Able Web Editor - Web Accessibility

CONTENTS
General Overview
W3C's Assessibility Guidelines
US Government's Section 508
Government and Non-profit Sites
College and University Sites
Assistive Technology, AT
AT for Blind & Vision Impaired
Validation Tools

General Overview

Accessibility is the word used to describe how to make Web Pages accessible to people with disabilities. The Links below provide an overall view of the factors involved.

AccessibleNet.org www.AccessibleNet.org: AccessibleNet.org is an independent, online directory of links and resources about Web accessibility.
AWARE Center www.awarecenter.org: The HTML Writers Guild's includes an AWARE Center. AWARE stands for Accessible Web Authoring Resources and Education and their mission is to serve as a central resource for web authors for learning about web accessibility.
CAST Universal Design for Learning www.cast.org: "CAST is a not-for-profit education research and development organization that uses technology to make education more flexible and accessible for all students, especially those with disabilities."
Disability Discrimination Act - Great Britain www.ddaguidelines.com: Describes how to apply Great Britain's DDA Guidelines to websites. "Apart from the moral case, there are nearly nine million disabled people in the UK with a combined spending power of £45 billion, and with the Disability Discrimination Act legislation coming into force there are many good reasons to make your website accessable."
IBM www-3.ibm.com/able/guidelines/web/accessweb.html: IBM has been committed to issues of accessibility since 1914. They have created a checklist for making Web Sites accessible with Links to useful descriptions of how to accomplish each checkpoint.
Microsoft www.microsoft.com/enable: "Microsoft® recognizes its responsibility to develop technology that is accessible and usable to everyone, including those with disabilities."
JimThatcher.com www.jimthatcher.com: Jim Thatcher is an Accessibility Consultant. His Web Site, and the book he co-authored, Constructing Accessible Websites, focus on the nuts and bolts of how to make Web Sites accessible.
Starling Access Services www.starlingweb.com: Starling Access Services offers Accessilbe Web Design, and Consulting Services as well as seminars and workshops. Their Web Site offers a good explanation of Web Accessibility in everyday language.
US Government Access Board www.access-board.gov/links/disability.htm: This Web Page is a list of Links to disability related organizations
Usability First www.usabilityfirst.com/accessibility/index.txl: This is a good general introduction to the topic of accessibility by a Web design service.

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W3C's Web Content Assessibility Guidelines

The organization responsible for creating standards for the Internet, the W3C, has created a Web Accessibility Initative ( WAI ) to address the issues of Accessibility called the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

Web Accessibility Initiative www.w3.org/WAI: WAI, in coordination with organizations around the world, pursues accessibility of the Web through five primary areas of work: technology, guidelines, tools, education and outreach, and research and development.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10: "These guidelines explain how to make Web content accessible to people with disabilities. The guidelines are intended for all Web content developers (page authors and site designers) and for developers of authoring tools. The primary goal of these guidelines is to promote accessibility. However, following them will also make Web content more available to all users."

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US Government's Section 508

The US Government has mandated that access to information technology is a civil right. The primary legislation addressing this issue for the Internet is Section 508 § 1194.22 The law prohibits federal agencies from developing, purchasing, using, or maintaining information technology that is inaccessible to persons with disabilities.

Search Phrase:	Section 508

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act www.access-board.gov/508.htm: This is the US government's official Web Site for Section 508.
U.S. General Services Administration www.section508.gov: Section 508 requires that Federal agencies' electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities. The Center for Information Technology Accommodation (CITA), in the U.S. General Services Administration's Office of Governmentwide Policy, has been charged with the task of educating Federal employees and building the infrastructure necessary to support Section 508 implementation. Using this web site, Federal employees and the public can access resources for understanding and implementing the requirements of Section 508.
Information Technology Industry Council ( VPAT )
www.itic.org/policy/508/Sec508.html: The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) helps the Federal Government implement Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. In 2001, ITI partnered with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to create a simple, Internet-based tool to assist Federal contracting and procurement officials in fulfilling the new market research requirements contained in the Section 508 implementing regulations. The result: the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template, or VPAT. For a copy of the VPAT and instructions on how to complete it, go to this web site.
Usability.gov www.usability.gov: This is the US Department of Health and Human Services Web Site for designing usable, useful, and accessible Web sites. It includes many useful links to other resources including government, academic, professional, and commercial.
JimThatcher.com www.jimthatcher.com/webcourse1.htm: Jim Thatcher is an Accessiblity Consultant. This Web Page is a tutorial about the nuts and bolts of making Web Pages compliant with Section 508.

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Government and Non-profit Sites

Issues of accessibility are a concern of governments around the world. They are addressed by the following Web Sites which are either government Web Sites or non-profit site dedicated to accessibility issues.

International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet www.icdri.org: "ICDRI's mission is to collect a global knowledge base of quality disability resources and best practices and to provide education, outreach and training based on these core resources. As an internationally recognized public policy center organized by and for people with disabilities, ICDRI seeks to increase opportunities for people with disabilities by identifying barriers to participation and promoting best practices and universal design of technology for the global community."
ICTA - International Commission on Technology and Accessibility www.ictaglobal.org: "Our ICTA mission is global promotion and implementation of more equitable and accessible environments, technology and information."
European Disability Forum www.edf-feph.org: "The EDF Website has been created with the support of the European Commission, but does not necessarily express its views. EDF is a European umbrella organisation representing more than 37 million disabled people in Europe. Its mission is to ensure disabled citizens' full access to fundamental and human rights through their active involvement in policy development and implementation in the European Union."
Disability Rights Commission - Great Britain www.drc-gb.org: Stated Goal: A society where all disabled people can participate fully as equal citizens
National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)
www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/nidrr: The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) provides leadership and support for a comprehensive program of research related to the rehabilitation of individuals with disabilities. All of the programmatic efforts are aimed at improving the lives of individuals with disabilities from birth through adulthood.
Disability and Business Technical Assistance Centers www.adata.org/dbtac.html: The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) has established ten regional centers to provide information, training, and technical assistance to employers, people with disabilities, and other entities with responsibilities under the ADA.
New England DBTAC www.newenglandada.org: Region 1 (CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT)
Northeast DBTAC www.ilr.cornell.edu/ped/daa/dbtac.html: Region 2 (NJ, NY, PR, VI)
Mid-Atlantic DBTAC www.adainfo.org: Region 3 (DE, DC, MD, PA, VA, WV)
Southeast DBTAC www.sedbtac.org: Region 4 (AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN)
Great Lakes DBTAC www.adagreatlakes.org: Region 5 (IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI)
Southwest DBTAC www.dlrp.org: Region 6 (AR, LA, NM, OK, TX)
Great Plains DBTAC www.adaproject.org: Region 7 (IA, KS, MO, NE)
Rocky Mountain DBTAC www.ada-infonet.org: Region 8 (CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, WY)
Pacific ADA & IT Center DBTAC www.pacdbtac.org: Region 9 (AZ, CA, HI, NV, Pacific Basin)
Northwest DBTAC www.nwada.org: Region 10 (AK, ID, OR, WA)
National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research www.ncddr.org: "Established in 1995, the NCDDR performs research, technical assistance and demonstration activities focusing on the dissemination and utilization of disability research funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)."
Assistive Technology Act Program ataporg.org: "The Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs (ATAP) is a national, member-based organization, comprised of state Assistive Technology Act Programs funded under the Assistive Technology Act (AT Act). ATAP was established in 1997 to provide support to state AT Program members to enhance the effectiveness of AT Programs on the state and local level, and promote the national network of AT Programs."
Connecticut www.cmac.state.ct.us/access: The State of Connecticut has a very comprehensive resource for Web Accessibility. It was one of the first States to recognize the need for equal access for all its customers through the Internet. Connecticut established its first working group to develop guidelines to ensure HTML documents are accessible to persons with disabilities on August 23, 1996.
Adaptive Environments www.adaptenv.org: "Adaptive Environments is a 25 year old educational non-profit organization committed to advancing the role of design in expanding opportunity and enhancing experience for people of all ages and abilities. Adaptive Environments' work balances expertise in legally required accessibility with promotion of best practices in human centered or universal design."

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College and University Sites

Colleges and Universities are playing a leading role in implementing Web Accessiblity.

Trace Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison trace.wisc.edu: The Trace Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is currently working on ways to make the Internet more accessible and usable by people with disabilities.
University of Washington, DO-IT
www.washington.edu/doit/Resources/web-design.html: The University of Washington provides a series of Links to Web sites that promote accessibility.
Web AIM, Utah State University www.webaim.org: Web Accessibility in Mind is a web site dedicated to expanding the Web's potential for people with disabilities. It offers a variety of information as well as a free validation testing page. WebAIM is a non-profit organization within the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University.
Illinois Center for Instructional Technology Accessibility cita.rehab.uiuc.edu: The goal of this University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign sponsored Web Site is to provide developers of web based instructional materials a resource on how to design their resources to be more accessible to people with disabilities.
Web Savvy, University of Toronto www.websavvy-access.org: This Web Site is dedicated to helping web developers "Find the information you need to ensure your site is accessible to your entire audience, more than just the typical users."
Kansas State University www.ksu.edu/tools/access: "This site provides a definition of accessibility, links to the state, federal, and World Wide Web Consortium guidelines and standards, and links to tools that can assist you in achieving accessibility according to the state and federal guidelines."
University of Westminster, England www.wmin.ac.uk/ccpd: The Computer Centre for People with Disabilities supports the needs of disabled students within the University of Westminster as well as being a major provider of 'Needs Assessments' and specialist IT training for all UK students pursuing claims under the Disabled Student Allowance (DSA).
University of Wisconsin www.cew.wisc.edu/accessibility: This Web Site provides an array of resources, links, and tutorials designed to help individuals and organizations create and maintain accessible web content.
High Tech Center Training Unit htctu.net: "The High Tech Center Training Unit of the California Community Colleges is a state of the art training and support facility for community college faculty and staff wishing to acquire or improve teaching skills, methodologies, and pedagogy in Assistive Computer Technology, Alternate Media and Web Accessibility. The HTCTU supports High Tech Center programs at one-hundred and fourteen community colleges and satellite centers. More than ten thousand students with disabilities are enrolled in High Tech Center programs state-wide."

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Assistive Technology

Assistive technology includes both software and hardware that makes it possible for people with disabilities to access information.

Trace Center trace.wisc.edu/world/computer_access/multi/sharewar.htm: Assistive software including Cursor Enhancers, Mouse Enhancers, Magnification, On-Screen Keyboards, Typing Abbreviation / Expansion, Word Completion / Prediction, Screen Readers, Voice Output Applications, Voice Input Applications, Braille Utilities, Keyboard Modifications, and Keyboard Shortcuts.
Abledata.com www.abledata.com/Site_2/computers_gen.htm: ABLEDATA is a Web Site that gives access to an electronic database of information about a wide range of Assistive Technology and rehabilitation equipment listing more than 29,000 products and devices. This Web Page provides Links to a number of computer related Assistive Technology tools.
Words Plus www.words-plus.com/website/products/inputdcs.htm: Computer aides for the disabled including head pointing devices, brain-actuated input devices, and other alternative keyboard devices.
ZYGO Industries www.zygo-usa.com: "Personal tablet-size computers, alternate keyboards, and variety of symbol and text based communication programs for Microsoft Windows."

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AT for Blind & Vision Impaired

The Assistive Technology below is hardware and software specifically for the blind and vision impaired.

Ai Squared www.aisquared.com: Ai Squared offers ZoomText, a low-vision solution, available as a screen magnifier or integrated magnifier/reader and BigShot, a screen magnification program.
Freedom Scientific ( JAWS ) www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products: Freedom Scientific offers a variety of hardare products including input and output devices for Braille, synthesized speech, and low vision displays. A Speech Assisted Learning system offers an uncomplicated approach to teaching Braille using interactive technology. Their software includes JAWS for Windows, a well respected screen reader and a screen maginification program.
IBM Home Page Reader www-3.ibm.com/able/solution_offerings/hpr.html: "Home Page Reader brings the world of the Internet to blind and low vision users. This innovative product uses the power of voice to guide users in exploring the marvels of the World Wide Web."
Kurzwell Educational Systems www.kurzweiledu.com/products.asp: Kurzweil Educational Systems currently offers two powerful assistive technology products, Kurzweil 1000 and Kurzweil 3000. Kurzweil 1000 is an advanced scanning and reading solution for the blind or visually impaired. Kurzweil 3000 is a scanning, reading and writing solution for people with learning disabilities or reading difficulties. There are two versions - one for the Windows environment and one for the Macintosh.
NextUp.com www.nextup.com/TextAloud: NextUp offers TextAloud which reads text from email, web pages, reports and more, aloud on your PC. They also sell a variety of voices for speech programs.
Pulse Data www.pulsedata.com: Assistive Technology for people who are blind or visually impaired.
Read Please www.readplease.com: "Developer of award-winning text-to-speech software titles." The Read Please programs read the contents of Windows clipboard, web pages, and special text files through Internet Explorer. One version of their program is free and has no time limitations.
ScanSoft www.scansoft.com/naturallyspeaking: ScanSoft offers Dragon Naturally Speaking which is speech recognition software for Windows computers.
Window-Eyes www.gwmicro.com: A screen-reader for Windows computers.

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Validation Tools

Validation tools check Web Pages to confirm that they comply with Assessibility requirements. A-Prompt is a free program that can be downloaded for use offline. The other references are to online validation services. The W3C offers a Validator for HTML and CSS but not the WCAG.

A-Prompt aprompt.snow.utoronto.ca: A-Prompt is a free program that can be downloaded from this Web Site. It can be used to make Web pages accessible to people with disabilities. The A-Prompt software tool examines Web pages for barriers to accessibility, performs automatic repairs when possible, and assists the author in manual repairs when necessary.
Ask Alice askalice.ssbtechnologies.com: AskAlice is a free web service provided by SSB Technologies that allows people to evaluate the accessibility of their web site. This service evaluates an entire Web Site and returns a report by email. SSB Technologies also offers a commercial program that may be used offline called InFocus.
Bobby bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp: "This free service will allow you to test web pages and help expose and repair barriers to accessibility and encourage compliance with existing accessibility guidelines, such as Section 508 and the W3C's WCAG." Options allow for testing for the WCAG 1.0, US Section 508. There is also an advanced customization option.
Cynthia Says www.contentquality.com: Cynthia is a web content accessibility validation solution, it is designed to identify errors in design related to Section 508 standards and the WCAG guidelines. The main purpose of this portal is to educate web site developers in the development Web Based content that is accessible to all. This online test only validates one page at a time.
HiSoftware www.URL.com: HiSoftware sell the commercial version of AccVerify and AccRepair which is the software behind Cynthia Says.
Vischeck www.vischeck.com/vischeck: Vischeck is a way of showing you what things look like to someone who is color blind. You can try Vischeck online, run Vischeck on your own image files, or run Vischeck on a web page.
The Wave wave.webaim.org: This is a free online Web Accessibility testing service that can be used with a web address, an uploaded page, through a toolbar, or by adding a bookmarklet.

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