1. Welcome to Using the VPAT® in Purchasing Decisions
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3. Materials and Recording
Supporting resources for this webinar is available for download at bit.ly/AEMVPAT
The link to the recording will be available within a week at the same web page.
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4. Using the VPAT in Purchasing Decisions

5. Presenters
Lynn McCormack
Luis Perez
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6. How well do you know the VPAT®?
V-What? I had not heard the term before singing up for this webinar.
I am familiar with a VPAT, but I would like to learn more
I am here for an update on the changes introduced in the latest version of the VPAT
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7. Understanding the VPAT®
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8. The VPAT is One Way to Be An #Ally Hero
Make Accessibility a Requirement
Communicate Accessibility Standards
Include Accessibility in Contracts
Ask the Vendor for a VPAT®
Engage Your End User Beneficiaries as Testers
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9. 5 Guidelines for #A11y Heroes
Webinar recording from 6/4/19
Based on article: Five Things Educators Can Do to Buy Accessible (available as accessible PDF and EPUB)
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10. Getting to Know the VPAT®
Luis
What is a VPAT?
What are its benefits?
What are its limitations?
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11. VPAT® Definition VPAT®: Voluntary Product Accessibility Template
Used by vendors to self-report how well their products conform to accessibility standards
Originally developed to help U.S. federal government agencies conduct market research
Required by many organizations outside the federal government
The VPAT name and report have registered service marks that belong to the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI).
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12. Latest Version: 2.3 (Revised ) – April 2019
Separate editions: Revised Section 508, EU Standard EN , Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 as well as International Edition (combined)
“Partially supports” replaces “Supports with Exceptions”
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13. VPAT® vs. ACR
VPAT®: the document you download from the ITI website and includes instructions, essential requirements, and best practices
ACR (Accessibility Conformance Report): the completed document submitted for documentation (without instructions, etc.)
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14. Benefits of the VPAT®
Provides a standard format for comparing multiple products
Offers an entry point for discussions with vendors
Documents accessibility claims to promote accountability
Increases awareness of standards and promote best practices
Lynn
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15. Limitations of the VPAT®
It is a self-report and depends on expertise of person completing it
Don’t always get updated – check the date/version
Only addresses conformance to standards – should be combined with usability testing
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16. Meme Break 1
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17. What is included in a VPAT®?
Luis
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18. VPAT® Components
Product Description and Contact Information
Evaluation Methods Used
Applicable Standards and Guidelines
Conformance Tables with Remarks
Legal Disclaimer
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19. Getting Started
The VPAT starts with some basic information about the product. What would you expect to find in this section?
Please share in the chat.
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20. Online Learning Environment Accessibility Conformance Report
Revised Section 508 Edition Version 2.3 (Revised) – April Name of Product: Online Learning Environment 2.0 Product Description: Online Learning Environment  is a learning management system (LMS) educators can use to author and deliver online learning courses.   Date: January 1, Contact (John Doe, Accessibility Manager) Notes: This VPAT reflects the update of Online Learning Environment  to version 2.0 on December 15, 2018.
The contact information should point to someone who is not only familiar with the product’s features but also its support for a variety of accessibility features. Ideally, it should be someone on the accessibility team. The information in this section should be as specific as possible to help the person reading the VPAT determine which version of the product the VPAT covers and when it was last updated.
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21. Oracle PeopleSoft Accessibility Conformance Report
VPAT version:
Version 2.0 – October 2017
Product version: 9.2.x
Products included:
Application
Mobile Application
links to all VPATs at Oracle
- specific VPAT from this screenshot
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22. Evaluation Methods
What are some ways vendors can indicate they have tested the claims made in the ACR?
Please share in the chat.
Lynn
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23. Exemplar: Evaluation Methods Used
Online Learning Systems contracted with Accessibility Audit Company to conduct a full third-party audit of the Online Learning Environment platform upon launch.  Additional testing of updated components was conducted when Online Learning Environment  was updated to version 2.0. Testing was performed with both an automated accessibility checker as well as a range of assistive technologies and web browsers: JAWS 18 and Internet Explorer 11; NVDA and Firefox 60; VoiceOver and Safari 11. Keyboard-only testing was also performed.
This section should include both automated as well as manual testing methods used to determine the product’s accessibility. Keep in mind that automated tools can only capture about 25-30% of accessibility errors, while testing with assistive technology will depend on both the capabilities of the tool as well as the skill of the person doing the testing. A variety of methods, both manual and automated, will provide a thorough and more robust evaluation.
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24. Another Exemplar
We have a user experience tester who is blind and uses a screen reader. She works with UI researchers and designers in the initial stages of design and also checks the products for user experience before release. Key test methods used are listed below, with acronym legends. These acronyms are referenced in the Remarks and Explanations column to indicate how we tested for each of the WCAG 2.0 A and AA success criteria and repeated in the page footer for easy reference.
IAT – Integrated Accessibility Testing WorldSpace Attest
TBT – Tool-Based Testing: aXe / Lighthouse; WAVE; Totally; HTML CodeSniffer; A11y Bookmarklets
CCT – Color Contrast Testing: WebAIM Color contrast checker; TPG Color contrast checker; Online contrast checker; Grayscale bookmarklet
SRT – Screen Reader Testing – JAWS/Edge; JAWS/IE 11; JAWS/Firefox; NVDA/Firefox; NVDA/Chrome; Voiceover/Safari; Voiceover/iOS; Talkback/Android
SMT – Screen Magnifier Testing – OS tools on Windows and Mac, Zoom Text
MAT – Manual Accessibility Testing: Keyboard testing with visual focus; Videos
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25. Meme Break 2
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26. Conduct Your Own Testing
Considerations
Choose moderate to proficient AT users
Give students an authentic task under as typical conditions as possible
Observe carefully and ask questions
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27. Applicable Standards: Section 508 & WCAG
Requires federal agencies to develop, procure, maintain, and use information & communication technology (ICT) that is accessible to people with disabilities
Applies to agencies and organizations that receive federal funding
WCAG
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
Created by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
Section 508 corresponds to WCAG 2.0
Level AA is recommended
Luis
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28. Exemplar: Applicable Standards and Guidelines
Included in Report
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, at 
Level A (Yes) Level AA (Yes) Level AAA (No)
Revised Section 508 standards as published by the U.S. Access Board in the Federal Register on January 17, 2018 Corrections to the ICT Final Rule as published by the US Access Board in the Federal Register on January 22, 2018 
Yes
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29. Conformance Levels in the VPAT®
Supports: The functionality of the product has at least one method that meets the criterion without known defects or meets with equivalent facilitation.
Partially Supports: Some functionality of the product does not meet the criterion.
Does Not Support: The majority of product functionality does not meet the criterion.
Not Applicable: The criterion is not relevant to the product.
Not Evaluated: The product has not been evaluated against the criterion.  This can only be used in WCAG 2.0 Level AAA.
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30. Meme Break 3
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31. Exemplar: Report Tables
Criteria
Conformance Level
Remarks and Explanations
1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence (Level A)
Supports
Test Methods: SRT Features
The content on our LMS is created such as to be understood by assistive technologies and to be presented in different ways.
Headings and ARIA landmarks are used to help convey relationships between content.
Pages are linear and read clearly without style sheets.
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32. Legal Disclaimer
The availability of some of the features described in this document will vary according to the selected  license type of Online Learning Environment  2.0.  
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33. Q and A
Image by Gerlat on Pixabay (Free for commercial use, no attribution needed).
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35. OSEP Disclaimer
The contents of this presentation were developed under a cooperative agreement with the US Department of Education, #H327Z However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the US Department of Education and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government, Project Officer, Tara Courchaine, Ed.D.