1. Curry School of Education
Web Accessibility
Curry School of Education
1/4/2013
Christopher Read / Debbie Berkeley, LNEC

2. What is it? Why Is it important?
Web Accessibility
9/19/2018

3. Web Accessibility – What does it mean?
Perceivable: Available to various senses either through the browser or through assistive technologies (such as, screen readers)
Operable: Users can interact with all controls and interactive elements using the mouse, keyboard, or an assistive device.
Understandable: Content is clear and limits confusion and ambiguity.
Robust: A wide range of technologies can access the content.
Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can meaningfully access and interact with the Web. An accessible web site is like a fine wine, it’s got structure and balance. And it’s one you POUR:
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4. Web Accessibility – Why is it important?
An accessible Web provides equal access and equal opportunity to people with disabilities and can help people with disabilities more actively participate in society
Web technologies have virtually eradicated barriers to traditional print, audio, and visual media for people with disabilities. It’s important to shape Web design so that new barriers aren’t created.
Web accessibility is required by law.
Equal access, active participation - In essence, you want your message to reach everybody.
So new barriers aren’t created
The law
There are federal and state laws about non-discrimination. Most people don’t need laws to motivate them, but everyone should be aware that you could be liable for excluding access. I’m not a legal expert, but I can steer you to the details if you’re interested.
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5. Disability & Web concerns
Web Accessibility
9/19/2018

6. Major Disability categories
Visual
Blindness, low vision, color-blindness
Hearing
Deafness
Motor
Inability to use a mouse, slow response time, limited fine motor control
Cognitive
Learning disabilities, distractibility, inability to focus on large amounts of information
Each year, nearly 500 individuals request accommodations from the student disabilities service office (SDAC). That doesn’t count all the people who visit your site from off-Grounds.
These are some common categorizations.
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9/19/2018

7. Visual - questions How will a visually impaired user access text?
How will images be recognized?
How will the page be visually scanned?
How will elements of forms and links be properly read?
How will tables be efficiently read?
1A: People with visual impairments may use a screenreading program such as JAWS OR a magnifying program such as ZoomText OR built-in accessibility features of operating systems.
*Software that has “read out loud” capabilities is sometimes referred to as text-to-speech software or a screen reader. In addition to the non-native English speaker, people with learning disabilities or visual impairments all benefit from documents that can be read out loud.
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9/19/2018

8. Hearing - questions Will videos or podcasts be uploaded?
Will the audio/video player have closed caption ability?
Who will create the transcript or closed captioning file?
Deaf and Hard of Hearing access audio content in a video or podcast by enabling closed captioning on audio or video players.
So if videos or podcasts are being uploaded, the question is which audio/video player do you use and who is typing the transcript?
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9/19/2018

9. Cognitive - questions How does the page look?
Is the page structured with headings and bulleted lists, numbered lists or indented quotes?
Do visual cues such as illustrations or headings highlight important points?
Is white space in margins and between headings?
Are paragraphs short and unambiguous?
By far, most of those we serve have a learning disorder or something along the lines of dyslexia
Kurzweil is a reading application that frequently benefits this population.
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10. Assistive Tech
Popular
Programs
Demo
9/19/2018

11. Popular programs Learning Disability Visual Impairment Other Kurzweil
Narrator (Win); VoiceOver (Mac)
Visual Impairment
JAWS
ZoomText / Magnifier (Win); Zoom (Mac)
Other
Dragon Naturally Speaking
Closed Captioning (A tool, not a program)
Kurzweil reads text onscreen outloud while highlighting words in color
Helps visual focus
Helps comprehension with vocal reiteration
Study skill development and word processing tools built into program also
2. JAWS reads text aloud and navigates documents through numerous keyboard commands (keyboard only)
3. ZoomText has an intense magnification feature as well as contrast and read outloud capability
4. Dragon is voice recognition that allows people to use voice commands to navigate websites or their computer without any use (or limited use) of the mouse.
5. Different audio/video players play closed captioning differently
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12. Demo
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13. Sources: WebAim.org W3.org Christopher Read Debbie Berkeley
W3.org
Christopher Read
Assistive Technology Specialist, SDAC
Debbie Berkeley
Assistant Director, SDAC
Formerly known as the LNEC,
SDAC is Student Disability Access Center
9/19/2018