Accessibility Awareness Lawrence Najjar

2 Outline Purpose Prior knowledge verification tool Definitions Section 508 Accessibility requirements & suggestions Screen readers Accessibility at competitors Accessibility at BMC Accessibility resources Accessibility verification tools Summary

3 Purpose Improve accessibility awareness

4 Prior Knowledge Verification Tool (or Accessibility Pop Quiz) Complete the accessibility pop quiz

5 Answers 1. How many people in the world have a disability? Over 500 million United Nations (2002). The UN and persons with disabilities: United Nations commitment to advancement of the status of persons with disabilities [On-line]. Available:

6 Answers 2. What percent of Americans have a disability? 20% (about 54 million people) McNeil, J. M. (1997, August). Current population reports: Americans with disabilities: Census Bureau (P70-61) [On-line]. Available:

7 Answers 3. What is the most common disability among Americans? Walking/using stairs U.S. Census Bureau (1997). Americans with disabilities: 1997 – Table2 [On-line]. Available:

8 Answers 4. What percent of legally blind people read Braille? 10% Web, C. Myths about vision loss and blindness [On-line]. Available:

9 Answers 5.What percent of men are color deficient? 8% American Optometric Association. Color deficiency [On-line]. Available: Note: Less than 1% of women are color deficient. Only about 0.005% of people are truly color blind Henderson, C. Color vision [On-line]. Available: Newman, J. D. (1998). Color blindness [On-line]. Available: y.htm) y.htm

10 Answers 6.What is the unemployment rate for working age Americans with severe disabilities (ex. cannot see or cannot hear)? 70% Bureau of the Census (1994, January). Americans with disabilities. Bureau of the Census statistical brief [On-line]. Available: Williams, J. (2001, September 7). Making Uncle Sam accessible – and accountable. BusinessWeek Online [On-line]. Available: Kaye, H. S. (1998, May). Is the status of people with disabilities improving? Disability Statistics Abstract, 21 [On-line]. Available:

11 Answers 7.What is the earning difference for disabled workers compared to non-disabled workers? -20% Kaye, H. S. (1998, May). Is the status of people with disabilities improving? Disability Statistics Abstract, 21 [On-line]. Available:

12 Answers 8.Of Americans receiving government assistance (ex. food, rent), what percent are disabled? 50% U.S. Department of Commerce (1997, December). Census brief: Disabilities affect one-fifth of all Americans (CENBR/97-5) [On-line]. Available:

13 Answers 9. What percent of Americans 45 or older have a disability? 45% Bureau of the Census (1994, January). Americans with disabilities. Bureau of the Census statistical brief [On-line]. Available:

14 Answers 10. In 2010, what percent of the American workforce will be 40 or older? 51% Microsoft. Shifting workplace demographics and delayed retirement [On-line]. Available:

15 Definitions Disability -- Functional limitation in vision, hearing, movement, manipulation (for example, fine movements to use mouse), speech, and interpretation of information (for example, dyslexia and other cognitive impairments) Accessibility – Providing persons with disabilities comparable access to and use of information and data as persons without disabilities

16 Section 508 Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act amendments of 1998 For Federal purchases of information technology Requires Federal employees and members of the public with disabilities have access to and use of information and data comparable to that of employees and members of the public without disabilities Is spreading beyond Federal government

17 Some Accessibility Requirements Provide keyboard-only access to all functions (example) Use variable font sizes (example) Don’t use color as only way to convey information (example) Provide equivalent text for graphics (example) Provide text equivalents for multimedia (example) Design Web pages to make sense when users turn off cascading style sheets (example) Use table SUMMARY and CAPTION tags (example)

18 Example for “Provide keyboard-only access to all functions”

19 Example for “Use variable font sizes”

20 Larger font size

21 Example of “Don’t use color as only way to convey information” Before After

22 Example for “Provide equivalent text for graphics” Go

23 Example for “Provide text equivalents for multimedia”

24 Example for “Design Web pages to make sense when users turn off cascading style sheets”

25 Example of “Use table SUMMARY and CAPTION tags” <TABLE BORDER=1 CELLPADDING=3 CELLSPACING=1 FRAME=BOX summary="This database status summary table lists the Status, Office, Datasource, and DBMS (column headings) and the regions (rows)"> Database Backups Status Office Datasource DBMS East Region Failed New York zimbabwe : ZIM817MA Oracle

26 Screen Readers _rdrs.mov

27 Some Accessibility Suggestions Use cascading style sheets (example) Provide high contrast for text (example) Use variable page and column widths (example) Use tab order that makes sense to users (example) Use meaningful link text (example) Use ID, LABEL, and FOR to associate prompts and entry fields in forms (example) Use ID tags to label cells in tables (example) For Javascript events, such as onMouseover, provide text alternatives (example) Provide a way for users to skip lists of site navigation links (example) Don’t use unnecessary graphics (example)

28 Example for “ Use cascading style sheets”

29 Example for “ Provide high contrast for text” Before After Date (mm/dd/yyyy):

30 Example for “ Use variable page and column widths-A” Fixed Width Variable Width

31 Example for “ Use variable page and column widths-B” Fixed Width Variable Width

32 Example for “ Use tab order that makes sense to users”

33 Example for “ Use meaningful link text” Before To contact Support, click here. After Contact Support

34 Example for “ Use ID, LABEL, and FOR to associate prompts and entry fields in forms” First Name Middle Initial Last Name

35 Example of “Use ID tags to label cells in tables” <TABLE BORDER=1 CELLPADDING=3 CELLSPACING=1 FRAME=BOX summary="This database status summary table lists the Status, Office, Datasource, and DBMS (column headings) and the regions (rows)"> Database Backups Status Office Datasource DBMS East Region Failed New York zimbabwe : ZIM817MA Oracle

36 Example for “ For Javascript events, such as onMouseover, provide text alternatives”

37 Example of “ Provide a way for users to skip lists of site navigation links”...

38 Example of “ Don’t use unnecessary graphics”

39 Accessibility at Competitors Our competitors have accessibility programs: HP IBM Mercury Interactive Microsoft PeopleSoft Quest Software SAP Siebel Systems Sun Microsystems

40 Accessibility at BMC Accessibility program lead named (Chris Meier) Accessibility consultant hired (The Paciello Group) Currently reviewing SmartDBA Accessibility awareness program begun (CWW, Brown Bags) Accessibility section added to BMC R&D Usability portal (example) Over 500 products evaluated using BMC Section 508 Product Assessment FormBMC Section 508 Product Assessment Form Completed accessibility form now required for product’s release to market process Federal agencies now requiring information on when BMC products will conform to Section 508 For $8M transaction with the U.S. Postal Service, BMC provided conformance timelines for products in bid

41 Accessibility in R&D Usability Portal

42 Accessibility Resources BMC Accessibility Intranet site: rview_Document_Listing/0,2572,586762_861263,00.ht ml rview_Document_Listing/0,2572,586762_861263,00.ht ml Feigenbaum, B. A. (2002, October 1). Coding for accessibility – Use JFC/Swing to build accessibility into your Java applications [On-line]. Available: ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-access/ ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-access/ Section 508 [On-line]. Available: board.gov/sec508/guide/act.htmhttp:// board.gov/sec508/guide/act.htm Sun Microsystems (2003). Accessibility quick reference [On-line]. Available: developers/access.quick.ref.html#apptipshttp:// developers/access.quick.ref.html#apptips World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Web accessibility initiative [On-line]. Available:

43 Accessibility Verification Tools  A-prompt (  BMC accessibility evaluation form ( ssment.doc) ssment.doc  Bobby (  Connect Outloud (  LIFT (  Lynx (  Monochrome printer  Navigation with non-dominant hand  Vischeck (  WAVE (  Web Page Backward Compatibility Viewer (

44 Summary For maximum accessibility: Design in accessibility from the start Verify accessibility with checklists, tools, and accessibility tests

45 Thank You To get a copy of this presentation: Lawrence Najjar Or, go to achments/accessibility_awareness_brown_bag.ppt Or, go to the R&D Portal, Programs and Services, Usability and Interface Design, Accessibility/Section 508, White Paper and Presentations, Accessibility Awareness Brown Bag To get accessibility services: Contact Tony Haverda, manager, Interface Design and Usability