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Digital Accessibility and Compliance

Learn about the importance of digital accessibility and compliance in building LEA capacity. Discover guidelines, barriers, and steps for achieving accessibility in educational settings.

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Digital Accessibility and Compliance

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  1. Digital Accessibility and Compliance Building LEA Capacity December 13, 2016 Alise Crossland and Devon Wellington American Institutes for Research

  2. About the Center on Technology & Disability The Center on Technology and Disability (CTD) is a user-centered learning and technical assistance center designed to increase the capacity of families, school systems, technical assistance providers, SEA and LEA leaders, and other key stakeholders to understand, assess, acquire, and implement appropriate assistive and instructional technology strategies and tools. CTD is administered by FHI 360, American Institutes for Research, PACER Center, and Adirondack Accessibility and funded by the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education.

  3. AccessibilityOverview What do we mean when we’re talking about accessibility?

  4. What Do We Mean When We Talk About Accessibility? • Equal access and equal opportunity to access content, programs, resources, learning platforms • Born accessible • Digital is not always accessible • Students and parents

  5. Everyone is Responsible for Accessibility Commitment, vision, and leadership is critical Accessibility considerations must be a priority at all levels SCHOOL DISTRICT INSTITUTION AGENCY BOARD TECH COORDINATORS TEACHERS/ PROFESSORS WEB DEVELOPERS CONTENT CREATORS ADMINISTRATORS

  6. Why Do We Care About Accessibility?

  7. OCR Review & Approval The 11 education groups voluntarily committed to make their websites accessible through a range of actions, including: CONDUCT A THOROUGH AUDIT SELECT AN AUDITOR ADOPT POLICIES & PROCEDURES COMMIT MAKE WEB CONTENT ACCESSIBLE DEVELOP CORRECTIVE ACTION PLAN POST INFORMATION ABOUT ACCESS PROVIDE TRAINING

  8. Definition of Accessible Content • Content that people with disabilities can navigate, perceive, understand and interact with • Content that considers physical, visual, speech, auditory, neurological, and cognitive disabilities

  9. Potential Barriers for Your Users

  10. Potential Barriers for Your Users

  11. Potential Barriers for Your Users Learn more about how people with disabilities access the web and digital content: https://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/people-use-web/stories

  12. Guidelines for Accessibility Shifting guidelines and growing understanding of expectations for digital access

  13. Clear Shift to Include Digital Access • Proposed changes to Section 508 would move to WCAG 2.0 and require compliance at both A and AA level • Changes have been delayed; U.S. Department of Justice has provided guidance in two statements of interest in Harvard and MIT cases (2015): • Existing case law and federal regulations make clear that accessibility is mandatory • Schools, institutions, public accommodations, etc. are required to provide equal access to web-based services, programs, activities • ADA explicitly written to keep pace with developing technologies

  14. What is WCAG 2.0? • Web Content Accessibility Guidelines • Emerging as international standard for web accessibility • Developed by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to promote web accessibility • 3 tiers of compliance: Levels A, AA, and AAA • AAA level is advanced, and not likely to be necessary for most applications • Proposed changes to Section 508 reference WCAG levels A and AA as standard for web accessibility in the United States

  15. WCAG 2.0: PRINCIPLES & GUIDELINES • Consists of 4 principles and 12 guidelines • Perceivable (guidelines 1.1-1.4) • Operable (guidelines 2.1-2.4) • Understandable (guidelines 3.1-3.3) • Robust (guideline 4.1) CONFORMANCE LEVELS • Three levels of conformance (from lowest to highest): A, AA, AAA • NOTE: Conformance to a standard means that you meet or satisfy the 'requirements' of the standard. Under each guideline, there are Success Criteria that describe what must be achieved to conform to the standard.

  16. Implications for Education Leaders What does this mean for you?

  17. Who is Responsible for Accessibility? • Ensuring equal access to learning opportunities and programs is a system-wide responsibility that requires commitment, leadership and vision • Accessibility considerations must be a priority at all levels TECH COORDINATORS TEACHERS WEB DEVELOPERS CONTENT CREATORS ADMINISTRATORS

  18. How Do We Get There? • Be proactive in addressing accessibility, not reactive when a problem arises • Work together to create a system-wide plan for addressing accessibility WEB DEVELOPERS CONTENT CREATORS EDUCATORS STAKEHOLDERS STUDENTS PARTNERSHIPS

  19. Plant the Accessibility Seed… • Moving towards accessible digital content is a process. As technologies continue to change, we’ll be faced with new challenges for ensuring that none of our users are digitally excluded. • Ask: • Do we have a clear accessibility policy posted on our website? • How are people with disabilities currently using our content? What barriers do they encounter? What assistive technologies are they using? • Are all of our staff aware of the need for accessibility? • What are our primary needs and concerns around accessibility?

  20. Considerations for Creating Accessible Content Resources for Training LEAs

  21. Considerations: Accessibility Statement • Schools and organizations should have a broad accessibility statement to address the needs of all users publicly displayed on homepage along with information about to access accommodations Accessibility Statement Generator Example from disability.gov

  22. Considerations: Software Functionality • Use the built-in functionalities of your software to build accessible content • Semantic styles and structures should consider all kinds of disabilities in their formatting • HTML, Word files, PDFs, PowerPoints, etc., can all be made accessible • Use the formatting tools to provide structure – this will make it easier for screen readers to capture the content • Use the software to create lists, columns, tables, change margins, insert a new page, and more

  23. Considerations: Software Functionality • HTML, Word files, PDFs, PowerPoints, etc., can all be made accessible

  24. Considerations: Color • Color should not be the sole means of conveying meaning • When creating a document or website, avoid using red and green colors or highlighting text

  25. Considerations: Cognitive Accessibility • Turn large chunks of text into manageable sections • Shorten sentences to ensure they’re not unnecessarily complex • Use sans-serif fonts and nothing smaller than 12 point font • Serif fonts have structural details and some extra flourishes Times New Roman v. Times New Roman

  26. Considerations: Alternative Text • Alt text is required for non-text content such as pictures, graphs, and charts • Should be 120 characters or less that relays the meaning or purpose of the image (in an instance when more information or context is needed to provide meaning, an accompanying document or descriptive text surrounding the image may be included) • Have a picture that’s just decorative? Use: alt “” • Think about the context!

  27. Considerations: Alternative Text

  28. Considerations: Caption and Describe Videos • Videos should be captioned (this can be helpful for all people, not just those who are hard of hearing or deaf) • Describe videos for people who are unable to see the video • Video content should include a transcript https://www.w3.org/WAI/perspectives/understandable.html

  29. Considerations: Descriptive Hyperlinks • Hyperlinked text should describe content to which it is linked and describe the destination • Avoid terms like “click here” or “email” • Users must be able to navigate hyperlinked text through the keyboard alone

  30. Considerations: Working with Developers • Resources for developers to build accessible, cross-device, interactive sites that are useable via mouse, keyboard, & touch screens • Menus • Tabs • Sliders • Modal dialogs • Column & grid layouts • Color schemes

  31. Training Resources • Accessibility training organizations: • SSB Bart group • Cryptzone • WebAIM WCAG 2.0 Checklist: • Perceivable: Web content is made available to the senses - sight, hearing, and/or touch • Operable: Interface forms, controls, and navigation are operable • Understandable: Content and interface are understandable • Robust: Content can be used reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies

  32. Action Steps • Learn more about your users with disabilities and how they currently use your content, the barriers they experience, and the assistive technology tools they use • Incorporate personas with disabilities (fictional representations of your users) into your technology decision-making to help you think about potential barriers (http://www.uiaccess.com/accessucd/personas.html?_sm_au_=iVVf1PFqrD644W2r)

  33. Action Steps • Ensure your teams understand accessibility legislation at state and federal level • Use checklists and guides (ex: WCAG 2.0 checklist) to perform an accessibility audit of your website, instructional materials, etc. and to review existing accessibility policies • Request VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) statement in all contracts and purchases for electronic content • Review accessibility policies at other districts, schools, universities

  34. Action Steps • Develop and communicate institution-wide vision of accessibility for all and commitment to Universal Design for Learning • Set goals and benchmarks with clear timelines for success • Carry out regular accessibility audits and solicit feedback from students and stakeholders

  35. Suggested Resources • Accessibility Toolkit: What Education Leaders Need to Know: http://www.ctdinstitute.org/library/2016-10-11/digital-accessibility-toolkit-what-education-leaders-need-know • Accessibility Tools and Resources: http://ctdinstitute.org/sites/default/files/file_attachments/AccessibilityQuickGuide_508.pdf • Accessible Distance Learning: http://www.catea.gatech.edu/grade/index.php • Accessibility Statement Generator: http://www.accessibilitystatementgenerator.com/ • CANnect: http://www.cannect.org/accessibility-tips.html • CAST Figuration: http://aem.cast.org/creating/cast-figuration.html#.WE8H07IrLIX

  36. Suggested Resources • CAST: Best Practices for Educators & Instructors: http://aem.cast.org/creating/best-practices-educators-instructors.html#.WE8GHrIrLIV • Examples of accessibility policies in higher education: http://www.washington.edu/accessibility/requirements/example-policies/ • Example Accessibility Statement from Disability.gov: https://www.disability.gov/accessibility-statement/ • Getting Started with Accessibility: http://www.ctdinstitute.org/library/2016-10-11/getting-started-accessibility • How to Meet WCAG 2.0: https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/quickref/ • Making Accessible Documents: http://www.doe.mass.edu/odl/videos/MakingAccessibleDocs/story.html • National Center on Accessible Instructional Materials: http://aim.cast.org/

  37. Suggested Resources • National Center on Online Learning for Students with Disabilities: http://centerononlinelearning.org/ • Temple University Guide to Accessible Purchasing: https://accessibility.temple.edu/guide-accessible-purchasing • The PALM (Purchasing Accessible Learning Materials) Initiative: http://aem.cast.org/navigating/palm.html • Web Accessibility Perspectives: https://www.w3.org/WAI/perspectives/ • WebAIM: Introduction to Links and Hypertext: http://webaim.org/techniques/hypertext/ • WebAIM Color Contrast Checker: http://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/ • Writing Effective Alt Text for Images: http://www.webcredible.com/blog/writing-effective-alt-text-images/?_sm_au_=iVVsncFmjR6DhVhV

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