FodnessMemo28

Cyberspace is constructed for the traditionally abled. Cyberspace is constructed assuming that the users have perfect eyesight, since most of the text is small. Increasing the text size is either not possible, or breaks the layout of the website. Most websites are not designed with features that aid the blind in their use of screen readers. There is not a feature built into browsers or video software to automatically subtitle videos for the deaf. Videos of television shows usually have closed captioning, but videos uploaded by amateur content creators to YouTube are expected to subtitle their own videos. As a result, being deaf excludes an individual from the use of most Flash and video sites, which make up an increasing share of Internet usage. Being colorblind can be debilitating in the context of cyberspace. A common trend in designing websites is to indicate that a certain block of text is a link by only changing its color and overriding the default behavior of underlining the link. For someone who can see the difference in color, navigation is not problematic. For someone who is colorblind, the difference in color between link and text may not be discernable. Without any other contextual clues, such as the text being bold or underlined, there is no way for a colorblind person to tell the difference between what text is clickable and what is not. Cyberspace is constructed differently for the disabled. Not because it has to be, but because there are not sufficient monetary, legislative, or architectural forces that ensure that cyberspace is equally accessible to all.