1. Keep Moving Accessibility Forward Accessing Higher Ground 2010

2. Page  2 About Us – University of Illinois Chicago Kevin Price, UIC Disability Resource Center  Assistive Technology Specialist  Chair of the UIC Web Accessibility Committee Janet Peters, DBTAC – Great Lakes ADA Center  Project Coordinator of Assistive and Educational Technology  Member of the UIC Web Accessibility Committee

3. Page  3 Accessing Higher Ground ConferenceNovember 10 Building the Case-UIC  State Administrative Order 2002 IWAS (Illinois Web Accessibility Standards)  Illinois Board of Higher Education Reporting Requirements  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Leadership in Web Accessibility  Illinois Information Technology Accessibility Act (IITAA) of 2007 –Due to be Updated in 2011

4. Page  4 Accessing Higher Ground ConferenceNovember 10 UIC - Web Accessibility on a Budget Find Campus Champions  Develop a Committee that represents the campus  Meet regularly  Ongoing meeting-Technology issues change frequently  Make sure campus champions are kept in the loop on new accessibility issues

5. Page  5 Accessing Higher Ground ConferenceNovember 10 UIC - Web Accessibility Committee  Disability Resource Center  Library  ACCC-IT/Computing Department  Faculty- Health Sciences  Office of Public Affairs  Office for Access and Equity (staff)  DBTAC: Great Lakes ADA Center  Enrollment and Academic Services  College of Liberal Arts and Sciences  Office of Admissions and Records Administration

6. Group Discussion Including People with Disabilities In the Process

7. Page  7 Accessing Higher Ground ConferenceNovember 10 UIC - Web Accessibility on a Budget Integrate accessibility into campus Web Accessibility toolbar available on computers in labs Courses discuss accessibility (including Microsoft Word) Web Accessibility Page/Statement Available Online (accessweb.uic.edu)accessweb.uic.edu Procurement uses Web Accessibility Statement in bids Webmasters Discussion List includes accessibility issues

8. Page  8 Accessing Higher Ground ConferenceNovember 10 UIC - Web Accessibility on a Budget Use Top Down, Bottom Up and In Between Approach Have to pursue promoting Web Accessibility at every level Administrators usually open to accessibility but may need a demo Web designers may be resistant but with Universal design issues promoted along with avoiding liability Don’t focus on retrofitting Mass Emails

9. Page  9 Accessing Higher Ground ConferenceNovember 10 Web Accessibility on a Budget Techniques Keep finding mechanisms to keep it in front of campus  Continually provide trainings focusing on accessibility  Advertising  Promoting accessibility in other committees  Use technologies such as RSS feeds, Discussion lists, mass mails, Wikis  Provide templates of accessible design for Webmasters

10. Page  10 Accessing Higher Ground ConferenceNovember 10 Web Accessibility on a Budget Techniques A Campus Policy can be helpful but may not be necessary  Policies can be bogged down in bureaucracy and drain time and energy  Policies can be created and disregarded  High level administrative support is necessary but can take many forms  Policies may become outdated with changing Internet  Integrating Web accessibility into culture of campus is important

11. Group Discussion Share your thoughts on a Campus Policy? Pros / Cons

12. Page  12 Accessing Higher Ground ConferenceNovember 10 Web Accessibility on a Budget Techniques Campus support can be provided by spreading the support around  Use skills/resources of Web Accessibility committee  Have other Webmasters support through avenues such as a discussion list  Educate Computing support about accessible Web design  Make sure Web Accessibility site has needed resources to refer people

13. Page  13 Accessing Higher Ground ConferenceNovember 10 Setting Your Standards-UIC  Clearly defining the standards on what accessibility is on campus  Provide tools and resources customized for the standards  UIC has developed and online checklist to help users meet accessibility guidelines –Manual and Automated Tests included –W3C HTML Validator –W3C CSS Validator –Functional Accessibility Evaluator Results –IITAA guidelines –User Testing

14. UIC – Highlights of Activities

15. Page  15 Accessing Higher Ground ConferenceNovember 10 Digital Accessibility Expo

16. Page  16 Accessing Higher Ground ConferenceNovember 10 Accessweb Site (accessweb.uic.edu)

17. Page  17 Accessing Higher Ground ConferenceNovember 10 Web Accessibility Checklist

18. Page  18 Accessing Higher Ground ConferenceNovember 10

19. Page  19 Accessing Higher Ground ConferenceNovember 10

20. Page  20 Accessing Higher Ground ConferenceNovember 10 Use Web Evaluations Effectively  Take snapshots on a regular basis to track change in accessibility  Create a baseline to show improvement  Provide ongoing training on use of tools  Have Web developers a part of the process and not in an adversary roll  Unless you have a mechanism to use evaluations as “a stick” try to use them for awareness/communication

21. Conclusion

22. Page  22 Accessing Higher Ground ConferenceNovember 10 Positive Approaches to Web Accessibility  Incremental Growth Shown  Keep building training and tools to increase awareness  Find ways to make it “cool” to be accessible  Keep track of new resources to give to developers to make it easier  Promote Universal Design  Make clear boundaries on what is accessible and what is inaccessible

23. Page  23 Accessing Higher Ground ConferenceNovember 10 Thank you for your attention! Contact Information Kevin Price pricek@uic.edu (312) 413-0886 Janet Peters jpete@uic.edu (800) 949-4232 (312) 413-5931 direct