Jeff Berwick - Magazine Article

Web Site Designer Extraordinaire
- magazine article for Jan. 2002 edition of Canadian Healthcare Technology
- by Dr. Alan Brookstone

Jeff Berwick sits down at his computer and fires up his browser to check the latest hockey news and to catch up on his e-mail. He has worked early into the hours of the previous morning on a web site for my medical practice and I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to collaborate with him on this project.

Launching WordPad, he quickly loads a file and begins checking the HTML code of a web page to ensure it is correctly coded. Satisfied, he saves the file and publishes it to the web. What makes this series of events remarkable is the fact that Jeff is completely blind. At the age of 13 while living in Ontario, Jeff developed a progressive loss of vision as a result of bilateral sheath meningiomas of the optic nerves. At the age of 14 and in grade 8, Jeff learned Braille. The following year he obtained an Apple II with text to speech capability. This became his primary tool for learning and communication.

As an early adopter, Jeff began programming in Basic when he still had his sight.
After completing high school, he continued to develop his interest in computers and software programming. Taking a BA in English at Carleton University in Ottawa, Jeff also took a computer course.

At that time, Windows 3.1 had arrived and most of the work was done by his classmates using a GUI interface, however there were no specialized readers available that allowed a non-sighted person to navigate Windows.

In order to complete his assignments, Jeff would do the same projects using Fortran, a text-based language that he had learned. He completed his year of computer programming as the top student in his class. Much study remained ahead for Jeff who attended night school in C and C+. With the web in full swing in 2000, he entered the e-commerce solutions developer program at the Institute for Computer Studies in Toronto.

Jeff has never seen Windows. He explains that when he does programming he knows where to start and where he wants to end and he forms a logical flow of code in his mind to take him from start to finish. When the Internet began to gain popularity, he initially stayed well clear. Rather than being an enabler, the Internet was more of a frustration as there were few tools that allowed him to effectively navigate the web, something that is taken for granted with today's sophisticated browsers.

In addition, web access for a visually disabled person is not simply a matter of downloading a free browser from Microsoft or Netscape. Jeff uses a browser called Jaws for Windows, available from Freedom Scientific.

The consumer version of this product costs $1200 Cdn., enough to buy a solid entry-level computer with printer and monitor (and the browser comes free). The Jaws for Windows screen reader provides navigation tools and text to speech conversion. For the visually disabled, just the cost of the screen reader could be a significant barrier to access of the Internet. This is unfortunate, because the users who are able to benefit most from the Internet are those who are physically limited in gaining access to a physician office or medical facility. There are some cost advantages compared to the early days of the Internet. A hardware text to voice synthesizer could cost $500, whereas today a basic computer sound card easily manages this task.

According to Jeff, there are certain features that make a web site user friendly to the visually impaired:

All graphics should be tagged with alternative text to ensure that the graphics      are easily understood by a text reader; Similarly, all image map links should have alternative text tagging; All links should be descriptive; The web site should have a consistent layout; Navigation should be consistent throughout the site, allowing more easy access      to the content.

His favourite sites include www.blindprogramming.com for programming resource information, www.espn.com for sports news and www.go.com as a search engine. Why Go.com as a search engine? Jeff chuckles and says, "It is the quickest to type. Besides, I have become used to the layout and it is easy to navigate."

Jeff rarely uses a mouse to navigate the web or many standard software programs. He would like to see more keyboard shortcuts available in the programs he uses. Jeff currently designs and builds accessible web sites. In addition, he provides a service whereby he will review existing web sites and make recommendations regarding accessibility or will work with web designers to improve the accessibility of existing sites.

Disabled individuals make up a significant percentage of the population and consume a disproportionate amount of the healthcare resources. Enabling web sites for disabled access makes good economic sense in a healthcare system that is struggling to contain costs.


Read Jeff's Press Release upon graduating from a High Tech School.

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