The Accessible Virtual Community

Equivalent text descriptions (EqTD's) are extremely important and can be difficult to create. Here you will find a set of EqTD related documents that detail processes, purposes and levels of complexity. The origin of providing alternative text for graphic elements and a brief review of the R2D2 standard are included.

This protocol will help you to create a video with a caption track. Videos captioned with this method will be playable by older versions of QuickTime, back to QuickTime 3 (depending on video and audio code used).

This website offers a model organizations can use to evaluate Web pages, develop a planning team, gain support for a Web accessibility initiative, develop and implement a plan, train staff, and monitor the accessibility of Web pages over time. [Annotation from UW Web Accessibility for All]

This page provides publications and videos that are developed to describe how people with disabilities use computers. This website also contains links to disability related websites.

"Make your computer easier and more comfortable to use by taking advantage of the many accessibility features built into Microsoft products." This link is the home page for their accessibility features, links listed by products. There are no Macintosh mentions.

This webpage includes an "Assistive Technology Quick Reference" guide to help individuals make calculators more accessible. There are also answers to frequently asked questions regarding standard function calculators, scientific calculators, graphing calculators, and vendors offering accessible calculators.

This webpage includes guidelines and examples of how to make materials such as digital publications, distance-learning Web sites, and educational software more accessible to students with disabilities.

This website includes guidelines for how-to's for making scientific and mathematical expressions accessible for electronic publications, multimedia, and the web.

This webpage discusses the complexities of tables and how to make them accessible.

"A site dedicated to furthering the cause of web accessibility by offering free tools and other useful resources."

This site provides awards for accessible websites based on their criteria, gives examples, and provides a good discussion of web accessibility issues. The site aims "to prove that accessible, usable web sites built with universality and standards in mind need not be boring. We will show you artfully crafted sites made by some of today's most progressive web developers."

This website contains information on the National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM). The NCAM acts as the research and development arm of WGBH's (Boston) Media Access Group and is involved in technology, policy, and program development to assure that the nation's media and technologies are fully accessible to people with disabilities.

This website contains information on the Center for Applied Special Technology. "CAST has earned international recognition for its development of innovative, technology-based educational resources and strategies based on the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework for designing curricula that enable all individuals to gain knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm for learning. UDL provides rich supports for learning and reduces barriers to the curriculum while maintaining high achievement standards for all."

This website provides general guidelines to survey the physical accessibility of a computer lab. Some examples of guidelines are physical space, printed materials, and electronic resources.

The Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) serves as a clearinghouse of information and materials on the subject of description and captioning for service to consumers, agencies, corporations, and schools. Clearinghouse offerings include numerous DCMP print and online informational resources as well as a gateway to accessibility information from the Web sites of the DCMP and its collaborators.

In order to assure that websites and web applications are accessible to and usable by everyone, designers and developers must follow web accessibility guidelines. This resource addresses topics and issues that are especially common.

From the Thursday afternoon workshop with Dr. Sheryl Burgstahler. This website provides a checklist of how to make conference exhibits and presentations welcoming, accessible, and usable.

A research paper addressing key issues with wireless technologies including barriers of use for people with disabilities.

A well written article for anyone interested in the experience of blind web consumers. The article is on a web page housed by GIZMODO, a website rich with information, reviews and commentary regarding new technologies and other news regarding several related topics of design and development.

This website contains helpful tips from social media leaders to ensure social media content is accessible to all people, including those with disabilities.

This PDF discusses the accessibility of IP TV, Remote Control, Set­Top Box, Apps and Programming Guide.

The CPB/WGBH has designed a web access symbol which is an illustration of a globe, marked with a grid, tilted at an angle. A keyhole is cut into its surface. "This web image may be used by webmasters to denote that their site contains accessibility features to accomodate the needs of disabled users."

This website provides a checklist and information on making web based courses and materials accessible for people with disabilities.

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."

In depth discussion/"how-to" with sources - books, conference proceedings, and web link. This website presents how Scaleable Vector Graphics increase "accessibility and interactivity to help people with visual impairment read audio-tactile maps."

"Founded in 1993, SensAble Technologies is a leading developer of 3D touch-enabled (force feedback) solutions and technology that allow users to not only see and hear an on-screen computer application, but to actually 'feel' it. The company evolved from undergraduate research done at MIT in the 1990s by industry pioneers Thomas Massie and Dr. Kenneth Salisbury."

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.

A tip sheet for communicating with individuals who are deaf and hard-of-hearing.

Disney's Frozen Trailer Video Description - Video descriptions are narrative description of the key visual elements taking place during the movie. The video descriptions are placed in the pauses of the dialog of characters. Programs with video descriptions make the programs more accessible to people who have vision impairments or who are blind.

"WAVE is a free web accessibility evaluation tool provided by WebAIM. It is used to aid humans in the web accessibility evaluation process. Rather than providing a complex technical report, WAVE shows the original web page with embedded icons and indicators that reveal the accessibility of that page."

Web Best Practices Overview: This group, lead by Jon Gunderson of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, convenes regularly "to develop best practices for web development using HTML, CSS, Javascript and Adobe PDF." Information about joining, issues and topics for discussion are found at this website.

A list of links regarding several topics in web design accessibility.

To be effective, the interfaces for online information systems must be as rich and flexible as the physical environments they replace. They must not only supply a direct path to reach the users goals, but must be able to accommodate different approaches to the task. This means that the interface design must not only organize the content for easy access, but must incorporate the right combination of technologies and interaction techniques to allow the user to work in their own style.

From the "resources" page of the WebAIM site you may link to four simulations they created to experience the web as an individual with a disability would: Screen Reader Simulation, Low Vision Simulation, Dyslexia Simulation, and Distractability Simulation.

This website provides education on accessible website color design.

The goal of this FREE resource is provide information on how to make websites for higher education accessible. The white paper discusses how to make the process of captioning, transcription, and subtitling as simple and streamlined as possible.