Argos corporate news
Visually impaired children help develop new website
27 February 2006
Blind and partially sighted children across the UK are being given the chance to speak out and help develop their very own new accessible website, thanks to a link up between the Argos Retail Group and the National Library for the Blind (NLB).
Research shows that 81% of websites are not accessible to visually impaired computer users which means that over 22,000 blind and partially sighted children and teenagers in the UK are excluded from enjoying interactive websites and learning from them with their friends.
The National Library for the Blind has received funding from Argos via the GUS Charitable Trust to carry out research into what visually impaired children would want from a website, and also the feasibility of producing interactive games and content that would also be accessible.
The research is expected to lead on to a new website which can be enjoyed by both visually impaired children and sighted children across the UK and will encourage them to widen their reading and enjoy books together.
Visually impaired people can use a variety of access technologies to enable them to access the internet and computer software packages. Further information on these can be found at www.atp.nlb-online.org.
Carol Pollitt, NLB’s Director of ICT said: “We are delighted to have the support of Argos for this exciting project. It’s a sad fact that visually impaired children are often excluded from many mainstream activities and we are hoping that our research will lead to an exciting new website which they can enjoy along with their sighted friends.”
Laurence Singer, corporate responsibility manager from the Argos Retail Group said: “We’re really pleased to be able to support this project and we hope that this research will lead to visually impaired children and teenagers benefiting from the opportunity to enjoy a much wider range of reading material.”
Every year the National Library for the Blind runs a special awards ceremony, the Visionary Design Awards, which acknowledges expertise in accessible web design. This year’s ceremony will be held on 2 March and will be hosted by Red Dwarf and Scrapheap challenge star Robert Llewellyn.
This project is the latest development between Argos and the National Library for the Blind as this week Argos released its fourth audio CD of its products developed following assistance from NLB. Argos produces an audio catalogue of selected lines alongside each main catalogue launch. Since the release of the first CD in 2004, Argos has taken advice from NLB in order to develop the resource.
