Illinois IT Accessibility Issues

Jon Gunderson, Ph.D.

University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign

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What is accessibility?

• Screen Readers: Jaws, Window Eyes

  • Speech

  • Braille

  • Keyboard commands

• Magnifiers: Zoomtext, Magic

  • Size

  • Colors

• Keyboard Access

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What is accessibility?

• PDA, Cell phones

  • Speech

  • Small screens

  • Limited keyboards

  • No mouse

• Graphical displays

  • Increasing pixel density -> 300 dpi

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Why was the web developed?

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The heart of the web: Interoperability

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IBHE Initiative on Accessibility

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Types of People

• IT Professionals

• Instructors

• Students and transient workers

• Purchased

  1. Static web resources

  2. Web applications

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Resources

• Training

• Functional accessibility

• Evaluation tools

• Authoring tools

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Accessibility Guidelines/Standards

• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

  • Timely (ideally at the same time)

  • Accessible formats

• W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

• Section 508 Electronic Accessibility Standards

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Setting Standards

• Criteria

• Scope

• Verification

• Technical vs. Functional Accessibility

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Verification Tools

• WebXact

• WAVE

• HiSoftware

• Cynthia Says

• Many others

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HTML Best Practices

• Navigation and Orientation

• Text Equivalents

• Styling

• Scripting and automation

• Standards

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Functional Accessibility Evaluator

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Mozilla/Firefox Accessibility Extension

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Web Authoring Tools

• Default markup uses universal design techniques

• Authors do not need to know about accessibility

• No extra time involved with creating accessible materials

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Accessible Web Publishing Wizard

• Instructors are not web developers

• Instructors don't know about accessibility

• More instructional materials on the web

• There are a lot of instructors

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Size of the Problem

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Knowledge of Office Accessibility Techniques

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Acknowledgements

• National Institute of Disability Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)
  (Grant# H133G030079)

• Division of Rehabilitation – Education Services

• Trace Research and Development Center
  (NIDRR Grant# H133E980008)

• College of Applied Life Studies

• University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign

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Useful Links

• Training and other resources
  www.cita.uiuc.edu

• Functional Accessibility Evaluator
  fae.cita.uiuc.edu

• Mozilla/Firefox® Accessibility Extension
  

• Illinois Accessible Web Publishing Wizard for Microsoft Office®