The Accessible Virtual Campus

If you are using “Adobe InDesign Creative Suite 2” and “Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional” this document will teach you how make accessible brochures.

These two Power Point slides provide a guideline to insure that the font size within print media are accessible when projected.

This protocol explains the required "why" and "how" of creating an accessible thesis/document. Graduate students in the Occupational Therapy Department at UWM are required to provide an accessible copy of their thesis, project or dissertation. The protocol is distributed in conjunction with a formatted template that includes all of the requirements of the graduate school at UWM.

This protocol will help you create a video with an additional audio track that attempts to describe the visual component of the video. Note that the file created from this document will always have the additional track playing. We are currently examining the possibility of adding a toggle button.

This website offers a model organizations can use to evaluate Web pages, develop a planning team, gain support for a Web accessibility initiative, develop and implement a plan, train staff, and monitor the accessibility of Web pages over time. [Annotation from UW Web Accessibility for All]

This link provides downloadable access symbols, provided copyright free, for closed captioning, descriptive video, and web access.

This is a link to the PDF report which presents four position statements resulting from a discussion forum on accessibility and computer science education. Panelists discussed reasons to integrate accessibility and universal design into the computer science curriculum. Proceedings of the 37th SIGCSE technical symposium on computer science education.

This link explains how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is requiring the State and local governments to give individuals with disabilities equal access to their programs. This link also provides the Department of Justice statement "Voluntary Action Plan for Accessible Websites". Links are provided on the website.

This webpage includes an "Assistive Technology Quick Reference" guide to help individuals make calculators more accessible. There are also answers to frequently asked questions regarding standard function calculators, scientific calculators, graphing calculators, and vendors offering accessible calculators.

This webpage includes guidelines and examples of how to make materials such as digital publications, distance-learning Web sites, and educational software more accessible to students with disabilities.

This website includes guidelines for how-to's for making scientific and mathematical expressions accessible for electronic publications, multimedia, and the web.

This webpage discusses the complexities of tables and how to make them accessible.

This website "educates users in the concepts behind Web site accessibility. It is a free tool for the education community designed to identify errors in Web content related to Section 508 standards and/or the WCAG guidelines for accessibility. It allows users to test individual pages on their Web site and provides feedback in a reporting format that is clear and easy to understand." The company also sells their accessibility and captioning software. An in depth discussion accompanies the software.

This website is about the Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs funded under AT act to enhance the effectiveness and support of AT programs.

"Camera for K is a photographic interface that maximizes independency of physically handicapped people who use wheelchair and cannot operate the interface of normal cameras. Any switches familiar to them can be attached to this interface so that they easily start to use."

This website provides general guidelines to survey the physical accessibility of a computer lab. Some examples of guidelines are physical space, printed materials, and electronic resources.

"When we talk about the accessibility of forms, we are usually referring to their accessibility to people who use screen readers. People with other types of disabilities are generally less affected by faulty forms. It should be noted, however, that everyone benefits from a well-organized, highly usable form, especially those with cognitive disabilities." This website contains comprehensive how-tos.

The Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) serves as a clearinghouse of information and materials on the subject of description and captioning for service to consumers, agencies, corporations, and schools. Clearinghouse offerings include numerous DCMP print and online informational resources as well as a gateway to accessibility information from the Web sites of the DCMP and its collaborators.

Results of a survey of a cross section of 208 internet users throughout the UK with disabilities which affect the way they use the internet, comprising the visually impaired/blind, hearing impaired/deaf, physically disabled, and those with dyslexia/learning difficulties. Top 5 ANNOYANCES for users and top 5 most useful features are reported in this one-page article from OUT-LAW News.

"This project is researching and documenting effective practices for providing meaningful descriptions of science content within Digital Talking Books that serve post-secondary students, professionals and scientists who have visual impairments or blindness. A particular focus is ways to describe non-text content, such as equations, charts, and diagrams." [Annotation from CATEA resource page]

"GRADE's mission is to improve the accessiblity of distance education through for students with disabilities throughout the nation by providing technical assistance, training and research. This website includes a tutorial, course design models, fact sheets, guidelines, and more.

This website provides a glossary of terms for different inclusive technology and a brief description about them.

The ISO/IEC JTC (International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission; Joint Technical Committee) Special Working Group (SWG) on Accessibility was established in 2004 and actioned to determine an approach, and implement, the gathering of user requirements, being mindful of the varied and unique opportunities (direct participation of user organizations, workshops, liaisons); identify a mechanism to work proactively to make forward progress; gather and publish an inventory of all known accessibility standards efforts; identify areas/technologies where voluntary standards are not being addressed and suggest an appropriate body to consider the new work; track public laws, policies/measures and guidelines to ensure the necessary standards are available; and through wide dissemination of the SWG materials, encourage the use of globally relevant voluntary standard.These 3 drafts were issued by the group, in 2008.

This research study is a longitudinal analysis. It contains information on how to identitfy effective components of support services in relation to student outcomes.

"Design Science MathPlayer enables Microsoft Internet Explorer to display mathematical notation in web pages. It is based on MathML technology and requires Internet Explorer for Windows version 6.0 and later. We make MathPlayer available for free in order to foster the adoption of MathML in the math, science, and education communities." Information on how to use the program and a user manual are provided.

"A national survey was conducted which provides important information for researchers and program implementers seeking to ascertain the current status of educational support offerings in postsecondary programs." A brief description of the research findings are presented.

This link contains "a national survey was conducted to provide information about the current status of educational supports in postsecondary programs. Further, it [sic] not clear what types of disabilities are represented in postsecondary education settings."

The CPB/WGBH has designed a web access symbol which is an illustration of a globe, marked with a grid, tilted at an angle. A keyhole is cut into its surface. "This web image may be used by webmasters to denote that their site contains accessibility features to accomodate the needs of disabled users."

This accessibility tutorial for Windows XP explains that "StickyKeys is an accessibility feature designed for people who have difficulty holding down two or more keys at a time."

Funded since 2001, the Wireless RERC (Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center) researches issues and solutions related to the accessibility and usability of mobile wireless products and services by people with disabilities.

"This article provides an overview of problem of accessing information for postsecondary students with visual impairments. It examines the promise of current and future technologies in providing postsecondary students with visual impairments with 'virtual, real-time' access to information, particularly Braille."

An excellent slide presentation considering WCAG 1.0, Section 508, and WCAG 2.0 Guidelines for web accessibility.

This pdf provides a brief history of the concept of Universal Design and concisely describes each of the seven principles of Universal Design and gives an example as well. It provides “examples of universal design applications in educational settings: physical spaces, information technology (IT), instruction, and student services.”

This article summarizes the history and development of Universal Design (UD), references research and practices that support the UD approach, provides examples of the strategies that apply UD to instruction and assessment, and recommends topics for future research. Although the application of UD to teaching and learning is in its infancy, the potential of UD to improve computing instruction should not be ignored. Further research could test the efficacy of specific UD practices in promoting learning in computing fields.

A list of links regarding several topics in web design accessibility.

To be effective, the interfaces for online information systems must be as rich and flexible as the physical environments they replace. They must not only supply a direct path to reach the users goals, but must be able to accommodate different approaches to the task. This means that the interface design must not only organize the content for easy access, but must incorporate the right combination of technologies and interaction techniques to allow the user to work in their own style.