AccessGA Georgia’s Accessible IT Initiative Carolyn Phillips, Director, Tools for Life With contributions from Joy Kniskern and Liz Persaud

AccessGA Website - x.php

Purpose of AccessGA Assist Georgia’s State ADA Coordinator’s Office, who is an equal partner and funds this initiative, and state agencies to reach compliance with section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and ADA. Digital age requires access of information and communication technologies –Websites. WCAG Guidelines Compliance –Software Applications. Videos. YouTube. Mobile Platforms –Content. Word. Forms. Excel. Adobe. PowerPoint.

AccessGA Pilot Initiative Pilot Agencies –Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) –University System of Georgia (USG) –Georgia Building Authority (GBA) –Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD) –Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) –Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission (GSFIC) –Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency (GVRA) New Partners: GTA and Carl Vinson Institute on Government Leadership

AccessGA: Phase I Products Completed through December 31, 2013 –National Survey, Distribution and Report –Branding, Logo and Fact Sheet –Business Case –Support / Ticketing System and Toll Free Line Launch –Technical Assistance Wiki –Accessible Electronic Information Video –June 5 th AccessGA Launch Event and Videotaping –Beginning recruitment of web evaluation team – users with disabilities and one sighted technical consultant who worked on 508 legislation and is an expert in information architecture and accessible design.

AccessGA: Phase I –Special Project Discovery Meetings Special Projects Discovery Meetings Special Projects Discovery Meetings Agency follow-up meetings Follow up 30 min. phone call meetings

AccessGA: Phase I Webinars –Content Accessibility June 2013 Webinar –Webinar on Web Accessibility – Robert Todd at BOR (207 participants) –Procurement and Why Accessible ICT is Important – April 24, 2-3:30 pm Debra Ruh, Global Accessible ICT Expert! –GTA Drupal June 2014 Webinar Newsletters –Winter: Web Accessibility –Resources: March 21, 2014 –Procurement: May 2014 –Accessible Drupal Template of GTA and Accessibility of Content Tips, June 2014

AccessGA: Phase I Web Accessibility Evaluation Team –4 users with disabilities and one sighted technical assistant –4 web audits and reports to agencies or agency web development team –13 projected for next year –Fine tuning our team process and reports –508 refresh guidelines – June 2014 Federal Register Comments to be announced

AccessGA: Phase II July 1, 2014 – June 30, 2015 Strengthen core partnership Evaluate merits of AccessGA Consortium –Who, what, when, why, how Establish state ICT Accessibility Lab –Evaluate new ICT products- report out –Help agencies with VPATs (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) –Procure state licensed high end web evaluation software –Offer on-going training, webinars, newsletters, technical assistance to state agencies and county government on accessible ICT –Assist agencies with accessible social media and mobile platforms by working with GTA –Promote GTA’s accessible Drupal templates

ICT MOOC

Consider this: –Is your agency or organization, or ones you routinely use, producing accessible ICT? Website? Forms? Word documents? Manuals? PowerPoints? Excel forms? –When you use contractors to develop websites or applications, are you requiring that they comply with WCAG guidelines? –Be Aware: JAWS users may not see all of the problems on a website. JAWS is intelligent enough to self-correct certain accessibility flaws.

Tools for Life Advisory Council - Tools for Life AT Network - Carolyn Phillips Director of Tools for Life Ben Jacobs Accommodations Specialist Liz Persaud Training, Outreach and Development Coordinator Martha Rust AT Specialist Disclaimer This presentation is produced by Tools for Life which is a result of the Assistive Technology Act of 1998, as amended in It is a program of the Georgia Institute of Technology, College of Architecture, AMAC Accessibility Solutions and is funded by grant #H224C of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), Department of Education. The contents of this presentation were developed under a grant from the Department of Education. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, Georgia Tech, COA or AMAC and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal government. We are Here to Help You!