©2006 IBM Corporation Introduction to Accessibility

©2006 IBM Corporation

Introduction to Accessibility


Learning objectives.

By the end of this training session, you should be able to:

Define accessibility and explain why accessibility is important. Identify different disability types. Define assistive technology. Describe accessibility regulations.Locate accessibility resources.


What is accessibility and why is it important?


What is accessibility?

Accessibility is successful access to information and use of information technology by people who have disabilities or varying levels of physical ability.

Accessibility involves designing or modifying equipment, hardware, or software to allow access by people with disabilities.


Accessibility is about all of us.

World population: 6+ BillionWorldwide number disabled: ~1 Billion (16%)United States population: 281 MillionUnited States number disabled: 54 Million (19%)

Sources: Population Reference Bureau, United Nations and Forrester Study commissioned by Microsoft.

Physical disabilities

Disabled population

16% of world population is disabled

Mobility Blind Deaf

Cognitive

Other conditions that inhibit I T use

Aging

By 2010, 60% of US populationwill be over the age of 35

Poor hearing

Failing vision Color blind

Nonnative speakersIn the US, 17.9 million

people speak a language other than English at home

Temporary disabilities

Everyday situations disable certain senses temporarily

Noisy environments(hearing)

Driving (sight)

Accessibility affects many people, especially with the growing need to embrace aging workforces, customers, and citizens.


Serving end users better.

Technologies developed for disabled people are useful to the aging and multicultural populations.

Nonnative speakers with partial fluency can benefit from seeing captions in real time, as a person speaks.

• Speech-to-text technology can give a competitive advantage to organizations with audiences whose preferred language differs from the spoken language.

• Serving people who are not native speakers can open new markets or expand existing market share.

As people age, hearing and eyesight often diminish.• Technologies designed to assist low vision and hard of hearing

people can give a competitive advantage to organizations with older customers or an aging workforce.

• As an aging population, the “baby boomers” in particular have significant disposable income, retirement investments, and insurance needs.


Example of user experience with slight visual impairment.

Example of 20-year-old user who has 20/20 vision. Example of 50-year-old user who has 80% of original vision and slight color blindness.


Understanding the impact of disabilities on an I T user


Vision.

Issues: Cannot use the mouse for input, cannot see the screen, or might need magnification and color contrast.

Assistive Technology: Screen readers. Braille displays. Screen magnifiers.


Blind users must use a screen reader and the keyboard.

User presses Alt key to access menu.

"File submenu press F"

User presses right arrow key.

"Edit submenu press E"

The menu must be coded in a standard way so that the screen reader understands and canconvey the information to the user.


Users with low vision need enlargeable fonts and high-contrast settings.

Font Size

Larger font size

Even larger font size

Low Contrast

High Contrast

Large fonts and high contrast

A screen magnifier is needed when user needs go beyond operating system capabilities.


Color deficiency.

Color-deficient users need more than color differences.

Green signals a server is online.Red signals a server is offline.

The color blind user sees one color.


Color deficiency (continued).

It is okay to use color, as long as

color is not the only way to

convey information.


Hearing.

Issues: Cannot hear audio, video, system alerts, or alarms.

Assistive Technology: Closed captioning. Transcripts. ShowSounds.

Four score and seven years ago, our fathers…


Mobility.

Issues: Limited or no use of hands, limited range, speed, and strength.

Assistive Technology: Alternate input (for example, voice). Access keys. Latches that are easy to reach and manipulate.


Cognitive.

Issues: Difficulty reading and comprehending information, difficulty writing.

Assistive Technology: Spell checkers. Word prediction aids. Reading and writing comprehension aids.


Assistive technologies


Assistive technologies

Assistive technology (A T) is hardware or software that is used to increase, maintain, or assist the functional capabilities of people with disabilities. In short, it can be any device or technique that assists people in removing or reducing barriers and enhancing their everyday life activities. Examples of assistive technology include:

• Screen readers, which are applications that speak screen information to people who are blind.

• Screen magnifiers, which are are software that enlarges information on the screen for people with low vision.

• Closed captioning, which displays the text version of the audio for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

• Special keyboards and input devices that assist people with limited hand use or mobility impairments.


Accessibility and assistive technology. Accessibility: Attribute of information technology that allows it to be used by people with varying abilities. Assistive Technology: Specialized I T that allows a user with a disability to access information technology.

Inaccessible IT Assistive Technology

Static font & color

Requires mouse

Graphics only

Hard to reach controls & latches

Screen readers

Magnifiers

Speech recognition

Special keyboards & switches

Assistive TechnologyAccessible IT

Screen readers

Magnifiers

Speech recognition

Special keyboards & switches

Font & color settings

Mouse is optional

Text with graphics

Easy to reach latches & controls

Standards and APIs: MSAA, JAAPI,standard windows controls


Accessibility laws and regulations


Standards and legislation appearing worldwide.

United StatesSection 508 of Rehabilitation Act requires federal

agencies to purchase electronic and information technology that is accessible to people with disabilities.

States are enacting similar legislation.

Litigation and legal inquiries triggered by legislation in the United States

State of Arkansas: New state accounting system built on SAP technology is inaccessible to blind employees.

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: Web portal inaccessible to blind. SAP software is the source of the problem; IBM is providing integration services.

Metro Atlanta Mass Transit: Web site schedule and services inaccessible.Southwest Airline: Reservations and ticketing are inaccessible.Connecticut: Attorney General’s office investigates Web-based tax filing services.Bank of America: inaccessible Web sites and A TMs.America Online: Software incompatible with screen readers.

CanadaCanadian Human Rights ActOntarians with Disabilities Act – 2001Common Look & Feel Web guidelines – 2001

EuropeMany countries have enacted legislation or national standards:

UK – Web accessibility, 2002Germany – Barrier Free Decree, 2002 Italy – ICT accessibility & government procurement, 2004Switzerland – Public sector Web accessibility, 2004European Union – Procurement of accessible I T, 2004Spain – Accessibility for computer platforms, 1998 Ireland – I T accessibility guidelines, 2002Netherlands – Web accessibility, 2003Sweden – Guidelines for computer accessibility, 1998

ChinaLaw of the PRC on the Protection of

Disabled Persons – Provisions on employment, public services, transportation, and legal sanctions, 1991

JapanJIS standards

Australia / New Zealand Disability Discrimination Act passed – 1996 Australian Bankers’ Association endorsed e-

commerce standards – 2000 Australian Communications Industry Forum's

(ACIF) Guidelines – 2001


Accessibility standards are not all the same.

USSection

508

W3C/Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) AccessibilityGuidelines


W3C/WAI is for the Web only; Section 508 covers all electronic and information technology.

Section 508 W3C Web AccessibilityInitiative

Software 1194.21 Software applications and operating systems

ATAG: Authoring tools UAAG: User agent

Web Content 1194.22 Internet and intranet content and applications

WCAG: Web content

Printers, Copiers, Kiosks, etc. 1194.25 Self-contained closed products

Computer systems 1194.26 Desktop and portable computers

Documentation 1194.41 Information, documentation, and support

Telecommunications Products 1194.23 Telecommunications products

Video & Multimedia Products 1194.24 Video and multimedia products

Functional Performance Criteria

1194.31 Functional performance criteria


508 Web guidelines are different from W3C WCAG priority 1s.508 Web Accessibility partSection 1194.22 Paragraphs

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0)Priority 1 & 2s

Identical (Declared in 508 preamble)

a. Alternatives for non-textb. Multimedia

c. Color independent d. Style sheets not requirede. Server-side image mapf. Client-side image mapg. Column and row headingsh. Complex tablesi. Titles for framesj. Avoid flickerk. Text-only if necessary

1.1 p1 Alternatives for non-text elements 1.4 p1 Synchronized captions and descriptions 1.3 p1 Provide auditory description of video 2.1 p1 Color independent 6.1 p1 Style sheets not required 1.2 p1 Server-side image map 9.1 p1 Client-side image map 5.1 p1 Column and row headings 5.2 p1 Complex tables12.1 p1 Titles for frame 7.1 p1 Avoid flicker11.4 p1 Text-only if necessary 6.2 p1 Update dynamic content equivalents

Different l. Accessible JavaScript OKm. Applets, plug-ins, and other OK if 508 software compliant n. Electronic forms

o. Skip navigation linksp. Timed responses

6.3 p1 Turning off scripts required (p2 otherwise)6.3 p1 Turning off applets/plug-ins required (p2 otherwise)

10.2 p2 Position labels on forms12.4 p2 Explicitly label form controls

13.6 p3 Group and provide method to skip

Additional W3C Priority 1s and 2s

4.1 p1 Identify changes in language (rare access issue)14.1 p1 Clearest and simplest language appropriate for site (subjective)and an additional 28 priority 2s


Most additional WCAG priority 2 requirements increase usability; many are solved by browser + assistive technology.

There are 23 additional priority 2 requirements shown on the next two charts. Section 508 Web Accessibility Section 1194.22. Paragraphs a

through p do NOT map to any of these W3C WCAG priority 2s.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0) Priority 2's

Impact to developer Workaround supported in A T or browsers

2.2 Background and foreground contrast M Yes

3.1 Use markup when appropriate (i.e., SMIL) H

3.2 Validate markup L Yes

3.3 Use style sheets to control layout/presentation H Yes

3.4 Use relative sizes H Yes

3.5 Use heading levels in document structure M Yes

3.6 Use list markup correctly M

3.7 Use quotation correctly L

5.3 Don't use layout tables that don't linearize H Yes

5.4 Don't use table markup in layout tables L

7.2 Avoid blinking M Yes

7.3 Avoid moving content M Yes

7.4 Don't auto refresh M Yes

7.5 Don't auto redirect M Yes


Most additional WCAG priority 2 requirements increase usability; many are solved by browser + assistive technology.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0) Priority 2's

Impact to developer

Workaround supported in A T or browsers

10.1 Don't spawn windows without notifying user M Yes

11.1 Use W3C technologies H Yes

11.2 Avoid deprecated W3C features M Yes

12.2 Describe purpose of frames M

12.3 Divide information into groups H Yes

13.1 Clearly identify target of link M

13.2 Add metadata L

13.3 Add site map and TOC L

13.4 Use consistent navigation M


Additional resources for learning about accessibility.

IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center.•http://www.ibm.com/able

IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Checklists and Techniques.•http://www.ibm.com/able/guidelines

IBM Home Page Reader.•Test instructions: http://www.ibm.com/able/guidelines/web/webhprtest.html

•Trial Download: http://www.ibm.com/able/solution_offerings/hpr.html

Guide to Section 508 Standards for Electronic and Information Technology.•http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/guide/

Web accessibility tutorials.•http://www.jimthatcher.com/webcourse1.htm

•http://www.webaim.org

•http://www.section508.gov

Documents

©2006 IBM Corporation Introduction to Accessibility