Collaborating with Vendors Toward Improved Accessibility Terrill Thompson, University of Washington Jon Gunderson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Ken Petri, The Ohio State University

Why Accessibility? 10% of students in higher education self-identify as having some form of disability (sources: nlts2.org,nces.ed.gov) Individuals with disabilities (and others) can be affected by inaccessible design Unable to see Unable to hear Unable to use a mouse Unable to perceive color Easily distracted

Our Legal and Ethical Requirements To provide an accessible education to qualified students Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (1973) Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) State laws and campus policies

IT Vendors & Accessibility Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (1998) Section 508 Standards (published in 2000) Software applications and operating systems. Web-based intranet and internet information/applications Telecommunications products Video and multimedia products  Self contained, closed products Desktop and portable computers Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT)

Example VPAT #1: Uninformative

Example VPAT #2: Inaccurate

Example VPAT #3: Not Bad

Issues with Accessible Design Design Patterns: Accessible coding standards Quality Assurance: Do they include accessibility in internal software development testing? Quality Assurance: Test with people with disabilities User Interface Design and Testing: Include users with disabilities in usability testing

Issues with Accessible Design (continued) Documentation: Are accessibility features documented? Support: Is support system capable of responding to accessibility-related questions or bugs?

Examples of Existing Collaborations Blackboard Desire2Learn EBSCO, other Library Bibliographic Databases

Questions to Ask Companies What are the accessible coding practices used for development? Do you include accessibility testing in internal quality assurance testing? Do you include people with disabilities when testing the product? What product features do you test for accessibility? How do your product accessibility features compare to other products?

What Changes Companies Purchasing policies: Approved Vendor Lists Example: California State University system Education: Helping companies understand accessibility Accessible repair vs. accessible design Coding practices for accessibility Support services for accessibility issues Documentation including accessibility information Testing: Helping to test product features Current product accessibility features Next generation technologies

Working with Open Source Projects Filing bugs in bug tracking systems related to accessibility Join the Development Process Allocate resources to modify code to improve accessibility Develop design documents to help module developers use accessible coding practices Develop accessibility QA procedures for accessibility Recruit people with disabilities for testing Example: Sakai--a "Community" Open Source project

Higher Education Making a Difference Accessibility similar to Security Both need to be managed and defined Dedicate staff with both technical and accessibility knowledge to work with companies and verify accessibility Institutional commitment to accessibility Purchasing policies for accessibility Verification of accessibility policy conformance Internal vs External

Tools and Resources iCITA Web Accessibility Best Practices http://html.cita.illinois.edu Firefox Accessibility Extension https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5809 Illinois Functional Accessibility Evaluator http://fae.cita.illinois.edu UW Accessible IT: Tools and Resources http://www.washington.edu/accessibility/tools.html WebAIM WAVE online and WAVE Toolbar http://wave.webaim.org/toolbar

How to Get Involved IT Accessibility Constituent Group Meeting Thursday, 11/5, 4:55 - 6:10pm Meeting Room 608 EDUCAUSE Wiki: Collaborations on Accessibility: http://www.educause.edu/wiki/Collaborations+on+Accessibility Assistive Technology in Higher Education (ATHEN) http://www.athenpro.org Accessing Higher Ground CU-Boulder’s annual conference in November CSUN Conference in San Diego, March 2010

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