier Library found funds for a Library Web Accessibility Advisor student position. The library hired Ashley and while part of the library web team, Ashley helped to identify obstacles and collaborate on solutions, such as the PDF Pitstop and the Open Menu.

And then one day, someone who wanted to be an astronaut reached out to them…