Authoring hypermedia systems for blind people

Access to information in electronic forms is currently difficult for blind people, but electronic information forms also provide great potential to overcome the difficulties that blind people have in accessing information in general. The ACCESS Project is developing tools which will provide interfaces to computer-based systems which will be adaptable to the needs of different user groups. One demonstrator within the ACCESS Project is developing an access system for hypermedia systems for blind people, particularly blind students. This paper presents findings from the initial user requirements studies for this access system and discusses the initial design.