What is Web Accessibility?

Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web. More specifically, Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web. Web accessibility also benefits others, including older people with changing abilities due to aging. Web accessibility encompasses all disabilities that affect access to the Web, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, and neurological disabilities. Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)

Why websites must be accessible

ADA Web Accessibility? Not yet but soon!

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Kevin Price

Back on July 26, 1990, the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law. It was comprehensive legislation that created civil rights legal protections for people with disabilities prohibiting all discrimination. Many people have come to me asking me to make their website ADA accessible. While the ADA has specific guidelines for compliance when it comes to physical access, there is no such thing as ADA accessibility regarding websites. The ADA is quiet in regards to electronic access because of its timing. In 1990, the Internet barely existed and it was mainly confined to text based email for research purposes. The ADA has no guidelines for Web accessibility because electronic accessibility was not even on the radar.

Of course, everything has now changed. The Internet is everywhere and there are now specific guidelines for Web accessibility including the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0 and 2.0,  the Federal Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Web Accessibility guidelines and the Illinois Information Technology Accessibility Act  (IITAA) Web Accessibility guidelines. UIC is covered by law under the IITAA Web accessibility guidelines.

Still, the ADA is quiet concerning Web accessibility, thus, no one can claim their site is ADA accessible. This is destined to change in the near future. This Educause article outlines the momentum that is occurring: ADA Web Accessibility Regs Likely Just A Matter of Time.

There is no going back; Web accessibility is not only important now but in the future. Adding Web accessibility into your development process using the guidelines that do exist from WCAG, Section 508 and IITAA will never be a wasted effort.

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Universal Design for Education Webinar series

Posted on October 19, 2011 by Kevin Price

The Great Lakes ADA Center and the Illinois Board of Higher Education are pleased to announce a free webinar series titled “Implementing Universal Design for Education in Illinois.” (Archive of completed sessions). This series was developed following a survey conducted by the Illinois Web Accessibility Consortium in early 2011 which collected information regarding the technologies being employed around Illinois to create and deliver instructional materials, how individuals at educational institutions learn about these technologies and their interest in learning more about accessible techniques and universal design.

Universal Design for Education (UDE) is the incorporation of principles from both universal design for learning (UDL) and universal design for instruction. Universal design for learning employs learning guidelines for multiple means of representation, expression, and engagement for the student.

These webinars will focus on key concepts, strategies and instructional technology that may be used to develop course materials that are universally designed. Universally designed course materials often provide benefits on multiple levels, including accessibility, content retention, varied learning styles, as well as platform and device independent delivery.

All eight scheduled sessions are 60 minutes in length and will be held from 2:00-3:00pm Central Time on the third Thursday of each month.

Register for one or all of the sessions

The program will be delivered via the ElluminateLive! Webinar platform and will be real-time captioned. The sessions will be recorded and archived for future viewing.

10/20/2011
Introduction to Universal Design for Education
Chris Dobson, Harper College

11/17/2011
Introduction to the Illinois Information Accessibility Act (IITAA)
Kevin Price, UIC

12/15/2011
Utilizing LecShare for Delivering Instructional Content
Chris Dobson, Harper College

01/19/2012
Microsoft Office 2010 Accessibility
Christy Blew, UIUC

02/16/2012
Implementing Accessible Math on the Web
Giovanni Duarte, DeVry

03/15/2012
Quick Checks for PDF Accessibility
Christy Blew, UIUC

04/19/2012
Engaging E-learning with SoftChalk LessonBuilder
Chris Dobson, Harper College

05/17/ 2012
Creating Accessible Presentations with Adobe Captivate
Giovanni Duarte, DeVry

This free Webinar series is sponsored by the Great Lakes ADA Center and the Illinois Board of Higher Education. Register for one or all of the sessions.

Learn more about the Illinois Web Accessibility Consortium.

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NFB and Penn State Accessibility Complaint Resolved

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Kevin Price

The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) and the National Federation for the Blind (NFB) reached an agreement on a complaint filed November 12, 2010 with the United States Department of Education, Office of Education, Office for Civil Rights. In the resolution, Penn State “agreed to continue implementing a strategy to make all electronic and information technology systems used on its campuses fully accessible to blind students, faculty, and staff.”

There are several important lessons in the agreement for UIC and other colleges and universities across the country:

  1. The complaint was made to set a precedence and could be made again at other colleges and universities: “The National Federation of the Blind hopes and believes that the steps that Penn State is taking will set an example for colleges and universities throughout the nation.”
  2. The resolution was comprehensive and impacts all campuses of the university.
    • Presentations and workshops will be given to senior academic leadership, department heads and IT staff.
    • Faculty and staff will be included in the IT accessibility trainings.
    • It encompasses more than just Web accessibility, including IT accessibility in classrooms, campus banking, use of “clickers” (personal response systems), library services, etc.
  3. The agreement sets deadlines and consequences, tangible goals in order to measure success, and a grievance procedure. All of these are critical to understanding what to work toward and how to know when the University has achieved the accessibility goals.
  4. Some standard must be set. For UIC, we have chosen the Illinois Information Technology Accessibility Act accessibility guidelines. Penn State is using WCAG 2.0 Level AA.
  5. Accessibility materials and training need to be developed. One of the requirements of the Penn State resolution is for them to make “a rich set of web resources” and “provide both tools and training to the webmasters.” At UIC, we have accessibility instructions and resources on this site, and trainings through ACCC.
  6. Just like the IITAA guidelines for procuring accessible Information Technology, Penn State is including accessibility in their procedures. Accessibility concerns need to be addressed in all new purchases of Information Technology.  A university cannot wait until a contract is signed to address accessibility.  Accessibility must be checked before a major purchase of IT.

This agreement will be closely scrutinized to see how Penn State responds. The agreement should be a model for improving IT accessibility at all colleges and universities.

National Federation of the Blind

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Google Improving Accessibility of Apps

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Kevin Price

Google recently introduced new accessibility features for many of its Google Apps. The good news is that there are definite improvements in the accessibility features of Gmail and Google Documents, Spreadsheets, Calendar, Sites and Doclist. However, they have more work to do for full accessibility.

Google’s focus has been on improving accessibility for people who are blind and using tools such as JAWS screen reader, Macintosh VoiceOver, and GoogleVox — Google’s own screen reader, which also has a plugin extension for the Chrome Browser for both Mac and PC. The approach has been focused on usability for people who are blind using those technologies, and adding captioning for people who are Deaf to videos posted through Google.

However, they are not focusing on other assistive technologies or using established accessibility standards (W3C, Section 508, IITAA). People who use Zoomtext, Window-Eyes and other assistive technologies may still have problems with the apps. Established accessibility standards focus on people with a variety of disabilities. By not implementing those standards, Google is, in effect, ignoring those with other disabilities who access the tools via many other technologies.

On a positive note, they mentioned building keyboard accessibility into the apps. This would help those people with mobility impairments who cannot use a mouse or other pointing device. They haven’t yet figured out how to avoid CAPTCHAs that are inaccessible, but are investigating solutions.

My first impression of the captioning capability is that it seems quite helpful in adding closed captioning to video. If you start with a transcript for the video, Google uses speech recognition to connect the correct words in the caption to the audio. This will make it quicker and easier than manually adding the time coding.

My remaining concern, of course, is that while Google is working towards accessibility, they are not working with established accessibility standards, which may leave some users unable to access these tools.

More information:

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Think Accessibility Early in Your Design

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Kevin Price

Web Accessibility should begin at the earliest stages of a site development process, not just when it comes time to build the site. WebAIM has developed an infographic to highlight important accessible design principles to guide web designers as they create the site’s visual look.

WebAim Infographic for Designers
Text Version of Web Accessibility for Designers

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Two Students Sue FSU Over Access for Blind

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Kimberly Charles

Tallahassee Democrat July 7, 2011 – Two Florida State University students have filed a suit in federal court in Tallahassee claiming FSU has violated anti-discrimination laws that require public institutions to offer equal opportunities to people with disabilities.

Jamie Principato and Christopher Toth, both described as blind in the lawsuit, said that FSU’s mathematics department relies on a learning system called eGrade that is not accessible to people with disabilities.

“The software used for all homework assignments, quizzes and practice assignments in the math department is completely inaccessible for the blind and it can be made accessible for a relatively low cost. It’s a simple fix,” said Principato, a psychology major who’s going into her third year at FSU. continue reading

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Cal State Panel Questions Accessibility of Google Apps

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Kimberly Charles

Inside Higher Ed June 23, 2011 – California State University on Wednesday released the results of a months-long evaluation of the accessibility, for students with disabilities, of Google Apps for Education, a popular suite of software tools used by approximately half of nonprofit colleges. “The applications tested had varying levels of accessibility; most had significant accessibility problems which inhibit users of assistive technology from successful, regular use of the products,” wrote the task force members, who since last fall had been testing various features — Google Mail Chat, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Sites — that Google provides to colleges with its Google Apps suite. continue reading

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Accessibility Lawsuit Filed Against NU and NYU

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Kimberly Charles

The Wall Street Journal (from The Associated Press, March 15) — A complaint filed Tuesday with the federal government accuses New York University and Northwestern University of discriminating against blind students by adopting Google e-mail and other programs that aren’t fully compatible with technology that translates written words into speech.

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