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Websites and Digital Documents: Making Them Accessible & Why It Matters

Learn about the importance of digital accessibility, providing effective communication for all users, and creating accessible websites and documents. Discover best practices and guidelines for making online content inclusive, compliant with ADA, and WCAG 2.0 AA standards.

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Websites and Digital Documents: Making Them Accessible & Why It Matters

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  1. Websites and Digital Documents: Making Them Accessible & Why It Matters Geoff Ames, Meeting The Challenge, Inc. – A CP&Y Company #Bridge19

  2. Who is Meeting The Challenge, Inc.(MTC)? • Incorporated in 1989 to develop technology to improve accessibility for people with disabilities • Dipner dots • Pocket coach • Zoomcaps • Operates Rocky Mountain (Region 8) ADA Center under a federal non-profit grant (since 10/1/1991) • Merged with CP&Y (engineering firm) January 2018

  3. MTC Assists Covered Entities to Comply with the ADA • Self-evaluations • Policy development • Digital accessibility assessment • Training

  4. Why does digital/ICT accessibility matter? • Websites deliver products and services to the public • Means other than physical accessibility to eliminate discrimination • ADA-title III prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities • Must provide effective communication • Whether there are standards or not

  5. Auxiliary Aids & Services to Provide Effective Communication • Sign language, captions, assistive listening systems, VRI, CART • Braille, large-print, audio recordings, tagged PDF files • Screen-readable (text) content • Sufficient visual contrast

  6. 36.303 Auxiliary aids and services.  (a) General. A public accommodation shall take those steps that may be necessary to ensure that no individual with a disability is excluded, denied services, segregated or otherwise treated differently than other individuals because of the absence of auxiliary aids and services, unless the public accommodation can demonstrate that taking those steps would fundamentally alter the nature of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations being offered or would result in an undue burden, i.e., significant difficulty or expense.

  7. The Difference Between Accessibility & Accommodation • Virtual facilities must be (independently) accessible • Streamed or archived audio content must be captioned • Streamed or archived video content must be described • Accommodations must be provided upon request – disclosure & advance notice

  8. But if there are no enforceable standards … • Best practices to ensure programs are accessible to and usable by • For example: websites, informational documents, online content • WCAG 2.0 AA (DOJ recognizes as best practice) • Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act • Why MTC has people with disabilities test websites

  9. DOJ Consistently Asserts: Absence of a specific regulation does not serve as a basis for noncompliance with the ADA’s requirements.

  10. What makes a website accessible? • WCAG 2.0 AA – 4 principles: • Perceivable • Operable • Understandable • Robust

  11. Is your website navigable without a mouse? • Technical criteria of WCAG • Pass/Fail • Typical problems – missing form labels, contrast, missing text on links, etc.

  12. What about website content? • Untagged PDF files • Images without alternative text • How to create accessible documents and images

  13. Fixing Virtual Barriers • How to fix global problems – templates & CSS • Missing alt-tags or untagged pdfs – cannot be fixed globally

  14. Digital Accessibility – Policies & Practices • Gatekeepers • Trained content creators

  15. Creating Accessible Content • The basics – • Use proper formatting when creating documents: use style headings, paragraphs, etc. • Provide meaningful alternative text for images • A scan of words is an image not text • Cascading style sheets should make appearance of properly formatted text accessible

  16. What Are Styles? • What do they look like? • How does a screen-reading app see styles? • Let’s look at some sample documents: • 1 • 2 • 1b • 1b styles applied

  17. Make PDFs Accessible • Limited options in Acrobat Standard DC • Autotag document • Reading options • Identify form fields • Set alternate text • Setup assistant • Full features available in Acrobat Pro DC: >Tools/Accessibility

  18. Adobe PDF Files • Sample Document2_scan_to_pdf • Sample Document2_print to pdf • Sample Document2_save_as_pdf • Sample Document2_convert_pre_accessibilityck

  19. Image or Text?

  20. Proper Alt-Text • What would you use as alt-text? • A. picture of train • B. Train rolling through steep-walled gorge next to a river; text "TRAINS"; link to "MORE INFO.“ • C. IMG_1234

  21. Digital Access Policy • Gatekeeper vets content before posting • Training • Understanding the end-user’s needs • Understanding how to meet needs (technically) • Acquisition of third party apps • Purchase order/contract requirements • Be aware that app updates might negatively impact accessibility

  22. U.S. Access Board Guidelines Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Final Standards and Guidelines

  23. Sample Best Practice Policies • University of Colorado Boulder • University of Montana • North Carolina State University

  24. Typical DOJ Requirements Assess all proposed online services before they are made available to the public for conformance with, at minimum, WCAG 2.0 AA, by: • performing automated accessibility tests, using an automated tool approved by the United States, to identify any accessibility barriers; and • enlisting individuals with different disabilities, including at a minimum individuals who are blind, individuals who are deaf, and individuals who have physical disabilities (such as those limiting the ability to use a mouse), to test its pages for ease of use and accessibility barriers.

  25. Testers • Who are blind • Who have low-vision (color-blind?) • Who are deaf • Who have physical disabilities

  26. Compliance vs. Usability • Technical compliance – abstract code – might not be enough • Title III prohibits discrimination; requires effective communication • Web sites have become primary communication outlet for business – including not-for-profit entities • IMG_1234 may be technically compliant… but is it equally effective communication?

  27. What Do Testers Find? • Difficult navigation (can you navigate a page without a mouse?) • Magnification that distorts content • Layout that makes operability difficult (mobility limitations) • Video files that lack captions and video description (can’t hear what is being said; can’t see the action)

  28. Read the Following: • Is this font large enough for you? • Is this contrast readable? • Screen-reading apps can see this – can you? Can you read this?

  29. Digital Accessibility Looks Like… • WAVE detects no errors on this webpage: https://policies.ncsu.edu/regulation/reg-04-25-05/

  30. Key Resources • DOJ: Accessibility of State and Local Government Websites to People with Disabilities • 508 guidance: Digital.gov • Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 • Web accessibility evaluation tool (WAVE)

  31. QUESTIONS ?s

  32. Thank You Geoff Ames, Executive Consultant Meeting the Challenge, Inc. 3630 Sinton Road, Suite 103 Colorado Springs, CO 80907 719.433.7640 games@mtc-inc.com Don’t forget to visit the Solutions Showcase for more ideas! #Bridge19

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