Electronic Accessibility: What You Need to Know David Engebretson Carly Gerard Web Communication Technologies

Accessible Design Everyone benefits Western is dedicated to inclusion and diversity Mission statement Legal support

Relevant Laws and Policies Sections 504/508 of the Rehabilitation Act Equal access through accommodation and/or accessible programs Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Prohibits discrimination based on disability Federal/state agencies, transportation, facilities, employment Washington State Policy 188 OCIO policy regarding accessible EIT in higher education

Accommodation vs. Access © Parkland College 2017 Accommodation Example: a student is provided a reader/scribe that reads written content in a class.  Example: A hard-of-hearing employee in a staff meeting watches an uncaptioned video that speech-to-text transcribers have to transcribe on the spot.  Access Example: the instructor designs instructional materials in Word with headings and lists, making the document not only easier to use with a screen reader, but also for others to perceive and understand the document.  Example: The video chosen for the meeting already has captions that are accurate and formatted properly, and are turned on before the video starts.  ©Mediacurrent 2017

Accessible Webpages Graphic Credit: © 2017 University of Minnesota Deluth

Accessible HTML Use proper heading structure <h1>Title of Content</h1> <h2>Section Title</h2> <h3>Subsection Title</h3> Provide alt text for meaningful graphics <img src=“../../img_example.png” alt=“short succinct alt text describing image”>

Accessibility HTML (continued) Create lists and format Ordered List: <ol></ol> Unordered List: <ul></ul> List items: <li></li> Add meaningful hyperlink text to URLs https://support.office.com/en-us/article/What-s-new-in-accessibility-for-Word-69aed572-336e-4722-a97e-23393cc481b2?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US… or Office Support: What’s New in Accessibility for Word?

Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel), PDF, Canvas Accessible Documents Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel), PDF, Canvas

Accessibility in Microsoft Word Use Styles to provide headings Include alt text in images

Accessibility in Microsoft Word (continued) Create lists and format documents using built in options Not Enter or Tab! Add meaningful hyperlink text to URLs

Accessible Media Video, PowerPoint Recordings, Podcasts

Accessibility in YouTube Add and edit captions Not automated captions! Transcript Dialog Example: Benefits, Western Human Resources Captioning Services 3PlayMedia Audio Descriptions YouDescribe Can also apply to pointing at the board, going through documents Don’t assume someone can see—everyone perceives and learns differently

Tips for Improving Accessibility Get into practice of using accessibility checkers, when possible Wave from WebAIM (Chrome/Firefox) SiteImprove extension (Chrome) Work together to improve accessibility Explain what you have learned to coworkers

Tips for Improving Accessibility (continued) Find quality captioned material, when possible Focus on improving in one area at first, gradually adding more techniques Small improvements can make a big difference

Contact Us! David Engebretson, Digital Technologies Accessibility Coordinator Phone: x7755 David.Engebretson2@ wwu.edu Carly Gerard, Web Accessibility Developer Phone: x3944 Carly.Gerard@wwu.edu

Summary Accessibility provides equal access, increases productivity, and saves resources (time and energy) for everyone Federal and State law mandates accessibility, Western does what is necessary to be inclusive of our diverse population of life long learners. Creating accessible materials is the right thing to do to support our mission at Western.