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

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

3. 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

4. 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

5. Accessible Webpages
Graphic Credit: © 2017 University of Minnesota Deluth

6. 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”>

7. 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
or Office Support: What’s New in Accessibility for Word?

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

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

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

11. Accessible Media
Video, PowerPoint Recordings, Podcasts

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

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

16. 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.