Universal Access to the World Wide Web

1. Universal Access to the World Wide Web Thomas R. Neiss, Assistant Provost for Network Technology Services, State University of New York, System Administration, Albany, NY neisstr@sysadm.suny.edu

2. State University of New York • 64 Campus public higher education system of New York State • 380,000+ students • 40,000+ staff • Millions of web pages CNI - San Antonio 2000 Thomas R. Neiss

3. What is Universal (Web) Accessibility? • The content or service offered on a site is universally accessible if the end user can choose their preferred method of acquiring the information and interacting with that site. CNI - San Antonio 2000 Thomas R. Neiss

4. The Web is a way of life, for those fortunate. • But, the information highway is a dead end road filled with insurmountable obstacles for those using assistive technologies, older equipment and the latest technologies • Information Technology was more accessible five years ago than it is today. CNI - San Antonio 2000 Thomas R. Neiss

5. How did this happen? • Ad hoc web development, with few standards and little impact assessment • Rapid web technology development • Poorly trained and uninformed developers • Lack of tools and resources for learning about the issues CNI - San Antonio 2000 Thomas R. Neiss

6. Today Situation • Lack of awareness of the technical and legal issues about accessibility • Lack of training or training that does not include accessibility • Accessibility is not (yet) a design criteria • Most think it (accessibility) is too hard to do • Remediation, however is not easy CNI - San Antonio 2000 Thomas R. Neiss

7. Federal Initiatives • Americans with Disabilities Act 1990 • Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act 1973 • Section 508 of the Workforce Investment Act 1998 • Section 508 delayed until March 2001 CNI - San Antonio 2000 Thomas R. Neiss

8. NYS takes the lead • Technology Policy 99-3 - Universal Access to the Web 9-30-99 • Priority 1 Level A by 9-30-2000 • World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) • Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) • W3C - Web Content Accessibility Guidelines CNI - San Antonio 2000 Thomas R. Neiss

9. Everybody Benefits • Persons with disabilities identified the need, but everyone benefits from curb cuts and automatic doors and increasingly from: • Speech recognition • Voice synthesis and digitized voice • Closed captioning • New technologies require it! PDA’s Web Phones, Internet phones, WebTV CNI - San Antonio 2000 Thomas R. Neiss

10. Strategies that ‘just make sense’ • Inform everyone of the policy and its requirements, and the benefits • Develop or use existing curricula to train students on accessible web design • Provide training for your staff that includes accessibility • Include accessibility requirements in contracts with vendors • Include accessibility requirements in the design • Make universal accessibility a way of life - It’s not that hard CNI - San Antonio 2000 Thomas R. Neiss

11. If the technology ( or the web site) isn’t ready yet • PDF files - Provide text or html -Conversion utilities are available • Provide alternative methods (in accessible form) • For fill in forms, provide assistance CNI - San Antonio 2000 Thomas R. Neiss

12. SUNY supports Universal Access to the Web • Doing so will • Increase our ability to attract, educate and graduate students with disabilities • Increase our ability to hire, retain and promote staff with disabilities • Remove potential legal actions • Position SUNY as a leader in disability rights and services CNI - San Antonio 2000 Thomas R. Neiss

13. What SUNY has done • Advised campus president’s of policy • Presidents appointed Web Accessibility Contacts • Provided awareness through meetings, sessions, listserv’s • Conducted survey on compliance • Serving on NYS Information Technology Access Steering Committee • Conducts monthly training CNI - San Antonio 2000 Thomas R. Neiss

14. What can you do? • Develop an Accessibility Strategy • Advise managers/staff/faculty/students of what universal access really means • Include accessibility requirements in web site design • Insist upon (and provide) proper training • Assume the responsibility of providing access to electronic information for everyone CNI - San Antonio 2000 Thomas R. Neiss

15. What can you do? • Understand the laws and responsibilities associated with universal accessibility • Spread the word - Universal Accessibility “just makes good sense” • Work with your Disability Services or ADA offices • If you are still not convinced visit a blind staff member and have them access the web with JAWS CNI - San Antonio 2000 Thomas R. Neiss

16. Resources • World Wide Web Consortium www.w3.org • Web Accessibility Initiative www.w3.org/wai • Web Content Accessibility Guidelines www.w3.org/tr/wai-webcontent • The WAI’s Curriculum for WCAG 1.0 A self teaching guide for Web Content Accessibility www.w3.org/wai/wcag-curric • NYS Office for Technology www.oft.state.ny.us CNI - San Antonio 2000 Thomas R. Neiss

17. Resources • Validation • Bobby- www.cast.org/bobby • Lynx browser www.fdisk.com/doslynx/lynxport.htm • Accessibility-Prompt toolkit http://aprompt.snow.utoronto.ca/ • W3C html Validation http://validator.w3.org/ • W3C CSS Validation http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ CNI - San Antonio 2000 Thomas R. Neiss