Website Accessibility for People with Disabilities Kate Todd November 27, 2007

What has changed?

What has changed?  Legal Environment  Technology  Expectations  Disabilities

What has changed? The Legal Environment IDEA: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (1975) Rehabilitation Act ( passed 1973; effective 1977; amended many times )  Section 504 (forbids disability discrimination if receive federal funds)  Section 508 (technology) Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)  Forbids discrimination against individuals with disabilities in employment, public services, public accommodations and telecommunications

IDEA: Basic provisions Federal legislation covering K-12 schools Requires Free Appropriate Public Education regardless of ability Requires students to be placed in “least restrictive environment” Requires schools to write IEP (Individual Education Program) for students with qualifying disabilities Requires schools to provide assistive technology if determined necessary by IEP team

Sample IEP

What has changed? The Legal Environment IDEA: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (1975) Rehabilitation Act ( passed 1973; effective 1977; amended many times )  Section 504 (forbids disability discrimination if receive federal funds)  Section 508 (technology) Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)  Forbids discrimination against individuals with disabilities in employment, public services, public accommodations and telecommunications

What has changed? Technology In mid-70s, Ray Kurzweil saw the potential of new technologies to assist people with disabilities This prototype Kurzweil machine combined optical character reader technology with computer synthesized speech Machine reads books aloud to individuals with visual impairments

Technology can now be used by people with disabilities to do things that they could never do before What has changed? Technology Technology can also become a barrier when people are trying to live independent and meaningful lives

What has changed? Expectations Students in K-12 education: least restrictive environment Individual Education Program (IEP) and testing accommodations Assistive Technologies Students encouraged to be independent  Want to be “like everyone else”

What has changed? Disabilities Original  Speech, Vision, Hearing impairments  Mental Retardation  Wheelchair User (orthopedic) Now added  LD (Learning Disability)  EBD (Emotional Behavioral Disability)  ADD (Attention Deficient Disorder)  Autism Many Disabilities are “invisible”

Activity 1: How people with disabilities use the web

How disabilities interfere with use of the Internet World Wide Access

Some assistive technologies used by people with disabilities  Hundreds available  New ones every day  Some “industry standards”

A.A.C. Augmentative and Alternative Communication Definition  Systems that supplement, replace or enhance conventional oral communication  Not only includes symbol system, but also strategies and aids Examples  Braille  American Sign Language  Picture Communication Systems Learning curve

Braille

American Sign Language

Picture Communication Systems (PCS)

Technologies that support AAC Braille  Braille notetaker  Refreshable Braille display  Duxbury software  Printers/Embossers: Romeo/Juliet Sign Language  Sign Smith Boardmaker  Picture communication

Support for Braille Braille Notetaker Refreshable Braille Display Braille Computer Output hardware software

Sign Smith 1.Illustrated Dictionary for learning ASL 2.Sign Smith Studio 3. ASL Animations

P.C.S. software: Boardmaker by Mayer-Johnson

Assistive Technologies Screen Readers  JAWS Optical Character Reader  Kurzweil Speech Recognition  Dragon Naturally Speaking Speech Synthesizer  DynaVox

Screen Readers

Optical Character Reader

Speech Recognition

Speech Synthesizer

Assistive Technologies Computers require power Cost can be high Steep learning curve Need own computers to use

Activity 2: Online checkers for web accessibility Links available at

A few solutions A solution for one person can become a problem for another person

Accessibility Notices Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources U.S. Army Redstone Test Center Skokie Public Library

Become familiar with alternate database access: Text only

Become familiar with alternate database access: Visual search

Web page design HTML, the language used for web pages, allows each browser to format information Web designers and graphic designers want to control the visual They use tables to hold elements in place on a page They convert text to graphic representation so that the font will always look the same

HTML/Dreamweaver To make web pages accessible:  Use text, not graphic representation of text  Use alt= tag when inserting an image  Place directions before boxes and forms rather than below them  Think twice before using tables for formatting Accept the fact that you cannot control everything on the web View HTML Do’s and Don’ts at

Flash Don’t rely on colors for control choices Put text on buttons Label complex controls such as sliders or dials Best Practices for Accessible Flash Design link at:

Adobe Acrobat Reader (.pdf) Documents that are scanned and saved as “image only” cannot be read by a screen reader such as JAWS Adobe version 7 has a feature that will use OCR technology to convert the scanned document to readable text You can find the Adobe manual on creating accessible PDFs at

Testing Web Sites Use free web site check tools Web designers should own testing products such as Bobby All web sites should have user tests Users should include people with disabilities When it comes to accessibility, the solution for each individual may be unique

Activity 3: MS Windows accessibility features

Explore Web Accessibility Thatcher, Jim et al. Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance. New York: Springer- Verlang, c2006. ISBN:

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