WEBVTT 00:00:04.460 --> 00:00:10.640 [music] 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:15.320 I'm Sheryl Burgstahler at the University of Washington in Seattle. 00:00:15.330 --> 00:00:17.680 We on our campus, like other campuses, 00:00:17.680 --> 00:00:21.000 produce tons of documents to share with our students. 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:22.510 Copies of PowerPoint presentations, 00:00:22.510 --> 00:00:25.810 of journal articles, of book chapters, you name it. 00:00:25.810 --> 00:00:29.280 If we extrapolate heavily, 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:34.050 UW offered about 13,000 courses in fall quarter. 00:00:34.050 --> 00:00:38.620 And doing the math of 600 pages per each of those classes, 00:00:38.620 --> 00:00:42.640 it was about 7.8 million pages of content. 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:45.670 This is the course pack for one of our courses 00:00:45.670 --> 00:00:48.760 so these are all the collected readings that the students have 00:00:48.760 --> 00:00:50.120 for the quarter. 00:00:50.120 --> 00:00:54.469 It can be a massive amount of reading for any student. 00:00:54.469 --> 00:00:57.180 It's even more of a challenge for students with disabilities. 00:00:57.180 --> 00:00:59.999 [Sound of documents coming out of copy machine] 00:00:59.999 --> 00:01:02.190 Everybody creates documents 00:01:02.190 --> 00:01:06.820 and most people don't realize that all documents are not equal, 00:01:06.820 --> 00:01:09.710 that some are more accessible than others. 00:01:09.710 --> 00:01:13.930 Students who are blind use screen readers and speech synthesis 00:01:13.930 --> 00:01:18.560 to read the contents aloud to them that appears on the screen. 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:21.570 Students with dyslexia and other conditions that impact their reading, 00:01:21.570 --> 00:01:24.009 they use screen readers, too. 00:01:24.009 --> 00:01:26.340 Even though they can see the content on the screen, 00:01:26.340 --> 00:01:30.560 the voice output helps them comprehend that content. 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:34.280 But assistive technology benefits many other students as well. 00:01:34.280 --> 00:01:38.490 Perhaps they have arthritis where they can't manipulate a physical book. 00:01:38.490 --> 00:01:42.090 Or they can't carry the weight of the books on their back 00:01:42.090 --> 00:01:45.460 so they're really just looking for an electronic-only version. 00:01:45.460 --> 00:01:47.349 Perhaps the student might also have low vision 00:01:47.349 --> 00:01:50.400 where they need to have an electronic version that can be enlarged. 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:53.259 Say you have a class of a hundred students 00:01:53.259 --> 00:01:57.380 and you give out the course materials to 90 of those students 00:01:57.380 --> 00:01:59.750 and the other 10 students you just say 00:01:59.750 --> 00:02:03.310 “Oh, too bad, you can't read these materials.” 00:02:03.310 --> 00:02:07.099 And that's really how bad it can be in some classes 00:02:07.100 --> 00:02:10.560 if the materials haven't been made accessible. 00:02:10.660 --> 00:02:16.780 [Music] 00:02:16.840 --> 00:02:21.340 The most inaccessible documents are scanned in or photocopied. 00:02:21.340 --> 00:02:25.329 Because they are essentially images, screen readers can't access the text. 00:02:25.329 --> 00:02:28.980 Here's an example of a really bad photocopy. 00:02:28.980 --> 00:02:36.920 You can see it's got underlines, there's been notations made on it. 00:02:36.920 --> 00:02:39.650 Our disability services office 00:02:39.650 --> 00:02:42.769 provides accommodations for students with disabilities. 00:02:42.769 --> 00:02:45.980 But some departments and colleges, like our School of Social Work, 00:02:45.980 --> 00:02:47.989 have stepped up to be proactive 00:02:47.989 --> 00:02:51.719 in providing accessibly designed documents to their students. 00:02:51.719 --> 00:02:55.069 It's actually converting this, 00:02:55.069 --> 00:02:59.200 which is technically an image, into a piece of text. 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:04.600 A scanner, accompanied by optical character recognition or OCR, 00:03:04.609 --> 00:03:09.069 can turn a document into one that is accessible to a screen reader. 00:03:09.069 --> 00:03:11.420 It also benefits other students, for instance, 00:03:11.420 --> 00:03:14.310 somebody using a mobile device to access the content, 00:03:14.310 --> 00:03:15.981 or someone who wants to search through the content 00:03:15.981 --> 00:03:17.609 to find the content that they're interested in. 00:03:17.609 --> 00:03:19.920 The one, I think, really good thing 00:03:19.920 --> 00:03:23.489 that is coming out of this is as we're developing 00:03:23.489 --> 00:03:27.700 these old image files into text files, 00:03:27.700 --> 00:03:29.900 I think it actually helps all the students 00:03:29.900 --> 00:03:33.569 because some of these things were pretty unreadable 00:03:33.569 --> 00:03:36.409 just as they were. 00:03:36.409 --> 00:03:38.739 My name is Shelby Keith. 00:03:38.739 --> 00:03:41.910 This is my senior year at the University of Washington. 00:03:41.910 --> 00:03:46.240 I have dyslexia and dysgraphia and I was diagnosed at the age of seven 00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:50.819 so I've always had a challenge with it but I've learned to overcome it. 00:03:50.819 --> 00:03:55.500 Shelby uses a screen reader to access documents in her courses, 00:03:55.500 --> 00:03:57.349 even a Turkish language course. 00:03:57.349 --> 00:04:02.420 [screen reader reading Turkish language] 00:04:02.540 --> 00:04:03.799 When I'm just reading it myself, 00:04:03.799 --> 00:04:05.120 it takes me a lot longer. 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:07.109 I get lost in the text. 00:04:07.109 --> 00:04:10.790 I have trouble paying attention, so it really does help 00:04:10.790 --> 00:04:13.609 and it makes it so that I can complete the task at hand. 00:04:13.609 --> 00:04:17.000 She's in a program that requires a lot of reading 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:20.470 like every quarter she's reading 10 books on average 00:04:20.470 --> 00:04:22.400 -- a ton of reading. 00:04:22.400 --> 00:04:25.280 So for her volume is huge. 00:04:25.280 --> 00:04:28.949 And so she really utilizes the audio components 00:04:28.949 --> 00:04:31.949 where she has a file, pulls it up on her computer, 00:04:31.949 --> 00:04:35.680 says computer, read this part of the file or read the whole thing 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:38.699 and then the computer will speak the words to her. 00:04:38.699 --> 00:04:44.389 So for that, that helps her to have access to the content 00:04:44.389 --> 00:04:47.900 and it also helps her to get through the amount of content 00:04:47.900 --> 00:04:49.120 that she needs to read. 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:53.601 There was another quarter where actually all of the documents that I wanted, 00:04:53.601 --> 00:04:55.460 that I needed to use, were inaccessible. 00:04:55.460 --> 00:04:58.190 And it was to the point where I would OCR them 00:04:58.190 --> 00:04:59.800 but then they wouldn't be OCR’d correctly 00:04:59.800 --> 00:05:02.930 because there was some sort of lock on the files. 00:05:02.930 --> 00:05:05.220 So then I would have to go online, 00:05:05.220 --> 00:05:08.300 figure out something or talk to some of the support staff here 00:05:08.300 --> 00:05:10.301 to figure out how do I unlock the files 00:05:10.301 --> 00:05:16.020 so that it’s in a legible format where all of the paragraphs are intact. 00:05:16.140 --> 00:05:18.400 Previously in my career 00:05:18.420 --> 00:05:20.060 I studied public health 00:05:20.140 --> 00:05:21.860 at the Master’s level 00:05:21.900 --> 00:05:24.900 and that's when I was diagnosed with ADHD. 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:28.639 Even after obtaining her physician's assistant degree, 00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:33.250 Glynis Weaver continues to use accessible documents. 00:05:33.250 --> 00:05:34.990 Krista Greear early on was the one 00:05:34.990 --> 00:05:37.270 who helped her find assistive technology to do so. 00:05:37.270 --> 00:05:42.759 And what about using electronic books like on a Kindle? 00:05:42.760 --> 00:05:45.720 Are there additional benefits from that? 00:05:45.860 --> 00:05:47.960 There are additional benefits. 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:50.380 The fact that you can highlight a word 00:05:50.389 --> 00:05:54.000 that you are unclear on the definition or the context 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:56.750 and it populates the information right there. 00:05:56.750 --> 00:06:02.470 It prevents you from going on a fruitless search for the definition. 00:06:02.470 --> 00:06:05.229 Posting inaccessible documents 00:06:05.229 --> 00:06:08.320 can create a real challenge to students who are blind. 00:06:08.420 --> 00:06:12.140 [Music] 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:15.919 It's very frustrating when I need to read an article for a class 00:06:15.919 --> 00:06:20.460 or for my research and I'm trying three or four different methods 00:06:20.460 --> 00:06:25.020 to make a PDF accessible and sometimes it just doesn't work. 00:06:25.020 --> 00:06:26.500 Additional steps are needed 00:06:26.500 --> 00:06:29.810 to make documents accessible to people who are blind. 00:06:29.810 --> 00:06:32.640 For example, you need text alternatives for graphic images. 00:06:32.640 --> 00:06:35.110 And you need to format the headings. 00:06:35.110 --> 00:06:41.320 This would be in PowerPoint presentations, in documents created in Microsoft Word, etc. 00:06:41.420 --> 00:06:48.040 [Music] 00:06:48.050 --> 00:06:49.720 In order for a document to be accessible 00:06:49.720 --> 00:06:53.129 to a person who is blind and using a screen reader, 00:06:53.129 --> 00:06:55.910 it's important that the heading structure be used. 00:06:55.910 --> 00:06:58.740 For example, in Microsoft Word 00:06:58.740 --> 00:07:01.040 you should use the heading styles. 00:07:01.100 --> 00:07:05.020 Headings serve a couple of important functions 00:07:05.020 --> 00:07:07.819 for a screen reader user. 00:07:07.819 --> 00:07:12.580 One is that they can navigate through a document by its headings, 00:07:12.580 --> 00:07:15.080 so they can jump from heading to heading to heading 00:07:15.080 --> 00:07:19.569 and their assistive technology will inform them 00:07:19.569 --> 00:07:22.889 that they're on a heading of a particular level 00:07:22.889 --> 00:07:26.139 so they know this is a Heading Level 2. 00:07:26.139 --> 00:07:29.740 That then is a subheading underneath a Heading Level 1 00:07:29.740 --> 00:07:33.830 and so that helps them to develop a kind of a mental outline 00:07:33.830 --> 00:07:37.039 of the structure of the document. 00:07:37.039 --> 00:07:40.220 With most screen readers they can do that just by pressing the ‘H’ key 00:07:40.220 --> 00:07:41.780 to jump to the first heading. 00:07:41.780 --> 00:07:45.199 Introduction to Physics Course Syllabus Heading Level 1. 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:46.789 And if I press ‘H’ again… 00:07:46.789 --> 00:07:48.889 Textbook Heading Level 2. 00:07:48.889 --> 00:07:49.889 And again. 00:07:49.889 --> 00:07:53.419 Course Objectives Heading Level 2. 00:07:53.419 --> 00:07:55.389 Class schedule, Heading Level 2. 00:07:55.389 --> 00:07:57.169 Grades, Heading Level 2. 00:07:57.169 --> 00:07:59.569 My name is Hadi Rangin. 00:07:59.569 --> 00:08:02.719 I am the information technology accessibility specialist 00:08:02.719 --> 00:08:04.399 at the University of Washington. 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:09.599 Hadi’s an expert, but he's also a user of accessible technology. 00:08:09.599 --> 00:08:14.449 For a few seconds you skim through the document, 00:08:14.449 --> 00:08:18.000 you just want to know what is in this document. 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:19.520 How is it built? 00:08:19.520 --> 00:08:24.900 What are the major components of this article that you are reading? 00:08:24.900 --> 00:08:32.120 This helps you to focus on the desired section that you would like to study further. 00:08:32.120 --> 00:08:38.970 Without that you have to read top to bottom because everything has the same weight. 00:08:38.970 --> 00:08:46.350 Sighted users use visual cues like bold headings to navigate a document. 00:08:46.350 --> 00:08:51.460 But for someone using a screen reader, if the heading structure is not used, 00:08:51.460 --> 00:08:56.030 they will just get a big string of text. 00:08:56.030 --> 00:08:58.040 Nothing stands out. 00:08:58.100 --> 00:09:04.420 [Music] 00:09:04.540 --> 00:09:08.780 Diagrams and photos can be made accessible in a variety of ways. 00:09:08.780 --> 00:09:12.280 Alternative text actually tells 00:09:12.280 --> 00:09:15.990 a person who can't see the image exactly what is in the image. 00:09:15.990 --> 00:09:17.670 Nearly all authoring tools 00:09:17.670 --> 00:09:21.590 provide options for providing alternative text. 00:09:21.590 --> 00:09:25.560 If that's not provided, then a person who's blind and using a screen reader 00:09:25.560 --> 00:09:29.030 will not be able to access the content presented in that image. 00:09:29.030 --> 00:09:31.170 Here’s what we hear. 00:09:31.170 --> 00:09:32.510 Graphic photo. 00:09:32.510 --> 00:09:38.780 So it identifies it as a graphic, and the only alt text is "photo" 00:09:38.780 --> 00:09:42.510 which obviously doesn’t communicate the essence of this image. 00:09:42.510 --> 00:09:46.530 The sighted user gets a lot more out of this than a screen reader user does. 00:09:46.530 --> 00:09:50.220 An example of a way to do this in Microsoft Word 00:09:50.220 --> 00:09:56.210 is to right-click on the image and then select format picture 00:09:56.210 --> 00:10:01.340 and then under alternative text, to type in the text that would fully describe that image 00:10:01.340 --> 00:10:03.300 for someone who can't actually see it. 00:10:03.300 --> 00:10:05.830 Now I press arrow to go to the image. 00:10:05.830 --> 00:10:11.250 Graphic: side by side comparison of two photos of McCarty Glacier in Alaska. 00:10:11.250 --> 00:10:13.720 In 1909 the massive glacier stretched to the horizon. 00:10:13.720 --> 00:10:19.330 Making a document accessible does not affect its visual appeal or its integrity. 00:10:19.330 --> 00:10:21.150 Anybody who's creating a document 00:10:21.150 --> 00:10:26.030 really needs to do that legwork upfront to be sure the document is accessible. 00:10:26.030 --> 00:10:27.630 The percentage of students 00:10:27.630 --> 00:10:32.050 who actually request an accommodation is much, much, much lower 00:10:32.050 --> 00:10:36.660 than the actual number of students who have a disability of some sort 00:10:36.660 --> 00:10:41.200 so we may have a request from one student for a class 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:42.530 and you can almost guess 00:10:42.530 --> 00:10:45.270 that there's probably two other students in that class 00:10:45.270 --> 00:10:49.410 who will benefit from the accommodation. 00:10:49.410 --> 00:10:51.770 It's easier to build in accessibility 00:10:51.770 --> 00:10:56.960 when a document’s being created than waiting until after the fact. 00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:00.170 And if you build in accessibility, it will diminish the need 00:11:00.170 --> 00:11:03.340 for accommodations for students with disabilities. 00:11:03.041 --> 00:11:07.000 For more information on IT accessibility, consult 00:11:07.001 --> 00:11:16.044 www.uw.edu/accessibility 00:11:16.045 --> 00:11:21.046 This video was created with funding from UW Information Technology. 00:11:21.047 --> 00:11:26.048 Copyright 2016 University of Washington 00:11:26.049 --> 00:11:32.051 Permission is granted to copy these materials for noncommercial educational purposes 00:11:32.052 --> 00:11:36.053 provided the source is acknowledged.