Peter Lenior (68) had a technical education and was a chief at Philips in a department where videotapes were made. Because of Usher's syndrome, he is both hard of hearing and visually impaired. Because his sight and hearing are getting worse, it requires a lot of adaptability. Because he has difficulty going to a store, he uses his personal computer to do so. Accessible web shops would be a godsend for him.
Peter says: Usher's syndrome is a combination between hearing impairment and losing your eyesight in the process. Night blindness is also part of this. The cones and rods at the back of your eye die. I myself see in cocular vision and have a lazy eye on one side. I see very blurry because of this.
I was born with hearing impairment in both ears. The eye disease developed in adolescence. At that time I could live with it quite well during the day, but at night I couldn't see anything at all. Even when the sun shines brightly I can't see anything anymore, it's all fog. Because my condition is getting worse, I have to constantly adapt myself.
After MTS, I worked at Fokker and Ericson for a while. From there I went to Philips, making video tapes. We spooled the tape into the cassettes, did quality control, packaging and shipping. I was the head of the department there with someone else. My colleague had 60 men under him and I also had 60. This was the best period for me.
At night I went from lamppost to lamppost. Knowing well where to ride, where the bus shelters were and how the route went. That's how I went step-by-step on my bicycle home.
During the job interview, I had mentioned that I was hard of hearing, but I hadn't said anything about my night blindness. Back then, all that was still possible. They hired me to start a new department.
I also worked shifts then. During the day I would drive indoors, between the meadows. But at night I went from lamppost to lamppost. Making sure I knew where to drive, where the bus shelters were and how the route went. I could feel well if I was still in the bike lane and that's how I rode my bike home step by step. A colleague caught on and then it finally worked out. Because I always did my job 100% and there were no complaints about me I was allowed to stay anyway.
Everyone sometimes dreams about things you would like to do, or how you would like to organize your life. This is not possible in that way, because you are literally limited. But you would still like to develop yourself further, gain more knowledge and build a better social life. For example, that you can have a pleasant evening at a party and chat with people. But if you are hearing impaired like me and the whole room is a cacophony of sound, you don't know where to look for it. So it's important how you deal with your disability, fortunately I can do that well.
When I want to buy something, it is very inconvenient for me to go to a store. I use my computer for that. I mostly visit sites of antique stores and sometimes I find something there. Ordering something there usually goes pretty well.
Calling is ultimately much faster than going all over that site. But finding the phone number is often an art too!
But another example is at an underpants site. Then you get the men's, women's and children's clothing, which I can still manage. Choosing the right size also works. But then you have to order them, put them in the shopping cart and back again to order something else. Is it really in the shopping cart? That's a real hassle. At some point I give it the mash and look up the phone number. Calling is ultimately much faster than going all over that site. But finding the phone number is often an art too!
With my coarse vision, I can only look at 1 point in a very focused way. So I have to look for everything in a very focused way. That really takes a long time. What would be nice is if better thought were given to the contrasts on websites. For example, light blue with white letters is very difficult to read. Red with black letters is also hard to read, or a background with different colors and white letters. It looks nice, of course, but it is not accessible. I would much rather see large letters, bold and good contrast in the colors.
What would be nice is if better thought were given to contrasts on websites. Light blue with white lettering, for example, is pretty hard to read.
Sometimes, when you go to an article, for example, advertising suddenly pops up in between. So how do you get rid of that again? Then the search for the cross begins. And that cross is always somewhere else. My experience is that the more often you visit a site, the better you can find your way around. But of course that takes a lot of time. It could be faster if it were made easier for me.
When I worked at Philips, we made regulations about packing cassettes. You would think that would be very simple, but no. If you don't describe properly and clearly how to do it, then everyone is going to pack in a different way. Actually, you should ask any farmer on a bicycle if he understands the instructions. If he understands it, then it's good.
For people with disabilities, it should be clear where they can find something on a site. So as a Web builder, ask someone who is (semi-)blind to test the Web site. If he or she doesn't pass, then you know there is a lot of room for improvement.
Do you want to work on the digital accessibility of your webshop? We are happy to help you. For example with a WCAG audit of your webshop.
