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Access 2.0 Interview: Paul McKee

• By Paul Crichton
• 21 Jun 07, 02:11 PM

Paul McKee is a former computer programmer and systems analyst, and is currently a Government Policy Advisor. Having lost most of his sight apart from some peripheral vision, he uses ZoomText to access the web, employing both the magnifcation and speech synthesis features when necessary. We talked to him to find out how technology impacted on his working life.

Question: Does the web make work life easier for you?

Paul: For what I do, I don't think the web adds a tremendous amount extra, but it does put the icing on the cake. It makes research easier but the web is just another application at work.

Question: Do you find a lot of important material is only available in a format difficult to access?

Paul: Forms and reports are an issue, whether web based or not. Reports are most problematical, as they tend to avoid prose in favour of tables and charts to make them "more interesting". I think tables depend very much on visual skills. I have been known to cut and paste tables into straight prose so that it makes more sense to me. Charts mean very little to me, so I tend to skip past them.

Things like Google are invaluable for research and when you find a PDF file (yukk) they usually have an alternative html conversion waiting for you.

Question: Does content delivered in other formats, like video cause problems?

Paul: Not too much, as it is mostly a solution looking for a problem and doesn't change the content too much. Work related videos are very often just talking heads, so if you can't see the head it can be a bonus! I do remember one induction course video with no talking at all, just cheesy 80s music. That was very frustrating and made me feel excluded.

Question: Do you use any websites for networking?

Paul: I鈥檓 aware of people networking through sites like Facebook but they don't seem very inclusive to me. Specifically there's an issue with passwords shown as graphics [known as CAPTCHAs] to keep out spam programmes but they do a decent job of keeping out the visually impaired too. My wife recently signed up with Facebook, and had problems reading the CAPTCHA. If sighted people have problems with them, what chance have I got?

Question: Apart from CAPTCHAs, are there other common problems that you encounter?

Paul: When designers decide to use graphics for links instead of text, the image doesn鈥檛 increase in size with ZoomText, and it doesn鈥檛 always read aloud the destination either. It is a similar thing when designers use graphics for headings. Headings help me to understand what content is about and to navigate. Using graphics instead of text takes this away.

If designers only rely on colour to convey meaning that is a problem as well. I did a training course online from a University that had a multiple-choice paper to complete. When you got a question wrong, it highlighted the correct answer in a different colour. I had no idea whether my answers were right or wrong.

Question: What websites do you use for leisure?

Paul: The websites I like are simple and concentrate on delivery of content - they don't need to entice you in with flashy gimmicks. I like buying things from and , which is tremendous, as I can't go window-shopping, so finding and buying things online is a key part of my life. I also like the 大象传媒 websites for keeping up to date with news and sport.

If you would like to be interview for Access 2.0, drop us an email via the link above.

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