Accessibility Workshop
by
Dr. Marlene Cvetko
Our Goals

Define accessibility
 Review some accessibility laws and guidelines
 Demonstrate how you can make your content more
accessible
 Creating Compliant Word Documents


Creating Compliant PowerPoint Documents

Creating Compliant Adobe PDFs
Review some accessibility tools and resources that
can make your life easier. Access is not about
disability, it is for everyone.
What is Accessibility?
Accessibility is removing barriers to the
content you create so that students can:
 Perceive
 Understand
 Navigate
 Interact
Types of Barriers

Visual





Blind
Low vision
Color blind
Scotopic Sensitivity
Auditory



Hearing
Language
processing
Motor/Physical




Spinal cord injury
Parkinson’s, MS, MD,
CP
Seizure disorders
Speech
 Cognitive
 Learning Disabilities
 Acquired Brain Injury
Déjà vu?

Barriers don’t exactly
match Gardner’s
Theory of Multiple
Intelligences … but
they’re close.
Assistive Technologies



Vision: screen
readers; Braille
machines;
magnifiers, voice
recognition
Hearing: captioning,
transcription
Physical: Voice
recognition, switches
and pointing sticks,
touch screens
Same technologies but
configured differently





Voice or Keyboard
navigation
Browser or system
font size
Browser window size
Color settings
Style sheets
Some Common Misconceptions

Accessibility is not just for people with
observable disabilities.
 Accessibility does not give students an unfair
advantage.
 Making accessible content is not all that
difficult.
 Accessibility does not make content boring.
Accessibility and the Classroom

Suppose that none of your students have
a disability:
Make your content accessible
anyway.
Think Universal Design
Universal Design Principles


Universal design principles reduce the need
for many specific kinds of assistive
technology devices and services by building
in accommodations for individuals with
disabilities during production.
Universal design principles increase the
likelihood your product will be compatible
with existing assistive technologies.
Adapted from : Assistive Technology Act of 1998
Accessibility laws and guidelines
American with Disabilities Act of 1990
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
Assistive Technology Act of 1998
WCAG Guidelines
Section 504

Sec. 504.(a) No otherwise qualified individual with a
disability in the United States … shall, solely by reason of
her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in,
be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination
under any program or activity receiving Federal financial
assistance …
 (b) For the purposes of this section, the term "program or
activity" means all of the operations of …
 (2)(A) a college, university, or other postsecondary
institution, or a public system of higher education; or
 (B) a local educational agency (as defined in section 14101
of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965),
system of vocational education, or other school system;
Section 508

Section 508 requires that individuals with disabilities have access
to and use of information and data that is comparable to that
provided to the public who are not individuals with disabilities,
unless an undue burden would be imposed on us. From Onlone
Community College website http://www.ohlone.edu/core/accessibility.html

The California Chancellor's Office strongly recommends
that colleges fully comply with section 508.
 In its 1998 decision concerning accessibility for blind and
visually impaired students in the community colleges, the
Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education
(OCR) held that the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
imposes essentially the same requirements on colleges.
From http://www.icdri.org/legal/Ccommunity.htm
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
(WCAG) Principles
1.
2.
3.
4.
Perceivable - Information and user interface
components must be perceivable by users
Operable - User interface components must be
operable by users
Understandable - Information and operation of
user interface must be understandable by
users
Robust - Content must be robust enough that it
can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of
user agents, including assistive technologies
Design Standards and
Considerations
Text Equivalents:








Make text content readable, understandable and robust.
Provide a transcription of audio recordings.
Equivalent synchronized alternatives (captioning) for any
multimedia presentation.
Video and images must include a description of important
information.
Pages appear and operate in predictable ways.
Documents must be organized so they are readable without
requiring an associated style sheet.
Languages changes must be clearly identified
Summarize graphs and charts or provide a longdesc attribute
Additional Standards






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Users with disabilities must be provided enough time to read
and use content.
Timed responses require that the user be alerted and given
sufficient time to indicate more time is needed.
Links should be descriptive – Click here is not adequate.
All functionality available from a keyboard, not just mouse clicks.
Provide navigation tips that make is easy to find content.
Row and column headings should be provided in all data tables.
All information conveyed with color should be available without
color.
Color coding cannot be used as the only means of conveying
information, indicating an action, prompting a response, or
distinguishing a visual element.
Other Important information

E-books



Use videos and film that are captioned of subtitled.


You cannot require use of electronic reader like Kindle. They
are not fully accessible.
If using e-text, use plain text or rich text as much as possible.
They are accessible by any screen reader and can be easily
converted to audio format.
If it is not possible to obtain a captioned version, contact Fred
Frontino in DSPS to discuss alternatives.
You Tube videos should be captioned.

Google has some capability to do this.
Adapted from CSUN - http://www.csupomona.edu/~accessibility/im.shtml
Accessible Technology Initiative
Timeline



As of Fall 2008 all new courses, including instructional
materials and instructional websites, will be designed
and authored in a manner that incorporates
accessibility.
Existing course content needs be made accessible
when the course it updated or when a student with a
disability enrolls in the course.
By Fall 2012, All course, instructional materials and
instructional websites will be accessible.
Adapted from Humboldt - http://iss-tech.humboldt.edu/cdc/?q=node/144
But it all seems so hard….
How you can make your content more
accessible.
Some tips to make your life easier.
Microsoft Office and Open Office
Overview

Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are accessible
to most modern screen readers.

Open Office Writer, Calc, and Impress are
assessable with Java Bridge

Windows has features that allow screen
readers and other Assistive Technology (AT)
devices to interpret the document.

There are several basic steps to make your
document Section 508 Compliant.
Compliant Word Documents
3 easy steps
Microsoft Office: Word
3 steps to make Word documents 508
compliant:
1.
Create a structured document.
2.
Provide descriptive alternative text for
images.
3.
Properly create and label tables,
including specified row and column
headers.
508 compliance: Step 1
Document Structure

Provide a clear navigable
structure to your document

A table of contents contains:
- Topics
- Subtopics
- Page Numbers

Properly formatted
documents have a structure
that Assistive Technology
(AT) devices can readily
access
Unstructured Document
Structured Document
Stylized text
Format and Styling
 Home>Styles
 Apply standard or
custom styles and
formatting rather than
merely altering the size
or weight of fonts
 Use San Serif Fonts

Arial, Verdana, Calibri,
Century Gothic
Modify a Style
Right click arrow
in lower right hand
corner to open the
list
 Highlight the Style
and right Click
 Select Modify

508 compliance: Step 2
Provide descriptive
text for images and
graphics

Right click the image to
access the pop-up menu

Format Picture to open
the dialog box
Add Alt text to Images
Format Picture
dialog box
 Select Alt Text
Tab
 Key in descriptive
text
 Click OK
508 compliance: Step 3
Properly created tables is the key to
accessibility

Insert >Table
Table design and Layout
Design Ribbon
Change the style
Add border and shading
Layout Ribbon
To modify look
or properties
Some Helpful Tricks
Some helpful shortcuts to make
your life easier
Other design considerations

Format – save text documents in Rich Text Format to increase
access.







File>Save>Save as Type> R will select the correct format
F12 is the shortcut to the Save As dialog box. This allows you to save a
existing document under a new format or name.
Paragraph Style and white space
Fonts and Kerning
Background colors – allow for changes whenever possible
Scrolling - whenever possible keep scrolling to a minimum
To remove existing formatting from a document, you can copy
and paste text into Windows NotePad. Because it is a basic text
editor, it strips out formatting. Then, you can copy the text back
into your robust word processor and apply new formatting.
Save Formats: Word Documents

Word 2007 saves as *.docx. This format
cannot be opened by most readers. The
older *.doc format can.
 Many students have MS Works on their home
PC. It saves as *.wps. The format cannot be
opened by most screen readers.
 There are a number of options to save



Save as Rich Text Format
Save as PDF
Save as Web page, filtered HTML
Source: http://www.webaim.org/techniques/word/
Formatting Tips

Avoid pressing the enter key to add space between
paragraphs. If you want to add additional space
after paragraphs, use the before and after feature.

To access this click on the arrow in the lower right-hand
corner of the paragraph group to open the dialog box.
Then change the before and after spacing.
Fonts and Screen View


Shortcut to font dialog box - Ctrl + D
Font style – use Sans serif



Arial, Verdana, Century Gothic, Calibri
Kerning is space between characters
Font Size - screen view may enlarged in most cases
(not all)




Ctrl ++ increases screen view
Ctrl +- decreases screen view
Windows Magnifier can be use to enlarge screen view
Zoom Slider or View>Zoom
Hidden Attribute Trick

When creating worksheets or exams.
Create the exam with the answers on it to
make the key.
 Use Hidden attribute to hide the correct
answer. It won’t show up on a print copy
with the Show/Hide turned off.
 I delete the answer for electronic versions.

Hyperlinks

Hypertext links.
Ctrl + K is the shortcut
 Text to Display - Use text that makes sense
when read out of context. For example,
avoid "click here.“
 If you highlight existing text, it will
automatically use it as the Text to Display
 Can hyperlink within documents, new, or
external documents or email addresses.

Source: http://www.w3.org/WAI/quicktips/
Some useful shortcuts


Ctrl + A to Select all text
Ctrl + 2 - double space
Ctrl + 1 - single space
Ctrl + 5 -1.5 space
Ctrl + D - opens font dialog
box
F12 to Save As

Ctrl + Shift + > to increase

font size
Ctrl + Shift + N reverts to
Normal Style









F8 – Extend Selection
File>Options to change
default settings
Arrow in group boxes open
dialog boxes
To add citations, use the
new references feature.
To make a set of notes
from PowerPoint, click
Outline tab from the task
pane. Copy and paste into
Word and save.
Working with multiple documents
Moving among documents
 Alt + tab switches
or
 Right click Start Bar
 Select Show windows side by side
to see more than one document at
a time.
 You can drop/drag or copy/paste
between documents quickly.
Compliant PowerPoint
PowerPoint presentations cannot
be completely accessible as a
presentation.
Accessible PowerPoint Presentations

You can:






Meet 508 by converting it to a Word document.
Make a Camastia Presentation with audio and
captioning.
Save as video presentation in Office 2010
Run the presentation through a software like
LecShare Pro and then save the modified .ppt
or .pptx file
Convert the file to HTML and post that as well.
Create a new HTML version of your
presentation from scratch.
Microsoft Office 2003 : PowerPoint
A PowerPoint file can be made 508 compliant
by saving it as a Word document. Simply
follow these steps:
1.
Select File  Send To  Microsoft Office
Word.
2.
There are several options to choose from.
Select the Outline Only option to save only
the text from the slides.
3.
The other options copy the individual slides
into a Word document making the file size
large.
4.
Switch to Outline View. Copy and paste
text to a Word document.
PowerPoint Slide Shows






Slide shows can be driven in the same way as Power Point.
To advance to the next slide click pretty much anywhere on the page
with the mouse, or press the space bar. You can move forwards or
backwards through the slides with the Cursor left, Cursor right, Pg Up
and Pg Dn keys.
The font size is automatically adjusted to match the browser's window
width, but you can also adjust it manually using the "S" key for smaller
and the "B" key for bigger.
You can also use the "<" and ">" keys. Before printing, use the "A" key to
toggle between current slide and all slides. Use the "F" key to switch
off/on the bottom status line.
The "K" key toggles the use of mouse click to advance to the next slide.
You can use "C" to show the table of contents and any other key to hide
it. Press the "H" key to view this page.
F11 toggles to the browser's full screen mode.
Save PowerPoint as video in 2010
PowerPoint and Camtasia
Comliant PDF
Adobe PDF
Overview

Adobe Portable Document Format
(PDFs) can be made accessible

PDFs must be tagged correctly to be
accessible

There are resources available to assist in
making PDFs 508 compliant
Adobe PDF
What are PDFs?

PDF is an open source file format commonly found on the
Internet.

There are 3 types:


Legacy: old format designed to print

Scanned: image of documents

Tagged: structured documents
Only by opening the file can you determine the type. All
end in .pdf extension
Adobe PDF
When is a PDF accessible?

PDFs are accessible when tagged
correctly.

Tagging involves:

Converting the scanned image to text

Specifying reading order across columns

Adding descriptive text to images
Adobe PDF
Documents easily made
accessible

PDFs composed of text in
a single column

PDFs with minimal
graphics

PDFs with simple tables

Convert properly tagged
Word documents to PDF
format
PDF Adobe Reader feature

Adore reader includes
rudimentary read
feature.
 View>Read Out Loud
 Allows several
options including
Pause.
 Voice is not great but
OK.
Adobe PDF
Checking for Accessibility

Mouse over all images to see if an alternative
text message appears. (Note: This functionality does not
display with Adobe reader inside of Internet Explorer web
browser; you must view PDFs in Adobe software.)

Use the Adobe Reader “Read Out Loud”
function (under View menu) to see if the
document makes sense (have speakers on).
Multimedia: Captioning and
Audio
Video and audio
Captioning






Caption - Text representations of audio content within a
multimedia presentation; required in order to make multimedia
accessible to people who are unable to hear the audio. Unlike a
transcript, caption text is synchronized with the video.
Open captions - Captions that are integrated into the video
stream. These are always visible, and can not be turned off.
Closed captions - Captions that are contained within a separate
track, and can be turned on or off.
MAGpie - A free software tool that supports the captioning of
digital video files.
SMIL - "Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language", a W3C
standard markup language that can be used for adding captions
to digital video
SAMI - "Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange" is
Microsoft's answer to SMIL
Beyond Accessibility
Captioning your media adds tremendous value:




Improved Indexing and Searching: Use captions or transcripts
as meta data to make your video text-searchable, and to make
web-embedded video search engine friendly.
Viewer Flexibility: With the increasing popularity of mobile
devices, viewers may be in environments where access to the
audio is limited. Captioning allows them to view content whether
they are in the library, at a concert or on a noisy bus.
Improved Accessibility for ESL Viewers: There are more
viewers with English as a second language than there are with
English as a first language — captioning can help your message
reaches this much larger audience.
Improved Comprehension: Captioning improves
comprehension and retention of the media content for all viewers.
You Tube Videos
One time use – may not need captioning.
 More than one time – need to be
captioned.
 Google captioning may be able to assist
you.

Real Media Files: Overview
Real Media Files
 Uses SMIL, and a RealText caption file
 To display captioned video, open the
SMIL file
 Turn captions on in Real Player using
Tools > Preferences > Content
QuickTime: Overview
Quicktime Files
 Uses SMIL, and a QTText caption file
 To display captioned video, open the
SMIL file
 QuickTime Player doesn't support
turning captions off.
 Some developers created a CC button
"wired sprite" using LiveStage Pro.
Windows Media Files:Overview
Windows Media Files
 Uses SAMI (which includes caption text)
 To display captioned video, open the original media
file. SAMI file must have the same name, and be
stored in the same directory as the original media file.
OR...
 Reference the SAMI file in URL. Example:
mms://mydomain.com/media.asf?SAMI=http://mydom
ain.com/media.sami
 To turn captions on, see procedure in AccessIT article
How do I turn on captions or descriptive audio in my
media player?
Software
Camtasia and ProfCast
Windows Speech and Dragon NaturallySpeaking
Speaking NotePad
Screen Readers
Camtasia/Jing
You can

Make Camtasia videos from existing PowerPoint
presentations.
 Dictate audio and add captions.
 Jing caption look clearer in the final product because
it’s not an overlay as it is in Camtasia.
 Use Dragon to transcribe any existing audio, then
copy and paste text captions.
 Synchronize text to audio.
Voice recognition and recorders
Dragon NaturallySpeaking
Windows Speech Recognition
Digital recording/transcription
Voice recognition – not just for
accessibility





Anybody can use it.
Windows Speech can be used to dictate.
Commands do manually.
You can do everything by voice command with
Dragon NaturallySpeaking.
Dictation


3 times faster then typing for most people
Dictation reduces injuries related to repetitive tasks. (e.g.
carpal tunnel.)
Benefits of voice recognition
Voice recognition is not a shortcut

Dictation reduces spelling errors. Voice recognition software does not
actually have a spell check feature; however, the application keys the
dictated word and it doesn’t spell the word incorrectly.
 Grammar must be dictated, except in a few cases like dates where the
comma may placed automatically.
 Research shows dictation improves student writing because students
can use the words they know, rather than just the words they can spell.
 Research also shows that voice recognition increased reading
proficiency because it allows students increased frequency of contract
with words.
 Voice recognition can be helpful for editing. Read that and play that
features can be used to help locate commonly overlooked editing errors.
(if instead of is).
Windows Speech

Control Panel>Ease of Access>Speech
Recognition
You can
 Dictate text and basic commands like “scratch
that”.
 Complex commands are completed manually.
 Read option available
 Added speech functionality was removed.
 No transcription option
Dragon NaturallySpeaking
You can:








Dictate any text in may word processor.
Transcribe audio files to text.
Listen to dictations for editing.
Read existing text.
Create any document using only voice or manually, or in
combination.
Dictate and submit exam questions, email, discussion board in
Blackboard.
Navigate in much of Blackboard.
Profile is portable.
Windows Sound Recorder and
Audacity




Start>All Programs>Accessories>Sound recorder
Windows 7 is not as limited as XP and prior versions
Audio files can be transcribed using Dragon
NaturallySpeaking. Use 11.025 MHz, 16 bit mom for
best results on XP.
Audacity is a free download. It allows you to some
simple editing of audio recordings. Use File>Export if
you wish to use the recording with other applications.



Dragon can easily transcribe the recording.
Open Dragon then Sound>Transcribe recording
Once the recording is transcribed, it can be edited and saved.
Speaking NotePad
Speaking NotePad is an inexpensive open
source word processor with lots of unique
functionality options.
 Opens *doc, *.html, *rtf, *pdf
 Strips *.pdf to text for reading
 Has voice when keying options
 Reads any text
 Highlights as it reads
 Converts text to audio files
Kurzweil/ReadPlease







Scan and read documents in special format any
accessible in Kurzweil.
Highlight text and extract notes to a rich text format.
Take exams
Reads foreign languages - Spanish, French
Can convert text to audio
ReadPlease – it’s simple and easy-to-use.
As an instructor, read software can help you edit
documents faster, because you can listen to things
and find errors that your eyes might overlook.
JAWS and Daisy
JAWS is used by Blind students
 Reads Alt tags and navigation tags
 Not appropriate for sighted persons
 Daisy is a special format for reading etext. It is navigational and text can be
bookmarked. Requires a special format
and reader
E-Books and Tutorials from Publishers
This a growing trend
 Be careful – some are not very
accessible and it’s only a matter of time
before there will be rulings on some of
them.
 Web based and digital tutorials are often
very hard to navigate. Some clearly
don’t meet standards.
E-text readers

E-Books (e.g Kindle)
E-book readers are not currently noncompliant with accessibility standards.
 You cannot make them mandatory for
students.

Smart pen
Smart pen technology is another
technology some of you may like.
 The smart pen uses a special digital dot
matrix paper to record what you hand
write.
 The pen can then be attached to your
computer for sharing or downloading the
document.

Studio Workshop






In the studio portion of the workshop this afternoon you will be
able to try out some of these software is to see how you like
them.
You will get a chance to create a digital profile using voice
recognition software. You can use Dragon or Microsoft speech.
The training is about the same.
If you train Dragon NaturallySpeaking, You can use the Windows
recorder or bringing a digital recording and try a transcription.
You can login to blackboard and try using voice recognition
create an exam or discussion board question. Maybe try out
sending an e-mail.
You can convert the text document to an audio file and listen to
the result.
PowerPoint - add audio and create a video.
Resources
WebAIM
WebAim provides
information and
resources to help
you.
 http://webaim.org/
Illinois Accessible Web Publishing
Wizard



Illinois Accessible Web
Publishing Wizard for
Microsoft Office.
Single user license is about
$180.00
http://www.virtual508.com/
Free to try – about $40.00 to
buy
http://download.cnet.com/Acc
essible-Web-PublishingWizard-for-MS-Office/300018483_4-10489973.html
About the Standards
Section 508
http://www.section508.gov/
 WCAG 1
http://www.w3.org/TR/WAIWEBCONTENT/
 WCAG 2
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/

Additional Resources







www.microsoft.com/enable/microsoft/section508.aspx (in particular, see
“Tutorials & Training”)
Creating Accessible Adobe PDF Files: A Guide for Document Authors
www.adobe.com/enterprise/accessibility/pdfs/acro6_pg_ue.pdf
www.section508.gov/
www.fta.dot.gov (Home  About FTA  Doing Business with FTA)
California http://www.calstate.edu/Accessibility/webaccessibility/evaluation/index.sh
tml
Do it World Wide Access: Accessible Web Design
http://www.washington.edu/doit/Video/Search/index.php?vid=35
Video Google http://video.google.com/
 Universal Design in Education
http://www.csun.edu/accessibility/guides.html

Software
www.journeyed.com offers huge
discounts to CCC employees
 www.nuance.com Dragon
NaturallSpeaking
 www.quertystudios.com Speaking
NotePad
 www.readplease.com
 www.kurzweil.com
