1. Web Accessibility John Rochford Rich Caloggero UMMS Shriver Center
Director, INDEX Program
Rich Caloggero
WGBH National Center for Accessible Media
MIT Adaptive Technology Information Center

2. Introductions Names Backgrounds
Experiences related to people with disabilities using the web (or computers in general)

3. Simple Definition
Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web
Source: World Wide Web Consortium
Web accessibility applies to design & content

4. Importance provides equal access and opportunity
helps people participate in society
is required by laws and policies
benefits people without disabilities
Source: World Wide Web Consortium

5. Making the Web Accessible
Assistive tech compatibility: screen readers, single-switch devices, text-to-speech, etc.
Web software has to be accessible: browsers; media players; development tools; content and learning management systems

6. Making Your Website Accessible
Easy and low cost if done from beginning. Fixing later requires significant effort and costs. Source: World Wide Web Consortium

7. Evaluating Website Accessibility
Automated evaluation tools can catch most-common web or app accessibility problems.
Tenon, WAVE, etc.
People with disabilities must test a web site or app to determine it is actually accessible.

8. How To Evaluate Websites
Is there alternative (alt) text for images?
Are there content headings?
Is the content (tab) order logical?
Use a free, web-based tool to check
Tenon, WAVE, etc.

9. U.S. Laws Starts with Section 504, Rehab Act of 1973.
Section 508 of Rehab Act, as amended in 1998, requires all electronic and information technologies be accessible. 
Source: U.S. Health and Human Services

10. Standards U.S. Federal Section508.gov World
Established in 2000
Synced to world standards on January 12, 2017
World
WCAG 2.0 (As of December, 2008)

11. WCAG 2 Principles
Perceivable - Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive.
Operable - User interface components and navigation must be operable.
Understandable - Information and the operation of user interface must be understandable.
Robust - Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.
Source: World Wide Web Consortium

12. Using the Web How do people with disabilities use the web…
without a keyboard?
without a mouse?
without speakers?
without a monitor?
Job Access With Speech (JAWS) demo

13. Accessible Content Almost all accessible websites focus on design.
Many pay no attention to semantic markup:
headings, lists, bold-versus-strong, etc.
Examples of what they do not use:
plain language
multi-modal presentation
default large print (& responsive design)

14. Cognitive Web Accessibility
Clinical Cognitive Disabilities
learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities, TBI, ASD, Schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, depression, aging, etc.
Functional Cognitive Disabilities
cannot understand non-simple, textual content
are easily distracted
are flummoxed by inconsistent interfaces
do not recover easily from errors

15. Cognitive Accessibility Resources
W3C Cognitive Accessibility Task Force
Clear Helper
Web Site
Blog
Twitter
Web AIM
Articles
Cognitive Web Accessibility Checklist

16. Summary
Websites should be Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust (POUR)
Accessibility can be easy & low cost
Making websites accessible makes them easy to use for everyone