IBM Accessibility Technology Opens Web to Students and Faculty at California State University, Long Beach

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California State University at Long Beach (CSULB) has selected WebAdapt2Me software from IBM to help its students and faculty gain easier access to the Web.

The installation of the software at the Long Beach campus is part of the new IBM Global Services consulting specialty in accessibility. IBM consultants are helping the university improve access to Web sites and Web applications for members of the university community who have disabilities, as well as those who need help accessing the Internet because of age-related vision or motor difficulties.

IBM WebAdapt2Me software allows individuals to view the Web in a way that's most productive for them. For example, people with low vision can change the size of the type and the colors and contrast of the page for easier viewing. People with learning disabilities can reduce the visual clutter of the page by, for example, reducing several columns to one, so they can follow the text more easily. People without full mobility can set up their system so the mouse and keyboard are easier to use. And people with learning disabilities can ask WebAdapt2Me to read the text on the screen aloud, using IBM ViaVoice technology.

BM consultants are working with campus IT staff at several other universities to provide accessible information to students and faculty who are living with disabilities. Some of those universities include: Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia, Canada; Tokyo Metropolitan University and Nagano University in Japan; and Bologna University in Italy. In addition, IBM is running a pilot program at Wake Forest University where students are testing speech-enabled Web applications on hand-held devices like phones and iPods.