Accessible IT in Education:

Problems, Solutions, & Policy Change

Lori Markland, Loan Program & IT Specialist

Michael Leone, IT Project Coordinator

Maryland Technology Assistance Program, a cooperative service of the Governor’s Office for Individuals with Disabilities

Information Technology Impact On Education

Academic Success and Employment

Information Technology

Assistive Technology

IT Used in Education

IT products store, process, transmit, receive, convert, and duplicate data and information, including:

• Computer software• Web pages• Course management systems (Courseware)• Video• Handheld computers (PDA’s)• Information kiosks• Copiers

What does Access get you?

ACCESSIBILITY = PROFITABILITY1. It’s cheaper to design with accessibility in

mind, than to retrofit!2. It dissuades timely & expensive complaints

and lawsuits against an education institution.3. If you build it accessible, more students will

come…and that equals more tuition!More students = more tuition

Fact: According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 17.6% of Maryland's population has a disability.  In 2000, MD had a population of 5,296,486 and a disability population of 854,345.

Can everyoneuse these

technologies?

IT Must be Perceivable

Example: People access computers…• Visually (e.g., monitor)

• Various resolutions• Various font sizes• Various browsers

• Audibly (e.g., screen reader)• By touch (e.g., Braille output device)

IT must be operable

Example: People operate software using…• Mouse• Keyboard• Speech recognition• Keyboard emulation

• Head pointer with on-screen keyboard• Eye gaze sensor with on-screen

keyboard

Problems and

Solutions

Problem: Website is not accessible

• Uses graphics with no alternate text• Uses color as sole means of

communicating information• Uses non-descriptive link text

(e.g., “Click here”)

Solution: Design accessible websites

• Follow web accessibility guidelines and standards – www.w3.org or www.section508.gov

• Check your site for accessibility using an evaluation tool

• Review the following options to ensure access

Text Equivalent

Web Page DesignBenefits• Older technologies • Slow Internet

connections• Different web

browsers• People with

disabilities using assistive technology

• Mobile technologies

Color Blindness

Avoid using color as the only means of distinguishing between choices.

Color and Web Pages

PUSH GREEN BUTTON TO START

Dairy

Beverages

Confections

Meat/Poultry

Seafood

Grains/Cereals

Condiments

Produce

Examples of Color

Avoid using color as the only means of conveying information.

Color Blindness

Color Contrast

If the colors used in a site have poor contrast, it may be difficult

for some users to read.

This text has better contrast than the text above, but the heading on this slide is even

better.

Problem: Distance Learning Course is not

accessible

•Uses images, graphs, and maps without alternate text tags

•Uses audio and video without captioning or audio description

•Uses PDF files without HTML alternatives

•Uses tables and forms that are not coded for accessibility

•Links to external websites and media without being sure that those resources are accessible

•Chat rooms are used for class discussion

Solution:Design accessible online courses

• Follow guidelines provided by resources such as NCAM, National Center on Accessible Media http://ncam.wgbh.org/salt/guidelines or

UMUC’s Accessibility in Distance Education website www.umuc.edu/ade

• Activate accessibility features within Blackboard or WebCT when designing online courses

The Scope of the Problem

• A recent U.S. Department of Education survey charted the growth of distance education in both two-year and four-year institutions.

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2003/2003017.pdf

The Scope of the Problem

• Forty-five percent of 2- and 4-year institutions that offered distance education courses in 2000-2001 had occasionally received requests in the last 3 years to provide accommodations for students with disabilities in distance education courses.

The Scope of the Problem

• Thirty-seven percent reported never receiving this type of request in the last 3 years.

• 15 percent did not know if they had received requests for accommodations.

The Scope of the Problem

Almost all (95 percent) 2- and 4-year institutions that offered distance education courses in 2000–2001 indicated that they had used web sites for their distance education courses (table 15). Of the institutions that had used web sites for distance education courses,

• 18 percent indicated that they followed established accessibility guidelines or recommendations for users with disabilities to a major extent,

• 28 percent followed the guidelines to a moderate extent, • 18 percent followed the guidelines to a minor extent, • 3 percent did not follow the guidelines at all, • and 33 percent did not know if the web sites followed accessibility

guidelines. This slide developed by MD TAP; info provided by Dept. of Ed.

The Scope of the Problem

Major Compliance

18%

Moderate Compliance

28%Minor

Compliance18%

No Compliance3%

Unknown Compliance

33%

Problem: Course software is not accessible

• Uses graphics with no alternate text• Mouse is required• Includes video, but no captions or audio

description

Solution: Buy accessible software

• Ask vendors about audible output• Ask vendors about keyboard operability• Encourage vendors to develop accessible

products!• Add accessibility language to procurement

contracts, policies & procedures

Keyboard Equivalents

= +

Problem: Video is not accessible

• Audio is not accessible to people who are unable to hear it.

• Visual content, if not apparent from the audio track, is not accessible to people who are unable to see it.

Solution: Use and create accessible video

• Ask vendors whether videos are captioned and/or audio described.

• Add captions to any video you produce. • Add audio description to any video you

produce. • Develop a procedure for systematically

captioning and audio describing videos created and/or used at your institution.

Captions provide access to multimedia presentations for people who have a hearing impairment or an

auditory learning disability.

Captioning

Multimedia

The content conveyed by multimedia should be communicated to everybody in a meaningful way, including those who cannot see the screen or hear the sound:

• Open and closed captioning for video • Video description• Audio description for important visual content and images

Screen Reader Demo

Accessible University:What is and isn’t accessible?

Federal Laws

Accessible Information Technology

The Americans with Disabilities Act

Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to “public entities”, including public colleges and universities.

Title II requires:• Reasonable modifications in policies,

practices, or procedures• Unless the modifications would

“fundamentally alter” the nature of the services

• “Effective communication”

The Americans with Disabilities Act

Title III of the ADA applies to “places of public accommodation,” including private colleges and universities,

Title III provides that:• No individual shall be discriminated against

on the basis of disability in public accommodations

• “Effective communication”

The Americans with Disabilities Act

Both the Title II and Title III regulations require that communication with people with disabilities be as effective as communication with others.

The ADA was passed in 1990, well before the Internet was in widespread use.

The Americans with Disabilities Act

A Department of Justice letter opinion states that:

• “Effective communication” requirement applies to the Internet.

• Covered entities that use the Internet must be prepared to offer those communications through accessible means.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act

• In response to concerns about accessibility of federal government websites, the U.S. Congress passed new amendments to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

• These amendments were passed in 1998 and took effect in 2000.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act

Section 508 requires that Federal departments or agencies provide technology accommodations to their employees with disabilities, requiring:

• Procurement of accessible IT• Design of accessible federal websites

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act

By its terms, Section 508 only applies to programs and services of the federal government.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act

However, officials at the U.S. Department of Education authored a letter in 1999 indicating that they interpreted Section 508 to have application to state entities, including some public colleges and universities because they receive federal monies.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act

This administrative interpretation has not yet been adopted by a federal court. However, colleges and universities may choose to adopt Section 508 as part of their Internet access policies.

Access Standards

Laws vs. Standards

Standards In order to understand exactly what

educators, web designers, and others must do to make education accessible to people with disabilities, it is necessary to have adequate standards.

Standards

There are two main sources for standards in the field of electronic accessibility:

• The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) guidelines

• The Federal Section 508 standards

W3C

• The W3C guidelines were written by the consortium, made up of leaders in the field of accessibility and web design.

http://www.w3c.org/WAI

Section 508 Standards

• The Section 508 web access standards draw from the W3C, but do not contain all the elements.

http://www.section508.gov/

Guidelines & Standards

• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

(WCAG) 1.0• 14 guidelines• Priority 1, 2, and 3 checkpoints• Priority 1 = MUST do• Priority 2 = SHOULD do• Priority 3 = MAY do

Guidelines & Standards (cont.)

Section 508 • Requires accessibility of electronic and

information technology (E&IT) developed, procured, maintained, or used by the Federal government

• Charged the Access Board with developing accessibility standards for E&IT

Guidelines & Standards (cont.)

Section 508 Standards• Software applications and operating systems• Web-based intranet and internet information

and applications• Telecommunications products• Video and multimedia products• Self contained, closed products• Desktop and portable computers

Accessibility Law

• Section 508• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)• Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

(IDEA)• No Child Left Behind• Relevant state laws and/or policies

State Law

IT Laws In Maryland

MarylandMaryland Education Code Annotated §7-910

• Requires that technology-based instructional products purchased by Maryland public school systems meet Section 508 requirements.

MarylandMaryland IT Non-Visual Access §3-410

• Requires that nonvisual access standards be used for procurement and the provision of information technology services and products provided by Maryland state agencies.

State Laws

For more information on state laws, visit:http://www.ittatc.org/laws/stateLawAtGlance.cfm

POLICY &

PROCEDURE:

Implementing Change

Implementing Change

• Understand the barriers, problems, and possible solutions for accessibility

• Understand the State and Federal laws that have an impact on the institutions decisions

• Understand the standards & guidelines that can be used to ensure accessibility

IT Accessibility on a Budget

• Have a plan & choose a standard to follow• Prioritize needs• Support quest for long-term solutions with

short-term lower cost solutions• Remember the economic benefits

• Accessible design saves money overaccessibility retrofits

• Accessible design saves money over human accommodations

Make Your IT Accessibility Policies WORK

• Make the commitment• Select the standard• Engage in accessibility & UDL forums• Refine standards to achieve objectives beyond

compliance• Enforce consistent courseware development

practices• Provide sample courseware and templates• Implement testing procedures• PLAN TO EVOLVE

Conclusion

1. In order for information technology to be fully accessible, all users must be able to perceive it and operate it.

2. There are standards that define accessibility for virtually all information technologies.

3. There are many excellent resources for getting help with making specific technologies accessible.

Resources

• Maryland Technology Assistance Programhttp://www.mdtap.org

• Mid Atlantic ADA & IT Centerhttp://www.adainfo.org

• National Center on Accessible Information Technology in Education (AccessIT)http://www.washington.edu/accessit

Ways to Learn More

There are a number of resources made available to those interested in IT Accessibility, Universal Design, AT in the Classroom and more.

Please contact MD TAP for a complete listing of these resources and join our IT listserv by sending an email to

ITedumd-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

The Maryland Technology Assistance Program

1-800-833-4827

www.mdtap.org

Workforce and Technology Center

2301 Argonne Drive, Room T-17

Baltimore, MD 21218