Accessibility in Web-Delivered Training: Best Practices for Inclusivity

1. Accessibility and Web-Delivered Training Debi Orton, Co-Chair NYS Forum IT Accessibility Committee

2. Today’s Program • Review of how people with disabilities access the web • History and review of NYS technology policies on web accessibility • Discussion of what to consider when planning web-delivered training • Tips for meeting everyone’s needs • Questions

3. How People with Disabilities Interact with the Web

4. How People with Disabilities Interact with the Web • Types of disabilities with impact on web-delivered training: • Blindness / Low vision • Deafness / Hearing impairments • Mobility impairments • Cognitive impairments

5. How People with Disabilities Interact with the Web • Types of web-delivered training to consider • Webinars • WebEx sessions • Traditional elearning content • HTML elearning content

6. Blindness / Low Vision • People who are blind access the web via: • Screen reading software • Refreshable Braille displays • CANNOT use pointing devices • People with low vision may use those tools or: • Screen magnification software • External (larger) displays

7. Blindness / Low Vision • Visual acuity also a factor for: • People using mobile devices • People using older equipment (smaller monitors, lower resolutions) • Visuals need to be described using “alt text” • Videos or presentations containing instruction needs to be audibly described

8. Low Vision • Cataracts • Glaucoma

9. Low Vision • Macular Degeneration • Retinopathy

10. Magnified graphical text • Difficult to magnify graphical text without distortion

11. Color Blindness Map of Hurricane Isabel (with color)

12. Color Blindness • Map of Hurricane Isabel (simulating red/green color blindness)

13. Color Blindness • Subway maps

14. Deafness / Hearing Impairment • Video or presentation content with audio must be captioned • Elearning content cannot rely on audio cues • People whose computers do not support sound • Can be an issue for mobile device users

15. Mobility Impairments • Cannot use mouse for navigation • Interaction through keyboard only • May have difficulty with timed responses

16. Cognitive Impairments • Images are helpful for many with cognitive impairments • Avoid “Wall o’ Text” • Use headlines and bullets • Attention to “fog index”

17. NYS Policy

18. History of Web Accessibility in NYS • Began in 1998 with call to action • Developed and released first accessibility policy in September, 1999 – aligned with W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, version 1 (WCAG 1) • Major policy shift in 2004, to “hybrid” standard • Minor changes in 2006, 2008 • Major change for 2010

19. Upcoming policy • Will mirror federal Section 508 • Allows NYS to leverage work vendors have already done to become Section 508 compliant • Expands tools available for our use

20. Current policy • Covers all web content and applications on both Internet and intranet sites • Intranet allowed more latitude because agency can ensure end user platform • Requires that 14 guidelines be met

21. Current NYS Guidelines • Requires text equivalents for non-text content • Don’t use color to convey information • Requires proper document structure • Requirements for “skip navigation” and home page links • Avoid flickering and blinking elements • Allow user to reprogram timed responses • Data tables must be properly marked up

22. Current NYS Guidelines • Frame titles must provide context and orientation information • Image maps must provide redundant text links • Information shall not be conveyed via audio only • Multimedia must be captioned and described • Elements and information provided via scripting must be accessible to A. T.

23. Current NYS Guidelines • Label elements must be used for all form controls • Agencies can post proprietary formats so long as an accessible alternative is made available

24. What Does This All Mean?

25. Things to Consider • Given the scope of the policy, anything that requires a browser to access can be considered “web”: • Webinars • Webcasts • HTML • Elearning delivered via browser

26. Things to Consider • When planning training, do not rely on one sense alone • If using videos in your training, be sure: • Videos are captioned and you provide instructions about how to access captions • Any video demonstration (for example, showing how to tie a knot) is described in such a way that someone unable to see the video can follow it

27. Things to Consider • When planning a webinar: • Keep in mind that people using screen readers can interact with only one window at a time • Make sure your presenter knows to describe any substantive images he or she uses

28. Things to Consider • When planning a webcast: • Ensure that you have arranged for captioning services • Note on the announcement if the webcast will be captioned live or if a captioned version will be available at a later date

29. Things to Consider • Audio content (e.g., podcasts): • Provide a transcript, and put a link to the transcript adjacent to the link to the podcast

30. Things to Consider • When posting a presentation: • If the presentation will be posted long-term, provide a Braillable text description of the presentation

31. Things to Consider • If using online learning authoring tools, be sure you can create accessible content with it • Keep graphical text to a minimum • Make sure navigation is consistent and adequately labeled • If using Flash animations, make them accessible

32. Questions?