Assistive Technology and Information Technology: Working together to provide access for people with disabilities

1. Presentation by Dagmar Amtmann and Jeff Witzel
   
   1. UW Center for Technology and Disability Studies
      
2. AccessIT - National Center on Accessible Information Technology on Education
   
   1. Web site: http://www.washington.edu/accessit
      
   2. Email: accessit@u.washington.edu
      
   3. People understand and have heard of accessibility
      
      1. Have not seen the problem created by inaccessible designs
         
      2. Want to give people a taste of what a screen reader user experiences using the Web
         
3. "Surfing the Web with a Screen Reader" DVD
   
   1. Available as streaming video on AccessIT site
      
   2. Design the video for accessibility
      
      1. Segments menu allows going directly to segments
         
      2. Put configuration settings in DVD menu so people do not have to know where they are on the device
         
         1. Captioning for the hearing impaired - on or off
            
         2. Descriptive Video Service - on or off
            
   3. Viewing and discussing several segments of the video
      
      1. Alternative text in graphics and image maps
         
      2. Forms - designing so description is next to the button, checkbox, or field the person will use to make their response
         
   4. End result is people getting the information they need
      
      1. Responsibility of information technology people to put in support people need
         
      2. Success requires a chain of technologies working well together
         
      3. We have pretty good guidelines for Web design on what is and what is not accessible
         
4. People who have difficulties reading and writing can be helped by assistive technology
   
   1. Specific disabilities like dyslexia
      
   2. Some have brain injuries
      
      1. People who have difficulty writing often also have difficulty reading
         
         1. Such people tend to use integrated packages that give access to both writing and reading tools
            
      2. May read very slowly
         
      3. Good solution is screen reader software that assumes you can read the screen
         
      4. May have difficulty learning complicated interfaces such as JAWS many keyboard commands
         
         1. Simpler interface
            
      5. Assistive Software
         
         1. ReadPlease Plus 2003 ($40) ( http://www.readplease.com/ )
            
            1. Reads text files
               
            2. Displays text, has moving highlight as text is read
               
            3. Free version has robotic voice, $40 version has a selection of more natural voices
               
            4. Can adjust speed, select language, adjust display font size
               
            5. With a PowerPoint file, save as an outline and then use ReadPlease to read it back
               
            6. With PDF files - select text and then copy into ReadPlease
               
               1. Does not help with graphics
                  
               2. How the PDF file is created has a lot to do with whether the text can be copied into ReadPlease
                  
            7. Different types of files may or may not copy well
               
               1. Headers do not appear in the right place
                  
               2. If text is in image, not way to copy it into a reader
                  
         2. WordQ ( http://www.wordq.com/ )- allows you to select contents in browser display and have it read
            
            1. Includes a word prediction option for use in Word processor. As word is typed in it offers completions. When word it completed it speaks it
               
               1. Every word provided is spelled correctly
                  
            2. Can be used in online quizzes, such as in WebCT, Blackboard, and other learning environments
               
               1. Might be used in a Chat required in a course
                  
               2. Rapid reading and writing in a Chat can be quite challenging for a person with reading and writing disabilities
                  
               3. Chat tools not the best instructional strategy for courses
                  
               4. Email lists allow asynchronous discussions, giving people with disabilities more time to prepare messages
                  
               5. Pages made available as bitmap graphics cannot be scanned with reader software
                  
            3. Security systems that require passwords entered exactly can be a real challenge
               
               1. Passwords do not display and you may not want the reader to pronounce it aloud
                  
         3. WebQ, a UW Catalyst tool ( http://catalyst.washington.edu/tools/web_q.html )
            
            1. Online surveys or tests used in classes often have a set time
               
               1. Individual student cannot extend time
                  
               2. Person with reading and writing difficulty is really being tested on the speed rather than their knowledge
                  
               3. It would be nice if individuals could set their own time limits
                  
            2. WordQ can be used with WebQ
               
               1. We are in pretty good shape
                  
               2. Should work with
                  
                  1. Entry assist
                     
                  2. Voice entry
                     
               3. WebQ puts graphic descriptions on the page, not just in the alt text
                  
5. Discussion
   
   1. If the field requires visual abilities, why is it necessary to make information about the field accessible for sightless people?
      
      1. People in other fields may need knowledge of the field, such as a person studying botany may need statistics
         
      2. Probably fewer such fields than sightless people imagine
         
         1. A blind woman is doing graduate study in atmospheric sciences
            
         2. If we decide as a society that everyone should know something, we can make the effort to present the topic in accessible ways
            
         3. People interested in a field may acquire their disability after they have developed they skills and knowledge in the field
            
            1. Inaccessible information locks them out when they still have something to contribute
               
      3. Descriptions should take into account the different life experience of a person with disabilities - what you offer should be useful
         
      4. Description can be helpful to people without disabilities - the description of a graphic may help a sighted person better understand the graphic
         
         1. Different people have different learning styles
            
         2. Having more ways of engaging with information is ultimately going to work better for a greater number of people
            
   2. How can you know your description will be useful
      
      1. Look at purpose of graphic
         
         1. For a navigation graphic, say what it does, not what it is
            
         2. If you want to show the correct way to put a baby to bed and you have a picture of a baby, a alt text that says "baby on back" is not very helpful. Instead, could say "Placing the baby on its back is safer"
            
   3. Kurzweil 3000 ( http://www.kurzweiledu.com/ )
      
      1. More expensive reader, but still can be stopped by pages not properly prepared
         

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