The Accessible Virtual Campus

This is the AUDIT to use to evaluate the accessibility of in-line text characters that need to be treated as graphic elements for accessibility e.g. subscript, ampersand, foreign letters.

Use this AUDIT to evaluate the accessibility and usability of non-text graphics in a variety of media.

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]

ATHEN is a professional association and network for Access Technology in Higher Education. The purpose of ATHEN is to collect and disseminate best practices in access technology in the higher education environment as well as present a collective voice for the professional practice of access technology in higher education. The annual conference is Accessing Higher Ground. The website offers information about the conference, as well as a blog and a Listserv.

"Make your computer easier and more comfortable to use by taking advantage of the many accessibility features built into Microsoft products." This link is the home page for their accessibility features, links listed by products. There are no Macintosh mentions.

This article explores the differences and similarities between web accessibility, web site usability, and the "grey area" between them.It contains a nice discussion and 10 different scenarios to demonstrate the differences are included. It was written in hopes of shedding more light on this matter, and the article has sparked interesting reader discussions.

This article by Roger Hudson explains how to present data in an accessible table. He includes how to design the table, how to make it friendly to a screen reader, how to create both complex and simple tables, how to test the tables accessibility, and much more.

This webpage includes instruction and examples on how to make on-line forms accessible for users who are blind or visually impaired.

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

This website is great for those needing solutions to specific accommodation issues. It offers accommodation coaches for specific disabilities, an overview of the disability, how it is seen in the classroom, extra resources, and related functional characteristics. It also has accommodation coaches for specific classroom accommodations, an overview of the accommodation, responsibilities (relating to the accommodation) of the student, faculty, and staff, extra resources, and related functional characteristics.

This website provides information on both assistive and accessible technology.

On this website, one can find a 2001 pdf document, with design guidelines for websites based on usability studies with people using assistive technology. The author qualifies (post 2001) that progress with assistive technology for blind readers has been slow, and "that some of the specific technical comments in this report may not apply to recent versions of the products discussed".

This website is everything you would want to know about color and accessibility. While this page was prepared for web accessibility, these issues also are relevant for print, poster, Power Point, etc. materials.

This webpage includes an "AT Quick Reference" guide to help individuals make their computer workstations more accessible. There are also answers to frequently asked questions regarding accessible computer workstations.

This website provides rationale, guidelines, and web links to assure that multimedia content is accessible for students with hearing or vision impairments. This website provides types of captioning and access for people that are blind.

This website is for making websites accessible, includes multimedia and virtual reality. It provides information on browsers with built-in voice or other access features. Also it provides a link to a video that demonstrates how screen readers assist the blind. There are many links to other related projects.

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]

A well written article for anyone interested in the experience of blind web consumers. The article is on a web page housed by GIZMODO, a website rich with information, reviews and commentary regarding new technologies and other news regarding several related topics of design and development.

This is a comprehensive discussion on the need for accessible web design. This article defines accessibility and usability, states the accessibility standards, and discusses the importance of accessibility. It also provides examples of ways to achieve accessible web design for a variety of impairments.

This hour long webinar, originally provided in April of 2011, covers a wide breadth of topics and is easy to follow for people who are not Information Technology experts. Topics include Legal Environment, User Perspective, Document and Web Accessibility, Multi-media - Captions & Transcripts, and Testing for Accessibility. Though the content and slides are very good, the Webinar is not fully accessible with captioning or a transcript.

This webpage provides a list of free software authoring tools for making multimedia accessible to persons with disabilities. Guidelines, standards, and recommendations for accessible web and multimedia, as well as specific media rich examples are listed.

"This video presentation provides guidelines for designing Internet-based distance learning courses to fully include all students and instructors, including those with disabilities." 11:55 minutes.

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."

This web page poses questions that link to a separate web page with the answers and more information about universal design in education or aspects related to education like Student Services, Information Technology, Distance Learning, K-12, Post-secondary, Class Projects, Professional Organizations, Projects, and Conference Exhibits and Presentations.

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.

Considers commonly used assistive technology used for www access and a brief test of your understanding of this. Detailed web page suggestions are provided, based on the WAI guidelines and Section 508 standards for web content.