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Know a good UD website or resource?
The Accessible Virtual Community
Entertainment and Culture
Spectatorship, security, safety, and comfort are amidst the unique considerations of sports and entertainment venues. Kim A Beasley and Thomas D. Davies say it well in Chapter 47 of The Universal Design Handbook. "Accessibility is achieved through careful coordination between the facility owners, the designers, the operators, and the end users." In addition to the key resources here in the Virtual Community, to search for more related information, you can go to our Search Page.
23 items
Access Symbols
This link provides downloadable access symbols, provided copyright free, for closed captioning, descriptive video, and web access.
WGBH website
Accessibility of the Arts
This printable checklist addresses making the arts more accessible for people with disabilities.
National Endowment for the Arts
Accessible Arts Home Page
This website out of Australia has as its vision, "A society in which people with disabilities fully experience and participate in the arts and cultural life." A lot of information is available on this site, including projects, newsletter, training, and resources. However, the website lacks accessibility features.
Accessing the Arts (Australia)
ADA Requirements: Service Animals
This website has updated ADA guidelines, regulations, and rights for people with service animals.
Description Key for Educational Media
Description is the verbal depiction of key visual elements in media and live productions. Also known as “audio description” or “video description,” the description of media involves the interspersion of these depictions with the program’s original audio. "Description is the key to opening a world of information for persons with a vision loss, literacy needs, or loss of cognitive abilities. While description was developed for people who are blind or visually impaired, millions of others may also benefit from description’s concise, objective translation of media’s key visual components.
These guidelines are a key for vendors and cover a range of topics from preparing to describe to determining both what information needs to be described and how to describe it. The information is also applicable to vendors and other businesses [PDF] that provide description for broadcast television and other media. Some background information and rationale are included for the novice, as well as an evolving list of description resources to help improve the quality and efficiency of one’s description."
This web page includes a more detailed definition, philosophy and more.
Described and Captioned Media Program, in conjunction with The National Association for the Deaf and the American asociation for the Blind
Captioning Key for Educational Media: Guidelines and Preferred T
Digital Wheel Art
"Digital Wheel Art is an interactive system that helps individuals with disabilities express themselves in artistic ways. It also gives general audiences an opportunity to explore and rethink disabilities through art."
Younghyun Chung - Graduate student researcher
Gaming with a Disability
Are you having difficulty playing regular games? Do you want to know which games are suited for certain impairments? This section contains information about playing games with a visual disability, auditory disability, physical disability or a learning disability.
Game Accessibility website
How can library databases be made more accessible?
This web page provides a short list of tips to make library databases more accessible. Some tips include speech output systems and electronic resources.
Washington University, DO-IT
IFLA Professional Reports - Library Accessibility
On this page you will find links to relevant reports concerning library accessibility: See #90 Designing and Building Integrated Digital Library Systems-Guidelines; and # 89 Access to libraries for persons with disabilities checklist as separate entries on this website and find other articles, including Libraries for the Blind in the Information Age - Guidelines for development, and Guidelines for Library Services to Persons with Dyslexia or Alzheimer’s and others. (Several foreign language citations).
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, The Hague
Importance of Universal Design in Libraries
Equal Access: Universal Design of Libraries is a six-page document covering the importance of designing a library for people with a variety of abilities, disabilities, and characteristics. Included is a list of questions that can be asked to ensure that the facility is accessible to everyone.
Equal Access:Unversal Design
Improving the Accessibility of Social Media in Government
This website contains helpful tips from social media leaders to ensure social media content is accessible to all people, including those with disabilities.
Introduction to Video Description with Video Accessibility Demonstration
Though most of us are thoroughly familiar with closed captioning, video description is a lesser-known but equally essential service used by people with disabilities to access TV. Video description is defined as, "recorded narration of key visual elements of a TV program or movie, timed to fit into the gaps in dialog, and scripted to enable understanding and enjoyment of visual media by people who are blind or visually impaired." A demonstration is available through a video clip of the "Arthur" cartoon.
Federal Communications Commisssion (FCC)
Multi-sensory Displays for Universal Access
The Touch Graphics website offers state of the art/science multisensory products, such as tactile maps and talking tactile tablets, for education and exhibits.Touch Graphics products have been developed through a series of research grants from the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Education.
Touch Graphic, Inc.
National Arts Disability Center
The NADC web site offers free resource directories, annotated bibliographies, and materials and articles on a wide array of subjects promoting the full inclusion of audiences and artists with disabilities into all facets of the arts community. The web site contains the equivalent of over 600 pages of information.
University of California Los Angeles, Tarjan Center
New Media as Accessible Art - There's something happening across Western Sydney
"Accessible Arts is working across the Western Sydney region, raising awareness and creating opprotunities in the arts for people with disability. Our work seeks to raise the profile of arts & disability through various model projects, creative programs and strategic initiatives, and through the provision of information, advice and training, improving access to the arts for people with disability." A list of art centers, activities, and resources are provided.
Accessible Arts
Professional Caption Services get “YouTube Ready”
This June 30, 2010 blog article provides an update on YouTube captioning of videos. "Captioning is becoming increasingly important to YouTube and videos all across the web. Captions ensure that many more people can understand what's happening in your video, from deaf and hard of hearing viewers to people who speak a different language from you and choose to auto-translate the captions into their language. Captions also make your video a lot more discoverable. People searching for content on YouTube might encounter your video if your captions contain the words or subjects they're looking for."
YouTube Inc.
Sachs Morgan Studio: Theatre Design Specialists
This page has accessibility examples in theatres and entertainment venues. This website "bridges the world of theater and architecture".
Sachs Morgan Studio
Smithsonian Guidelines For Accessible Exhibition Design
This pdf document contains Smithsonian Guidelines for Accessible Exhibition Design. Accessible design must be a part of the new philosophy of exhibition development because people with disabilities are a part of museums diverse audience. Discovering exciting, attractive ways to make exhibitions accessible will most directly serve people with disabilities and older adults. But to name an audience who will not benefit by these designs is impossible. Accessibility begins as a mandate to serve people who have been discriminated against for centuries; it prevails as a tool that serves diverse audiences for a lifetime.
Smithsonian Accessibility Program
Standards for Audio Description and Code of Professional conduct for Describers
This pdf document (available for download) from the Audio Description Coalition offers guidelines and a Code of Professional Conduct for Describers. The document was compiled by a group of audio describers and trainers from across the United States, based on their combined training, experience, knowledge, and resources. For more information, contact www.AudioDescriptionCoalition.org.
Audio Description Coalition
THE BLIND READERS' PAGE - Sources for Online Books
This is a list of online sources for electronic books, magazines, newspaper articles, and other material. The files are in a variety of formats ranging from plain text to digital audio and digital braille. Most material is public domain literature and free of charge, although some do charge a subscription fee for content and/or proprietary software.
THE BLIND READERS' PAGE
Tips for Communicating with People who are Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing
A tip sheet for communicating with individuals who are deaf and hard-of-hearing.
Universal Design New York
This is a desktop reference manual which presents common universal design principles from Universal Design New York and offers examples of how to incorporate these ideas into other projects.
Vantage Point. Virtuosity [art projects]
"How do you see disability? Student designers at CATEA produced these art works to illustrate that a disability is a characteristic, not incapacity, and provides a person with a different set of tools to use in navigating the world."
CATEA
