Glenda's Book Update #12

January 2007

Happy New Year!

Wild winter weather is still whipping the west coast of British Columbia! The fourteenth wild storm of the season hit Tuesday afternoon. Snow then fell overnight and all day Wednesday. I’m looking at a ten-inch thick, white blanket, everywhere, again. Darrell and I will be housebound for yet another week. Cabin fever in the city!

But, I’m planning an escape as I am off to Australia on Monday, January 22nd! (Virtually, that is.) Thanks to Des, I’m kicking off my virtual book tour “40 Blogs in 40 (Business) Days” on his Thinking Home Business Blog. Then I am off to New York on the Tuesday. And a mystery blogger is scheduled for February 16th.

The plan is to have forty bloggers and ezine writers interview me in the forty business days between Monday, January 22nd, and Friday, March 16th. I envision interview topics including my book I’ll Do It Myself, self-publishing, living with a disability, working from home and online, web accessibility, my love of animals, and countless other topics bloggers may come up with. Bloggers will then post the interview, either as an article or a Q&A or another creative format, on their site. I will post a link to each interview on my new blog.

Dates for “appearances” on this tour are still available. Please contact me at Glenda@BooksbyGlenda.com if you are a blogger interested in hosting an appearance.

Hope you all will join me on this exciting book tour. Who knows where we will stop along the way!

Just as a reminder, my autobiography I’ll Do It Myself is available for purchase at www.BooksbyGlenda.com. Although I am using PayPal to take orders, you do not need a PayPal account to place an order – simply have your credit card ready. I also gladly accept cheques and money orders. Please email me at Glenda@BooksbyGlenda.com if you have any questions.

Wishing you all the best in 2007!

Warmly,
Glenda

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Book Excerpt:

This month’s excerpt details the conception and early days of Soaring Eagle Communications:

My business idea stemmed from an interest sparked a few years earlier. While taking the pre-employment program at the Neil Squire Foundation, the instructors were soon scrambling to keep me busy and suitably challenged. One day the computer instructor introduced me to basic HTML for designing websites. I gobbled it up! I soon realized that, although I grew up in silence, I now had a way to communicate with the world. That realization was so exciting, so liberating!

I continued learning HTML on my own and came across the term web accessibility. Like the real world, the internet also presented barriers to people with disabilities if particular guidelines weren’t followed. As I did more reading and learning, I understood that, although using the internet didn’t pose insurmountable barriers for me, people with other kinds of disabilities would have problems using it.

These problems existed because web developers and decision-makers were not aware of the need for making websites accessible. To make sure other people with disabilities had the same freedom and opportunities provided to me by the internet, I wanted to assist organizations with making their websites accessible to everyone, regardless of an individual's abilities or the technology used. By making their websites accessible, businesses would increase the number of people capable of accessing their sites and, in turn, increase their customer base, which translates into increased profits. Their corporate image would improve because no group, including their own employees with disabilities, would be excluded from using the website.

...

Having a new business with relatively few contacts, being non-verbal, and working in a field about which most people had no knowledge didn't make a great combination for instant business success. As with any business, particularly with a fledgling business like mine, networking is crucial. I did attend a few networking events sponsored by the Self-Employment Program, but I found they weren't highly effective without verbal communication. I even tried printing my business information on postcard-sized cards and handing them to people who stopped to talk, but the cards had very limited success.

I was intimidated to wheel into a room of people standing and milling about because my eye level was their fly level, so making eye contact was difficult. Most people walk into a room and notice how many people are wearing glasses; I wheel in and notice how many flies are undone – a surprising number! With my current scooter I am at breast height. It’s not exactly a thrilling perspective for me, but I am moving on up in the world!

The other problem was my actual business. What is web accessibility? People understand the need for making buildings accessible, but websites? Isn't using the internet as simple as point and click? What do you mean blind people can use computers? How do they see the screen or type? Text-to-speech screen readers? Refreshable Braille displays? People would get a glazed look on their faces, say “Oh, that's interesting,” and then move on to the next entrepreneur to practice their own thirty-second business spiel. Forget the idea of meeting someone for coffee or lunch to discuss potential opportunities for forming strategic alliances or joint ventures! And, until we got a cable internet connection at home, my business phone line was only used for internet connection. I was terrified to answer that phone. A heavy-breathing, inaudible voice answering the phone would likely kill any potential business opportunity!

Readers' Corner:

Have you read my autobiography I’ll Do It Myself and now have a question or two? Do you have a question about what it is like living with a disability, but have felt too inhibited to ask? Do you need suggestions on how to make something accessible? Go ahead, ask me! Send your questions to questions@BooksbyGlenda.com.

"Could you share some tips about making websites accessible? I realize there are a lot of things to consider, but what would be the top 3 or 4 questions a web designer should ask herself, and what are some of the steps she should take?"
~ Avril

Great question, Avril. A few years ago, I wrote the Simplified Web Accessibility Guide, which presents the internationally-accepted Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 in a simple, question and answer format. Of all the guidelines, the following three questions provide a good starting point:

1. When images, audio or video files are used, is the information also provided in an alternative format?
2. Are HTML markup and style sheets used properly?
3. Does the site provide clear navigation mechanisms?

Refer to the Guide for an explanation of how to address each question. Please email me at questions@BooksbyGlenda.com if you would like further information on web accessibility.

For those interested in finding out what web accessibility is all about and how it can benefit your organization, ask me about the three-lesson course e-course "Web Accessibility: What is This All About?".