Email Accessibility and Social Networking

Previous studies concerning the accessibility of social networking web sites have revealed that there are components of such web sites which present accessibility problems for users with disabilities, including blind users. This paper discusses the intersection of e-mail accessible and social networking, for blind users. Not only is e-mail an important component of social networking sites, but often, an e-mail address is required for registration. The topic of e-mail and social networking is being studied in the broader context of a multi-stage research study of blind users and their e-mail usage. This multi-stage study is being conducted to understand the usage patterns and accessibility problems encountered by blind users in using both web-based and application-based e-mail. Our hope is that the research study will result in the proposal of new strategies and guidelines for accessible design. This conference presentation will report on the status of the data collection.