Making Materials Accessible:
A Hands on Experience
Roxy Rocker
Erin Gannon
Chad Gobert
Learning Objectives
1. Integrate principles of universal
design into electronic documents and
presentations.
2. Define accessibility within the scope
of electronic documents.
3. Incorporate the different aspects of
accessible documents into every
document created.
4. Present materials to audiences with
accessibility in mind.
Universal Design
How can we
make
EVERYTHING
accessible to
EVERYONE??
Universal Design is the design of
products and environments to be usable by
all people, to the greatest extent possible,
without the need for adaptation or
specialized design.
- Center for Universal Design at NC State
Principles of Universal Design
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Equitable Use
Flexibility in Use
Simple and Intuitive Use
Perceptible Information
Tolerance for Error
Low Physical Effort
Size and Space for
Approach and Use
How can you use the idea of
Universal Design in your work?
• Take a moment to talk to
those around you about the
principles of Universal
Design can make your work
more accessible to
everyone.
• Be ready to share at least
two examples of how you
can use universal design.
Universal Design and
Presentations
• Think about space when you are setting up a
meeting.
• Good lighting benefits everyone.
• Use signs that have both text and symbols.
• Caption videos.
• Repeat questions from the audience so everyone
can hear them clearly.
• Other suggestions?
What is Accessibility?
• Accessibility gives an opportunity to provide
meaningful, equivalent access to all services,
programs, and activities.
• Access means the freedom or the ability to make
use of something.
• It may not always to be possible to achieve
complete accessibility, yet a truly inclusive
environment strives to increase it’s level of access
for all.
What is Accessibility?
• Assistive Technology (AT) is another aspect of
Accessibility. AT are devices such as screen
readers, IPADS, and various other types of
software or devices aid a person with a disability
to perform a task or activity with more ease.
• Assistive technology in an environment makes it
easier for everyone to use. A great example of
that is the automatic door at a local store. This
easy to understand because everyone can use it.
What is Accessibility?
• People with visual impairments, who are blind, or
have cognitive disabilities would use a screen
reader.
• Screen readers read out loud the text on a page.
This is important because screen readers are not
able to identify pictures, charts, and color on
pages.
• Introduction of the term alt text (tagging)- a
description of a picture
• Alt text is a way that reads an image to someone
only using text- i.e. a person who is Blind uses a
screen reader called Jaws. That screen reader
would read the description of the picture that has
been alt tagged.
The Structure and Design
of Accessible Documents
• Establish your Foundation
• Build your Structure
• Make your Environment Inviting
Establish Your Foundation
Set up Office software before
writing
A. Text colors and background
B. Font and size
C. Styles of headings
A. Text Colors and Background
This is text
which is blue
on a yellow
background.
This is text
which is red on
a green
background.
This is text
which is black
on a white
background.
This is text
which is blue
on a yellow
background.
This is text
which is red on
a green
background.
This is text
which is black
on a white
background.
B. Font and Size
Serif fonts
Times New Roman
Book Antiqua
Cursive fonts
Lucida Calligraphy
Freestyle Script
Monotype Corsiva
Sans-serif fonts
Ariel
Tahoma
Verdana
Monospace fonts
Courier
Courier New
B. Font and Size
Verdana:
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Arial:
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
C. Styles for Headings and
Backgrounds
C. Styles for Headings and
Backgrounds
C. Styles for Headings and
Backgrounds
Let’s Lay that Foundation
Build your Structure
Amount of content and visual layout
Types of content
A. Bulleted and numbered lists
B. Hyperlinks
C. Columns and text
boxes
D. Charts and tables
Amount of Content and
Visual Layout
`
3. Substantially limits means
significantly restricted in condition, manner
or duration of performance in comparison to
average person in general population
b. factors determining substantial limitation:
1) nature and severity of impairment
2) duration or expected duration
3) impairments that substantially by
limit major life activities are disabilities
without regard to effect of mitigating
measures such as medication or adaptive
devices. 28 C.F. Part 36, App B
Bulleted and Numbered Lists
Lists help distinguish content in a logical
manner
• Use bullets for unordered lists
− Section 504 compliance
− Rehabilitation Act of 1973
1. Use numbers/letters for ordered lists
a. Have research methods approved by IRB
b. Engage participants in qualitative research
Hyperlinks
This table shows several examples of mislabeled
hyperlinks. Each row represents an example,
why it’s a problem, and how to correct it.
Original Example:
Problem:
Corrected Example:
EBSCO Host search
engine, click here.
Academic Info. Search
engine, click here.
The link titles are not
unique.
Search engines to use:
EBSCO Host
Academic Info
http://www.shrm.org/Publicati
ons/HRNews/Pages/NewADA
AARules.aspx
The hyperlink is too long Information on the ADA
and is not contextual.
Amendments Act from
Society for Human
Resource Management.
Article 1
Article 2
Link titles are not
descriptive of the
underlying content.
Articles:
Think College
College Preparation
Columns and Text Boxes
Reasonable Accommodation Examples:
No Tech:
• Flexible schedules
• Workspace map
• Daily ‘To-do’ lists
Low-Tech:
• Dragon speak
• Voice recorder
• Reachers and
grabbers
High-Tech:
• Evacuation
devices/chairs
• Automatic
door opener
• Text to speech
scanner
Charts and Tables
The following table shows accommodation
information for states beginning with “A”. The
table is arranged with rows representing the
states and columns representing numbers for
accommodations.
State
Reasonable
Accommodations
Requested
Reasonable
Accommodations
Provided
Percentage
Difference
Alabama
25
25
100%
Alaska
15
17
88.2%
Arizona
10
11
90.9%
Arkansas
17
17
100%
Charts and Tables
Let’s Build the House
Make Your Space Inviting
A. Alternative text
for images
B. Saving documents
in an accessible
format
Alternative Text
Photo of a purple sharpie permanent
marker with four paper tags attached to it.
Including Images and Text
• Does the visual (picture, screen
capture, smart/clip art) add
meaning to your text content?
• Does your Alt Text have enough
content to properly explain the
picture?
• Would a caption unite the photo
and slide/document text?
Accessible Documents
Save as type:
• PC/Mac Office versions
– 2003/2004 .doc, .xls, .ppt file types
– 2007/2008 .docx, .xlsx, .pptx file types
• PDF
– Cross-platform compatible
• HTML
– Most accessible because it is all text
Let’s Furnish the House
Review
Enjoying your new home
Let’s review!
1. We established our foundation
2. We built our structure
3. We made our environment inviting
But first let’s ensure we know how to
access our new home.
Questions and Answers
• What did you find most useful?
• What would you still like to
understand?
• What other information can we
provide for you today?
Contact Us!
You may find us atErin.Gannon@umb.edu -x74290
Chad.Gobert@umb.edu -x77703
Roxy.Rocker@umb.edu -x74333