Liz Miller & Kara Zirkle
George Mason University – Assistive Technology Initiative
Accessing Higher Ground (AHG) – November 2011

 Manager
 Coordinator, IT Accessibility
 Coordinator, Accessible Media
 Program Support Specialist
 2 Accessible Media Assistants

Office of Disability Services
• Accessible Text and Media Services for Students
• AT Assessments/Training for Students
• Community Outreach with local public schools
Office of Equity & Diversity Services
• Accessible Text and Media Services for Staff/Faculty
• AT Assessments/Training for Staff/Faculty
• University-Wide Training Initiatives
University Libraries
• AT Labs
• Training & Consultation
Learning Services
• Sharing of adaptive technology
• AT Assessments/Training for students (registered/unregistered)
• Training for LS staff




Mason community (with or without documentation)
Informal assessments
Overview of AT available for personal use



Faculty, staff and students with documented disabilities
Faculty/Staff - registered with the Office of Equity and Diversity
Services (OEDS)
Students – registered with the Office of Disability
Services (ODS)

 Informal AT assessments
 Training – software and equipment
 Training and technical resources
 Accessible text & media
 Web accessibility testing and accessibility workshops





Accessible text production
Accessible media production
Options for students on campus, in the classroom and at home, including Universal Design
Web accessibility

Learning Disabilities, Visual Impairments and Mobility
Impairments

To qualify to receive material in alternative formats, students, staff and faculty must have a documented
“print” related disability. (Referrals are made by our Office of Disability Services and our ADA Coordinator.)




Learning disabilities related to reading
Visual impairments
Some mobility impairments
Some other cognitive impairments




AccessText
Bookshare –
University Partner
VA HEAT

Much easier than it used to be!







Project of AccessText http://www.accesstext.
org/fedsearch.php
 Searches:
 AccessText Network
 Alternative Media Access
Center
 Bookshare
 CourseSmart
 Learning Ally
 National Library Service







Cut
Scan (high speed)
 Capture Perfect - TIFF
OCR
 ABBYY Pro
 OmniPage Pro
 Adobe Acrobat Pro
 Read & Write Gold
 WYNN
 (Other schools may utilize
Kurzweil, Dolphin, etc.)
Format – PDF, Word, RTF, Text,
WYNN
Burn files to cd
Rebind

Students are encouraged to sign up for individual memberships
 Bookshare – or students can request books through our free organizational membership (We are also university partners.)
 Learning Ally – cd players available for loan
 NLS – National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
Image from: http://www.loc.gov/nls/digitalbooktraining/index.html

Students may scan or run basic OCR on their own materials – with software at home or using WYNN or
Read & Write Gold with flatbed scanners on campus.

 Working closely with
 University libraries
 Distance Education
 Office of Disability
Services
 Best practices for faculty & instructional designers:
 Pick legal media
 Pick the most accessible option first
 Provide supporting materials
 Turn on Closed Captions




Closed captioning
Transcription
Synchronization




Hearing Impairments – access
Comprehension, visual learners
Those who have difficulty with note taking
ESL
Image from http://www.docsoft.com/




Online request system
Research
 Library & copyright info
 Online searches
NCH software
 Prism Video File Converter
 SoundTap Streaming Audio
Recorder
 Debut Video Capture
 Golden Videos
 Flash Lynx Video Download
Software Professional




(Vendors for video description)
Docsoft
 Docsoft:AV
 Docsoft:TE
Proofing & troubleshooting
Returns
 SkyDrive, email
 Flashdrives, DVDs
 Streaming server (in progress)



Accommodations
Pilot project – Summer
2011
 Training with 2 graduate student assistants
 1 Instructional Designer for Distance Education
 YouTube
 Recordings from our TV station
 Other



 iTunes U
Promotional materials on website
Distance Education
Other . . .
 Issues:
 Video Description
 Delivery of projects
 Copyrighted materials

Image from: http://www.enablemart.com/Catalog/All-Access-Workstations

 Computer
 Screen Magnification
 Screen Readers
 Voice Recognition
 Head/Eye Controlled
Input

 On Screen Keyboards
 Touch Screens
Communication
 Amplification
 TDD/TTY Devices
From: http://www.enablemart.com/Catalog/All-Access-
Workstations



Learning
 Visual Learning
 Writing software
Vision
 Magnifiers
 Braille Embossers
 Braille Displays
Mobility
 Adjustable Desks
 Large Key/Print
Keyboards
 Trackballs & Joysticks

 AT Labs – Libraries at each campus
 WYNN Wizard
 Read & Write Gold
 JAWS
 ZoomText
 Dragon Naturally
Speaking
 CCTV
 Flatbed Scanner





Campus supported AT software in computer lab classrooms and testing
Student purchased AT software for personal laptops
CCTVs iPad apps






TextHelp Read & Write Gold
 PC or Mac ($30 with Mason ID at Patriot
Computers)
Bookshare (free membership)
 Victor Reader Soft (free)


READ:OutLoud (free)
 Read2Go app ($20)
Learning Ally ($100 membership)
ReadHear software (free)
 DAISY Players (cost varies)
 Learning Ally Audio App ($20)
NLS (free membership)
 Digital and cassette player options
Other
 Free software & demos
 Low to high cost AT



Text readers
 i.e. Natural Reader,
ReadPlease
Screen readers
 i.e. System Access to Go,
NonVisual Desktop
Access
 Demos
 Students can try before they buy
 X minutes, hours or days
 Download from web:
▪ JAWS
▪ Read & Write Gold
▪ ZoomText
 Request cd from website:
▪ WYNN

 Designing facilities and services in such a way to meet the needs for people with a broad range of abilities, disabilities, and other characteristics (i.e., age, reading ability, culture, etc.) reduces the need for special accommodations for patrons and even employees.
 In the event that accommodations are needed, staff should be able to support individuals with disabilities, respond to specific accommodations requests, and know who to contact if they have disability-related questions.

 Are staff trained in policies and procedures for providing accommodations to people with disabilities?
 What is your plan? Is it written? Updated?
 Are staff knowledgeable about other organizations, such as
Talking Book and Braille libraries, that provide services to patrons with disabilities?
 Do you have a readily available resource? Handout? Online?
 Can the library’s electronic and information resources (i.e., web pages, online catalogs, databases, etc) be accessed by a variety of accessible technologies?
 Have you had your resources tested?
 Do videos developed or used in the library have captions?

 Increasing number of distance education courses…
 PDF Accessibility Wizard (PAW)
 Plug-in installs directly into Adobe Acrobat
 Allows document creators to convert a scanned PDF document into a tagged, accessible PDF document
 Accessible Wizard for MS Office (not yet compatible with Office 2010)
 Plug-in installs directly into any MS Office app (i.e.,
Word, PPT)
 Walks document creator through issues within document and how to make them accessible





Built-in tools – PC & Mac,
Firefox Browser
Audio Books & e-Books
Bundled tools – Read &
Write Gold
Web














PC
Keyboard shortcuts
Magnifier
Contrast settings
Narrator
On screen keyboard
Mouse keys, filter keys, sticky keys
Dictionary, thesaurus, spelling
/grammar check
Ease of Access Center
Speech recognition
Text size
Touch
“Speak” in Office 2010












Mac
Keyboard shortcuts
Magnification
Contrast settings
VoiceOver
Mouse Keys, Slow Keys, Sticky Keys
Text to speech
Talking calculator & clock
On screen keyboard
Inkwell
Dictionary, thesaurus, spelling
/grammar check, word completion
Speech recognition

Adobe Reader & Acrobat
 “Read Out Loud”
Image from http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/
Firefox
 Some accessibility features are dependent on the version of Firefox
 Free accessibility add-ons
 Firefox Accessibility Extension
 Glazoom – magnifier
 No color
 N-Abled Web Accessibility Toolbar
 Page Zoom Buttons
 Extensions for Firefox:
 Fire Vox – screen reader
 MozBraille – screen reader (beta at present, not yet fully accessible – plans to offer Braille, text to speech and magnified output)





Public domain works
 i.e. Project Gutenberg
Audio Books
 i.e. Audible.com
Commercial
 Amazon (Kindle)
 Apple (iPad)


Barnes & Noble (Nook)
 Sony (Reader)
DAISY
Players and software
(i.e. Learning Ally)
**Important consideration: These resources vary in accessibility but work well for individual students on a case-by-case basis.

Free Software




Amazon
 Kindle for PC – ebook software for PC
 Kindle App for iPhone & iPod Touch
Barnes & Noble
 eReader for Barnes & Noble eBooks
 Download for iPhone, iPod Touch,
Blackberry, Mac and PC knfb Reading Technology
 Blio – eReader software with text-tospeech
 Download for PCs, iPhone, iPod
LexCycle
 Stanza – ebook app for iPhone & iPod
Touch
 Stanza Desktop – ebook reader for
Mac or PC

 TextHelp Read & Write Gold
 PC and Mac versions
 Reading and writing tools
 Helpful for ESL
 MP3 creation
 Voice recognition
 Scanning
 Screenshot Reader
 Research and study tools
 Inspiration-like tool
 DAISY Reader
 Web apps

 The Web has become a key resource for:
 classroom education, distance learning;
 job searching, workplace interaction;
 civic participation, government services;
 news, information, commerce, entertainment
 It is displacing traditional sources of information and interaction
 schools, libraries, print materials, discourse of the workplace;
 some of the traditional resources were accessible; some not.
 An accessible Web means unprecedented access to information for people with disabilities.

Virginia has state-specific laws governing the accessibility of government created and procured technology (Code of Virginia § 2.2-2012 "Procurement of Information Technology", Code of Virginia § 2.2-
3500 "Information Technology Access Act", Code of
Virginia § 51.5-1 "Virginians with Disabilities Act").
These have been put into state-wide standards for
Universities and agencies, which can be found on the
VITA website .
Just recently DoJ ADA created a settlement agreement with Fairfax County, VA to ensure accessibility of both physical and online material.






Do you use a Learning Management System? Do you add content to the course? Are you posting documents, videos, etc.?
Do you use technology for your class assignments (i.e. blogs, websites, wikis, etc.)?
Are you the author of a book used in class?
Do you use visuals in the classroom that give important information pertaining to the class?
Do you use webinars, other classroom capture or conferencing technology?






Do you influence or decide on technology purchases?
Do you develop websites, applications or documentation?
Do you oversee computer classroom settings?
Do you manage others who may work on the above mentioned?
Do you work in multimedia or telecommunications?






Posting,
Distributing,
Creating/Developing,
Using,
Maintaining.
Inaccessible material!

 Assistive technology is not a substitute for accessible material!
 AT + Accessible Materials = Equal Access
 Everyone is involved and anyone can be affected.

4400 University Drive
MSN 6A11
Fairfax, VA 22030
Phone: 703-993-4329
Fax: 703-993-4743
E-mail: ati@gmu.edu
Web: http://ati.gmu.edu
, http://accessibility.gmu.edu
, http://webaccessibility.gmu.edu

 Accessible Text Resources: http://ati.gmu.edu/accessible_text.cfm
 Accessible Media Resources: http://ati.gmu.edu/media.cfm
 Free to High Cost AT Resource Documents: http://webaccessibility.gmu.edu/assistive_technology.html
 Captioning & Video Description Resources: http://webaccessibility.gmu.edu/captioning.html
 Universal Design http://webaccessibility.gmu.edu/universal_design.html