Web Accessibility Prepared by Cynthia D. Waddell ITU Senior Accessibility Consultant Executive Director, International Center for Disability Resources

Web AccessibilityPrepared by Cynthia D. Waddell

ITU Senior Accessibility ConsultantExecutive Director, International

Center for Disability Resources on the Internet

Asia-Pacific Regional Forum on Mainstreaming ICT Accessibility for

Persons with Disabilities

25-27 August 2009 Bangkok, ThailandOrganized by ITU and ESCAP

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Asia Pacific Regional Forum on Mainstreaming ICT Accessibility25-27 August 2009 Bangkok, Thailand

Overview

Connectivity v. Accessible WebAccessible Web BenefitsTechnical Standards for DesignUN Convention on Rights of Persons with DisabilitiesWeb Barriers & Accessibility SolutionsResources

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Connectivity v. Accessible Web

Internet Connectivity Is Not Accessibility– A Person with a Disability can be online

and connected BUT NOT able to access the content of a website

– A Website designed using Accessible Web Standards Enables Persons with Disabilities to access the content of a website

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Accessible Web Benefits

Benefits Persons with Disabilities AND Persons without Disabilities– Social Benefits– Technical Benefits– Financial Benefits

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Social Benefits

Promotes Equal Opportunity for Persons with DisabilitiesBenefits Persons Without Disabilities:– Older Adults– People with Low Literacy– People with Low Bandwidth Connections to

the Internet and Older Technologies– People who are New & Infrequent Web

Users

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Technical Benefits

Reduces Web Site Development and Maintenance TimeReduces Server LoadEnables Content on Different Configurations and Promotes InteroperabilityPrepares for Advances in Web Technologies

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Technical Benefits

Reduces Web Site Development and Maintenance TimeReduces Server LoadEnables Content on Different Configurations and Promotes InteroperabilityPrepares for Advances in Web Technologies

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Financial Benefits

Enables Increased Web Site Use & Reduces Maintenance CostsReduces Transaction and Service Costs by Enabling Users to Access Information and Complete Transactions OnlineDecreases Cost of Upgrading to New Technologies

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Technical Standards for Design

Emergence of Technical Standards for Accessible Design of ICT– US: Section 508 Electronic and Information

Technology Accessibility Standards at 36 CFR Part 1194.22

– Japan: JIS X8341-3 – Industry Standards- W3C WCAG 1.0

(1999); WCAG 2.0 (2008)

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Technical Standards for Design

At least 26 Countries Around the World Adopted Accessible Web Design as a Policy or Law prior to the UNCRPDImplementation of US Section 508 Accessible Web Rules, W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or a HybridSee 2006 Global Survey Published in Web Accessibility: Web Standards & Regulatory Compliance

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UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Rights of 650 Million Persons with Disabilities and Impacts 2 Billion Persons including Family Members of Persons with DisabilitiesUNCRPD Opened for Signature in march 2007; Entered into Legal Force 3 May 2008139 Signatories; 58 Ratifications82 Signatories to Optional Protocol; 36 Ratifications

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Monitoring Committee– Housed in the Office of the High

Commissioner on Human Rights and First Meeting Held February 2009

Article 25: Reports by State Parties– Each State shall submit a comprehensive

Report on measures taken to meet obligations under the Convention

– First Reports to be in 2010; Subsequent Reports every 4 years

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Web Accessibility- Countries

Hungary- Although no specific legislation requires accessible public or private web sites, there is tendency to implement W3C WCAG per 1998 equality legislation

Lithuania- 2003 Resolution No. 1054 requires public websites to be accessible and standards are based on W3C WCAG

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Web Accessibility- Countries

Tunisia- Presidential Decision, 24 February 2007 calls for Government Websites to be Accessible According to W3C Web Accessibility Initiative by end of 2009Government RFP at http://www.infocom.tn/fileadmin/Documentation/e_accessibilite/avis_manifestation_d_interet_definitive.pdf

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Article 9 Accessibility– Requires States Parties to ensure access

on an Equal Basis to information and communications, including ICT and systems AND emergency services (1)

– Requires Identification and Elimination of Barriers to accessibility (1)

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Article 9: Accessibility – Requires implementation of minimum

standards & guidelines for accessibility of services (2a)

– Ensure that private entities offering services to the public take into account accessibility (2b)

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Article 9: Accessibility – Requires training for stakeholders on

accessibility issues (2c)– States Parties must promote access to new

ICT and systems, including the Internet (2g) and

– States Parties must promote ICT at early stage to minimize cost (2h)

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Web Barriers

Web Design Historically Has Not Included Accessible Design for Persons with DisabilitiesWeb Developers have Lacked Training, Tools & Resources to Design Accessibly; Web Tools Would Break AccessibilityGovernments & Businesses Had No Incentive to Address Accessible Design

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Web Barriers

An Inaccessible Web:Prevents Screen Reader Software from Reading Text Out Loud to Persons who are Blind or Have Specific Learning DisabilitiesCan be a Barrier for People with Busy Eyes, Or Work in a Dark Room Or Have a Slow Modem

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Screen Reader Resource

Six Minute Video Clip of Neal Ewers, a Blind Software Engineer, Using a

Screen Readerhttp://www.doit.wisc.edu/accessibility/video/intro.asp

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Web Barriers

An Inaccessible Web:Images that Contain Content: Pictures, Charts, GraphsPDF DocumentsOnline Forms Missing Labels

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Accessibility Solution

Images-Pictures: Add “Alt” attributes or Alternative TextImages-Charts/Graphs: Add Link that Describes the Chart/GraphPDF Documents: Tag the PDF for Structure OR Also Post an Accessible FormatOnline Forms: Techniques for W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0

www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT-TECHS/

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Web Barriers

An Inaccessible Web:People with Mobility Disabilities Need Keyboard Access when They Cannot Use a MousePeople who have Busy Hands, Or Limited Dexterity Or No Hands Available

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An Accessible Web:Provides Logical Linear Tab OrderProvides Device Independence so that Mouse is Not Required for OperationExposes Content for All DevicesImplements Techniques for W3C WCAG 1.0 or 2.0

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Web Barriers

An Inaccessible Web:People Using Speech Technology Input Cannot Access Web ContentPeople with Low Vision Cannot Increase Web Text Size

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An Accessible Web:Implements Accessibility Standards W3C WCAG 1.0 or 2.0Uses Relative Rather than Absolute Units in Markup so that Text can be Resized by User without Breaking Layout

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Web Barriers

An Inaccessible Web:People who are Deaf Cannot Access Audio- Streaming or Multi-Media that are not CaptionedPeople who Cannot Hear in a Noisy Room Need Captioning

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An Accessible Web:Provides Captioning for Audio in Multi-mediaTry MAGpie (Media Access Generator) to Create Captions and Audio Description for Rich Media- Free Software at ncam.wgbh.org/webaccess/magpie/

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An Accessible Web:Uses Captioning Feature for Audio on YouTube VideosAllows User to Turn Captioning On/OffSee www.youtube.com/t/captions_about

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Web Barriers

Online Conferencing Applications– Many Rely on Audio Only with no text

alternative for People with Speech or Hearing Loss

– Many Do not Work with Assistive Computer Technologies

– Some allow for Text Alternative of Captioning Services, but Fail to Provide Ability to Resize Captioning Window

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Online Conferencing Applications– Should be compatible with Captioning

Services– Should work with Assistive Technologies

(AT) such as screen readers, screen magnifiers & speech recognition systems

Example of Accessible Online Conferencing Application at www.onlineconferencingsystems.com

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Web Based Captioning Services– Enables people with hearing and speech

disabilities to follow online what is being said during a teleconference meeting or a conference

– User can go online and read the text of the audio stream onto a website; website allows chat text for questions and comments

– Example of Service Provider: CaptionFirst www.captionfirst.com

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Resources

See Workshop Bibliography Including: Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance by Jim Thatcher, Cynthia Waddell et al

Published by Apress 2006

ISBN: 1-59059-638-2 Published in Japanese 2007 ISBN: 978-4-8399-2220-7

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Resources Free Web Accessibility Checkers

Cynthia Says – www.cynthiasays.com

The WAVE – Wave.webaim.org – Wave Firefox Toolbar

Vision Australia Web Accessibility Toolbar

http://www.visionaustralia.org.au/ais/toolbar/

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Contact

Cynthia WADDELLITU Senior Accessibility ConsultantExecutive DirectorInternational Center for Disability Resources on the Internet (ICDRI)E-mail: [email protected]: www.icdri.org