Mike Thrussell is a technologist at Henshaws College in Harrogate. He’s developed an accessible interface for the YouTube website. Many of the students at Henshaws have a visual impairment and additional difficulties so Mike has created an interface to address the complexity of the standard YouTube website by simplifying the functions to search for and play videos. He has blogged about it here and will be a guest blogger on our new ISC blog – part of the main Techdis blog which is currently being re-designed by Laura in our team.
The home page is simple and easy to use. 
Although the most popular searches are listed at the bottom of the home page it works for any search. Below is the result for the search RSA. The search result page also has a large ‘home’ button taking the user directly back to the main page.
Mike has stripped the pages of any unnecessary content and ensured that all the links are correctly named to give a clear indication for users of screen readers.
Once the video is chosen the player has clear and simple control buttons.
You can create permanent links for specific searches that a particular student likes – so http://access.mwjt.co.uk/youtube/index.php?v=take%20that will take you directly to a page of links for Take That videos. Mike is keen for others to comment on the site and you can contact him at mike.thrussell@googlemail.com . You can follow him on Twitter as @mikethrussell or follow his blog which has videos demonstrating the use of the site.
Well done Mike – a good example of working with students, listening to their needs and creating something which makes it easier for them to be more independent.
Inclusive Learning 