LSW-WebDesign

I would like to take a moment to discuss adoption. As of this summer my wife and I had decided to adopt a child, but due to circumstances we needed to put it off to maybe next year. So this subject has been on my mind for a while. The thing is, I have decided to find a new career path for myself and leave the web design/web programming field. As one of those universal coincidenses, the first job I find to apply for is with the State of Alaska’s Children Services, Adoption Unit… Hmmmm a sign?

Well anyways to move on, I went to the interview and they manged to hit me with some questions I did not expect and in answering I had to try to see things from another prespective and this led to a few days of thinking on the subject and brings us to this posting.

The In’s and Out’s of the Adoption Problem.

To be honest I have known a few adoptive parents, even a couple here in Juneau. Wether in Germany or here one things holds true… to many parents go to foreign countries while their own countries, their own states have children in abundance who need a good family.

Now on one hand we have Angelina Jollie, whatever you may think of her or her motivations… she could have been mother to some American kids, but she chose Africa. They have kids who need it too and you can argue more than we do. She may be doing this oput of a need to save a childs life and bring attention to the plight of those children. Well and good, I will not judge her, it is not a bad idea.

On the other hand we have Gerhard Schroeder, former Chancellor of Germany. He was not much a fan of the US, his best friend was Russia’s Putin. Mr. Putin saw to it that Fam. Schroeder was able to adopt a Russian child in about three months. Have any of you ever heard of a 3 month adoption? Usually it takes years! So naturally potential German adoptive parents were rather upset that they have to jump through hoops for the German’s and Russians and he gets a kid just like that. Many other Germans were upset as well for the simple reason that this man was the leader of Germany, he is expected to be the person they look to for guidance, the example… and rather than adopt a German child in need, he gets one from Russia… Hello? That is just… wrong. Maybe when he retired it would be different, but not while in office.

So what is this then? Why do so many people adopt outside the US/there country? In some cases it may be guilt about how these poor kids live without really considering how ours live. But in to many cases I think it is just easier, less red tape. That said however, I have heard that as Eastern Europe’s Qulity of Life improves, it is getting harder for foreigners to adopt there, I don’t know for sure if this is true or not.

Now I might sound as if I am criticizing the adoption laws and workers in the US and Alaska. That is not my intention at all. First off it is the politicians who make the laws and not the case workers trying to help these kids, but mostly the problem is:

1. They are trying to get these kids into a good home.
2. They are trying to get these kids into a good home.

These people are not the enemy, in fact they would love to get every familiy a child and every child a family. I do not doubt that they do there best and I am not saying that because I hope to be one of them. No, to do this job you have to care. At the same time however, they do not want the kids in abusive homes, they do not want the kids in places where they will not be nurtured or that the parents in the end cannot handle it. So they have to be sure and this results in checks, checks and more checks and proof of this that and the other thing. They have to walk a small line between protecting the children while at the same time not making adoption so difficult that people give up or do not even try. Having looked at adoption and spoken with adoptive parents, it is daunting.

The other issue that bothers me of course is age and special needs children. Age is simply that most parents want a baby who will grow up as their child. When you are middle school age/teens, chances are pretty slim you will be adopted. Terrible as it is it is not something I can really hold against such prospective parents. The special needs children are of course closer to my heart, one might say they need not only good parents, but really good and understanding parents. Anyone reading this with kids know how hard they can be to raise, but when the child has extra needs, it is that much more stress on the parents. The worse the health of the child is, the harder it is to find parents. Face it, in the end we all want healthy children, so there are fewer adoptive parents willing and able to handle the extra difficulties of a special needs child.

As for us? Yea we would like a baby, but we also see that all kids need parents and so are more than willing to take an older child, however younger than our birth child. Due to our own experience with special needs children we are willing to adopt one, but realize we have enough issues to hinder us caring for a seriously disabled child, but a more minor ailment we would be willing to adopt. But what we will not discuss any further is that the child will be American. If we are living here, it will be an Alaskan child. Last but not least, if at all possible, it will be a naitive child. This has been our wish all along. I am part Patawatomie and am proud of that heritage and my family is active with the local Tlingit and Haida culture and people. We will take a child and we will raise them to be proud of their heritage. We will teach them what we can and see to it that as long as we live here they have contact with their culture and tribes. It is just an added bonus that I learned in the interview that Alaskan Naitives are only 20% of the population but 60% of the children who need adoptive homes. So we are appy to help the largest group if we can.

So if you ever consider a child or another child, consider adoption. There are millions of kids out there who wish family as much as you wish for a child.

Then consider or speak frankly with friends wishing to adopt about getting an American child and one from your state. Then if you think you have what it takes… please search in yourself and decide if you can help an older child, a minority (meaning most likely the majority number) child and consider of course special needs children. Do not feel guilty if you want your own child, or a healthy or baby child. Not everyone is cut out for the additional problems. You and the child must be happy. But at least consider the “outsiders” in the adoptive world or help your friends to do so.

Part 3 - Language Barriers

The last as promised is not really a disability in the usual sense at all. It is just who you are. I have no person in mind in this case, just general examples.

Here in Alaska we have, for me, a surprisingly large number of Filipinos. Many of these speak with tainted to extreme accents and have any where from Good to poor English skills. This has to be considered on state web sites.

States Like Texas, Florida and California have large populations of Spanish speakers; these populations do not stop there but lesson the farther north one goes. Parts of Canada, like Toronto for instance have large populations of Vietnamese as I understand it. Then there is my favorite, Berlin Germany.

Berlin has the largest Turkish population outside of Turkey’s capitol Istanbul, often jokingly called Turkey’s second largest city. These Turks are some newer immigrants, but most are second and third generation of those Turks who came to rebuild Berlin after WWII when most of Germany’s men were imprisoned or dead. They stayed and built up lives in Berlin, but never really adopted German Culture. It is not uncommon to have third generation Turks, German by Birth who by High school still does not speak German worth mentioning. Parents living in the city for 50 years and still do not speak German. This means that all government buildings and web sites as well as Hospitals etc. have Turkish and German languages signs and sites.

Here I speak only of those people who do not speak the language of their current country well.

What of those outside, I speak German… but not Turkish or Hebrew for instance. Clearly I need an English version. others may understand some of the language. Danish is close to German so I can “get the jist of a page”… if it is in simple and basic Danish.

So not only should you consider disabilities in your content… keep in mind non-native speakers, both in country as well as foreign visitors, remember the internet is International. Just because I live in Alaska does not mean I won’t have a customer in Utah or Luxemburg.

Lastly to keep in mind is techno speak. You beginners know what I mean… we toss around things like user agent, validation, CSS, includes… and we understand it second nature… but you do not. So keep in mind that people not in your immediate culture may not understand what you mean either, a gardener can speak of things I don’t understand and won’t understand me. Just look at the Military! Danny Deveto in “Renaissance man” getting directions from an MP, to hang a left at the PX, to the motor pool with the APC’s and then stop at the something or other and look for the room marked CEO and ask the Spec 4 for the LT., that is not quite how it went but you get the point. Remember to keep those not in or new to your “circle” in mind so you can write text that either is clear to them or take the time to explain terms you use.

These people are not disabled, but they benefit from accessible sites the same way and for the same reason cognitive disorder sufferers do… We, all of us, have trouble understanding things you may not have issues with. There are no real great tricks to making sites accessible to us. So keep the distractions down and keep the content fairly simple… writing a certain way may make you think you sound professional, but does no good if people do not know what you’re saying.

Plain English Campaign & Free Guides

Read Part 1: Naturally occurring

Read Part 2: Illness or Accident

Part 2 - Illness & Accident

Another form is shall we say Accidental. Another is per injury or Illness… but not occurring as part of your normal development. This can be more devastating. I have worked for years under my problems without knowing I had any. As they developed so did I, developing ways to deal with them. But the accidental form just hits you one day and tips your world upside down. You think your target group is healthy and has no disabilities? Wrong, accidents and illnesses happen across age groups, gender, culture, ethnic barriers, and religions.

I have asked and been given permission to speak about Shelley. Shelley is a young woman, mother, wife, and quite a successful freelance web designer. That is until recently. She got ill and now has complications resulting in cognitive difficulties. I will use as much of her own words here as I can. I have edited some parts out as being just technical info on the disease or not pertaining to Web use per say which this article focuses on. It is not about “The disease”, it is about the way “A disease” has changed her use of the web and her need for accessible web sites.

“I have Lyme Disease. I tested positive twice with Canadian testing (which is rare), and I am waiting on co-infection results. Some will know what this means… Some will not. Those who know about it might or might not know what it means when I say I am in Stage 3 and I likely have Neuroborreliosis which is when the disease passes the blood brain barrier. There are a number of things that indicate this including memory issues, cognitive issues, central nervous system issues, mobility issues, motor skill problems and the one I am loving the most this week (a newer development) Bell’s Palsy (minor but I’m admittedly a bit vain so I am praying this one fixes up more and I am thanking the stars I am only around a II on the HB scale).

Even a year ago I could still partake in my love of website design, and coding for hours on end but even that became too much. This isn’t to say I can not work on sites, and maintain sites. I just can no longer put a site out in 24 hours (as someone here once joked with me - ok… yes… I know it was true). Now I am like most and take at least a week, more complicated sites obviously take longer… Some will get this, and what this means about me and some won’t. Basically it takes me 1-8 times as long to do something which is hard to accept.”

Her symptoms as she spelled them out for me:

My symptoms include (but are not limited to):

• Fatigue - Sometimes the fatigue is relatively mild, allowing me to continue working, perhaps in a diminished capacity. Sometimes, however, the symptoms may be quite severe, such that I have been bedridden due to intractable fatigue for 1-4 days at a time.
  [Note: This can effect how well she can concentrate or even “enjoy” surfing, complicated dry technical articles of length will likely be avoided.]
• Memory problems - Memory problems, too, can be mild or quite severe. I have days where I am “ON” and days where I have a serious case of CRS (Can’t Remember S***!).
  [Note: Possible examples here and she mentions this further down, is not remembering what was just read, why you went to the site or page, what info you want or even where you are in the site and what pages you already visited.]
• Photophobia - idiosyncratic responses to particular kinds of light and often am in a very dark home as I pull all the shades. Which of course has my hubby wondering if I am part vampire?
  [Note: here the possibility is that movement from GIFS or Flash or extreme changes between dark and light could be problematic.]
• Panic-attacks -  that seemed to be triggered by sound or light stimulation-especially bright lights that flicker, such as fluorescent lights, headlights of cars moving in the opposite line of traffic - I am ok overall but I must take my glasses off at night when I am driving (which is fine because I see exponentially better at night but I can’t see anything at twilight so I wait that one out).
  [Note: Again potentially over use of flickering Flash could cause a panic attack making further use of your site impossible for the time being if not permanently avoided.]
• Sound sensitivity - hypersensitivity to and/or idiosyncratic responses to sound stimulation - ordinary conversation can be deafening, any sudden sound, like the phone ringing, and certain household sounds, like the running of tap water makes me shake, get flustered and lose all thought lines.
  [Note: Potential issues with use of Music on a web site that may be to loud or hectic to what she may be using. The sudden flash of unexpected sound on loading the page could cause reactions that end her visit to our site or her surfing for the day and most likely she would not return to the site.]
• Increased irritability (extreme) - Sudden, intense irritability is most often triggered by sensory stimulation brought on by my sensitivities to sound, touch or light but may also occur unprovoked and seemingly inexplicably.
  [Note: Any of the above mentioned notes could cause this and ruin her day as well as that of her family.]
• Emotional lability - unprovoked laughter, crying, smiling… and not always situationally appropriate.
  [Note: I considered dropping this one than decided against it. My daughter has emotional issues and she often cries not just at the sad parts of shows, but happy ones to. A web site with sad images, like those often used by animal rights groups are extreme examples of web sites that can cause an issue. However this is not really an issue you can do anything about on your web site.]
• Word Reversals When Speaking and/or Letter Reversals When Writing - I have a history of dyscalculia and dyslexic complications - but I should note that these did not really crop up until I was 9-10-ish and I remember clearly not having problems reading and writing certain simple things as a child. I remember practicing handwriting my name at one house and I haven’t lived there since I was 5-6 years old but by the time I was 11 my printing was atrocious, and I was having a lot of issues.
  - Patients with no prior history of dyslexia have found themselves writing letters backwards, reversing numbers or routinely reversing the first and second letters of a word.
  [Note: This is more an issue with her job. However to closely packed text can cause her to place words in wrong orders or letters from close words into the wrong word making the content hard to understand. Be aware of it, but not something you can do much about except consider letter spacing more than you might now.]
• Spatial Disorientation - lost in ones own neighborhood, on the way to someplace you know? Or… someone repeatedly bumping into things on the left side of their body, dropping things from their left hand despite having no weakness in that hand and occasionally placing objects, such as a milk carton, several inches short of a table edge with the result that they would fall to the floor. - This happens to me all the time!
  [Note: Again border line… but it could be an issue for the user when trying to click on small hot spots for buttons or text; they may repeatedly miss it and get frustrated. Or choose to use Keyboard navigation rather than a mouse. Be sure to have plenty of room in hotspots for the user to click on.]
• One I have not pegged but is partly a number of these things - I get “lost” part way through a page. I have to read, re-read, and go back to a previous page/post to figure out what I was reading if anyone goes on a tangent or even if they don’t.
  [Note: Mentioned above.]

“Fluctuations in Symptoms -This can be one of the most frustrating and perplexing aspects of the illness. A patient with late-stage Lyme disease might feel totally drained one day, the next day be able to function almost normally and the day after experience such mental confusion as to be unable to focus on even the simplest of tasks.”
[Note: Like following web site navigation.]

“Once a person reaches a certain level of pain they start to have impaired judgment, thinking, reasoning, and potential minor personality changes.”

So basically if you put it all together it all makes computer usage more frustrating. God forbid someplace has a flashing animation that moves quickly or is too bright. Outside of the taste and smell sensitivities I get lambasted by the world around me and being on the Internet is no different. Even the forums can be daunting because I have to re-read something over and over and over.”

So you see accessibility goes beyond “Target groups” because accidents and illnesses happen. Anyone any age can be bitten by a tick and develop Lyme Disease. To make my point, even JAN ( the Job Accommodation Network) lists Lyme disease in its own category for workplace accommodation.

[The original post can be found at http://www.killersites.com/mvnforum/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=13267]

Read Part 1: Naturally occurring

Read Part 3: Language Barriers